Hi Everyone!

Hi there~

I am new to this blog. I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is BreAnn, I live in the Toronto area. I'm married with two kids: his son is 16 and my daughter is 9. We also have a Boston Terrier named Oreo. My daughter and I moved up here to be with my husband and his son in April of 2008, from California.

I decided this week that after not wanting to take pics of my stash that well I have way too much and shouldn't have a need to buy anything new for a long, long time. I have a lot of makeup, hair care and skin care products. Thanks to MUA. =)

I know that a no-buy or an only buy what I run out of will be hard, but with support from others, it can be easier.

Thank you for letting me join.

UPDATE ~~ Where all my girls at??

*blah*

MY DH asked, "What? Does your vagina itch?"

ME: No its just like a high end primer that fills in the pores on your face.

DH: Oh so you can use it on your face but if you vagina itches you can use it there too?


WOW!! What a PITA. Well, he paid for my Vagina Itch Cream anyways. LOL



Well, its official I am going to buy the chaffing gel. Glad I have a 15% off F&F for Walgreens. Yeah! I said it... I am HAULING from Walgreens LOL.

BUT I have to get motivated to actually do it before the coupon is no good anymore. (not sure its gonna happen :D)

Well I thought I would share a little of what I got from a fellow MUA'er in a huge RAOK package. There were tons of things for my mom in there too. Fndt, brow powder, and even a great fndt brush!!!

My little DD takes all the pink stuff too. It was to be expected. :/

well I did get to keep this little NYC Trio (highlight, brown, suede)



Its really great for a "NAH, I dont really have MU on" look. LOL So here is my barely there FOTD. I dedicate this look to Justin11 who has all this MU so you CAN'T see it.





FACE
Revlon Colorstay Fndt
(random pressed powder I received in the package too)
MAC Blushbaby blush
Rev MSF dupe in Sunkissed
NYC Browser in Brunette

EYES
Rev Petal Pink cream e/s quad (lightest color)
NYX Highlight over whole eye (lash to brow)
NYX Brown in the crease
ELF WP Mascara in blk

LIPS
Rev matte l/s in All About Mauve (or something with MAUVE in it LOL)
L'Oreal JuiceColour l/g in Bubble Gum

Just a quickie

Ladies! If you claimed any stuff from my RAOK thingie, PM me your mailing address and name through MUA (username: Kenoki). I'm going to try and get'm out this weekend.

OK back to the subject of e/s and mu LOL

A wonderful girl from MUA RAOK'd me some NYX e/s because she cant make them 'work'. I keep telling her to reach outside her comfort zone but its not working.

Anyways here are the two colors and now I cannot remember their names. :D


And this is my FOTD for today!! Now I am forcing myself to figure out how to do a 'winged liner'. I am assuming I will NEVER learn if I never try right. So last 3 days I have flicked my liner and tried to make sure it look right and even. Today was a failure on the even part. :(



FACE
Revlon CS fndt
NYC loose powder
MAC Blushbaby
Rev MSF dupe in Sunkissed (iirc)
NYC Browser in brunette

EYES
MAC Rubenesque paint pot
2 NYX e/s posted above
MAC Carbon in the outer v (but not blended that well)
WnW gel liner in blk
ELF wp mascara in blk

LIPS
nothing cause this is after I ran all my errands today

Gingitsune's rec: Book on finances by Suze Orman

Another book? Yes! After reading some of the posts & emails I decided to plug this book. A few of you might have seen her show or read her books before. Suze Orman is a interesting personality. She definitely advocates tough love & can be seen as a bish at times (I personally ♥ her!).

The book I am recommending is "Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control your Destiny" by Suze Orman. Many women, myself included, can be utterly successful women in our chosen field yet suck at finances for ourselves. While we might have a DBF, DH to do it for us, we really NEED to know how to do this for yourselves! You never know what might happen in the future where you might be in a position that you would have to be the one doing the finances.

This book has a to do format. Suze advocates you doing the list at the end of each chapter before moving on to read the next chapter.

You can get this at Amazon for $9.98 right now. Another alternative is to check out this place. www.paperbackswap.com. It's a website for swapping books. I currently added this book to my WL so I can get extras to send to some of you who can't afford this but would want to read this.

I urge you please to perhaps go to your local library to borrow this book. I hope it'll help you as much as it did for me.

Much love,
Joy (aka Gingitsune)

Balancing Act

Hi all!

I'm Rivoli and I'm looking for some balance.  I've found that it's easy for me to justify a relatively "small" purchase but that, over time, I've accumulated way more than I really need.  Also, I feel like if I put that money aside, I could be saving for something that I'd really use.  

