Stilazzi’s Four Weeks of Christmas Sale – Week 2

I recently got this email from Stilazzi and I love how it goes!

On the second week of Christmas, Stilazzi gave to me…

…heavily discounted makeup brushes and some awesome beauty tools for freeeeee!

Right now, Stilazzi is running a promotion from Monday, December 5th, 2011 – Sunday, December 11th, 2011, for 40% discount on ALL Stilazzi makeup brushes! In addition to that, every order with $50 or more in brush purchases also gets some free beauty tools! Nail clippers, cuticle pushers, cuticle nippers, tweezers, scissors, etc.

Promo Rules
All you need to do is spend $50 or more on brushes and you will receive your free beauty tool. There are no promo codes to redeem 40% makeup brush discount. The price you see is the pre-discount price. Once you log in, it should show the discounted price.

If you are a Pro MUA, go to http://stilazzi.com/register.aspx and register for an account, then email them anything showing you work in the industry and they will flip the account to Pro for you, and you will get up to 40% off everything everyday!

*No affiliation with Stilazzi

2nd Project 13 Pan Completion

So I embarked on another project pan. It’s unsuccessful in the sense that I didn’t stop shopping when I was doing this project pan. But it did help me realize how much I had & that in itself was a deterrent to more shopping! Here’s some pictures & my thoughts on the stuff I finished

DHC Cleansing Oil (Olive Oil)

Definitely one of the cleansing oils I return to again & again. I go between this & Shu Uemura’s cleansing oil. I love the scent of Shu Uemura but like the heavier texture of DHC better I already have a back up ready but I’m going to use my 450mL bottle of Shu Uemura first!

Allie SPF 50+ Sunscreen (Kanebo)

When I just got this, my first reaction is that this is tiny!!! There’s no indication on the bottle but I suspect this is a 1oz/ 30mL bottle. This is typical of Asian sunscreens in that it is milky and yet dries to a powder finish. I am contemplating rebuying it but I got this off Sasa.com. As such, I’m wary about how ‘fresh’ this is. As you know, the age of a sunscreen is important. Once over 1 to 1.5 years, the sunscreen protective properties is almost gone. Instead I’m back to finishing my Shiseido SPF 55 lotion.

L’Oreal EverStrong Sulfate-Free Shampoo

I went on this hair spree & this was one of the shampoo that I ended up getting. I have to admit that I love the scent! As for it strengthening & bodifying? I didn’t really see a major difference in my hair. Would I rebuy? Maybe yes, for the scent!

Henri Bendel New York – Jasmine & Tuberose Body Lotion

Why oh why do they discontinue the best stuff? This is my go to lotion when I want to smell like a million dollars woman! I love the strong jasmine scent & how it is sweet & yet not cloying. I love this so much that I went on ebay to get me the fragrance as well! Will review that in another post.

Lucas’ Papaw Ointment

This rich ointment is touted to be this amazing ointment that’s made from fermented papaya. It’s supposed to help anything from boils, rash, wounds, insect bites, nappy rash & so on. I use this as a very rich night cream for my hands & feet. Did it do anything? I didn’t notice a major difference but my heels seem less cracked with regular application of this ointment. Will I rebuy? Doubtful as this is pretty hard to get (produced in Australia) & the results is not worth the cost & effort for me

Tom’s of Maine Simply White Toothbrush – Clean Mint

This toothpaste is honestly my HG (holy grail). I love how this toothpaste leaves me with a clean & fresh feeling. After I started using this, Colgate just isn’t the same after all. Plus this is supposed to be better for your teeth as it’s natural

Lush Sexy Peel Soap

Lush touts this as “A wash with Sexy Peel soap will bring you back for breakfast. Fresh lemon, grapefruit and lime juice wash away sleepiness and get you breathing in revitalising fruitiness.” It’s definitely interesting as the soap has peels spread throughout the soap so it has a gritty feel when you use it The scent is refreshing but I much prefer Lush Karma soap.

Bliss Lemon & Sage Body Butter

This is simply heavenly! Definitely one of my favorite body lotions with a divine scent! You can see that I finished my 14 oz tube. A definite rebuy!

Asience Deep Nourish Conditioner

My mom got this for me from Asia. It’s very moisturizing and I love how my hair looks after using it. However I am working on finishing my Terax conditioner. Otherwise this is a definite rebuy!

Shiseido Facial Cotton

This is my holy grail cottons! Love love love how soft yet luxurious yet thick this is! I stock up on this whenever there’s a sale!

CloseUp Toothpaste

Another Asian product! This is a toothpaste from Indonesia and it’s simply minty fresh! However I already found my HG toothpaste (see above) so it’s not a rebuy for me

DHC Skin Softener

Used a stock picture as I re-used my bottle before taking pictures Loving this softener! It doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin and takes the remains of whatever dirt’s left. I am definitely getting another bottle once I use up my Shiseido softener

Reviving a dried out gel eyeliner using Argan Oil

Someone asked me about this & I figured I’ll make a quick tutorial

Sometimes, despite our best efforts (making sure the lid is tight, storing it upside down), the liner still dries out fast. I had this problem with Makeup Forever (MUFE), Stila, Physician’s Formula (PF), etc. So what to do? Most reviving tutorials online recommend using glycerin, distilled water or eye drops to revive your dried up liner. Me? I got this amazing tip from my sensei, Olivia142 (read her wonderful blog here)

The tip? It’s

Use Argan oil.

