This week, I’ll be posting about some little hauls I’ve made recently, rather than swatches and reviews. The reason for this is that I have a busy week ahead of me—my little peanut is going to be two!—and didn’t have enough swatch posts written up in advance! Things should quiet down for me by next week, so I look forward to doing a whole lot more swatching, soon.

Here’s the haulage post schedule for this week:

• Monday: Essie, Illamasqua, Smashbox, W7
• Tuesday: Zoya
• Wednesday: Perfume (Ellen Tracy, Jennifer Lopez)
• Throwback Thursday: MAC
• Friday: Essence, L’Oréal, OPI

So, today, we kick off with a combo of products from Essie, Illamasqua, Smashbox, and W7: all of which I found at Winners (the Canadian TJ Maxx)!

The Essie product is a 3-pack of mini nail polishes from last year’s Bridal collection. It turns out that I already have two of the three (Hubby for Dessert and Worth the Wait, both also in mini form; the third shade is Brides To Be), so I’m going to return this. D’oh! This is why I need to get my nail polish tracker up and running ASAP…

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Venous was the only Illamasqua I saw at my Winners’ nail polish section! My heart leaped a little when I saw that pretty black box, alone in a sea of naked OPI and China Glaze bottles. It then fell a little when I looked at the shade, loved it, and realized I couldn’t remember whether I already owned it. (Hahahaha!—for whatever reason, it totally slipped my mind with the previous Essie purchase that I already had two of the shades!) Anyway, I did what any reasonable Winners shopper does and tucked the Illamasqua into the back of the display. (I’m not the only one who does this, right? Please don’t make me feel badly about it!) I came back the next morning to get it after checking with my database that I did not, indeed, already own that shade. $6.99 for Illamasqua Nail Varnish? Score!

Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream (Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Dark Spot Correcting) is a product I’ve been eyeing for some time, but didn’t feel like shelling out CA$50 for it. Lo and behold, I found it at Winners for half the price. In store, I hadn’t decided whether Light or Light/Medium would be better—there was only Light at Winners, so that’s what I got. It does expire this summer, but I think that’s just for the SPF 30; I usually wear a sunscreen under my foundation, anyway. If the color isn’t a perfect match, I think this is the sort of product that would probably work well mixed with either another foundation or sheered out with a moisturizer. Looking forward to giving this a try!

Finally, fellow Canadian blogger Stash Matters’ recent under $20 challenge prompted me to snag W7 HD Foundation in the same shade, Buff, when I saw it at Winners for $4.99. I think the foundation is possibly a touch light for me, though she seems totally right about the undertone looking good for those who are yellow-toned. I’m really keen to try a product she says works great.

I love a good Winners score!