I occasionally purge my stash and give some to my daughter, who's makeup-wearing age.  I feel so good every time I do this, I realize it's like a burden being lifted.  It makes me feel good to know that someone's going to give this some love and use it to pan.  That's why I starting to think that my spending is really out of balance.  I don't need to spend $10 or more on a new palette when I have plenty of other eyeshadows already.  Plus, if I go several months I'll be able to accumulate enough for new clothes, shoes and accessories.   It seems totally worth the effort!

My biggest temptation is going into stores, MUA and like others have mentioned those "LE's" that I'm afraid to miss out on.  How do you deal with letting the "LE fever" go?

Thanks to all! I'm loving all your posts!

Money Issues

Time to get all venty and whiny on you guys...but I feel like you'll understand me.

When I am depressed, I shop. And I've been depressed a lot lately! And I've racked up credit card debt. Oy. Not just on buying makeup, also on important things like, oh food and fuel for my car, but the Visa bill doesn't care what you spent the money on now does it? I feel comfortable sharing that with you guys since a lot of us are in the same boat.

My superboring job cut my salary by 20% and has made it clear no new hires for a looooooooooong time so my chances of getting promoted are virtually nil. On top of that I don't really want to be here in the first place so I'm looking for a new job that I don't hate in an industry that isn't superboring (I work in real estate. ew.) I'm invisible here. No one really acknowledges the work I do or my talents/skills, and I'm not challenged. My financial situation is now about where it was when I was 19 and living alone in a studio apartment, except now I'm about to be 23 and I am supporting my boyfriend and I. He got laid off from his job and we live together. He recently got a new job but so far they are only able to give him about 4 hours a week.

I'm just so tired of stressing about money and work and want to move on with my life. I have bigger goals than scrounging my spare change for milk, you know? I'm so frustrated with the job search, too. Unemployment is still staggering out here in CA, about 12% in my area, but I've never had such a lack of response to job applications. I haven't even gotten very many phonecalls. Talk about discouraging.

And then there's makeup. Oh, makeup. It makes me so happy. It gives me something to look forward to and be creative with. And obtaining the latest LE whatever gives me such a high.

My boyfriend and I have casually discussed getting married. But we know we can't/shouldn't until our financial situation is more stable and his work situation pans out. I just want this terrible time to be over with so we can get on with our lives and live happily ever after. :P

OH NO!

I hauled. I was in that silly place where they are clearing up chantecaille and lola stuff, so I bought 2 lola brushes reduced from 25 to 5 euro! and I also got a chantecialle palette, which was reduced over 50% it was 35 euro only, I couldn't resist :(.
May be I should set up more realistic goal of 100 a month.

My dd is sick today

My littlest is sooo sick today BLAH!!! She has a stomach bug and I feel so bad for her.

Well I had to go to the store and get her some ginger ale and figured it was a good excuse to put on some MU?? LMAO ~ Like anyone at walmart really cared.

so here is my FOTD for the day and a link to my swatches of said palette.

Swatches of the NYX Smoky Palette






FACE
Rev CS Fndt
NYC Loose powder
NYX Dusty Rose blush
NYC Browser in brunette

EYES
MAC Soft Ochre paint pot
3 e/s from the NYX Smoky palette
WnW Blk gel liner
E.L.F. wp mascara in blk

LIPS
MAC l/g but I forget the name

Boredom Hauls

Ugh...

It's Aly here (alyheartsyou). Since I have a blogger profile I don't think it'll let me post as anything but GlossMenagerieDotCom haha...oh well. Just know that it's me. ;)

I haul when I'm bored. Which unfortunately is all the time since I have a really. boring. job. Hauling gives me something to do, and when it's online, something to look forward to being delivered.

Any tips for kicking that habit?

Oh, and I confess...I bought something today. But it was a usb cable for my camera lol...I can make YT videos with it woohoo.

eyeshadow challenge!

Eyes:
Anastasia Highlighting brow kit
Urban Decay primer in Sin
MAC Top Hat e/s (used as a light leyeiner on top lid w/eyeliner brush)
MAC Lotusland e/s (crease colour)
MAC Kitschmas pigment (lid color after e/s is applied)
MAC Feline e/l (bottom lid and a bit of inner top lid)
MAC Crystal Avalanche e/s (inner corners)
Urban Decay e/l in Meltdown (inner corners)
Laura Mercier mascara in Black

I never use Top Hat or the UD e/l. Kitschmas & Lotusland is rare. So I broke out some good e/s to make use of :D

I need to try to take some better eye pics! I'll try to take some this weekend when I do my eye m/u more elaborate ;)

Hey Girls... Just saw this posted on the MU board

Its a free site for budgeting your money. Seems pretty cool.

