I have finished the initial stages of my closet cleaning. I have several
cosmetics bags
filled with samples and I am looking for a good way to organize them so I
will have
easy access if and when I want to try them or pass them on to someone else.
I'll separate fragrance samples from skincare and separate eye balms from
other items.
How do you organize your samples and how long do you keep them?
Audrey

ahmward wrote:
I put them there to keep them cooler and darker so they'll last
longer.

I keep them in their own drawer with a plastic organizer divided into
compartments: shampoos, cleansers, bath gels, conditioners, moisturizers, eye
cremes, masks. I also have trays for out of rotation makeup: shadows,
lipsticks, blushes, etc.

"ahmward" <nospam.ahmward@yahoo.com> wrote:

Currently, I am keeping all perfume samples in a basket by the computer so I remember to try a
different one literally every day. It is amazing the number I've never heard of, hate on scent, and
trash immediately. I keep the empty vials of the ones I like for my next lifetime when I've emptied
all the full sized perfume bottles I currently have.

I keep all skin care samples in a compartmentalized drawer and will grab them when I'm packing for a
trip. All shampoo and conditioner samples are in the same drawer in a separate compartment also for
packing. Same goes for shower gels, lotions, small toothpaste tubes, eye cremes, etc. I seem to
have more time on vacation to peruse and decide on something different than at home. They also seem
to get used up more quickly and if I don't like it, I'll toss the sample much more readily without
feeling regretful about a waste of a costly item. Anything I really like, I'll make a note to try
it again when I get home.

Jackie
Support your local Attorney....Send your kid to Medical School!

"Maladicta1" <maladicta1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031001221958.05956.00000178@mb-m10.aol.com...
use them. I know Audrey and others like to travel with samples, but I can't
ever be sure I'll have the right amount and type of samples, and that they
are fresh enough for travel use, so I don't count on samples for travel.
Claire in SF

On 10/1/03 9:58 PM, in article or4nnvscp8l0lail7ki6d8vsqjfv9invib@4ax.com,
"ejdjd@oopsonline.net" <ejdjd@oopsonline.net> wrote:

I want to know how ya'll are getting so many samples that you have to have a
system for storing them. I have a hard time getting a sample from Sephora!!
What am I doing wrong?? Is there a trick to this??


Princess Chani

"Chani Atreides" <texastornado90@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BBA12D60.207DE%texastornado90@hotmail.com...
cosmetics counters. I wouldn't
count on Sephora for samples but the department store counters such as
Sisley, La Prairie, CDLM,
Clarins, Origins, Chanel etc. usually have lots of samples. If there is a
product you want to try ask
the SA if you can try a sample.
Audrey

x-no-archive: yes

"Chani Atreides" <texastornado90@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BBA12D60.207DE%texastornado90@hotmail.com...
I've gotten samples from other places, but you get quite a few samples at
Sephora if you order by mail. I have an entire drawer full of samples that
I need to use. That's where I keep mine. In their own drawer.

Chani Atreides wrote:
You just need to shop more! That's why *I* have a lot of them,
anyway. ;=)

"ahmward" <nospam.ahmward@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<vJadnQs-dKSiW-aiXTWJlg@comcast.com>...

Like Chani, I don't have a lot of samples, so storage isn't an issue.
Nonetheless, have you thought about using red welds or accordian
folder with dividers? Each compartment or folder could be labeled as
to contents -- cleanser, oily skin; cleanser, dry skin; cleanser, give
away ... whatever.

As to the person who mentioned concerns about when she received the
sample (and, therefore, its freshness), you could date samples with a
Sharpie. Personally, I rarely travel with samples out of fear that
I'll hate the product and be stuck desperately looking for a
substitute when I would much rather be doing something else.

Barbara

"ahmward" <nospam.ahmward@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<vJadnQs-dKSiW-aiXTWJlg@comcast.com>...
This is what I've done, and doing business with the same MA/SA
regularly helps too. I have 2 regulars I buy from at Saks/NYC and one
at NM in Tyson's Galleria and they're good to me :-). I've also gotten
some via swapping with MakeupAlley folks, AFers, and doing the AF
Secret Santa.

