Rainbows, Flowers and ASOS

It is hard to believe that only two weekends ago,the weather was so beautiful, here is a picture I took on a beautiful Sunday in September.  Skip to the last day of September and the weather is poo!  However in the midst of a dreadful day I saw a beautiful spectacular rainbow, the best I have ever seen!  :-).  Today I had to buy a belly belt for my baby bump off ASOS, and of course to help justify them making their free delivery for a $10 item, I chucked in this cute belt below, it will belt my maxi dresses nicely!  Seriously though, no more ASOS for me! (heard this before??).

Good Deeds, Expansion to the ten pan project and bargain buys!

Today when I was leaving work at lunch, I decided it was a good opportunity to find someone to give my paid parking ticket to since I had paid for all day and it was worth $8.00 still!  In the last month two people have given me their paid parking ticket and I have really appreciated it, so that was my good deed for the day J.

Cotton On: I knew I would get a bargain out of them eventually!  Cotton On have been playing it tough with no sales the last couple of months, while they have had masses of clothes I have been lemming.  I have wanted a jumper like this for ages but they haven’t had any good deals and there was no way I was paying $29.95 when I knew it would go on sale as they do at the end of every Winter.  So yay picked this up for $10!!  Being patient can be frustrating but its part of being frugal and being able to afford to have more nice things.  P.s I strongly suspect that Cotton On are going to start having mass sales soon and all the stock I thought I had missed out will be coming back though the sales (fingers crossed!).

I love Lovisa jewellery http://www.lovisa.com.au/.  It is so cheap and the quality is quite good, the style is very eclectic which is right up my alley.  I had a ‘browse’ through the store and although they had no promotions on, I picked up this necklace for $14.95!  I was actually a bit shocked because I wasn’t going to pick it up at all because I loved it and thought it would be about $30.  This will go nicely with my strapless dresses over Summer.

I have decided to expand my 10 pan project to include skin care items since I do seem to have a huge amount of nearly used cleansers/moisturisers and samples lying around.  thebellelumier has blogged about her ten pan project, this is actually one of my favourite blogs: http://thebellelumiere.net/category/project-10-pan/.  Last night I finished this:

I bought this from Coles for about $9.00 (discontinued), I had been procrastinating about getting a new moisturiser (usually I use Clarins Lotus Oil) so decided to pick this up.  In an effort to use it all up I had been using it every night instead of alternating with my other moisturiser.  I have noticed that my skin seems dryer and fine lines more prominent since using this exclusively. So it’s a no for me on a recommendation – here is blurb about it: Derma intensive+ Q10 Anti-wrinkle Night Cream is specially formulated for all skin types and may help to protect the skin against first signs of ageing. Nourishing and soothing, restoring the skin's firmness and freshness.  Regular usage of Derma intensive+ Anti-Wrinkle night cream may help to minimise the signs of ageing and reduce the appearance of of existing wrinkles and fine lines stimulating the skins natural ability to prevent the appearance of new lines.

Pretty things of the day and seven pans down only three to go!

Pretty Things I heart today

Zoe Foster’s book Amazing Face.  I borrowed this from the library as I have a million makeup books (Kevyn Aucoin’s  books will always have a special place in my heart), but I think I will buy it for my collection if I see cheap at Kmart/Target/Big W..  Zoe also does the awesome Primped Blog.

This dress mannequin that I found in a generic discount store called Homebase.  I posted on my renovation blog how I would love one of these in my wardrobe, it was $79.95.  I might check out some other stores before I commit to this one, but it seems like a pretty good deal especially as I don’t need a proper dressmaker one and its so pretty!  I am not in a hurry for it, so might just keep an eye on it for now in the hope of a cheaper bargain.

 Seven Pans down, Three Pans left to go!

  

I have now finished seven things from my discarded makeup pile, so the ten pan project is going well! 

Clarins Teint Fluide Hydration Liquid Foundation.  Again, I don’t know why I discarded this foundation and I am embarrassed that this was at least 6 years old as well!  Using the rest of this foundation has been really nice, I love it, it matches my skin tone, its hydrating, smooth to go on and smells lovely.  It is really sad that I am finding so many great items at the bottom of my makeup draws that have been previously discarded for no apparent reason!  It even has great reviews at Makeupalley.

Things beginning with A

A is for ASOS. Today I got an ASOS parcel (only one to go but that will be on my other blog).  It had a Maternity dress (that I will review on other blog) and two necklaces:

 Both necklaces came well protected in little ASOS boxes, I was very impressed with that.