I think I might show this to my DH and see if he can agree to some kind of REAL budget. LOL

ktb8293 ~OK here is my eyeshadow stash ~

No some of its not there and some of its already gone... but its a pretty good representation of my collection.

If you have any questions let me know.

Here is a Dior Quint I received as a extra a few wks ago. I havent worn it out yet ~ but I did play with the colors a little.






For Catherine:

This is MAC Budding Beauty and Carbon e/s

Krystal's eyeshadows

I apologize in advance for the crappy photos...hence the main reason why i rarely do FOTD's lol. Before that, here are my answers to the previous post:

1. 23
2. dc metro area...gahhh i hate it here! thinking of either moving back to nyc or down south...maybe HOUSTON ;o)
3. physical therapy aide at a local hospital/BE BA/soon to be master's student
4. nope
5. by mac standards, i'm NC50. i have brown eyes, and black hair, texture is coarse/natural (don't use relaxers and other chemical straightening agents)
6. in my free time i like to knit, listen to music, bake, oh and travel to nyc whenever i get a chance lol. love sports too
7. hard working, yet lazy, determined, considerate, and loyal

primers and color bases (mac, revlon, nyx, ud, be):



be e/s:



hip e/s:




mac e/s (depotted into elf quads):



random e/s singles (lancome, jesse's girl, ulta, milani)


trios and palettes (stila, nyx, be, revlon, carlo di roma-RAOK from an muaer, wnw, jordana, maybelline, milani):



in terms of storage, i've managed to shove everything in a 3 drawer thing on my vanity, but in fear of it falling over and things getting ruined, i'm gonna get one of those 3 drawer storage bins that i can place next to my vanity.

congrats on the daycare job Kat! wahhh i missed out on the RAOK's! It's ok I'll live lol. I have some NYX trios and polishes (mostly drugstore) that haven't moved in the swap circuit, so I think I may post that on here this week if anyone wants to try those.

Green Looks for Happy Hippo

HEY THERE ARE ONLY PICS OF MY FACE??? No other sharers??

this first look with with NYX Wildfire and MAC Humid



MAC Soft Ochre paintpot, ULTA Naked e/s, Estee Lauder Forest Green liner, MAC Humid e/s(cut crease attempt)




pale shimmer gold (IDK what it was/I think ULTA LOL) and Humid



and lastly a Smoky Eye with Humid and pigtails (please ignore)

getting to know you?

I don't know about you, but I am loving the company of this blog and getting to know everybody, so I hope you don't mind I put few questions. I am not going to ask for real names, and private details, and will answer them myself.
so
1. Age?
2. Where do you live?
3. Occupation ?
4. Kids?
5. Skintone, hair, eyes?
6. Other Hobbies?
7. 5 words that can best describe you?

The Great (small) Purge

Good evening to ya! Hope every one is having a great weekend. I have been relaxing, hanging with the dogs, and watching silly movies like Babe all day. In a little while I may take photos of my small e/s stash for the challenge. But first! The Great Purge.

I love to toss things, but some items I just can't trash. I'm not much of a swapper, either. So I was thinking that I would post a few items I have here and if any of you want them, you can just let me know! There will probably be a couple of glossimers (used 2 or 3 times -- I don't have cooties, I promise) and some lipsticks. Perhaps there will be something you've wanted to try for awhile, but didn't want to break your low-buy for. So keep an eye out, and hopefully you can help me decrease my stash by a lil'! Here are some items I'd be glad to RAOK to a new home. If you live in the U.S. and see something/a few things here that you've been wanting to try (but don't want to break your no-buy for) or think you can use -- just let me know in the comments (I'll get your address later by e-mail). Oh, FYI: I do have 2 dogs and a cat. Although they don't chill on my makeup, because that would just be rude.

*****C'EST FINIS!*****
***NO MAS!***

I got the job and DH hauled me a little Biglots finds

It was under $15.00 before taxes... I am really curious to try them out and so glad that he really listens to me when I talk about what I like and admire from afar.

I am sure all the groceries he bought there outweighed his MU hauling. :D

It will totally be nice to get some more $$ into the house and get the kids a little more leisure $ for movies and McDonalds. We are all relieved to say the least.

Thanks for looking.

My Haul!

