drugstore shopping 2013

So I'm gonna talk about 3 seperate purchases I made on drugstore.com/beauty.com in the past month. Figured might as well lump them all in the same post, why waste space on the blogger servers :D

At the beginning of January I got my accrued drugstore dollars to spend which totaled close to 21 bucks. I think I mentioned I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money on something practical or something frivolous. When crunch time came, I opted for frivolous :D

My first purchase using the drugstore dollars was to get this Philosophy Falling In Love solid perfume.

I used the shower gel combo eons ago when I first made my foray into eBay. I loved the scent so much and always wanted to get the fragrance but since parfums and such are not viable products to get shipped via these freight forwarding services, I have continually had to forgo buying any EDT's, EDP's and the like. So finding this newly released solid perfume on sale for 21 bucks was amazing.

I had an email only free gift offer from Beauty.com. Spend $10 and above and receive this -

- a full-size IT Cosmetics Vitality Lip Flush 4-in-1 Natural Anti-Aging Lipstick Stain in the shade je ne sais quoi. That retails for 20 bucks. I essentially covered that free gift by getting that solid perfume.

However, for free shipping to be had, I needed to add 4 bucks more to qualify. It's kinda tough to find something useful to buy for 4 bucks on beauty.com. After searching around, I finally decided to get the Hollywood Fashion Secrets Hip Huggers in black.

Figured it might be useful :D Plus, it went for $8.99. Total for order #1 was $29.99 but with my drugstore dollars of $20.13, I was charged $9.86. LOVE IT!

Order #2 consisted of some supplements. I needed to replenish my L-Carnitine supply which I got at a discount for $34.19 but also decided to get these -

- to test out this theory my sister's doctor gave to her. Apparently all of us suffer from low thyroid which makes us susceptible to getting sick easily, blurry vsion and crankiness. Of late, since her "diagnosis", we've been blaming anything and everything on our "low thyroid condition", lol. But in all seriousness, my sis and I both decided to test out these NOW Foods Thyroid Energy veggie capsules. I had a 10% off of my total order coupon for drugstore.com purchases only (hence the seperate beauty.com order above) and got the pills for $10.79 per bottle. Total spent in this order was $55.77

And just a moment ago, I made my final drugstore purchase till April *fingers crossed*. I had a 15% off of my total drugstore.com order email promo which I invited preggy sis to partake in for gettng her last-minute baby essentials. I also decided to get some stuff of my own. Firstly, I got myself the CoverGirl Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss in Coral Twist for $2.55.

As there was a CoverGirl 'Buy 1, Get 1 50% off' I decided I'd get another of the jumbo lip gloss but from the Queen collection. I got the CoverGirl Queen Collection Jumbo Gloss Balm in Radiant Rose. My 50% off was actually applied to the first balm so for this one I paid $5.94.

Next, Philosophy on drugstore.com was having a 20% off of some products so to complement the solid perfume I had gotten earlier in the month, I bought the 16oz 3-In-1 shower gel. This was the product I had used first when I came across the scent.

The RRP for this is $24 but with the 20% discount and the additional email discount of 15%, I got this for $16.32.

Next thing, I bought a prezzie for my future nephew. I'm coming round. I've been having rather tender thoughts about him. One night I even had a dream about him. He's not even born yet, hehehe :D I knew I'd get over it. He can't help who his dad is but that's only half of who he is. The other half, the better half and I pray to God Almighty, the stronger half, comes from my beautiful sister and that is enough reason for me to love him. Continuing on.....

I'd been trying to figure out what I will get the kid since my sister seemed to be buying all sorts of stuff for him already. I finally settled on the Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders™ Soothe & Glow Seahorse™ above. The reviews for this product are overwhelmingly good, I'm truly surprised that so many people like this one little toy. I hope my nephew will love it too. This went for $12.74.

Last but not least, I decided to get this value pack of Emergen-C 1000 mg Vitamin C in the flavour Cranberry Pomegranate for $9.99. I've always wanted to try Emergen-C, heard loads of good things about it so thought since I had 15% off, why not get it. The discount meant I paid $8.49

All in all, my total spent for this final order is $46.04. The actual total was close to $164 I think. My sis got some other baby stuff as well and piggy-backed on the 15% discount. For my end, that's a pretty good haul.

first SNet haul of 2013

I'd been holding off getting stuff from Strawberrynet as I had been counting on one of their "We-Miss-You" email discounts. And it came! I got an 8% "relaunch" discount on top of my usual loyalty discount of 7.5% and another 3% for getting a total of 4 items. Ooh, and because there was a week-long 10% off of all fragrances, I got that as well.

