Our new furry babies: Fancy , Luna , and Buttercup the guinea pigs.
About a week before Duchess started showing any signs that her last day was drawing near, we had contacted a family who needed these girls adopted, so it was somewhat of a comfort to have new additions to our family at this time in our lives. We picked them up Saturday and they have been a joy. Mike has a grand habitat in the works (designed by me, of course ;)) and I had fun taking their “Welcome to the Family” glamor shots.
I’ve had some rough stuff happen in the last couple of weeks and I haven’t really added to this blog since then. One part sadness, one part worry, and two parts self doubt= one unhappy, uninspired gal.
I’m taking time for self-reflection and re-direction.
In the meantime I hope you’ll be a kind hand in someone’s life. You never know who needs it; it just could be the person you least expect.
I don’t always buy makeup at Target, but when I do, I buy it on clearance!
I’m in the frequent shopper rewards programs for both Ulta and Sephora. I’ll sometimes browse beauty items at Target, but I almost never buy from there…like maybe one thing every few years. I love Target, but I get better deals elsewhere on cosmetics and beauty.
BUT
It started with the Alba Botanical Hawaiian Facial Scrub with the pore purifying pineapple enzyme. I’ve been a fan of this stuff for years and that little, red CLEARANCE sticker caught my eye. Half off and, HELLO! It was the bonus size. Get in my cart NOW, please!
I make my own facial scrub with organic lemon juice and sugar, and while it’s handy to make and works well, I am sure it costs much more than this scrub did. Frugality- I haz it.
Here’s where I got inspired to make my lemon scrub:
Okay. That was such a good deal. I had my adrenaline rush. Onward through the aisles!
The red stickers drew me like a moth to a flame. I checked out most of them, but a lot of the cosmetics were the wrong shade for me or it was obvious that the product was old/dried out. I was so disappointed that L’Oreal Visible Lift Color Lift Blushes were on clearance because they were old and had major shrinkage in the package; I had wanted to try them and they are normally about $13 ea and these were marked to about $3, but they wouldn’t have been any good.
I don’t usually buy drugstore brand cosmetics but I have been wanting to try a few so this was a good opportunity to pick some up and give ’em a go. I had just put mascara on my shopping list because my old one hit its 6 month mark and it’s time to replace it, so that was about the only thing I really needed. The green primer will help with the redness so hopefully it will work out. Other than that it was mainly just fun stuff!
So here’s my haul:
Alba Botanical Hawaiian Facial Scrub $9.99 → $4.98
CoverGirl Smoky Shadow Blast in 815 Bronze Fire $6.94 → $2.08
Revlon Just Bitten in 065 Mystical $7.99 → $2.38
Revlon Just Bitten in 055 Victorian $7.99 → $2.38
Revlon Just Bitten in 005 Passion $7.99 → $2.38
CoverGirl Blast Flipstick in 810 Glimmer $7.99 → $2.38
CoverGirl Blast Flipstick in 830 Tease $7.99 → $2.38
CoverGirl Blast Flipstick in 825 Perky $7.99 → $2.38
L’Oreal Voluminous Full Definition Natural Volume Building Mascara in Black $5.89 → $1.76
L’Oreal Magic Anti-Redness Correcting Primer $10.99 → $3.28
L’Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow in 889 Midnight Blue $6.99 → $2.08
THE GRAND TOTAL OF MY TARGET CLEARANCE BEAUTY HAUL:
$30.54
! ! !
That’s a savings of $65.19.
Guilt-free beauty is the best beauty regimen of all 🙂
P.S. – Check back soon for my first impression reviews of all of these items!
P.P.S. – All of the items were still sealed except the primer, but since it was in a pump, I just pumped a bit out, wiped everything off, and spritzed it with my anti-bacterial brush cleanser and let it dry before using. Better safe than sorry!
Pastels are always on trend for Spring and Zoya released a new Spring 2014 collection named Awaken. It is a beautiful range of 7 new colors.
Left to right the Zoya Awaken polishes pictured are:
Dot- full-coverage pink petal cream (Originally released as “Dot” for fashion designer Zang Toi’s SS14 collection).
Hudson- full-coverage, purple orchid metallic with a silver shimmer.
Rebel- full-coverage blue sky metallic with a silver shimmer.
Brooklyn- full-coverage, white-gold shimmer metallic.
Dillon- full-coverage, green mint metallic with a silver shimmer.
Cole- full-coverage peach whisper cream (originally released during NYFW as Stella for Peter Som’s SS14 Collection).
As much as I love Zoya polishes and this beautiful spring palette, I just don’t want to spend $64 on the new collection. I thought I’d look in my current Zoya stash and see what I had that could compare.
I ended up with a really pretty combination although I couldn’t find anything comparable to the orange, yellow, or blue shades because I just don’t usually buy those colors.
Zoya Spring Polish Alternatives Apple (green), Happi (bright pink), Erika (milky pink peach), Julie (lavender)
Apple is a Luminous yellow-toned apple green packed with gold metallic sparkle. A dimensional green that’s clean and bright. Happi is a Pink metallic duochrome. A frosty hint of gold creates a unique peachy-pink. Erika is a soft, girly pale baby pink with lots of fine gold shimmer. A work appropriate soft pink with a shimmery twist. Juile is a full-coverage, soft, wisteria purple metallic (no longer sold on Zoya’s website)
Zoya Spring Alternative Polishes swatched: Erika, Julie, Happi, Apple
I sampled these each on a nail and it looked happy and fun but some great 2-color combos for nail art would be:
☼ Erika & Julie ☼ Happi & Apple ☼ Julie & Happi ☼
Zoya Julie, Erika, Apple, Happi, Julie swatched on paper in sunlight
I know I don’t have model-nails/hands like some of you! I did take these photos in sunlight and the colors on my screen are pretty true. They all wore exactly like they look in the bottle with 2 coats over one coat of Zoya’s Get Even Ridge-filling basecoat (which is great BTW) so if you see them in person be assured that what you see is what you get with these!
I thought I’d get a little artsy and make you a rainbow for spring 🙂
I hope the flowers will be blooming soon wherever you are!
My first week back to the land of the living has been busy and I’m so thankful!! If you’ve read my previous posts from the 18th and the 28th, you’ll know that I’ve been feeling b l a h for quite a while, so getting some pep back in my step feels like a big deal! I wish I knew what exactly to attribute it to as I have been eating a little better, taking an herbal supplement, and spring has finally graced our hillsides with warm breezes, but I like to think it’s because my Shoulder Angel has been looking out for me ♥
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Our new furry babies: Fancy , Luna , and Buttercup the guinea pigs.
Enchanted Daisy 