Sunday This and That and Sephora News

I love it when the crepe myrtles start to bloom. They have a long summer season, showing off their beauty as other flowering plants start to wilt from the extreme heat. Hot it has been!

This morning, we had a little excitement - well, Charlie did. He got up around 4:00 am and started being really obnoxious, making enough noise to make my last hours of sleep fitful. At one point, he was digging various things out from under the bureau (was it a message I needed to clean better?). It was only after he started played in the bathtub that I got really curious and went into the bathroom to see what he was doing. He was playing with a new friend, Mr. Mouse. Mr. Mouse was terrified, but looked uninjured. I grabbed a cup and, after a few fruitless attempts, with Charlie getting in the way, I scooped him up, covered the cup with a rigid catalog, and took him outside, where I liberated him. Mr. Mouse seemed OK as he scurried away into the mint under the shrubs. It was a riot watching Charlie sit on the toilet for 30 minutes afterward keeping an eye out for his new toy, Mr. Mouse.

I'll give you a quick update on my malware woes. My guru disappeared from the scene for a few days, and I was panicked. Fortunately, he came back yesterday. Perhaps he was off for a few well-deserved vacation days. Anyhow, reader Katherine had recommended I try ComboFix, freeware that promises to rid your computer of known malware, spyware, and other bad actors and remove them. I ran ComboFix yesterday evening, and (knock on wood) I haven't had a redirect since. Kuttus, my guru, also sent me some additional code to use with an OTL run, and I did that late last night. Today, I have not had a link redirected - yet. Could it be that we've had a successful exorcism?

I went over to Nordstrom yesterday to check out the Anniversary Sale. I was seriously interested in the Attilio Giusti Leombruni shoes. There are only two brands these days that I can wear from Day 1 with comfy feet: AGLs and Aerosoles. When I got to the upscale shoe department, I learned that every AGL on sale had sold out during pre-sale - another reason to hate Nordstrom's pre-sale policy. Nordstrom encourages customers to open credit cards and potentially go into debt - rather than live on cash at hand - and rewards them with early sale access. It doesn't matter if you spend more than those cardholders in a year. You are out of luck when it comes to the annual to-do. Yeah, they offer a debit card too, but since my debit card number was stolen there, I'm not confident they can protect my security, especially since they thought that card number theft was an inside job.

After my shoe department disappointment, I went down to Beauty and was incredibly unimpressed by the Anniversary Sale exclusives. There was a relatively nice Bobbi Brown Telluride Glow Collection. I might have purchased it in flusher days. I got to see the new Dior color. I think I already got the best pieces. I was not at all excited over the Dior Fusion Mono Eyeshadows. The colors were boring for this makeup addict, and they were too metallic for my tastes. I flirted with the new powder shadows, but they were so similar to shadows I already own, I lost interest quickly. I think I already own the best of the Mystic Metallics Collection.

I did a quick drive-by of Clarins and found the summer collection still featured. Then I headed for Clé de Peau, where I found the new Extra Rich Lipsticks! They were everything I expected and more. With 30 shades in three finishes, satin, silk, and velvet from which to choose, I played with colors for 30 minutes. It took that long to narrow my selections down to two. These are pricey lipsticks. I couldn't buy more than two. I'll show you my two choices tomorrow. I'm absolutely sure I'll go back for more before too long.

The biggest beauty news of the week was Sephora's announcement that it is revamping its Beauty Insider Program. I found out at WWD, from which I lifted this news. "More memberships, more rewards, and more points" was the message when Sephora executives revealed the company's relaunched Beauty Insider program, including a new premium membership level.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider Program is made up of two tiers. At the base is Beauty Insider, which provides the customer with birthday gifts, seasonal promotions, product rewards, gifts, and member-only classes. The second tier is VIB (Very Important Beauty) Insider, for which consumers qualify once they have spent $350 in a calendar year. This tier includes all beauty insider benefits, first dibs on new products, seasonal VIB-only gifts, advance access to sales, and private VIB-only shopping events (I like this because Sephora doesn't practice credit card "extortion.") The new tier, called VIB Rouge, launched on July 23 and offers frequent shoppers even more incentives. This premium level is reserved for customers who spend $1,000 or more in a calendar year and provides members with all Beauty Insider benefits, all VIB benefits, free shipping on all orders, unlimited access to The Beauty Studio, exclusive Rouge events, and surprise gifts. 

To kick off the program’s relaunch, Sephora will feature a few new incentives between August 12 and 18. When Beauty Insiders purchase new items, they will receive double points. VIBs will receive triple points, and VIB Rouge members will receive quadruple points. Also, the points earned are eligible to transfer to friends and family to score 5,000- or 10,000-point rewards. A select few will qualify for prizes like a trip for two to Paris with Make Up For Ever or the Marc Jacobs beauty collection tucked away in a fall 2013 Marc Jacobs handbag. I think I'll be making my trip to Sephora to check out the Marc Jacobs collection soon.

What do you think about that? Will the enhanced program make you even more likely to buy from Sephora? The stores might be messy, but Sephora online shopping is the bomb (as the kids say admiringly).

Remember I featured TATCHA’s GOLD Camellia Lip Balm recently? For a limited time, you can enjoy this treasure with every purchase of $300 or more (a $36 value) at TATCHA's Web site.  Enter the code GOLDCRUSH at checkout, and the balm will be yours for free. The offer is valid through August 7.

Update 7:30 pm: After a redirect-free day, I just got redirected. I'm crestfallen.

Photos courtesy of Southern Living and WWD