I went shopping (sales) today. And I am So happy with myself. I am shocked that I spend for a single eye shadows so much money, that they can buy me a pair of sandals (flip flops) in the sales (it was 80% sale).
So I got 3 pair of sandals, 2 everyday casual shoes from my favourite brand (they are so comfortable!). I also got two pairs of work suit trousers (boring black and pin stripe). I also got conditioner and mousse, which are my hg and I don’t have low buy for, as I buy only when I run out.
Then, I got the guerlain kohl on sale for £9.50, which is this week limit.
I was like – O, I will just get the bobbi brown metallic shadow of golden peach, and went and asked for it on the counter, but the FIRE ALARM went off and the SA said we have to evacuate the building immediately. So I went off, and with little help of the faith I sticked to my makeup low buy.
I am very happy with my haul today:)

Stash Challenge of the Week... eyeshadows

OK since someone has already started with the e/s.... I guess we can do that. I was hoping to save those for last 'cause I have mostly e/s.

So girls get those cameras out and snap pics of all your e/s.

Talk about any of the following:

1. How you organize it?
2. Do you like to depot or leave in the original packaging?
3. What are your prerequisites for choosing colors?
4. What are your favorites??

etc. etc. etc.

Hope everyone is doing well with their no/low buys last week.

My FOTD today for my interview at a local daycare that my daughter can attend at the same time.



FACE
Monistat chaffing gel (again)
Rev CS Fndt
NYC loose powder
MAC Blushbaby blush
Guerlain Mythic ballz
NYC Browser in brunette (and I wish I could have both brows happy at the same time LOL)

EYES
UDPP
MAC Soft Ochre paint pot
Rev matte e/s in Vintage Lace for highlight
Rev matte e/s in Peach Sorbet from lashes to highlight
MAC Quarry e/s for crease
Rimmel soft kohl in Chianti smudged into lashes (then buffed in Quarry onto bottom lashes too)
Full n Soft Mascara in blk

LIPS
MAC Rose gold pigment in clear gloss.

Hippo's eye shadow stash and storage

My vanity, my eye shadow singles go to the middle left drawer, palette bottom left

The upper level goes in the first drower, chantecaille shadows, and one bb (but I will end up making a palette of the bb. Lower drower - mac eye shadows and pigments. I have 30 mac shades (11 singles, 15 palette, 4 palette) and I am not buying anymore. And a pigment - Tan, it's lovely, but rearly gets used. (when taking the pics I got rid of few old things) They all get stored in my vanity, eye shadow singles drower. Chanel singles, BB cream shadow (up for swap, I hate how dry and impossible to blend is), paintpots (paintery gets used nearly every day), ysl cream and duwop smoke duo.

All of my palettes (palettes section of my vanity, I aslo have a chanel quad - beige velours, and clinique pink chocolate, but I may give them to my cousin as I don't really like them to be honest)
The biggest waste ever was the purple custom made Laure Mercier. A single colour here is 38 $ (27euro) and end up costing me 136$ (96€) and it's totaly rubish, but cant decide what to do with it. And since I changed my hair colour, I can't really use the blue givenchy quad, so will try to swap it may be.

My most recent and rapidly growing love - chantecaille palettes. By any weird reason, I like the palette stuff way better then their singles. I really don't know why, but I think the palettes are better quality .

And last, but not least favourite definetly - Bobbi Brown. I am thinkng of making a 3 pan palette again (I have one single already)

Project 10 Pan

Hi!

I haven't really contributed anything, but mostly because I'm failing pretty intensely at this no-buy... so I decided instead of a no buy, I'm going to do a Project 10 Pan! I think it would be easier because it's not like I'm completely restricting myself from buying, I just have to use up some stuff first.

For anyone who doesn't know what Project 10 Pan is...

Project 10 Pan (originally from some YouTuber Lollipop?)

1. Use up/hit pan on any 10 products. (You can choose to include haircare/skincare/whatever as long as you're using things up!)
2. Once you hit pan on 10 things, you can purchase new items. The amount is up to you.

That's it! It's pretty simple in concept, actually.

Is anyone else interested in participating? We could check in once a month with our progress (ie. how many things we hit pan on, pictures of pan, etc).

Things I've hit pan on (pictures will be added soon!):

MAC Sunbasque

Stila Ebony

... That's it. :(

Challenge for this week! 7/20 - 7/26

This challenge should you take it, involves using stuff that you rarely use. Yes those stuff that you push to the end of your drawers cause you wonder why you got it & don't know how to make it work, etc.

I think part of helping us to stay on track is to shop our stash & also to perhaps purge some items along the way so we'll love our stash more :D & who knows, you might rediscover gems along the way!