This is a picture of my dried our Stila smudgepot. See how the edges have peeled away & it looks like a black cake?

Add a few drops of argan oil. I buy mine from lotioncrafters. It’s $5.50 for 0.5 oz of virgin organic argan oil (buy here). You can get those elsewhere as well but make sure it’s 100% pure argan oil.

Mixing it. I use a clean orange stick. I mix & swatch. If I’m not satisfied with the creaminess, I add 1 more drop of argan oil and mix. Remember, less is more! Better to start with less and add more.

Final product. It’s not pretty

I revived another liner & you can see the difference for yourself. I personally prefer using the argan oil over glycerin as it makes it a much smoother cream.

Again I might be biased but I think the mixture with argan oil seems more intense.

Here’s the end of the tutorial. I hope this helps!

P.S. You can do this with creme shadows as well.

*Not affiliated with any companies and all products were purchased by me.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! There are plenty of sales going on and I hope you managed to take advantage of some of them.

One of the gems of advice I got over this holiday is this.

It’s better to buy 1 quality item than 10 cheap items.

Cheap items served me well when I was in college. But I often found that it breaks down fast. Over time, I realized that by spending more on a single quality piece, I was saving money over the long run and saving our planet by not filling our landfills (with broken appliances, clothes, etc).

I also got inspired to purge 41 items of clothing & 3 books!

Trish McEvoy & Stilazzi Sale

2 Sales that I want to share with you

Trish McEvoy

20% off & free shipping on all orders with code TMTHANKS

* Not valid on fragrances or fragrances collections

* Valid through 11/28/11 (11.59pm EST)

* Only at TrishMcEvoy.com

Stilazzi

50% off everything! No code needed.

* Valid from 11/24/11 to 11/28/11

* Only at stilazzi.com

Enjoy~

Simplifying my phone

Although I’m done with my 31 days of simplifying my life, I’m still trying to do bits and pieces in my everyday living.

Today I tackled my phone. I started with the applications on my iphone. Anything that I haven’t touched in the past 3 months got deleted.

Next was my contacts list. This might sound ruthless but people on my phone list that I have not talked to in the last 3 years got seriously evaluated. Those friendships that I wanted to rekindle, I sent them a text message or added them to my list of friends to call. Those that I didn’t, well… those got deleted.

Now my phone list is much cleaner and filled with people whom I want to interact with

Physician’s Formula Happy Boosters Blush (Natural) Repressing Tutorial

My Physician’s Formula Happy Boosters Blush in Natural suffered a fall on my hard wood floor and this is the result

I decided to repress it as I don’t like loose blushes.

I started by emptying it out on a sheet of aluminum foil.

Then I started crushing the bits with a spoon.

I got it into a fine mixture. As you can see it is clumping in a sheet when I pressed it flat. This indicated to me that this blush might have binders in it already. Nonetheless I decided to add binders just in case it didn’t.

I used MyMix clear binder (from tkb trading).

Added about 2-3 drops.

I added 91% alcohol & starting mixing with my spoon until I got a paste.

I added 91% alcohol to coat the bottom of the pan.

Then I smooshed the paste into the pan. I let it dry & did a few pressed with my fingers & a kitchen towel.

Final product

Heavy swatch on left, light swatch on right.

My thoughts: I could have skipped the binder. I think by adding the binder, it made the blush have a almost powder/creme like texture. It also made it harder to get the color to show on me. Then again it might be the perfect natural blush for fairer complexions

* Blush was purchased by me

* Not affiliated with Physicians Formula

Temptu Pro 50% Off Sale

Tis the season of sales so be strong if you’re on the minimalist path!

50% Off all Temptu Pro products in stock at cameareadycosmetics for one day only. Sale starts at 10am Pacific Coast time on Tuesday November 15th 2011. The sale ends November 16th 2011 at 10am. No code needed.

LINK TO SALE

Olivia142 has done some amazing reviews on her blog

LINK TO TEMPTU REVIEWS

Have fun!

*Not affiliated with CRC

NARS $50 for $80 of Cosmetics and Makeup Application

Gilt City has a deal today for $50 for $80 worth of credit to use online at narscosmetics.com.

NARS Deal

It’s a great deal & perfect for picking up the holiday collections. If you’re new to Gilt City, I can email you an invitation and you’ll get 20% off your first purchase! Or you can sign up using this LINK.

Fine print:

Voucher must be redeemed in full in one purchase.

Redeem by February 14, 2012

Have fun shopping for Christmas gifts!

Day 31 of simplifying my life – End of series

Wow! It’s been 31 days? I hope you have been enjoying reading this series. I definitely had fun in this journey of self discovery

To end, I want to leave you with these tips.

1. Omit needless things. Notice this doesn’t say to omit everything. Just needless things.

2. Identify the essential. What’s most important to you? What makes you happy? What will have the highest impact on your life, your family, your career?

3. Make everything count. Whatever you do or keep in your life, make it worthy of keeping. Make it really count.

4. Fill your life with joy. Don’t just empty your life. Put something wonderful in it.

5. Finally, edit, edit and edit. Minimalism isn’t an end point. It’s a constant process of editing, revisiting, editing some more.

Have fun!