day 30 and still the inane and insane comments continue

Ok, now I'm going to rant about forumers who think Grosjean is making Kimi to look like a fool.

FACT:
Kimi has finished higher in the first 11 races 9 times compared to Grosjean's 2.

Where is the evidence of Kimi being bested by a "rookie" who was apparently completely destroyed by Alonso when he drove for 6 races back in 2009? Hmmm, Grosjean did leave F1 in less than stellar terms but he went on to compete in the GP2 series - a racing tier always said to be most similar to F1, became champion of said series last year and also took on the role of Pirelli test driver. People who are naive in thinking Grosjean is some simple rookie are being simplistic. Romain left F1, gained the experience he needed in open wheel racing in the next best thing to F1, became test driver for the manufacturer supplying tyres in F1, did some running in an F1 car as Renault's third driver in 2011 and found his way back into an F1 cockpit powered by French engine outfit, Renault, not only due to his GP2 exploits but to a lesser extent that he is French and managed by Lotus F1's team principal, Eric Boullier. Considering all these factors, I would say Romain Grosjean had the upper hand in the Lotus F1 teammate war.

Kimi Räikkönen, in comparison, has been racing trees, snowbanks, gravel, desert sand, time. Aside from 3 days last year in May whereby he dabbled in the US Nationwide and Camping Truck series, he has not been doing any open wheel racing. The last time he drove in F1, Bridgestone were the tyre manufacturer, refueling was something that occurred during pit stops - and he can definitely attest to that, Brazil GP 2009 anyone?!?!? and overtaking was done on pure pace and skill with a little boost from KERS instead of with some wing assisted drag reduction zone.

FACT:
Kimi Räikkönen has 116 points and is fifth in the drivers standings with no DNF's.
Romain Grosjean has 76 points and is eighth in the drivers standings with 4 DNF's.

Hmmmm, so where is Kimi being outqualified? During qualifying for grid positions. Romain has had the "measure " of Kimi in qualifying besting him probably 10-1 or something like that. But as the Iceman has stated, it's what happens on raceday that counts. And I believe the points standings says it all. And I will also add, during a straight fight between the two, Kimi has stamped his authority very clearly.

FACT:
I shouldn't allow myself to get too bothered by armchair F1 experts sitting and typing in front of a computer screen spewing opinions as if they are fact. As long as I believe in what I believe is true, that is all that matters. I understand opinions differ, however back it up with some hard evidence before spewing a load of garbage unto the interwebs.

FACT:
When the F1 summer hiatus begins, apparently a lot of F1 fans who love posting in forums get mushy brains and start regurgitating silly opinions. Not only re:Kimi but about other drivers as well. Sheesh, SPA, come quick!

gosh, the 31 days till SPA can't come fast enough!

Ok, am about to go on a bit of an annoyed rant here. I cannot wait for SPA to roll around because forumers are going stir crazy with their comments! And I just have to get this off my chest - why the hell does Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher have this so-called "development drivers" reputation? Apparently, these two are maestros at steering the development of an F1 car into the right direction. I mean, where is the proof of this?

I call bullshit. I don't believe there even is such a thing as development drivers! Loosely, this is what I believe a driver's role is in the evolution of an F1 car from drawing board to track -

What a driver does is test out the parts and bits and bobs developed by the factory. Based on the running, they present their feedback into how the car felt on track. That's what the driver does. The engineers and technical analyst then take that feedback back to the design department and whatnot and try to improve or redesign the part of the car the driver feels doesn't contribute to a healthy car setup balance. Then the new/redesigned parts are put on the car again and the driver proceeds to do more testing and thus relay more feedback to the engineers/technical department. Cycle repeat until car is race ready.

Considering that testing is a limited affair in F1, it becomes even harder to have so-called development drivers coming up with magical theories to better enhance a car.

And even if this so-called development ability is not a figment of many F1 fans imagination, then why the hell has Ferrari and Fernando Alonso not been winning back-to-back championships since his Ferrari arrival? Why has Schumacher been languishing in mediocrity at Mercedes since his comeback and not been setting the team alight with rad improvements on the F1 car? Why is the development sub-par? Development drivers my arse!

