freebie jeebies

When I popped into the newsagents earlier to pick up a magazine (and a Galaxy bar, if you must know) and was faced with an array of free beauty treats, I got a bit excited. Being the cheapskate bargain hunter that I am, I love a good freebie and in this time of financial difficulty, I'm sure everyone else does too. So I thought I'd give you all a quick heads up about some flippin' marvellous freebies that are available with the November issues of the UK's top glossy mags.

First up, with ELLE (which is what I bought), you get a mini 7ml tube of Clinique's new Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in 09 Currant.

As this is a mini version, it doesn't state in the magazine how much it's worth, but the full size 15ml version is £12 so I'd hazard a guess that this is worth around £5/£6. It's a really nice, non-sticky feeling gloss, with the subtlest hint of colour. I was in need of a lipgloss, so this was an ideal freebie for me, plus it's the perfect size to chuck into even the smallest of handbags for a night out. Lovely!

Cosmopolitan is giving away a MissGuided Splash nail varnish with every issue; there's three shades to choose from (see below) and they're worth £5 each.

MissCellaneous, MissFit and MissBehave, £5 each from MissGuided

There's more free nail varnish with Marie Claire, which is giving away a free bottle of Ciaté Paint Pots. You can choose from either Dangerous Affair or Mistress, worth £9 each.

Dangerous Affair and Mistress, £9 each from Ciaté

Normally I'd have definitely gone for a free nail varnish rather than the lipgloss, but I do love Elle magazine and I also feel like I've gone a bit mental with the nail varnish of late. At my last count I had twenty eight different colours and it's not like I can wear them all at once so it seems a bit excessive to get any more for a while. Even so, I am really liking the look of Dangerous Affair - Ciaté nail varnishes are excellent, so IMO the Marie Claire offer is a particularly good one.

Finally, with the November issue of InStyle (which, incidentally, has Ginnifer Goodwin on the cover, who I LOVE!), you get a free 30ml tube of L'Occitane hand cream, worth £7, with three fragrances to choose from.

Shea Butter, Cherry Blossom and Fleur Cherie, £7 each from L'Occitane

I've never used it, but I hear L'Occitane stuff is lovely; my Mum always goes on about the Shea Butter handcream, and she's right about most things, so I would say that this is yet another brilliant offer!

Now I've just done the maths and while I'm not saying anyone should do actually this, it might be worth noting that if you were to go out and buy one copy of ELLE, two copies of Marie Claire and three copies of both Cosmo and InStyle so that you had all of the freebies listed above, you'd be getting £60 worth of stuff for £31.90! That's a pretty impressive saving! Like I said, I'm not expecting anyone to go out and do this - I mean, who needs three tubes of hand cream?! But the point here is, freebies are brilliant!