Topshoppin' [Haul]

Some new pieces I found in the Topshop sale, one of the benefits of living in the opposite pond :P But boy, I didn't realise how pink everything was until now! O_o

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New in: Home Decor ft. Daiso!

I've been a bit of a home decor monster lately, painstakingly perusing numerous websites to spruce up my living space. My home is my base, and I really want it to reflect and inspire me. 

The other day I found out about Daiso and that a few had opened in Sydney! Daiso is dubbed the "100 yen" store in Japan, as everything inside is 100 yen. 100 yen is roughly $1 in Australia, but of course, being Australia, it has been marked up to $2.80 (more thoughts on this later..). So yesterday I trekked up to Chatswood Daiso before uni, and Ikea afterwards and these were the items I scored..

At Daiso, I picked up some cute little fruit plates and a heart one which I thought would be adorable as tealight holders. I also was curious about the eyelash curler since $2.80 was a very bargainous price. Don't recommend these. I tried them today an they do feel very cheap and rather than curling my lashes, they bent them 90 degree up! It didn't even help my lashes stay curled after mascara. I didn't go for much more since at $2.80, some things felt like a rip off and are more expensive than our normal dollar stores. The range was nice and I think if you're looking for utensils and what not it's a possible option but at that price point it doesn't really invoke a shopping spree as I imagine it would in Japan or the States where the price is $1.50. I think it should have been priced at $2 or $2.20 for the Australian market, I would be happy with that price.

I also had a quick look around at Ikea. I ended up with the kvarna table lamp for $8 which wasn't too bad (is it like 45 cents in the states though? lol) and the infamous white pot plant holder. I really didn't plan on that one but when I saw the small potted plant inside the white one, I thought it was too cute a combo to miss.

(can't wait to keep decorating this little spot..) 

I also threw in some bunting in the pictures as I ordered them off ebay recently. Am currently trying to make work in my room, it's not working...

So there it is, more things I've been picking up! I'm on a bit of a roll, there probably is more coming..

Do you have any home places you like shopping at? Do share! :)

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First Beauty Emporium (Mini!) Haul

So a crazy day back in April, Beauty Emporium had a 50% off off on their entire site for 24 hours. Yes, the entire site.  I had never seen a place offer that before and so even miss careful-shopper me placed an order quick smart. It's a UK based website that offers an unusual range of brands with many organic brands such as Trilogy and Priti, to mainstream brands like NYX. I like that it offers harder to find brands and am slightly kicking myself that I didn't pick up more, though this is quite a lot for a very slow shopper like myself. 

The first thing I was all over was Wild About Beauty, a makeup brand that includes lots of natural ingredients mixed in with some chemicals. I find that the ingredients can vary across products so more greenie eyes may scoff. I decided to pick up the Smooth Cover Concealer Kit, which is a duo concealer with a setting powder and the Ultra Dewy Creme Blush in 03 Phoebe, both of which had ingredients lists I was happy with. I'm planning a more in-depth post on these soon as there isn't much written about them.

For skincare, it was a great time to try something high-end on the cheap and a brand I've never heard of and is therefore harder to source. I went for the Sophyto Super Skin Concentrate which was featured in my last pamper post, and Cupcake Organic's Frankincense and Orange Day Cream as frankincense always seems to agree with me. I'm planning on some reviews on these soon too.

I was really impressed with the service from Beauty Emporium, the package came much quicker than expected (roughly a week-1 1/2 weeks) and was nicely wrapped. They also included their shopping bag which made it a more luxe experience, as if I had actually just gone shopping. I shop online mostly so it was nice to feel that way (sad). I definitely recommend this site and definitely sign up to get their offers, as they are clearly very good ones!  Now if only they offered free shipping.. Am I starting to ask for too much?

x mai-anne

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Poppin' My Nars Cherry (Haul)

So somehow, I went a little cray cray and got 3 little Nars packages in the past week or so. I didn't mean to gather a mini haul, timed offers and finds meant that it happened all at once.. I swear..

Nars is one of those overly raved brands and the makeup noob in me has been wanting to try. It doesn't have the best ingredients so I put it off for awhile, but I appreciate that it is cruelty free (though owned by a larger company, but more thoughts on this topic later) and I'm slowly starting to move towards cruelty free brands and so it made me more keen to try Nars.

After much debate, I finally picked a shade of the Sheer Glow Foundation, deciding on Deauville as winter is coming. I love the finish of this foundation though I do think it largely depends on the skincare beforehand.  The colour is quite neutral one (with slight yellow leanings) and I'm starting to find neutral-yellow undertones suit me well.  A weekend 10% off Nars offer at HqHair.com paved the way for me to finally purchase the powder blush in Luster, which was the blush I have wanted the most from Nars (highly recommend Hqhair now by the way). Such a gorgeous shimmery, light apricot shade that reminds me of autumn leaves. Continuing on the autumn theme, I randomly saw the blush in Mounia on eBay and I thought it was too good an offer to pass up.  I ended up winning it for around $27 which wasn't too bad (and cheaper than US retail anyway :D). I first heard about this blush from MissGlamorazzi and was looking for a plummy blush for autumn. I have worn it once and well, it is beautiful.  It's my first deeper coloured blush and it doesn't dull the skin at all, it does quite the opposite - giving that just-out-from-the-snow flush even on my light-medium skintone. sigh.