This necklace was $7.19.  It was described as rock crystal brown.  So its totally not a brown crystal rock - its an amethyst crystal- purple!  It has a big bling gold chain like picture shows and its bigger than I thought. Luckily even though its not what I pictured when I purchased, I love it!! Its not as casual as I thought it would be,  it will really dress up an outfit.  So even though its not what I thought it was I am a very happy customer.

 This was $5.59.  It is exactly as described and I love it as well.  So happy with these fantastic bargains.










A is for Adidas.  I love these Jeremy Scott Adidas shoes to death.  Many people do not, they are haters ;-P.

 

I bought these over two years ago from a random online site in China after seeing Katy Perry wearing a pair.  They are some kind of awesome and I have no doubt they are fulfilling my teenage dreams of having a pair of these but I think still they rock.  Need to be worn with an air of coolness and the understanding that only the awesome people get how cool they are.  I love Adidas in general, here is a pic of Katy Perry and Jeremy Scott  - Jeremy is the designer who amped up the Adidas cool meter and Katy featured in their campaign:

The Fun of Frugality

So the upside of frugality means I get to buy pretty things while still paying off a mortage and a very expensive dream car and enjoying the good things in life.  The downside of frugality means that because I indulged in more pretty things then expected last paycycle I have had to forgo store bought coffees and bought lunches for two weeks.

This hasnt been to bad, except for Friday when I really needed a store made coffee and had to make my own at work (sad face).  Buying coffee doesnt seem like a big deal, but say in one week I usually buy two plus a magazine to read on the bus, plus two lunches - well over two weeks that was the equivelent of my Sportsgirl haul.  So frugality is sometimes about sacrifices.  But sometimes its not and its really easy, sometimes easier than actually forking out the $$, some examples are:

• Quickflix, I have been a member for a couple of years and for $19.95 a month I get 8 dvds.  There are no late fees, BUT - you get sent two at a time and you have to return them to get sent another two (about two a week basically). they get mailed out to you with paid return envelopes  So if you dont get around to watching them - instead of either trying to hold on to them to watch them and racking up $20 late fees or returning them unwatched and wasting your $$, you just return them when you feel like - even if you end up only watching four its still a saving.  I cant rave about Quickflix enough, I always get the latest movies I have put in my delivery queue and I am not a big movie watcher but I get through the 8 a month. 
• Power bill, I unplug everything I dont use (apparantly even if you turn off at the wall it still sucks energy out?), that includes the tv at night.  In winter I try and rug up until I have to turn the heater on and in Summer I try to cool down before I have to turn the air con on, I hang my clothes on a clothes horse/clothes line instead of using the dryer and we just dont have a dishwasher.  I am actually looking at energy options for a dishwasher cause I hate washing dishes!!  We have halved our power bills in the last couple of years - halved!  Thats about a thousand dollars a year in savings.

Three Pan down, only four to go! Cotton on 30% off instore till Monday 26th Sept

I feel a bit guilty about adding the Maybelline foundation into the pan project, because its not something that was rolling around in my makeup draw not getting used as I bought other things.  It is at the moment my Holy Grail foundation which I repeatedly purchase (and actually had a spare one ready to go), but at the moment I am thinking of expanding the ten pan project anyway as it has made me realise how much skin care/haircare/makeup I have!

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Foundation – this is my favourite foundation (ever), so I already had a new one purchased for when this one ran out.

Kate Moss perfume – I bought this about 5 years ago (when it first came out).  It was Kate Moss’s first perfume and I only bought it because of that not particularly because of the smell :-S.  Its not a bad perfume, but it is definitely generic and a non repurchase.

MAC Select Tint Foundation – I bought this over seven years ago!  I don’t know why I never finished off the bottle there really wasn’t that much left in it (kinda embarrassing actually).  There is nothing wrong with this foundation, its quite a nice light foundation but I always were Dove or Nivea tinted moisturiser when I want a light foundation and they are heaps cheaper. 

I just got an email notifing me that Cotton On have extended their 30% off sale that was originally only online to instore until Monday 26th of September.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I have no $$ bucket left until pay day.  Perhaps this means I will have to wait for their really really big sale (although 30% off is pretty awesome).