Gosh, I am so irritated by the comments of some of these Alonso fans who are in a tizzy over some unfounded rumour regarding Ferrari wanting Kimi back to replace Felipe Massa. Geez, your driver is not the God of F1 racing, neither is Kimi but to hell with all of you who suggest Kimi is in any way inferior to Alonso. I've talked about it before, Alonso is an opportunistic driver, he doesn't produce magical drives - he takes stock of what happens around him and uses it to his advantage. He is more of a thinker that way. But an out-and-out racing driver is Kimi - who is not only smart but his drives are phenomenal. I can't recall ever watching Fernando drive a race I would call "amazing". I've seen amazing drives from other drivers but Alonso is a bore to watch generally.

And the gall of these fans to then suggest that Kimi fans are not sane for believing Kimi is as good a driver as Fernando, if not better. We (and even if I don't post in these forums I'm going to stand in solidarity with them) are then accused of fanboy-ism when we attempt to defend Kimi against some of the outlandish claims I have seen ever uttered against him! Granted, there are some Kimi fans who are a tad on the irrational side and I don't condone them but for the rest of us who do have the ability to be objective when it comes to Kimi, I cannot stand if we are all going to be villified for our convictions!

So let's lay it out - Alonso vs Kimi, toe-to-toe. When it is pointed out that Kimi helped Ferrari to TWO constructor's championships aside from his own driver's championship in the 3 years he was at Ferrari compared to none of those from Fernando's similarly even keeled tenure, well, then we get the argument that the car was so good in 2007 and 2008 compared to the dogs Fernando had to drive in 2010 and 2011. And apparently 2012. Honestly, this year's car may not be fast for Ferrari but I strongly believe they have overstated their pessimism. Back to the cars supposedly being good during Kimi's years. They say he should have done better. Ok, fine, I'll spell it out - Kimi won the WDC and WCC in his first year with Ferrari. Alonso in 2010? NADA (thought I'd put it in Spanish, he is a Spaniard after all). Kimi went on to assist Felipe Massa in the WDC in 2008 and though the WDC was lost, he performed well, finishing 3rd behind Lewis and Massa, to make sure Ferrari won the WCC that year. 2009 came along - whatever happened in that year I will not delve into - but that F60 WAS A COMPLETE DOG! There is no ifs, buts or whats about it. It was awful and I am going to maintain that it was Ferrari's most awful car in recent years. The development on the car was stopped during the F1 summer hiatus (after Massa's head injury at the Hungaroring). While every other team were still in the development race, Ferrari, after deciding to sack Kimi for whatever reasons, stopped developing the F60, focusing instead on their 2010 car which Kimi was not apart of. All in the likelihood to prevent Kimi from taking any technical knowledge with him to another team in 2010. Nonetheless, despite having a car that was development-wise stunted, he went on to outscore everyone else bar Lewis Hamilton in the remaining races of that season - even managing a rather impossible win at Spa-Francochamps, Ferrari's only win of the year. Ferrai finished the season fourth in the constructor's championship, largely due to Kimi's stunning efforts as every subsequent teammate he had to fill in for Massa could do nothing with the F60. He brought on the points haul himself, finishing in the driver's championship in a respectable 6th after enduring the worse kind of treatment you could go through within your own team. And then he gave a big F@*K YOU to Ferrari by making them pay him not to drive an F1 car for 2 years!

On to Alonso. Let's compare 2009 first. "Development Driver" you say? Alonso finished 9th in the driver's championship and Renault, the team he was driving for, were eighth. I would say Renault had a better driver pairing compared to Kimi but 8th is all they managed comapred to Kimi's fourth, running one race sans a second car, even (Hungary GP 2009). I do not see how 2010 could have been a dog year for Ferrari cos they started developing it early in 2009. Alonso came on board with them 2010, even if the car was not to his liking initially, his supreme driver's development skills should have been able to steer him and the team to infinite victories that year. What happened? Sebastian Vettel won his first WDC for Red Bull instead. 2011 arrives, he has had from mid-2010 to most of January 2011 to give his technical expertise towards the development of the car - that car should have been bulletproof and like a rocket. Reality? Sebastian Vettel made 2011 his bitch, winning back-to-back titles.