My portion of the order consisted of getting myself a HUGE bottle of what I'll call my new signature scent, Marc Jacob's Daisy Eau So Fraiche. I am down to the bottom of the barrel with the 75ml bottle I bought in Hong Kong 2 years ago and don't have any other parfums to replace. Since I love the scent so much, I decided to get the 125ml bottle :D I know, it's a huge one but I couldn't resist.

With all discounts combined, I got this for the very, very affordable price of USD74.30. Sans discount, the bottle was selling for $99.50.

Such lovely discounts can't go to getting just the one thing. Plus, I needed a proper eye cream. I am not sure but though I think the Lush Lovely Jubblies is helping somewhat, I can't really stand the strong scent so close to my nose all the time :D I was going to get myself my third pot of Kiehls Abyssine eye cream but when I saw the Cryste Marine firming eye cream, which usually retails about 3 dollars more than the Abyssine cream, going for waaaay less, I thought I'd give that a try instead.

After all discounts applied, this went for USD31.56. That's about a 8 dollar gain for me. I've currently reverted back to using the Kiehls Midnight Recovery eye cream at night and in the morning I put on The Body Shop's Vitamin E eye cream. I originally felt like the Midnight Recovery and/or Vitamin E didn't do anything for me but after being forced to use both, I feel like they're okay. I still love the Abyssine best. Here's hoping Cryste Marine will also be a good bet.

The order has been shipped and is on its way to Homeland. I'm really hoping the items wil arrive before my sis comes up here next Monday so that she can bring the perfume with her. I'm also hoping she'll drag along some of the stuff I sent home from Portland like my F21 black pants and the Asoya white top along with my pills I got from drugstore.com and the Philosophy Falling In Love solid perfume as well as the cute Korean bag that has finally arrived to my house and looks absolutely fantastic when I skyped with the sister. Also, my Rebecca Minkoff's are at the local Portland post office waiting to be delivered so I should be able to send that back to Homeland soon. Ooh, so many goodies!

DISCLAIMER:
All images were screen capped from Strawberrynet.com. Oh, and I'm still in love with Jesse Swanson :D And Josh Radnor, rekindled my love for him as well, hehehe. Just thought I'd put it out there. MUAHS!

i'm embarassed to say but i've been obsessed.....

I watched Pitch Perfect when my bestie was here. I downloaded a bunch of movies and I had been trying to get a good copy of Pitch Perfect for months now, not ever really knowing what the premise of the film was all about. I just thought the trailer looked fun. Then I watched it and now I can't seem to stop watching it. I have it on practically every day. I feel so sad for myself, lol. I know the main reason is because of this guy.....

I actually just screen capped that for the sole purpose of this post. I saw him and the first thought that came to my mind was that the dude looked eeriely similar to my ex, G. Then as the movie went along and I found myself thinking that this guy practically was G. I totally got transported back to my loved-up days where I was all innocent and sweet and the word jaded wasn't in my vocab, hehehe.

That Skylar Astin played that role to perfection. I don't know if he talked to G about it but for god's sake he channeled G like I couldn't believe. I could practically feel myself going through those first stages of falling in love all over again. Yes, yes, I know it all sounds crazy but trust me, I know what it was. That listlessness, that whole food-don't-taste-so-good thing, that butterflies-in-stomach feeling - it frickin lasted 2 WHOLE WEEKS! You think it's absolutely batshit nuts that I was exhibiting symptoms of falling in love with some fictional character, well I felt the same way too! Which is why I am embarassed and decided to put in on my blog so I am shamed into regaining my sensibilities. C'mon Zlena, G was over 10 years ago, girl! Get over him already! Sheesh! And btw, Jesse Swanson is fictional :D

P.S:
Loved the movie, very endearing (made more so by the utter ridiculousness of my crazy crush on FICTIONAL Jesse Swanson). And Rebel Wilson ROCKS!

just some randomness

My favourite drinking cup says it all.....

Thank you Cotton On for immortalizing how I generally feel on a travel mug :D

A grainy pic of my mum's feet encased in my Mojo Moxy Apollo Wedges (typing out Mojo Moxy has not gotten old just yet :D)

This was after she complained and told me to stop buying shoes that were so high. Then she had a go at them and said, "Hmm, well they are comfortable since it's a wedge heel" <- hypocrite much, Mama? Hehe, I admit, these wedges were surprisingly higher than I imagined them to be but like my mum can attest, the wedges do help a lot in maintaining relatively pain-free walking.