Drop Dead Gorgeous

I am loving  Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily , especially the daily look.  I am totally stealing today's look.  I have a light pink blazer from Dotti (got a few months ago on sale), a white top from Ally ($12.50) and Maternity denim shorts from ASOS ($36).  Plus a whole stack of long necklaces recently bought as mentioned in previous posts.  Not loving the hat so giving that a miss and I have a million stack bracelets but not sure if they are a necessary add for this outfit. Also ditching the clutch for a cross shoulder bag (red mimco in earlier post) and I am going to go the gladiator sandals again this year cause I love them :-). http://dropdeadgorgeousdaily.com/2011/09/daily-look-stick-it-in-neutral/

 After whinging previously about Cotton On's lack of sales I thought it best to mention that they are have 30% off online until Monday the 26th of September plus free shipping.  I will have to wait until in store sales as I have no money left in my savings bucket!

the last of the Sportsgirl Sale (thank you westfield gift voucher)

As mentioned in a previous post, I scored a free $20 Westfield gift voucher.  So my Shopping Demon that has reared its little head at the start of all the new Spring stock coming in to stores has been fed a little bit more!  I wandered into Sportsgirl to check out what was left of their 50% off reduced stock sale and snapped up for $25 ( I didnt buy a magazine I wanted to make up the difference):

This red and gold bling clasp bracelet was $19.95, final sale price is $5!

I love this bag, its black quilted with a gold cross chain and a leather/feather accessory.  Although I love clutches I am starting to get a bit over them so its time for the return of cross shoulder bag!  $29.95 final price $9.95

I am not a huge fan of Sportsgirl clothes, I buy everything else in the store just not clothes.  But as I was looking at the above bag, a girl next to me shouted out to her friend 'hey this top is only ten bucks'.  After looking up and spying it I thought actually that would be a perfect summer maternity top as its so long for when the bump gets really big. Lucky she put it back on the rack and I nabbed it!  $39.95, final price $9.95

 

Pet Rescue

Six years ago I wanted a puppy, but I knew that there was so many dogs out there that needed homes and I felt so guilty about it!  I cant remember how I even found the Pet Rescue website, but I did and I used to obsessively scour it daily for dogs and there was one that kept popping up. Gidget a chihuahua.x who lived a million miles away in Whyalla at a vets, finally one day it came up on her info that Gidget was running out of time to find a home :-(.  So I rang up dogtainers and paid $100 to get her transported and I paid the vets for her (included desexing and all needles) and I had myself a little Gidget.  She was totally toilet trained and has been a delight, she has pretty much lived with my mum the last five years (long story) and I have been a major advocate of Pet Rescue ever since.

http://www.petrescue.com.au/, they have heaps of ways to help out including volunteering and donating funds.  In a couple of months we are moving out of our apartment and back into our house where we have a huge yard.  Hopefully another Pet Rescue doggie will come and join our family :-).

More no no's and deferrals to the wishlist!

All the new Spring stock has activated my want demon.  I splurged one last time today and deferred other things to next pay.  I think this an important time to reflect on my good choice not to have a credit card anymore! On the savings front, Hubbie bought a new pair of jeans at Glue at Westfield who currently have a promotion if you spend over $160 they will give you a $20 gift card if you claim it at the Concierge - Yay for me who claimed it and got the $20 giftcard ;-).

http://www.lovisa.com.au/Lovisa have a promotion at the moment, but two items get the third free, I spent $27 and got:

On my wish list is a headband, bracelet set and tote bag from colette ($50) they currently have 10% if you sign up to their newsletter in store -hopefully they still have that promo in two weeks!  Their website has been improved, but still leaves alot to be desired compared towhat they offer instore: http://www.colette.com.au/.

Pretty spring nails and another pan down!

I was actually looking for a more pink coral nailpolish to celebrate the first awesome weather weekend of Spring, but I picked out the Sportsgirl Flamingo nailpolish (a very bright Spring colour!).  I heart Sportsgirl nailpolishes, they are my favourite out of all brands.  I base with chipskip from OPI, two to three coats of nail polish then a top coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri.  Although I have mastered painting nail polish, I am still struggling with filing so dont look to closely :-):

Another Pan down in the Ten pan Project! Three down and seven to go.  This is a Sportsgirl lip gloss, as much as I love their lipglosses I have moved on from them so this wont be a repurchased even though I did love this colour:

Bargains and Budget Blowing

Here are the things I picked up from Sportsgirls 50% off already reduced sale, it is a crazy cheap sale so I have no regrets but means with yet more unbudgeted medical bills I have truly blown the budget this pay!  But on the plus side I dont have a credit card so there is no debt involved - just no savings (unless you count the creative accounting savings of what I saved by buying these so cheaply!):

This tote was $29.95- final sale price $9.95.  It has a zipper as well, is perfect for beach (yay Summer), maybe baby stuff.. and anything really I have a billion totes and I use one pretty much every day. 