And here we arrive at 2012. Currently, Alonso is leading the driver's championship with a 40 point lead over 2nd place Mark Webber. Kimi is a further 8 points down on that. All well and good for Ferrari and Nando, I do not begrudge them the way they have made lemons from lemonade - good job! Stats-wise, Alonso and Kimi are the two drivers who have gained the maximum points in the last five races - Kimi doing this without a win to his name, just five podiums. Kimi is fifth, a solitary point behind Lewis Hamilton after the Hungarian GP last weekend, 6 points behind Vettel and 8 points behind Webber. The 4 drivers above him have had race wins, 3 for Alonso, 2 for Hamilton, 2 for Webber and 1 for Vettel. Kimi has none. Together with Grosjean (more so Kimi's effort than the latter), they have hauled Lotus F1 into thrd in the constructors' standings, trailing 2nd place McLaren by a single point and Red Bull by 54 points. Ferrari are fourth in the standings with 189. Just so we are all clear, let me point out yet again, the dude, Kimi, has been rallying for the past 2 years. Two years in which things have changed in F1 - refueling is banned, Pirelli took over being the official tyre manufacturer, there's DRS. To be on par with the other top 4 driver's after being away for that long and having to adapt quickly to the new rules and regulations of the sport, what is that if not blinding speed, intelligent driving and god-given talent?

Like I said in the post before this, as a racing driver, Alonso is not to be trifled with, but as a person, I generally don't like him. He is petulant and selfish and he is great at politics and mind games. I might have mellowed out somewhat in my absolute dislike for him but his fans on the forums are anothr story - awful and deluded is all I will say. Rant over....:D

UPDATE (05/08/2012):
Okay, in the absolute boredom of TV No-Mans_Land as well as the F1 hiatus, I decided to rewatch some F1 races from earlier in the season. Just started with the Valencia race and I will admit here that Alonso did drive superbly from 11th on the grid to go on and win that race. Of course, he lucked into the 1st place with Sebastian Vettel's unexpected retirement but he did manage that overtaking maneuver on Romain Gorsjean for 2nd very decisively and precisely so kudos on that move. He put himself in primo position to inherit that win after Sebastian's car troubles. On a related note, I think I am overdosing on F1 via youtube. Been watching tons and tons of F1 related vids. To the extent that I'm starting to really think Fernando Alonso is an attractive dude. Gosh, I'm so ashamed. Found a couple of videos of him performing card tricks - what an adorable dork, lol. He's really rather good at it, it's quite impressive. Sigh. Zlena, no more softning on the Fernando Alonso front - maintain the disdain! Am sure it wn't take long for him to do something completely obnoxious. Also, Sebastian Vettel is such a cheeky git! And quick witted too.

i don't think i'm that blinded by fangirl-ism.....

.....but I don't understand when I read people's comments about Kimi being an inferior driver to Fernando Alonso. And what in the world is this 'complete driver ' reputation that Fernando Alonso has? I do not see him that way.

LOL, yup, I'm about to go on a Kimi rant again. Hey, I've been really good this year, all things considered. There were plenty of moments I wanted to say something but I held my tongue. Anyways.....

Objectively speaking (hehehe, I know it might be unbelievable but I can be neutral), Kimi Raikkonen as an F1 driver is one of the best in his class. He has excellent racecraft and a great racing attitude. He is the fairest driver on the track in the 2012 field - and I'm not talking about his looks here although he is very easy on the eyes :D Kimi is just naturally gifted in motor racing, he is smart and extremely fast and sometimes his race performances even defy logic.

So when I read forum opinions who say he is not in the same league as Alonso, or even Vettel, I'm completely and utterly baffled. I respect Alonso as a driver. And the feeling is mutual for the other 4 World Driver's Champions; Schumacher, Hamilton, Button and Vettel. I will not get into the nitty gritty of each champions' championship but each of them won with a healthy dose of skill, luck and top notch racing technology.And none of them were perfect! They all made mistakes at one point or another and continue to do so to this day.

But Kimi, well the criticism on him has always been more extreme than others. Whether it is because most of the world press do not find his disdain for media related activities amusing or the perceived, completely wrong image of Kimi as a "I drive only for money" F1 pilot, I hae no clue but the guy doesn't seem to be able to win his critics over.

His comeback is more than impressive! From the last two races, he has appeared as McLaren days Kimi. I am always excited to see his performances but in Hungary especially, the magic laps he put in on worn soft tyres to basically jump 3 drivers after his second stop was a most superlative effort on the Finn's part. And it was something he was prone to churn out back in his McLaren days. And he appears to have his "iciness" back. I've been wondering about his killer instincts in the last couple of races, not to mention some moments in his Ferrari term but he has definitely got them back. His moves in Hockenheim and the way he was not going to yield to Romain Grosjean was a throwback to his heydays in McLaren. I was ecstatic to have him assert athority in his overtakings as that has been his main setback during race days. He was too nice in the beginning of the season - most likely due to the fact he wasn't completely comfortable in the car but now, apparently he's finally found the setup that he likes and can improve upon, he is the Quick(er) Kimi of old. The magical Kimi. And I know that his rivals are starting to get nervous with the reemergance of this Kimi. Some of them even wondered aloud about his drives.