And last but certainly not least, my F21 ensemble I wore to Christmas lunch with bestie when she was up here in December.

Ah, I love those red pants, they are awesome and comfy. And I totally love pairing white/beige/ecru tops with them cos I feel it is an overall classy combo. I ended up wearing my Jessica Simpson black pump wedges with my BCBGMaxAzria quilted tote. I made reservations for us at a French restaurant that I love and we had the most scrumptious meal that has me salivating now as I think about it. Ooh, duck breast in blackcurrant sauce, I miss thee!

i feel i've found a HG product.....

Yes, like finally, there is one product that I feel completely and utterly does what it advertises - Cargo's blu_ray HD pressed powder!

I've been using it for close to 3 weeks now and I really cannot find anything bad to say about it! I got this on a whim, I had heard good things about it but the buzz around Cargo is so minimal it was rather hard to justify getting a pressed powder that went for 30 something dollars. I am so glad I went for the kit which was 10 bucks more than the individual price of the powder and came with a full-size foundation/concealer, travel-size primer and travel-size bronzer.

Honestly, I am amazed by the quality of the products in the kit. I haven't really used the bronzer but from the swatch I did, I like the texture and the shade isn't too orange nor too muddy. The primer is looking like a win for me as well - increases overall staying power of my face products which currently consists of the Too Faced Beauty Balm and Cargo blu_ray HD powder. I am also really finding that the combination of these products truly do cut down sebum production on my face. The foundation/concealer is just alright. I find that it provides light coverage which is okay for people who do not have hyperpigmetation to cover up but for moi who has a few dark spots to conceal, it doesn't really get the job done. In fact, since we are on the topic, neither does the Tarte Maracuja creaseless concealer do much in terms of covering hyperpigmentation due to acne scarring. It does a great job of undereye circles but zit marks - eh, not so much. Yet to find a concealer that would truly do the job well in that department

Anyways, I know it's really early days still but like I said earlier, I truly cannot come up with one thing I don't like. The texture is smooth and it goes on well. I use the ELF flat-top powder brush to put in on top of my Too Faced Beauty Balm. I usually have issues with powders settling in creases and looking cakey but it has not ever happened with this at all! I mean, I have been actively looking to see the product settle into the fine lines but have not yet been able to catch that happening. I don't have to touch up either, a simple blot of my t-zone area suffices. The shade 30 which comes in the Medium kit also suits my skintone really well. And I guess whatever ingredients make up the HD portion of the powder really does do its job because I looked at the pictures of myself during the Kick-Off/Company Training weekend and I have to admit, with some modesty, I looked real good despite coming off of some really sweaty activities :D

Okay, I am on the verge of hoarding the product, lol, though I am gonna be patient and wait it out for a few more weeks. I don't know how long the compact will last with regular usage so will need to factor in product longevity as well. But what of it I know, I'm totally loving!

Janus 2013 What's In My Bag

Yup, that's my mock croc TCS batchel. Been using it for nearly 2 months now since I did get it in early December. The straps are taking a lil bit of a beating as to be expected. I am lugging around a 2.xkg laptop in it every working day :)

my love affair continues.....

I wanted to dub 2012 "ZLENA'S YEAR OF SHOES" but since the whole shoe-buying didn't exactly end in 2012, I'm just gonna say my love affair with shoes continue on in 2013. Where I got myself 2 pairs of shoes from that new site in Homeland :D

The first pair continues on from my obsession with gladiator style heels. It's the Mojo Moxy Apollo wedges. LOL, I fell in love with the brand's name even before I got the shoe. Mojo Moxy sounds so cute to me for some reason. Anyways, I love wedged heels and I love strappy shoes and I have a definite thing for tan coloured shoes. Hence.....

So the shoes were $46.32 after I applied a 10% discount code. The sizing was a tad odd, I had never seen European sizes done in halves. I normally fit a 39 in EU sizing but since my usual size was OOS and what was available was 38.5, I decided to gamble on it. After making the purchase, I went googling to find out more about the brand and the shoes itself and was dismayed to read the reviews on the shoe I got. Most people said that it fit small so I was already imagining my big bunions would definitely pose a huge wedge (pun intended) to me and the Apollo finding happiness together. However, all that worrying was for naught. I got the shoes and they f-i-t just so. Phew!

