Sephora Chic Week Mini-Haul

Hi everyone! I just wanted to do a quick post to share what I picked up today from Sephora. Today was the start of Sephora’s Chic Week, where everything is 15% off, and since I’m done with classes I hauled myself over to the mall this morning to make sure I got one of the tote bags before they ran out (if it’s free, I’m there).

Everything in all its underwhelming glory

Ok, the samples in the tote kind of sucked. I liked the tote itself though! It’s a cute size for use as a lunchbag. In it I got samples of MUFE’s Profinish Foundation in four shades, Shiseido Sun Lotion, Gucci Premiere, Smashbox BB Cream, Josie Maran Argan Oil for hair, Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation, and NUDE Cleansing Oil. All foil samples. LAME! I thought there’d be deluxe samples in there. Oh well, free is free, and I haven’t tried any of the samples I got before, except for the Smashbox BB cream, which I liked, so no loss there.

For my purchase, I bought Clinique’s 3-Step Skin Care kit for $14.50, since I liked the toner I got in my Topbox. It’s actually such a great deal, since it comes with a full size toner and pretty generous samples of their Liquid Facial Soap and Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel for a little less than the price of just the toner itself ($16).

I also picked up Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare’s Extra Strength Alpha Beta Face Peel. I saw it while I was walking through the checkout line; it was only $3 so I figured why not. I got to check out though and it rang in at $18! So I let the girl know that the sign said $3. She was super nice and gave it to me for that price, but immediately pulled the sign off haha.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with my purchases! There’s a few things I’ve been eyeing but I’m going to wait until I go to Vegas after my exams to use my 10% VIB requalification discount to pick them up since everything is so much cheaper in the US :)

Did you pick up anything from Sephora for Chic Week?

Julep March Secret Store Purchases

I got home just a little while ago and found my secret store purchase waiting for me, so I wanted to do a quick post to share!

Love seeing this box on my doorstep!

Wish Upon a Charm: Gold Rush set

I’ve been wanting Vivien and Oscar for a while now, so I was so happy to see that they came together in a set. I wish it had been Sienna instead of Felicity in this set though, I feel like Felicity is a tad too yellow.. we’ll see. I really like the bracelet too! It’s from an Etsy seller called She & Jack. I think it’ll look super cute stacked with a bunch of friendship bracelets, or just on its own.

Yumi

I used the free polish code I got in my Cupid’s mystery box to pick up Yumi. This is one of the colours I’ve been regretting not picking up when I had the chance to, and was so excited to see it was back in stock. I expect to be using this very soon :)

The colours I picked up

Everything in one picture :)

Can’t wait to do my nails!!

Sephora Triple Points on Fragrances Event Haul

A few weeks ago I made an online order during Sephora’s triple points event on all fragrance purchases. They were offering 3x the points on the entire purchase, so I thought it was a good time to pick up a few things that I’ve been eyeballing!

Everything out of the box

Betsy Johnson Too Too Gift Set- 50mL EDP and 10mL rollerball in a sparkly chiffon bow clutch

This was such a great deal I couldn’t pass it up! I don’t know if it was priced incorrectly, or if it was just an insane sale but I got this gift set for $15.50! Just the 50mL bottle alone costs $35.50 on the Sephora website. The scent is really similar Miss Dior Cherie, but with more strawberry. I love how fun the bottle looks! I don’t see myself using the clutch though.. :p

Stila Loves CC Skye Set

A look at everything out of the box

The set included a full size Stila Lip Glaze in Apricot, Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Spectrum, and a Jewel Eye Shadow in Black Diamond

A closer up look at the clutch – I love this!

I’ve been eyeballing this set online ever since it first came out and was priced at $100. Now it’s down to $40 and I couldn’t pass it up, especially with the triple points offer. The clutch is so gorgeous! It’s exactly the same as CC Skye’s Benatar clutch, but with silver chain instead of gold. The original clutch retails for $175. I’m heading to Vegas in April after my final exams are finished and I will definitely be bringing this with me! The whole set is such a great deal considering that the makeup inside is all full sized and retails at about $70 if you were to buy each item on its own.

Sephora by OPI Don’t Be Eggnogious vs. Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper

Last up, I bought Sephora by OPI’s Don’t Be Eggnogious, because I needed a little more to push me over the free shipping threshold. I bought this because I was curious how it would compare to Traffic Stopper Copper, which I bought a few months ago. Side by side you can tell that Don’t Be Eggnogious is an orangey copper, while Traffic Stopper Copper leans more towards a pinkish rose gold almost. They’re pretty close though!

Finally here are the three free samples I picked, plus the Stila goodies I got for using the “VIBSTILA3” promo code.