To put it simply, I basically think that those who don't think Kimi is a driver to rival Alonso, Hamilton, Schumacher and Vettel's abilities, are damned fools and complete blind idiots! LOL!

halfway point

I haven't talked about F1, Kimi, Kimi, F1 in eons it feels like :) Just to be clear, I'm still F1Kimi obsessed, simply quieter. But I thought TIWFM was due an F1 post.

This weekend at the Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary, will mark the last race of the season before F1 takes their usual scheduled summer break - resuming only at the end of August for the final championship push. The story thus far is Fernando Alonso leads the driver's championship ahead of Mark Webber, Sebastien Vettel AND Kimi Raikkonen.

In the last race in Hockenheim, Germany, Sebastian Vettel, who finished the race in 2nd but was given a 20 second penalty for overtaking Jenson Button off the racing track for said 2nd place on the penultimate lap of the race, basically upgraded Kimi's 4th place position to 3rd and with those extra 2 points, Kimi managed to move into 4th in the championship standings ahead of Lewis Hamilton. I have to say I'm really impressed with kimi's comeback. And not simply because I'm a Kimi fan, he has shown that he has not forgotten how to successfully do open wheel racing. To come back from a 2-year hiatus and be FOURTH in the driver's race, that's just AMAZING.

Of course, there has been some minor teething issues as he reassimilates himself to F1. Qualifying has been a tad horrendous. He's only qualified in the top 4 once in the last 10 races and that was back in Shanghai. Which was a race that did not go well for him. It was the only race in which he failed to score any points. He was running in second and a couple of laps before the end of the race, his tyres 'went off the cliff', is what the F1 pundits like to call it. Basically, they just simply stopped giving him grip and he could not drive to the max of the car's capabilities without throwing himself (and the car) into the wall/off track/.

The pirellis. I don't think it's much of an issue for him. The tires were supposed to be the main 'hindrance' to Kimi's comeback but, aside from the China GP, he has shown that he's able to adapt to the Pirellis. That definitely surprised the whole paddock I would imagine. They were predicting a Michael Schumacher style comeback, lol. I never thought for even a second that Kimi would suffer the same fate as Schumi. I mean, I never foresaw the comeback being this good but I definitely knew he would not be so much on the backfoot like Schumi has been for the past 2 years since his re-entry to the pinnacle of motorsports.

Looking at how things have played out, it's my personal belief that if the whole situation at Ferrari had not gone down the way that it did, I'm positive Kimi would have stayed in F1. I believe it's his passion. I think that he only went rallying because he wanted Ferrari to suffer by taking the brunt of the full payout. I get that people say that his will to drive should be stronger than his will to punish Ferrari but Kimi is only human and if I was in that same position, I too would have taken the money, bided my time and come back as he did. He needed to wait out the 2 years, he did and now he is back with a vengeance!

In the first 9 races, Kimi was still on a learning curve but you could see the flashes of speed and brilliance of old. But in the last race in Germany, all I could do was be amazed at the driving he displayed. I think he did the most overtaking of the race and he wasn't as hesitant, lining up the car for what seemed like forever. He took the positions in a speedy and confident manner, making the maneuvers stick. I would usually get frustrated watching him being hesitant to do the overtake but in this race, bar for his move on Schumi which took him about 6 laps to line up, he took care of dispensing with the overtaking in a precise, concise and fair manner. If anybody is the most fairest driver in terms of overtaking in F1 right now, I'd definitely give that award to Kimi Raikkonen.

I'm really looking forward for this weekend. Considering that the McLaren Kimi made an appearance last race, I'm expecting to see more of him this weekend. I'm also going to be going stir crazy when it ends cos there's a month of F1 no-mans-land. And with Deadliest Catch airing it's last episode of the season this week too. Gosh, I'm going to be super bored.

hmmmm. may have just went a lil nuts.

Soooooo, well, I have a shopping habit - as is well-documented on this blog. Ok, I really wanted the stuff. And I did my due dilligence by checking out multiple sites for the best prices. I believe I did manage to score some pretty great deals.