Re: storage. I organize the same way Audrey does - haircare in one
makeup bag, shower gels and lotion in another, fragrances in another,
facial care in another. I lump samples and travel sizes I've bought
into this storage system. Then I have my gotta go bag packed and ready
to go for travelling. Since we've taken a lot of weekend trips I do
use them up.

I have a LOT and I tend to hold onto them. I rationalize it because
they're small and since I keep them in a cool, dark closet they're
probably still good even if I've had them for awhile.

Vicki in DC

"Barbara" <mom_2_one@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:66e906fc.0310020554.6d672993@posting.google.c om...
I travel with samples of the products I use every day. I take samples of
bath products
such as gels and body washes because I like the variety of different
products every
evening. When I was in New York I brought several bath samples from WTF, a
small
Crabtree & Evelyn lavender bath gel, and my favorite Cowgirl kit from the
beautycafe.
It is small containers of bath salts, body lotion, soothing lotion for
tender skin which I use
on my feet, bath gel and a moisturizer for dry skin. I have stockpiled La
Prairie and CDLM
samples so I don't need to bring my bottles or jars.
I like your idea of the accordian folder though some of the samples are
bulky. This afternoon
I am going to spread everything out on a table and arrange by category. I
may end up
using ziploc bags but I do feel I need to get a handle on all this stuff. I
keep more samples
than I want because I pass them on to my daughters and send several to
alt.fashionites.
Audrey

Make friends with an MA/SA at a department store! Seriously we get samples from
our own lines and from the neighboring lines like it's going out of style. I
always pass stuff on to my friends/family just because I have so much. It's
ridiculous.

Regards,
Amy

On 10/2/03 1:31 AM, in article vJadnQs-dKSiW-aiXTWJlg@comcast.com, "ahmward"
<nospam.ahmward@yahoo.com> wrote:

I will have to try that then. There are lots of things I want to try, but
being on a very tight budget right now (I've been unemployed for 8 months
and now BF is too), I can't get anything new in the makeup dept. But I do
so love living vicariously through you ladies!!


Princess Chani

"KM" wrote:
I would order online if I could, but I can't right now (see previous post,
both me and BF are unemployed right now) I was trying to find places I could
go in and get stuff to try. Thanks tho!


Princess Chani

kayper wrote:

LOL I wish I could! but at least now I know the secret!!


Princess Chani

x-no-archive: yes

"Chani Atreides" <texastornado90@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BBA1B941.20902%texastornado90@hotmail.com...
Oh, well, go to the department stores and be confident when asking so they
are more likely to give them to you. Just say you've heard such wonderful
things about their line and you wanted to try before buying. I am sure
whatever you ask for will be the ones you have heard great things about, so
it will in essence be the truth.

"Chani Atreides" <texastornado90@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BBA1B8B4.20900%texastornado90@hotmail.com...

of a product
you want to try and then mention if your skin is oily or dry and ask
politely if they have
any skincare samples. Then go to the fragrance counter to see if you can
get a few
samples of new fragrances. Before I bought the Clarins one step cleanser I
asked if there
was a sample that I could try. As I was looking at the tester I asked if
perhaps there was
a sample of the double serum. Voila, another sample. I'm honestly not trying
to stockpile
samples. I like to be satisfied with my purchases, and I rarely make
returns.
Audrey

"ahmward" <nospam.ahmward@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:I9KcnciJ46LCx-aiXTWJig@comcast.com:

don't have one of those, then I put them in one of those colorful Ziploc
disposable plastic containers available at the grocers for leftovers.
That way, if a vial breaks, it's contained and it's neat and uncluttered.

The rest goes into a shopping bag with handles in my closet so it's
easier to carry when I go to the shelter where I take them at the end of
each month. I keep them in the original packaging so the women will see
what's inside and know all the ingredients, etc.

If I want to try a sample of something, I try it within the week I
received it or else it becomes clutter. They go into a small basket in
the bath. If I haven't tried it in a week, it goes into the shopping bag.


--
Poetic Badgers
Smeeter #32

"Thank G*d I took off my heels, and put on my... HIMALAYAN WALKING
SHOES!!!" -Elaine Benes, writing copy for JPeterman's