Monday, July 25, 2011

HUGE rave for MOO.com

I have to give a huge rave to Moo for my new labels! I ordered some for my business to use on the Ziplocs I pack my finished orders in (safety vs beauty!) and I also got some mini stickers for envelopes when I mail out things for the business. It took about 2 weeks from order to receipt but it was worth it. I have no idea how they can do variable printing like this at such a small cost.

They have discount codes frequently, so check them out.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Reviews to come: La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Le Metier de Beaute

And more! Gotta finish the testing and the photos etc.

But Ill start with a little prep on the La Mer.

Thanks to the lovely Cathy Kozeny, and my rapid-trigger on the mouse last week, I am now trying out Creme de la Mer, the Regenerating Serum and the Eye Concentrate, as well as the concealer and the powder foundation.  Nordstrom Anniversary had a special set available containing a full size jar of the creme, a half-size of the serum, and a thirdsize of eye concentrate.  I also got the tinted moisturizer (here's the review on that: didn't like it at all. too sheer, funky feeling. I felt greasy. So today I returned that after 4 solid attempts at making it happen). I have really been lusting to try this for so long, but the better part of me (aka the cheaper side of me) could not justify that. But since Id returned so much of my Anniversary sale busts, I wanted to splurge.

I am in my thirties now, quite firmly, and the area around the eyes is starting to show it. People are guessing I am in my thirties whereas before they would be shocked. Or at least lie to me.

So this product always gets raves and voted by editors--probably just because they're advertising--as one of the greatest things ever.  It's ridiculously pricey for a jar of face cream, this coming from the girl who uses Dove soap and Olay moisturizer.  But I have been dying to try it. I am curious to see how my skin takes to it.

I have been using it for only a couple days, and part of how I intruded into poor Cathy's life is because I didn't think I was doing it right. And boy am I glad I asked. Because I wasn't.  Now Ill try again "the right way". There IS a way to use this stuff to release the suspension in the cream.  The serum, which usually are not my ideal product, is slightly creamier than most, so I am curious to see if it works for me.  Apparently my eye cream was supposed to have some kind of funky lil applicator, and she was able to supply me with one.  That hopefully helps me apply this right.

I am using the set for all of my trials, but when I got the set, which I paid $250 for, if you spent $50 more (hence the other item I wanted to test mentioned above), you got a set of nice sample sizes. I figure that if I end up loving this, then good I have those for traveling.  I brought that with me today just in case I needed to return it. But she let me keep it :) And added a few more little samples. Extra bigger grin.  I also checked out the concealer, which she gave me a little sample jar of, and bought the powder foundation, in part because the color looked really good for me and that's hard to find, and I had read reviews that it was nice. She applied some of those products for me, and I agree that that powder is awesome feeling. I hope that in a few days I still like it. Because it's pricey.  I also am going to try out the concealer as well. But on its own and not over whatever I already was wearing.

So keep an eye out for reviews and photos on this stuff in the next few weeks. Like the Latisse I want to use it for a while before I give a full review. I can tell my face feels nice with the moisturizer already and concealer is going on nicer also. The serum I might resign to night time but we'll see.

Cathy, it was FABULOUS to meet you. And on her suggestion I will probably also add a Q&;A thing to this blog regarding diamonds. :)

It's the Most Won-der-ful Time of the Year! 2011 edition.

It's that time again, Nordstrom Anniversary 2011.

Well, it's slightly LESS wonderful this year than normal.   I look forward to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale every year. I save up hundreds in gift card funds to buy things at this sale.  This year was quite a disappointment to me.  Attention Nordstrom buyers:  The clothes that were available...eh. The shoes...eh.  The purses were epic failure. Just nothing exciting. And from what I noticed, especially in bags, it seems that the brands that made specific items for this sale, made them of lower quality materials and lesser workmanship than others in the line. Ill use Liebeskind as one example. The leather of the two bags offered are thin, cheap "glazed" leather. I have seen some NICE glazed leathers, these were practically pleather.  Just not nice leather. Stitching not as nice as the Mia and Gloria in their REALLY nice washed leather.  The ChloĆ© bag offered is definitely not up to the par I expect for such a brand, and such a price. It seemed to feel thinner and less impressive than the usual bag of the same name.

This year was an overall letdown for me.  I hope next year they bring it back to snuff.  If you want people in this economy to come spend, this selection ain't the way to do it.

I obtained a few pair of pants, two were nice dress pants, and two were nice KUT denim. I am on that line between plus and regular clothes, and it's frustrating to me that I am sized out of nicer lines. Like I would kill for some Paige or Citizen jeans.  But they don't really go above what a thin size 10 would wear. They show numbers that they would, but they run SO small.  With the average woman in this country being around a size 14-16 in clothing, why do so many designers have to be so exclusive to only skinny chicks? I shouldn't have to starve myself to wear cute stuff.  Michael Kors seems to get it for sure. But I cannot say that for most.

Anyway...I got a few nice things, clothing wise.  But otherwise the big purchase and "win" so far has been La Mer.  Ill do a separate post on that. But to close--I wanna say Thank you and Hi! to Cathy Kozeny.  Fantastically lovely, beautiful and knows her stuff. And we had a great time talking diamonds. :)