Right, it was all prompted by 6pm.com and the fact that the Fitzwell Shona flats - those black quilted ones I was saying I really wanted - they are gone. It's only available in white, ugh.

I quickly did a search and it was confirmed, no more perfect quilted flats. Just like there's no more semi-perfect quilted wallet. Sigh. Am losing out on all fronts. But wait, is that the Steve Madden Kwilted in black I spy in the search results? Going for USD31.99?!?!?! I clicked to see if my size was available - the red font notification informing me there was only one left in the chosen combination. You can guess what happened next - no hesitation, it went in the cart and I checked out.

However, I was trying to up my 6pm.com Brandaholics points by about 86 more so I would receive my Brandaholics bonus of a 10% discount code. I was initially going to use the bonus to get the Fitzwell shoes and the Love Moschino wallet but since those aren't available, I have no clue what I'm gonna spend my 10 percent off on. Luckily, the code has a 3-month validity. I'm sure there'll be something I'll want before the expiry :)

Aside from the Kwilted flats, I also got myself this Cosabella Smooth Camisole for $26.99 and the Dockers Misses Khakis with Hello Smooth technology for $29.99.

I've also been wanting to get the Bare Escentuals Active Cell Renewal Serum. So far, the cheapest place I've found to be selling this is Amazon. I think I spent the better half of the month stalking the Bare Escentuals prices, lol. Since I was coming off of the 6pm.com order high, I immediately decided not to wait any longer to checkout my Amazon.com stuff.

Oh yeah, I also got myself the Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser. I'm more than a third through with the tube I'm using and want to replenish before I run out. The BE serum retails for 50 bucks but I got it for $44.94 while the Time Release Acne Cleanser usually sells at 30 bucks but on Amazon I got it for $23.15. Which brings my Amazon haul to $68.09.

So this week alone I've dropped an even $221. However, in the month of June/July, I've managed to rack up a credit card bill - spanning both my platinum cards - of $749.79. Hehehe. Oh, Zlena!

reading.....fifty shades of grey

Okay, attempting to anyways. I. Don't. Get. The. Hype. This is the book that broke Harry Potter's sales record? I'm actually baffled. Honestly, good for the author, E.L. James, for getting herself published. It's truly great for her. I just don't know why this book is receiving the hype it's receiving. It really does read more like the fan fiction that it started as rather than an actual work of published prose. I know I'm contradicting myself here and truly, who am I to question the author's authenticity, right? But I just don't get it!

The protagonist, who antagonizes me at most points of the story, keeps going "Oh my" ALL THE FRICKIN TIME! I can barely go through a chapter without enduring multiple "Oh my"'s peppered throughout the span of one chapter. And her snarky subconscious is damn annoying. And apparently has a life of its own - either that, this Anastasia Steele is delusional! Don't get me started on that Christian Grey. Is it Christian? I'm too lazy to fact-check. The way he is written, you can tell the author has been reading quite a few period romances. I think she was trying to mold Mr. Grey after a Darcy-ish type. I sense a little Judith McNaught style hero in his persona but he doesn't charm me the way that Judith McNaught's roguish men do. He falls F-L-A-T in that respect! I cringe when I read him. That whole, "Breath, Anastasia, breathe" thing he keeps doing comes across as REALLY condescending and presumptuous to me.

Okay, it appears I am not liking the book much, lol. But I don't believe it'll cause the author to lose any sleep, she's raking in the money. And there's supposed to be TWO more of this coming. Sigh. So glad I actually found this online in some deep dark crevice somewhere. I would have been totally pissed with myself if I had ctually spent money on this!

thanks drugstore dollars!

I've been trying to find the cheapest place to get the Bare Escentuals Pure Transformation Night Treatment after the whole Sephora order gt cancelled and after waffling between Amazon.com and Strawberrynet, I finally settled on getting it in the shade Medium through Beauty.com :p

I had $13.06 in drugstore dollars that I needed to spend and the site also gave me an email link for an additional $5 off of orders of $40 on non-perscription items. So that amounts to $18.06. Given that most sites selling beuaty products mainly give 20 off (eyeslipsface.com being the exception :D), I decided that putting my drugstore dollars towards the $60 cost of the Pure Transformation treatment would go a long way to soothe me if the stuff does not work out for me. Hey, 60 bucks for a face powder worn at night is a lot of money, okay!