The Stila VIB promo is such a great one! It includes 2 lipglazes in Loganberry and Delicate that are pretty close to full size at 1.5mL each (full size is 2.4mL). It also has a mini Stay All Day Waterproof Volumizing Mascara. I’m actually in need of a new waterproof mascara, so this is perfect for me to try out!

What did you pick up during the triple points event?

Glitzology Order and NOTD: Glitzology Boy Girl Party over Nicole Play Fair

Nail mail is the best type of mail

So a few weeks ago after getting my first Glitzology order (and loving it) I knew I needed more glittery goodness so I made a second order and received it yesterday.  Here’s what I picked up this time:

Crown Royal, Rhinestone Jumpsuit, Cupid’s Arrow, and Boy Girl Party

The polishes again in the same order but from the back so you can see all the glittery amazingness

It took a bit longer this time to get my polishes but the wait was worth it! Right away I did my nails with Boy Girl Party, which is the one I was most excited to receive.

Glitzology Boy Girl Party over Nicole Play Fair

Application was kinda tricky because it’s such a densely packed glitter but I really liked the end result! I love all the random shapes of the blue glitters coupled with the pink hexes and white bars.  The picture doesn’t do this polish justice!

If you’re interested, I think she has a 50% off sale on her polishes going on right now if you use the code “SINGLEANDHAPPY” :)

Which indie polishes would you recommend?

Julep Valentines Mystery Box

So the doorbell rang a little while ago and I bolted to the door right away hoping it was my mailman with my Julep Mystery Box – and it was! I feel like I’ve been waiting for aaaggeeesss for this box and have been super antsy to receive it.

Yay!

I opened it up right away and immediately knew I had lucked out when the first thing I saw wasn’t nail polish but product…

Is that pink grapefruit body frosting and everday SPF I see?

Sure enough, I dug around and here’s the amazing mystery box I received!

Woohoo! This is Box 8

The polishes I received!

I’m so happy with the box I received! I paid $19.99 for this box (actually less, more like around $10 because I used a Bloomspot voucher that gave me a $50 Julep gift card for $20) and in return got 8 polishes ($11.20 x 8), a voucher for a polish of my choice ($11.20), Julep Everyday SPF ($22.40), Julep Topcoat for Hair ($12.80), and Julep Pink Grapefruit Body Frosting ($14.40) for a total value of about $150 using Maven pricing. The best part is that none of the nail polish colours are dupes for me, and I’m actually in need of a new base coat so this couldn’t have come at a better time!

If you’re interested in becoming a Julep Maven they offer your first box for free if you use the promo code “FREEBOX” when you take a style quiz here and sign up for your intro Maven box! If you do sign up I’d be super happy if you used my referral code: 1668128 ♥

Did you buy a mystery box? What did you get?

Glitzology Order and NOTD: Glitzology Cruella and Julep Susie

So a few weeks ago I made an order from Glitzology’s Etsy shop (looove everything in there) when she was doing a 50% off promo and got the package a few days ago.  It’s my first indie polish order – I love how glittery they are! I ordered 4 mini’s (5mL) with shipping for around $10 and have been itching to use them ever since I placed the order!

Glitzology “Nebula”, “Cotton Candy”, “Blue Lagoon”, and “Cruella”

Here’s another shot of them from the back in the same order so you can see how gorgeous and glittery they are!

Anyways, I made a new years resolution this year to try to do my nails once a week to start getting through my ever-surmounting pile of nail polish, so here’s what I did today (I’ve got a bunch from the last few Friday’s of this month, I’ll get around to posting them soon!):

Nails using Glitzology “Cruella” and Juelp “Susie”

Cruella was the one I’d been wanting to try the most because of how similar it looks to Lynderella’s “Connect the Dots”, which I’ve always wanted but could never justify buying.  I really love the way this looks on top of Julep’s “Susie”!  I used 2 coats of Susie and one coat of Cruella, followed by a coat of Seche Vite.  Love the way this turned out!

I’m really loving indie polishes right now and thinking to add more to my collection, especially since Glitzology is having another 50% off promo… But I’ll try to resist (at least until I get through all of these!)

What are your favourite indie polishes?

Betty

Topbox December 2012 Review

So I got my long awaited Topbox in the mail today. It’s sort of got a festive theme, using red instead of their usual white and purple tube.  Not going to lie though, pretty disappointed with this box. This is my third one and I think I’m going to cancel this subscription, simply because I don’t think it’s worth it. At $12 it’s relatively inexpensive, but none of the samples I’ve been getting in my boxes are all that exciting..  Anyways, here’s my box:

Box #33

From left to right:

Chloe Eau de Parfum – 5mL ($9) I would be stoked to receive this sample if it weren’t for the fact that I already have 3 of these… I feel like Chloe is pushing its samples hard everywhere because I keep getting them for free, which would be fine except I absolutely can’t stand the smell.  It smells like something a grandma would wear to me.. I’ll probably pass this off to my mom.

