Priceline Skin Care Gift Bag 2015

It's that time again for Priceline's annual skin care gift bag. I skipped last year's after the 2012 and 2013 bag, but this year's is undoubtedly the best one yet. The minimum spend has climbed over the years (from $50 to $60 and now $69 this year), but I don't care since Priceline has really stepped up its game with the brands it stocks. We're talking Antipodes, Avene, Bioderma, La Roche-Posay, NUXE, Uriage. So much French pharmacy goodness and mid-range brands that previously were the domain of department stores or specialty chemists. Though the absolute last thing I needed was to spend $72 on more skin care (pretty sure I'm still trying to get through stuff from 2013's bag), the sheer amount of freebies this year, a lot of which is surprisingly decent, won me over. Behold the excess.

To qualify for the bag, I bought Avene Soothing Moisture Mask (a 5ml sample I previously used convinced me I needed it in my life), La Roche-Posay Toleriane Riche (tried it once on my hand a while ago, seemed rich and super hydrating, a potential winter saviour) and Nivea Sun Light Feel Every Day Sun Lotion SPF30 (needed a sunscreen as my La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Fluide Extrême SPF 50+ is close to expiring, though I've only just realised this is marketed as a body moisturiser rather than for face). Those three items still left me $1 short, so I chucked in a small tub of Nivea Soft, despite recently buying one from Woolies. Oh well, it's a cheap staple and seemed more useful than a face mask sachet or mini Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Body Lotion.

As with previous years, the goods come in a free tote bag. This year they tried to do some kind of perforated pleather light blue with a contrasting bright green interior. Not the most beautiful thing I've seen, but it does the job of holding an enormity of free stuff and seems sturdy enough.

So what's inside this thing? Prepare to scroll. Some items will vary depending on luck of the draw:

• Swisspers Makeup Pads (pack of 80, the bag could also contain 400 cotton tips instead)
• Innoxa Organic Brightening Eye Crème
• Neutrogena Deep Clean Facial Cleanser
• Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia (you can also potentially get Rose, Pink Blossom or Hibiscus)
• Lanolips Lip Ointment with Colour SPF15 in Rose
• Nivea Lip Butter Unscented (or the bag could contain the Vanilla & Macadamia one)
• La Roche-Posay Cicaplast (7.5ml sample)
• Rosken Intensive Moisture Hand Cream
• Zinke Stick in Red (you can also potentially get Pink, Purple, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange or White)
• Garnier Miracle Skin Cream (5ml sample)
• Antipodes Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream (5ml sachet sample)
• Antipodes Apostle Skin Brightening & Tone Correcting Serum (10ml mini bottle)
• Bondi Sands Reusable Self Tanning Mitt
• LeTan Fast Tan Instant Foaming Mousse in Dark Bronze
• Jergens Original Beauty Lotion Dry Skin Moisturiser (or the Daily Moisture Dry Skin Moisturiser)
• Sukin Detoxifying Clay Masque (50ml)
• Pure Paw Paw Ointment in Watermelon (you can also potentially get other flavours)
• Thursday Plantation Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Toner (or you could get the Nurture Oil)
• Bioré Pore Unclogging Scrub (or the 4-in-1 Revitalising Cleanser or Warming Anti-Blackhead Cleanser)
• Dr Lewinn's Multi Moisture Balm
• Formula 10.0.6 Keep Me Clean Clarifying Facial Wipes (or the Wipe Your Face Off Wipes)
• Swisspers Rosehip Rejuvenating Facial Cleansing Wipes (or your bag could contain the Original, Pomegranate, White Tea or Mango)
• Palmer's Shea Butter Formula (or the Aloe, Coconut or Smoothing varieties)
• Avène Thermal Spring Water (50ml can)
• Bioderma Hydrabio Sérum (15ml sample, or you could get a NUXE Huile Prodigieuse sample)
• L'Oréal Revitalift Magic Blur
• Rosehip by Essano Nourishing Hand Crème
• Montagne Jeunesse Blemish Mud Mask (6g sample)

Amazingly, if that wasn't enough, the bag also contains separate vouchers to claim an additional 4 full size products in store (Garnier Miracle Skin Cream, Innoxa Renew Anti-Ageing Exfoliator or Renew Triple Action Gel Wash or Super Sensitive Creme Cleansing Milk, Physiogel Calming Relief Cream, and ModelCo Gel Cleanser or Cleansing Foam or Cream Cleanser), but good luck getting those. I went to 5 Priceline stores and only managed to claim one of them, an Innoxa Cleansing Milk.

Apparently you're getting $400 worth of skin care with this bag. Even if that was overvalued (which it probably is), no one would call it ungenerous.

A rundown of my take on the goodies. There are items that I will likely immediately give away to friends/family (the body lotions for one, as well as the foaming cleansers/scrubs, hand creams and some of the lip balms). I recently bought a multipack of Simple wipes, so with the Swisspers and Formula 10.0.6 ones, I'm more than set for makeup wipes for the foreseeable future. I've always wanted to try the Lanolips lip balms, but the Rose colour is a bit light for my liking. Looks like a pale nudeish pink. I'm not a fan of the Nivea Lip Butters and am still trying to get through the two I bought a while ago, Vanilla & Macadamia, and Caramel Cream. I'll probably never use the Zinke Stick. I've never self-tanned before, so at least the LeTan with the Bondi Sands mitt are there should curiosity ever overcome me.

Some of the most exciting items unfortunately are small samples (Bioderma serum, La Roche-Posay Cicaplast, Garnier Miracle Skin Cream), but I can't complain too much. The Antipodes Apostle serum is a 10ml mini as opposed to the 30ml full size, but it should still last me a good while (plus it's adorable and great for travel). I'm interested to try the new Sukin mask (love the Purifying Masque they do, so expecting good things), L'Oréal Revitalift Magic Blur and Dr Lewinn's Multi Moisture Balm (skin needs all the hydration help it can get). The Burt's Bees tinted lip balm in Red Dahlia isn't a terribly exciting colour, but sensible and universal. I always need small cans of my life staple Avene Thermal Spring Water for on the go, so the one included saves me from going out and buying a can for at least a few months.