try and try again. Hmmm, somehow I think I screwed up that quote a bit :D
I think I'm gonna officially list "testing the limits of my AMEX on US e-tailers" as one of my hobbies. As my shoes.com order was canceled and I strongly believe the Spiegel purchase won't get through either, I decided to try my luck with drugstore.com and pay for the items that have been sitting in my cart there instead. So much for this comment about no more beauty buys, hehehe :D
As the landscape of my face is undergoing changes right now, I've been researching new products to try in my quest for control. I went to several sites and read multiple reviews before settling on the items below. I was particularly inspired by this and this articles. Yes, I am very impressionable. Oh, the Tide-To-Go stain remover pens are not beauty but they were part of the haul - I've always wanted them :D
First up, we have the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle, Anti-Blemish Cream. Yeah, that's right. It's an anti-acne AND anti-aging product. Just that alone compelled me to buy it. But I did my due diligence. I didn't rely on the article from lemondrop.com alone. In search of this product, I went to the one place I knew would be the most likely source for this hard-to-find product - drugstore.com. This isn't the first time I've gotten stuff from drugstore.com but this will be the first time I'm doing the purchasing. That's how I know that my best bet would be to look here and I was right. I found the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle, Anti-Blemish Cream and my first course of action was to read the reviews. I was mildly surprised by the general age-group that was using this cream as most were in their 40s, 50s but there were a smattering of 30-somethings in the mix as well. And the fact that the majority of reviewers were of a more advanced age, I deduced that this definitely was a product made for mature skin. I was convinced enough by the testimonials and I decided to go for it.
Next we have the Aveeno Active Naturals Postively Radiant Makeup Removing Cleanser. This is actually my current makeup remover cleanser. I first found out about it from my sis who was watching some beauty guru Youtube vlogger's haul vid and this product was mentioned. My sis got her pack-of-3 Aveeno Active Naturals Postively Radiant Makeup Removing Cleanser from Amazon.com and as she extolled the wonderful virtues of this cleanser, I managed to convince her to sell me one of hers. I have been using it every day that I'm wearing the Revlon PhotoReady foundation (which is practically all the time now) and it really does get the stuff off of one's face. I usually get away with a single pump of this foam cleanser but on the day I was wearing the Temptu airbrushed makeup, I used two pumps as the Temptu product was a bit harder to remove. Since this cleanser is getting some pretty heavy usage, I thought I might as well have a spare ready in case I run out.
Then we come to the Maybelline Lasting Drama by EyeStudio Gel Eyeliner in Charcoal 954. This item I got because I kept watching Macbarbie07's beauty how-to vids and she uses this gel eyeliner from Maybelline a lot and she looks really great. I actually selected the same hue as Macbarbie07's, which was blackest black, but as usual I have to hmmm and haw a bit before actually buying and ended up, the shade blackest black ran out of stock. Since I am adamant about not having to pay a backlog fee if I kept this item in my list of purchase (I didn't now such a thing existed!), I decided to look at the other shades in the Maybelline Lasting Drama by EyeStudio range and came across Charcoal 954. I figure its a bit of a greyish hue which I'm fine with. As long as it looks natural and blends in with my own lash colour I will be satisfied. This will be my first gel eyeliner and though I've heard they can be tricky to apply, apparently this particular one from Maybelline makes it a snap to work with. Here's hoping :)
Now I'm going to talk about the product that I was really after - Jane Iredale PurePressed Base Pressed Mineral Powder. Ok, I really wanted the other stuff too but I could have waited and gotten them some other time. I needed to get this now because at $49.50 it is a very pricey cosmetics product and I was entitled to a 20% off discount if I purchased from drugstore.com by 29/10. I had looked on numerous other sites and none were selling this mineral foundation powder by Jane Iredale for anything less than the recommended retail price. I was intrigued enough by this lemondrop.com article to go and scour the internet for this product. It's a bit hard to find as it is apparently sold mainly at spas. But if there's one site that will have it, it's drugstore.com :) So this Jane Iredale PurePressed Base Pressed Mineral Powder is supposed to be THE makeup product that premier US aestheticians use on their own faces. What really made me get this is the claims by numerous reviewers about the anti-acne properties of this Jane Iredale product. According to Cat Marnell, whose article I read that led me to this product, it's got sunscreen with an SPF factor of 20 that'll help combat