China Glaze “Exotic Encounters” from the On Safari Collection – 14mL ($10) I’m always happy to get nail polish so this is great.  Not something I would have picked for myself, but I guess that’s a good thing.  I’ve been on a nail polish buying spree lately and this isn’t the most exciting colour (I am on a mega sparkle kick right now) so I probably won’t be using this anytime soon, but will eventually.

Ferro Cosmetics Ultimate HD Foundation – 1 g? ($2.50) I’m totally guesstimating the amount in the container since it doesn’t say but it’s actually quite a bit of powder in there so it should last for a while since you don’t need to use very much.  I’m happy with my Bare Minerals but I will try this out eventually.  I really like the fact that it’s paraben free and cruelty free though!

Goldwell Jelly Boost – 30mL ($3.79) Apparently this is a spray gel.  I honestly do not think I will ever use this because.. well who uses gel in their hair?  Actually I stand corrected, my sister is a cadet and has to use buckets of gel in her hair when she goes to events so I guess I’ll be passing this on to her.  But seriously, what girl uses gel in her hair on an everyday basis?

All in all the “value” of this box is about $25, which is more than I paid, but I’m really not liking this sub.  I waited for months and months to get off the waitlist so there’s that emotional attachment (irrational I know), but so far I’ve been thoroughly disappointed by each box.  The brands aren’t as high end as they used to be, and the sample sizes aren’t overly impressive. I think I’m going to stick around for the January box because they’re introducing some sort of fancy shmancy “Prive” box that features some yet to be known but supposedly “iconic” brand.. Hopefully it’s good, because unless it’s mindblasting, sadly I’m going to be ending my subscription.  I haven’t even posted the other 2 boxes because of how unexciting they were.. but now that I’m on winter break maybe I’ll get around to posting them :)

Betty

Errand’s Day

What a day!  Of course I woke up late today and missed breakfast, but I had an apple left in my room so I had that with some tea.  Soonafter I left to explore the campus and get my student card, bank card, and cellphone business sorted out.   The International Society had a helpdesk set up and they were super helpful, telling us where to go and how to go about doing things – they even had a sheet made up comparing all the features of all the different banks!  Of course as an Asian/accountant I chose the free one from Barclays.  You have to get a letter from the university stating your current address and proving that you are enrolled in full time studies to open up a bank account, which thank goodness they told us about and told us where to go to get it.  The carding office and letter place were in the same room luckily, so about half an hour later all that was sorted out.

Barclay’s on Oxford Rd. was a mess today!  Students everywhere.  It took about an hour for us to get out of there, and we have to go back next Thursday to get our card because they were too overwhelmed today with students to process everything.  Apparently you need a UK bank account to get a cellphone, so I guess I’ll be reliving my pre-cellphone days for another week.

After that we hopped on a 143 and took it to the end of the line as we were told to do and found ourselves in the midst of Manchester Market!

the hustling bustling Manchester Market, open daily

At this point it was about 2pm, and both having had little for breakfast the smells wafting from all the tents were too delicious to resist.  We both bought chicken pitta (yes pitta as they call it here pronounced PITAH, not pita with an e sound) and soup.  I got jerk sauce on my pitta and the pumpkin and sweet potato soup, which was amazing.

chicken on lettuce, tomato, and onion with jerk bbq sauce. Notice the pigeons waiting for us to drop morsels of food, which we sadly did

sweet potato and pumpkin soup, which also came with strips of warm pitta bread

After we were full and happy it was time to do what we went there for.  Primark!  As explained to us by the Int Soc girl, “it’s like… Walmart?”, to which we immediately went “ohhh, ok!”.  Oh my goodness Primark has become my new favourite place to shop, everything is so cheap!  The bags and accessories are the first thing you see when you enter into the 3 floor colossus, and was hard to resist.  I bought some necessities, as well as a cute little quilted and grosgrain bowed coral purse, which I, in my defense, need because I don’t have any purses right now that allow me to keep my hands free.  I love it!

Today's spoils, courtesy of Primark

The leopard print fleece throw is probably my favourite purchase of the day though, my room is freezing cold at night!  Plus it covers up most of my horrendously hideous duvet cover, which I did not pick and very much regret ordering online as part of the bedding pack.

My very much detested "Augusta Blue" duvet cover and pillow case. It looks (and feels) like sheets you'd find in a hospital

After dinner in the dining hall I went to the U of M’s Student Union building, where they were hosting a Ceilidh Celtic dance session for international students.  Very sweaty, very fun.  It was probably more fun laughing at our inability to grasp the steps than when we did figure out how to do it, although it was incredibly satisfying when we were able to do a dance properly.

Ok, time to head to bed!  Nighty night.

Betty