Nars is quite funny with their ingredients. The liquid products seem to score well on cosdna.com whilst their powder products are filled with things that may make one a bit queasy - the opposite of most mainstream brands I find! 

What are your top recommendations from Nars? Whilst I'm hoping to not go too crazy I am rather curious.. *slaps hand*

:P mai-anne

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Some Opshop finds

I love going op shopping (that's charity shoping to UK folks and thrifting for the US!).  I'm not very good at it yet but I love it when something hits my eyes and it's something I don't usually get to see in regular shops. I went on Monday with a friend who is a vintage clothing hunter and designer, so she can spot authentic vintage pieces and inspect the quality of the make so I always feel safe making choices around her! 

  Here are my latest finds:

This fabric just caught my eye and I had to try it on. It's actually in a bomber jacket style, but oddly enough the bottom section is sewn all the way through so you put it on like a jumper.. another picture here to show that would've been nice hey.. but I love this and the fabric reminds me of the floral Zara jacket.

I love storage. I love boxes, drawers, containers.. yes, I live an exciting life, I know. I recently lost an ebay auction on a set of wooden drawers/box ($30 was just pushing it) but all is forgotten now that I have found this miniature cabinet for $2 *whoop whoop*.  The little floral trinket box was just too precious so I picket this up on an earlier opshop browse. Currently storing nothing, haha.

And look at this!

I am from the Babysitters' Club generation and damn proud of it! This is from the original edition which is the one I am more familiar with so it means even more. Some annoying tyke drew themselves on it but otherwise it looks like it is still in good condition! Not sure what the game is about but I dun care.. this is a keeper! And found at the dear price of $2, yes!

Have you found any cool finds at the opshop lately?

x mai-anne

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I have an iherb confession to make.. | Blogmas Day 4 (Post #7)

So as the title says, I have a confession to make. I just had a count of how many orders I've made at iherb this year, and this is my 10th one! How did I manage to rack up so many?! I guess I buy everything under the sun from iherb, and it's become quite a go to for so many of my beauty and personal care needs (plus not every order is huge.. :D ).  I've bought so many skincare, bodycare, haircare and personal care items from here. Not to mention vitamins (which need constant restocking), makeup, makeup brushes, presents (my mum loves her skincare) and even tea. It's really become my little green supermarket, and since you can more easily count your orders than trips to the supermarket, it seems like a lot! Plus, American pricing... :D

I ordered all these items during the Black Friday weekend and got an extra 10% off each item so this all totaled to $62.48 USD so I think it's quite bargainous. Here is a quick rundown of what I chose:

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Coupon Haul! | Blogmas Day One (Post #2)

Coupon / sale times, are the only times I shop in Australia.  It's not that I don't want to support the Aussie economy, but that I hate supporting inflated prices in Australia. Coupon time is the only time I can buy in a store and get as close to the US price as possible. So here are some of the things I picked up a few weeks ago (I had been meaning to post this up earlier *sheepish grin*).

I was debating between MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle or the Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Superb. I've wanted Soft and Gentle for ages and like starting with permanent products first but Superb looked beautiful and unique. Mineralize Skinfinishes retail for $47 in Australia, making it one of the less marked up products (a sad 60% mark up from the US price) and I had a $20 Myer voucher.  I decided to shop on the night of Myer's Christmas event which included a 10% off discount which would make either product a cool $22.30. Win!  After deciding on Superb since it was LE, I was saddened when it was already out of stock when I got there.  I decided to just buy Soft and Gentle instead of hunting Superb down at other retailers.  A sad story, but this is an amazing product nonetheless (and hopefully Superb will be re-promoted, soon!)

Priceline was having a 2 for 1 sale on Revlon lip products which is a deal I don't think I've ever seen.  Coupled with a $5 priceline coupon and $2 left on a Westfield gift card I left with an even better deal.  I picked up 2 lip butters in Tutti Fruity and Peach Parfait (love) and 2 Kissable Lip Balm Stains in Honey and Romantic, which was stupid since I've had Charm on my wishlist and forgot! These were a bit of a junkfood makeup purchase, but I'm still learning what lip colours work with me so I'm going with what I can swatch in real life. Word of warning, the Priceline cashiers will charge you by the top price of the two products, so I got charged for two lip butters, retailing at $22, instead of $22 and $18 (the price of the lipstains) which was what I thought would be the price purchased. *doh!*

I just picked up these two cute candles from Sportsgirl. I thought these were adorable and assumed they were paraffin candles when I picked them up to look at, but to my surprise, these are soy candles! I was so happy and proud that a commerical Australian retailer sold soy candles that I picked up two and almost a third. These were on sale, down from $9.95 to $4.95. I also bought them at a Westfields shopping event, so these were a further 15% off (that was a lucky coincident though!) :D I will never buy paraffin candles, I think it's genuinely dangerous to use them as they can be inhaled - that's the easiest passage to our brain.

here is a blurry pic of the ingredients. you're welcome.

So there you have it! My little cheapass haul! Have you found any bargainous bargains lately? :)

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