visible aging due to sun damage, is oil-free so one does not look like an oil slick by mid-day and is super-highly pigmented which basically translate to getting great coverage all over. I'm actually a lil bit scared of mineral makeup despite the fact that I've read a lot of reviews that claim its the best kind of cosmetics for problem skin. I tried the Bare Escentuals RareMinerals powder three years back when I was going through a spot of spots (hehe) but I felt like it made my skin worse instead of better. Most mineral makeup are expensive so when my lil sample didn't seem to work for me, I shied away from using mineral makeup. Till now. I was very convinced by Cat Marnell and various other persons and decided to take the plunge and get myself the compact in the shade caramel. It took me quite a bit of time to suss out the shade that would match my skintone best and although I am happy with the colour I chose, in the end it will totally depend on how it will look on my face in person. Hopefully the compact will do all its purported to do and more :)
Last but not least are the pack-of-3 Tide To Go stain remover pens. I have read multiple blog posts extolling the work of this miracle pen. The way some of the girls whose blogs I follow wax lyrical about this stain removing pen, I'd say they'd gladly admit to it being the demi-god of stain removal. Its only a demi-god cos of its teeny tiny size. I just thought this would be a great item to keep in my bag, handy at all times for any stain-inducing incidents. Plus, like I mentioned, drugstore.com is THE place to search for this kinda stuff. I tried Target and Walmart but they never had it and was searching drugstore.com on a whim when I came across it.
I am really happy and excited by my drugstore.com haul as I saved close to 20 bucks. I had my 20% off welcome discount and the Tide To Go pens and Maybelline EyeStudio Gel Eyeliner each had an online $1 off coupon in additional to my getting the 20% off of the listed price.
So as can be seen, I paid $69.97 which I find to be a reasonable amount considering I had a big ticket item that retails for $49.50 sans discount. And since my order has shipped, I know that drugstore.com is definitely a viable option for me to shop for all my drugstore needs :D
I think I'm gonna officially list "testing the limits of my AMEX on US e-tailers" as one of my hobbies. As my shoes.com order was canceled and I strongly believe the Spiegel purchase won't get through either, I decided to try my luck with drugstore.com and pay for the items that have been sitting in my cart there instead. So much for this comment about no more beauty buys, hehehe :D
As the landscape of my face is undergoing changes right now, I've been researching new products to try in my quest for control. I went to several sites and read multiple reviews before settling on the items below. I was particularly inspired by this and this articles. Yes, I am very impressionable. Oh, the Tide-To-Go stain remover pens are not beauty but they were part of the haul - I've always wanted them :D
First up, we have the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle, Anti-Blemish Cream. Yeah, that's right. It's an anti-acne AND anti-aging product. Just that alone compelled me to buy it. But I did my due diligence. I didn't rely on the article from lemondrop.com alone. In search of this product, I went to the one place I knew would be the most likely source for this hard-to-find product - drugstore.com. This isn't the first time I've gotten stuff from drugstore.com but this will be the first time I'm doing the purchasing. That's how I know that my best bet would be to look here and I was right. I found the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle, Anti-Blemish Cream and my first course of action was to read the reviews. I was mildly surprised by the general age-group that was using this cream as most were in their 40s, 50s but there were a smattering of 30-somethings in the mix as well. And the fact that the majority of reviewers were of a more advanced age, I deduced that this definitely was a product made for mature skin. I was convinced enough by the testimonials and I decided to go for it.
Next we have the Aveeno Active Naturals Postively Radiant Makeup Removing Cleanser. This is actually my current makeup remover cleanser. I first found out about it from my sis who was watching some beauty guru Youtube vlogger's haul vid and this product was mentioned. My sis got her pack-of-3 Aveeno Active Naturals Postively Radiant Makeup Removing Cleanser from Amazon.com and as she extolled the wonderful virtues of this cleanser, I managed to convince her to sell me one of hers. I have been using it every day that I'm wearing the Revlon PhotoReady foundation (which is practically all the time now) and it really does get the stuff off of one's face. I usually get away with a single pump of this foam cleanser but on the day I was wearing the Temptu airbrushed makeup, I used two pumps as the Temptu product was a bit harder to remove. Since this cleanser is getting some pretty heavy usage, I thought I might as well have a spare ready in case I run out.