In another order from Homeland shopping site, I also made my first Converse purchase. I always wanted a pair but can't figure out why I never got them before this. I realize I unconsciously associate Converse sneakers with what I'm going to refer to as 'a state of coolness'. Hehe, maybe I never felt "cool" enough before this.

These are the Converse All Star Ox Trainers. THEY ARE LEATHER, BABY! Love the fact that I got them in leather. I feel like the price of the original canvas shoes were too much to pay for before (aha, the true reason why I never got them has finally come to light) but when I saw these leather ones, I did not hesitate one bit. Another 10% discount code really did help make the decision for me too. I got these for USD65.21 after discount. I decided to go for the iconic blue colour.

And though this isn't a shoe get, I'm putting it in here anyways cos am totally lazy to come up with a whole other post. I got this lovely top in yet another order from the Homeland site and with a nice 15% discount for $24.93.

It's the ASOYA Pleated Chiffon Sleeves Lace Dress. I love it looks so dreamy and lovely. Of course, it's really too short to be worn as a dress and I'm really just gonna wear it as a tunic top but that doesn't detract from the fact that it is really a very pretty top.

DISCLAIMER:
All images are not mine.

pretty much completed the list!

My handbag covet list, the one I wrote about yonks ago, well barring the one YSL Muse which I'm now just feeling 'meh' about, today I have acquired everything I listed :D

Yup. Finally gave in and got myself the Rebecca Minkoff MAB! Hehehe, the way I'm going on about it, would seem like the MAB was a super exxie bag that would take me years to save up and buy but in reality costs a lil more than a fraction of my salary. A fraction and more cos I decided I must, must, must also own the MAC Daddy :D

That is right. Yes, I not only delved into the Morning-After-Bag Replenish, I also decided I needed the Morning-After-Clutch Daddy size. Gosh, I feel skeevy every time I type MAC Daddy like I'm talking about my pimp or something, lol.

After much posturing (on my part), Amazon's truly glorious markdown of the black, smooth leather, gold-hardware MAB from the very undesirable price of USD550 to USD312.33 completely convinced me to make a snap decision and buy it. Oh, yea, the extra 20% discount with code ACCESS13 also helped a lot. *INSERT TRULY DORKY DANCE MOVES HERE* Yup, I got this -

- for the very affordable price of USD249.86!!!!!

And since I had ACCESS13, apparently I went all Rebecca Minkoff nutso and got the MAC Daddy too. Retailing for USD350, it was already marked down to USD234.99 but with the extra 20% off, I managed to snag this -

- for USD187.99. That's close to a 50% off of the RRP which I'm happy about. I decided to get it in Navy, firstly cos it was one of the colours on sale. Secondly, because I don't own any navy handbags. Third, though Navy was my original first choice, I swapped it for a lovely military green hue one named Sage.....which promptly went OOS while I debated the merits of getting the bags. Then after deciding I definitely wanted the bags, I picked the Burgundy MAC Daddy. Again, sitting on the decision to buy it, this morning when I checked my cart also showed as sold out. So I had to go back to my original choice the Navy :D. Hindsight is, even though I missed out on the two colours I did like which did come with light gold hardware (I dunno if anyone else is noticing I have quite the obsession with gold toned hardware for handbags since last year), the waiting pushed the price of the MAB further down and I essentially got an additional 30 bucks off more or less. Continuing on, fourth reason, it has a specific, well-padded pocket for a max 10in-sized tech gadget, WOOHOO! That feature really attracted me to this bag. However, I did just sell my iPad to my bestie, hehehe. But fear not MAC Daddy, I do have plans to get either the iPad Mini or the iPad with Retina Display so you are still very much relevant to moi.

Anyways, with these purchases, I can finally put my list to rest. I don't think I can find any further reason to own any more bags than the ones I already own now. I mean, there comes a point when enough bags does really mean enough bags, no?

DISCLAIMER:
All images belong to Amazon.com.

it's 21 days in but HAPPY NEW YEAR anyways!

Yeah, life got busy.....then it didn't but I certainly got lazy. Anyways, couldn't let a whole month pass without at least one notch on the January post. Honestly, there should be more than one if I can ever get round to calming my mind down and sitting here in front of this here Macbook and type 'em out. But then again, it ain't such interesting thought-provoking sh!t, just more shopping stuff. Hmm, apparently, 2013 is the year I start peppering my posts with less polite words, hehehe. Whatever, it's only just me and me on this anyway.