Aside from the "free" cash, I also had another offer - buy $75 worth of products off of Beauty.com and receive the Mara Hoffman Designer Bag. It's basically the same deal like my Erin Fetherston train case. Only this time around, with different products and less 5 bucks in the free gift card. I was really attracted to the case though - it looks so native and the colour combo is just delicious :D Have a look for yourself.

I like the feather design and the bright orange hues just make it a fun case to carry. The stuff inside is a bonus. The offerings this time around are as follows:

Since the BE Pure Transformation Night Treatment is 60 bucks and I needed another 15 bucks to get the case, I decided to buy my Murad Acne Clarifying Toner as well.

I checked, double checked and triple checked to make sure that the toner was alcohol-free - it is. At $22, I was okay paying one buck more than if I had gotten it off of Amazon.com instead if it would help me get the Mara Hoffman free gift :)

With the discounts applied, my card was charged $63.94 - not a bad total, if I do say so myself :D

DISCLAIMER: All images derived from Beauty.com

this is why i don't practice restraint :(

Here I was thinking I'll be good and wait till next month to make the purchase I want to make on 6pm.com but waiting cost me the quilted wallet/purse I wanted so, so, so badly :( Boohoo!

I am going through a MASSIVE quilted leather obsession right now. Ever since seeing the BCBGMaxAzria Quilted Large Satchel, I've suddenly been hit by a great yearning (crazy, I know :D) for all accessories quilted! So I have been looking high and low for the perfect quilted flats and the perfect quilted purse. And they must be black. I found the most perfect quilted flats in the Fitzwell Shona which I've talked about but I didn't share the quilted purse I had been eyeing on 6pm.com.

I saw this LOVE Moschino JC4056PP0VLI0 quilted wallet/purse on a chain and my first thought was, "Well the quilting looks perfect but that white stitching just puts me off." Case in point:

Look at how puffy that quilting is and you can actually wear this as a small handbag. There are 2 all-around zippered compartments and the purse closes with button snaps in the middle. It opens up to two sides of 6 card compartments each and has 2 currency slots at the top. It comes with a gold chain which snaps on on the inside of the purse so it can be carried on the shoulder. I loved everything about it EXCEPT the white contrast stitching. I mean, is that not tacky???

But the more I looked at it, the more I was convinced I could work with it. I could get a black fabric pen and colour in the white thread. I was so convinced that it would work, last night I actually spent time modifying the image of the purse in Paintbrush to see if it would look as good as I imagined it would. The results:

I'm not the best at image manipulation but what I did manage to do, I figure is a good enough representation of what it could be in real lfe. And I think it looks awesome. And it convinced me enough that I would get it come August. For $80.99, it was a real steal once I got through with it!

But this morning I woke up and I was lazily refreshing my browser and I got a message that the purse is no longer available. I'm devastated, disheartened, it even hurts a little. Yes, yes, in the grand scheme of things, it's only a purse, not the miracle that solves Dafur's problems. But lest we all forget, my blog is called "the inner workings of a FRIVOLOUS mind" :D

So my search continues now but I fear, I may not find one I like as much as I liked the LOVE Moschino JC4056PP0VLI0.....

DISCLAIMER: Original image screen capped from 6pm.com.

w00t, w00t! 6pm.com has shipped!

And that truly says it all. Okay, I'll try not to go w00t, w00t, ever again, LOL. No promises though!

After the billing addy debacle, I waited and waited for some kind of resolution either way and I just got my email shipment confirmation! My items shipped on yesterday and I'm guessing they used expedited 1-Day shipping cos the stuff is already in Portland and will be delivered by 3 pm today, Pacific time of course :D

This means that both my credit cards are good to go at 6pm.com. And man, do I have a couple more pairs of shoes I have my eye on. I'm done buying cheapie pleather shoes - my Dolce Vita For Target shoes have had to be repaired twice and the Cynthia Rowley For Target wedges have started to peel. I'm only doing leather shoes from this point on. Unless it's fabric of course, hehehe.

Which leads to the next lust item. These Fitzwell Shona flats in black nappa.

OMG, would these not be the perfect complement to the BCBGMaxAzria Quilted Large Satchel?!?!?! It is a lil on the pricier side at $62.99 but that quilting looks totally worth it! Totes gorgeoussss!

Then there are these totally cute Betsey Johnson suede pumps - the Maye in blush suede.

