shopping post- makeup musings

Confession time.. last night I made the sephora order.. even tho i'd also dropped $7 for half-off halloween candy at work.
I ordered the Closer powder, a sifter jar, the Samantha lipgloss, and the Urban Decay All-Nighter setting spray. For my freebies i requested 3 teeny perfume samples (versace pour homme edt, kate walsh boyfriend, lolita lempicka si lolita) and a "deluxe sample" of YSL cleansing water .. this thing:  http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P295204

I don't even know what a "deluxe sample" is but once it arrives you KNOW i'm gonna do a shopaholic post.

and while bopping around, i jumped over to beauty.com only to find that it was being more honest now and using the drugstore.com address, because it is really part of drugstore.com.

Anyway.. anyone who thinks drugstores are cheaper.. guess again! I looked up a few gift sets on sephora.com and drugstore.com/beauty and guess what? The prices are identical. Seems the price is set by the manufacturer or something.  
I offer some proof:
Urban Decay's Book of Shadows IV eyeshadow set... $64 in both places
http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P295205

http://www.drugstore.com/urban-decay-book-of-shadows-iv/qxp376409?catid=25362

The Urban Decay setting spray i bought.... here's the one i ordered from Sephora (I got the 4oz version, once you see the prices vs ounces you'll see why)
http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P263504

http://www.drugstore.com/urban-decay-all-nighter-long-lasting-makeup-setting-spray/qxp266350?catid=172533

Stila Dream In Full Color holiday palette: $39 both places

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P295202

http://www.drugstore.com/stila-holiday-dream-in-full-color-palette-366-value-dollars/qxp362322?catid=25362

Same price..... so why would you go to a drugstore to get a dept store product? you're not actually getting a price break.
And actually i'm starting to wonder why a dept store product is even showing up in drugstore places. Remember how some "salon-only" shampoo people get all fussy and their ads say "only in salons" even tho you see the bottles in drugstore and big-chain grocery store shelves? (looking at you, Paul Mitchell and all your fussiness)
What the hell is this "gray market" I'm hearing about?

But anyway.. my point is there is no price break, so just go to Sephora cuz they got better freebies and a better customer loyalty system. it's called Beauty Insider and you can get full-sizes for free every so often. You get 1 Beauty Point for every dollar you spend, (excluding tax, shipping and gift cards) and you just accumulate points. And once you get enough points you can redeem these Beauty Points whenever you want tho the choices you have can be limited. But they carry over from what i read. And the carry-over is what I want to point out.
you also get a present on your birthday, tho i think they choose the present for you.
their info: http://sephora.com/beautyinsider/index.jhtml

drugstore.com does have it's own system, and they call it drugstore dollars and you basically get a percentage of your order total put in your drugstore bank..(again excluding tax, shipping and gift cards and a few other things)  i think it's like 5% of the total right now.. and each quarter you get those drugstore dollars as a store credit on that month's order. You'll get an email telling you when your drugstore dollars become available to you. But you do have a certain time period to spend them in, and then they go away. They don't carry over.
Their info: http://www.drugstore.com/drugstore-com-dollars/qxc33476

I do not know if drugstore dollars from beauty.com can be combined with the ones from drugstore.com main site.. i think so but i've never tried.

The lack of carry-over is what pisses me off the most. i don't like being told when to shop. If there's nothing i need that month then I either get something I only kinda need or i forfeit the credit.

Ofc my Go Greens and Aria and a few other things I like seem to only exist on drugstore.com right now so not like I'll abandon that site permamently. I just think they're being pretentious by having that "luxurious beauty" sub-site.
But seriously.. if you're looking at something by Stila or Urban Decay or another big name then skip the fake shit and just go to sephora. It's the same price anyway, and a better selection, and Sephora has better freebies.