Then we come to the Maybelline Lasting Drama by EyeStudio Gel Eyeliner in Charcoal 954. This item I got because I kept watching Macbarbie07's beauty how-to vids and she uses this gel eyeliner from Maybelline a lot and she looks really great. I actually selected the same hue as Macbarbie07's, which was blackest black, but as usual I have to hmmm and haw a bit before actually buying and ended up, the shade blackest black ran out of stock. Since I am adamant about not having to pay a backlog fee if I kept this item in my list of purchase (I didn't now such a thing existed!), I decided to look at the other shades in the Maybelline Lasting Drama by EyeStudio range and came across Charcoal 954. I figure its a bit of a greyish hue which I'm fine with. As long as it looks natural and blends in with my own lash colour I will be satisfied. This will be my first gel eyeliner and though I've heard they can be tricky to apply, apparently this particular one from Maybelline makes it a snap to work with. Here's hoping :)
Now I'm going to talk about the product that I was really after - Jane Iredale PurePressed Base Pressed Mineral Powder. Ok, I really wanted the other stuff too but I could have waited and gotten them some other time. I needed to get this now because at $49.50 it is a very pricey cosmetics product and I was entitled to a 20% off discount if I purchased from drugstore.com by 29/10. I had looked on numerous other sites and none were selling this mineral foundation powder by Jane Iredale for anything less than the recommended retail price. I was intrigued enough by this lemondrop.com article to go and scour the internet for this product. It's a bit hard to find as it is apparently sold mainly at spas. But if there's one site that will have it, it's drugstore.com :) So this Jane Iredale PurePressed Base Pressed Mineral Powder is supposed to be THE makeup product that premier US aestheticians use on their own faces. What really made me get this is the claims by numerous reviewers about the anti-acne properties of this Jane Iredale product. According to Cat Marnell, whose article I read that led me to this product, it's got sunscreen with an SPF factor of 20 that'll help combat visible aging due to sun damage, is oil-free so one does not look like an oil slick by mid-day and is super-highly pigmented which basically translate to getting great coverage all over. I'm actually a lil bit scared of mineral makeup despite the fact that I've read a lot of reviews that claim its the best kind of cosmetics for problem skin. I tried the Bare Escentuals RareMinerals powder three years back when I was going through a spot of spots (hehe) but I felt like it made my skin worse instead of better. Most mineral makeup are expensive so when my lil sample didn't seem to work for me, I shied away from using mineral makeup. Till now. I was very convinced by Cat Marnell and various other persons and decided to take the plunge and get myself the compact in the shade caramel. It took me quite a bit of time to suss out the shade that would match my skintone best and although I am happy with the colour I chose, in the end it will totally depend on how it will look on my face in person. Hopefully the compact will do all its purported to do and more :)
Last but not least are the pack-of-3 Tide To Go stain remover pens. I have read multiple blog posts extolling the work of this miracle pen. The way some of the girls whose blogs I follow wax lyrical about this stain removing pen, I'd say they'd gladly admit to it being the demi-god of stain removal. Its only a demi-god cos of its teeny tiny size. I just thought this would be a great item to keep in my bag, handy at all times for any stain-inducing incidents. Plus, like I mentioned, drugstore.com is THE place to search for this kinda stuff. I tried Target and Walmart but they never had it and was searching drugstore.com on a whim when I came across it.
I am really happy and excited by my drugstore.com haul as I saved close to 20 bucks. I had my 20% off welcome discount and the Tide To Go pens and Maybelline EyeStudio Gel Eyeliner each had an online $1 off coupon in additional to my getting the 20% off of the listed price.
So as can be seen, I paid $69.97 which I find to be a reasonable amount considering I had a big ticket item that retails for $49.50 sans discount. And since my order has shipped, I know that drugstore.com is definitely a viable option for me to shop for all my drugstore needs :D