Now these shoes are a total steal at $35.99! I don't think I'll end up with them though since I'm waiting a lil while longer before I make another buy from 6pm.com and since there's only 1 pair left in the inventory that's my size, I'm thinking the shoes will not be waiting for me till I'm ready :P

And lastly we have these Sperry Topsider's which is the A/O Pump by Jeffrey. These are priced the same as the Fitzwell Shona at $62.99.

I know some people think the Sperry Topsider heels look weird but I find them tres attractive :D Something about the marriage of boat shoes and heels make me want them, lol.

Anyways, the one I most definitely, without a doubt am getting is the Fitzwell shoes. The others are just in the list for fun. Unless of course the price goes down a lil more than they will be up for some serious consideration :D

DISCLAIMER:
All images screen capped from 6pm.com - my new online shopping haven du jour

i'm a sephora VIB & i'm lovin' it

So my bestie who works in Singapore is off to Orlando tomorrow for work. Since, she's going Stateside, that's always an opportunity for me to get stuff :D I decided to go easy on her and just buy myself teeny beauty products and not anything ginormous.

I was waffling between Amazon or Sephora because there were certain products I wanted that were going for much cheaper through Amazon but then there were other stuff that only Sephora sold. In the end I went with Sephora since I found a 10 Off VIB welcome promo code which helped bring down my grand total and got the following:

First on my list of must-haves is the Bare Escentuals Pure Transformation Night Treatment that retails for a very pricey $60. With the coupon code, I end up paying $54 for this. Stil pricey all around but I was willing to fork the money over. I've been wanting to try this since it was packaged under the RareMinerals name. Since then, this product has had a makeover but the essential benefits remain the same.

Next product I found myself wanting is the Tarte Amazonian Clay Bronze Finishing Powder & Deluxe Kabuki Brush Set. I know, I know, more face powders. You'll understand in a bit - it was 15 bucks for the full-size powder AND retractable kabuki brush. FIFTEEN BUCKS! Hello??? How could I pass that up?

Another Tarte buy is the Tarte Shining Stars Limited-Edition Best Sellers Collection. This little kit contains some of Tarte's bestselling products. I was intrigued enough to purchase this just for the cheek stain which I've been dying to try out ever since I got into makeup waaaaay back n 2006. I've also heard seriously good stuff about the LipSurgence Natural Lip Tint product so was definitely happy to find it in this kit. A little smorgasboard of Tarte goodies!

One other item I've been obsessively wanting to try is Soap & Glory's The Fab Pore Facial Peel. So I got it! They used to sell Soap & Glory products at Target.com but I think once Sephora had a deal with Soap & Glory, the Target arrangement seemed to have disappeared. Oh well, it ain't like I can shop at Target anyways so who cares! This retails for $25. I guess this is gonna be my first ever Soap & Glory product. Am rather excited to give this a spin.

The next two items are simply repurchases for me. I love the Murad Clarifying Toner and the Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser. I especially love the toner even more now that I found out that it's alcohol free :D These products costs $22 and $30 respectively.

Of course, any Sephora purchase entitles you to 3 free samples. I chose to get the Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel, Perfekt Lash Perfection Gel (totally loving the sound of this product!) and Algenist Regenerative Anti-Aging Lotion. As it's pretty obvious, I have a tiny obsession with anti-aging and facial resurfacing products :D The aging train has finally caught up with me and I'm scrambling to save myself, lol.

Overall, the entire purchase came up to $169.65. I had to pay $10.35 in tax since I'm having this order shipped to Orlando. I'm very nervous about it as it'll be my first time shipping to a hotel. Although I googled delivering packages to hotels and the results are very normal, I just don't want such a pricey order to disappear on me. nor do I want it to arrive too late which is why I placed the order this morning. It's 18/07 night in the States right now so I'm hedging my bets that they'll process my order 19th and either ship it on the 19th itself or the next day at the latest. With Sephora's 3 business day shipping, I hope to have my package arrive on Tuesday at the latest. If not, it has to arrive on the 26th since my bestie is leaving 27th morning. Fingers crossed I'm not gonna be out of nearly 170 bucks!

DISCLAIMER: All images screen capped from sephora.com. Guys, process my order!

UPDATE (20/07/2012):
Dang it! Sephora was suspicious of the order being sent to a hotel so they canceled it! And asked me to email them if it was an error. I did tell them it was but now I might not have enough time to get it sent to the hotel while my colleagues is there. So I said if they can guarantee the shipment arrives there between 22/07 to 26/07 than by all means re-process my order, otherwise, leave it. Uggh! Not lovin' bein a VIB so much right now!