So a proposed sequence is this, you can change it up yourself but you have to try every item once!


Mon: Foundation

Tue: Powder

Wed: Primer/& or Concealer

Thur: Eyeliner

Fri: Blush/Bronzer

Sat: Eye Shadow

Sun: Lipstick/Lip gloss


Oh! & you are welcome to use multiple rarely used items each day too! I did that with fdtn, powder, e/s & blush today! & I am rediscovering how nice the fdtn is! :D

Challenge Update!!

I think that Wednesday was primer day but I didnt even take a shower yesterday. Yeah I know YUCKY!! But it was a lazy day.

Well, today I had two choices of primers: the SK illuminating one (pictured in my fndt stash pics) and a sample of the Monistat Chaffing Gel.

SO, I am happy to say that I am really impressed with the MCG. I put it on one cheek first and waited for it set. I touched it and my skin felt smoother. WOW! So I did the rest of my face.

Fndt stayed put and didnt slide off like I was afraid. Gonna test drive it for the rest of the week and hopefully I wont break out. Wish me luck!!

here is my FOTD today



FACE
Monistat Chaffing Gel
Rev CS fndt
NYC loose powder in Natural Beige
NARS O blush
NYC browser in Brunette

EYES
UDPP
jane. aguamousse in Sand something (i can get the name if you really want)
MAC Decadence e/s (deep drk matte brown)
MAC Satin Taupe over Decadence
MAC Scant e/s for highlight and tearduct
WnW Blk gel liner
L'Oreal HiP cream liner in blk for waterline
L'Oreal Voluminous in carbon blk

LIPS
MAC Most Popular l/s

Officially disturbed

Ladies, it is official: I am disturbed. This low-buy thing was personally initiated by my recent and sudden status as an unemployed person. Now that I have all this time on my hands I'm just biding it doing stupid stuff. Today, someone on the MU board mentioned that she had tallied all of her purchases for this year, and presented that figure. I thought it would be a good (or just fiscally prudent) idea to give it a go myself. So I plopped my giant Plano Tacklebox in front of computer and I, and went to work.

I expected something like $600-$650... a lot but not eye-popping. I input all 55 items (excluding skin and haircare) into the spreadsheet and hit 'sum'...

$1,068.58. ONE THOUSAND SIXTY EIGHT DOLLARS FIFTY-EIGHT CENTS. Shit.

This whole low-buy thing has taken on new meaning. No more $40 e/s singles for moi. Please forgive me, starving children of Africa.

---

(p.s. I never thought being unemployed would be so boring. Too much time, not enough complaining about not having enough time.)

I finished a lip gloss!

I finished a lipgloss that I got March 2008, just at the start of my mua habbit! It's benefit - my people your people and it's the first lipgloss I managed to useup since then! :) YEY

OK GIRLS! Stash Talk Time...

I really want to do this because I am afraid when I see the ##'s I will be ashamed or pushed into purging more.

I just purged about 15 items and put them up for swap- but lets go thru our stash and count up how much we have of each item. We can start with an easier one first??

Fndt, concealer, powder
We can make that all ONE category. My DH is still home for the weekend and I will update with pics and numbers after he leaves.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. BTW - I have an AIM acct if you are interested in talking directly. theBigBktb LOL thats an open acct that I use and yes the name is FUNNY.

kat

kt8293 ~ OK finally got my stuff together - and IDK where my light box went to ....

I guess I will have to make a new one and do a little tutorial on it?? Things to do that distracts you from wanting MORE MU!!!

All my fndts ~ now mind you that I did not buy all this. I purchased 2 of them at the Dollar store and 2 Rev CS and 2 Rev CS as BOGOF. ( I received all the rest as RAOKs because ppl get the wrong fndt and figure I do so many weird FOTDs I could use their unwanted fndt)


My Concealers and Finishing Powders (loose)

My highlighters ~ the Rev MSF dupes and the mini Meteorites

Lastly ~ my stuff up for swap that wont GO away

Ok thats all I got for now.... I have too many fndts but I am really happy with my highlights and I use different concealers for under eye, blemishes and acne scars.

Hope you gals are still sticking to your NO/LOW Buys. I used the Sally Hansen fndt 2 days in a row and its doesnt have enough coverage on my bad skin days... but for a really natural look, its Great...

my FOTD for the day too - I even ventured outside with all that e/s on.

(if you would rather NOT see my FOTD lemme know and I wont post it again... but thought I would share my use of my random fndt and random Flirt e/s)