These necklaces were $19.95, final sale price $4.95.  As you can see they are the same just different colours, I couldnt decide and then I realised they were only 5 bucks each so got both.

This scarf was $24.95, final sale price $8.  I didnt need any more scarves but I dont have one like this and it is soo pretty and $8!

This bag was $69.95, final sale price $19.95.  I plan to use this as a baby bag/travel bag, it looks pretty much like the one on my wish list for $179! 

This bag was $29.95, final sale price $9.95.  I have been lemming cross shoulder bags, hope this purchase finally satisfies this!  

free stuff and cheap stuff - lots of stuff!

Last couple of days I had two emails from different magazines with a voucher to pick up the new eli saab sample perfume from Myers.  So I popped in and grabbed them, yay for nice perfume vial samples :-).

After buying heaps of cheap maternity clothes from ASOS and getting the delivery this week quickly and they were awesome, I couldnt resist having another peak today at their sale stock and I picked up some more cheapies.  With free delivery its to tempting, so now I am just going to stay off ASOS for awhile I think:

This was $6!! reduced from $20  I do see awesome bargains like this in Lovista/Collete/Diva but they wouldnt be any cheaper than this and I havent seen this in store in Aus either.

This necklace was $8!  I have been lemming some kind of long chain amber/rock necklace and had recently spotted one at the Bondi markets that I had wanted (it was $75).  Soo happy, but no more ASOS! I popped in a $25 long black maternity maxi dress as well just for safe measure (that post is for my baby blog).







Just for good measure I stopped into Sportsgirl 'just for a look' after swearing off 'just having a look' for the next two weeks - they have just started their 50% off already reduced stock sale.  How can heaven be so guilt inducing!  I only spent $47 (making a shopping total of $84 for a two week period - I have no $$ left to even accidently spend!), so really its not toooo bad.  Sportsgirl drives me nuts that they wont let you save a pic from their email (or perhaps I am not tech savvy enough to work it out).  I will have to take pics and post tomorrow :-).

Which Wedge will I Wedge?

I have decided to get a pair of wedges in preperation for Spring/Summer.  I am not a huge fan of wedges but I need a pair to go with all the Maxi's I plan to wear in the warmer weather - I also need a pair of shoes that are a little more fancy then sandals but not as fancy as heels.  I also dont want to spend to much money :-(. 

I found a pair at Payless shoes that I like but they are $49.95 and even with getting a $5 voucher for signing up their newsletter $45 is still making me squirm.

These Rubi Shoes are $29.95 so the cheapest I have found, but I do like the Payless ones better.  I also popped into Novo Shoes as they are having buy a pair and get the second 50% off but I wasnt feeling anything of those wedges.

Dear Santa

I really love the Prada Amber perfume, yes Santa I know I have alot of perfume that I have had for years and years and I probably dont need to buy anymore for like ten more years.  But, with Xmas coming up in a few months and all the gift boxes coming up I am pretty sure I can grab an awesome gift box deal in the sales after Boxing day.  I will be a good girl I promise ;-).

2 down and 8 to go in ten pan project!

Another one bites the dust!  This is actually one of my favourite products of all time so I will need to repurchase, but I have other illuminators I can use till I get through the ten pan project and the Moon Beam I have had for 7 years is on my hit list to go before I repurchase the High Beam again (Moon Beam is not for my skin tone).

Gratitude and Jessica Alba's kick ass style

Today for the second time in a month a kind person has gone out of their way to give me their parking ticket as they were leaving and I was parking!  Yay for nice people!

So basically while traditionally Spring fashion has more bright colour than Autumn fashion they are basically have the same theme - layers layers layers.  So as Australia is going into Spring its a good time to steal some US Fall fashion.  Jessica Alba last fall really ramped it up style wise aand Fabsugar have been kind enough to put together a gallery of all her best looks: http://www.fabsugar.com/Jessica-Alba-Fall-Style-18985670.

How to's for the How do I

There are of course a million youtube videos on how to braid hair, http://www.primped.com.au/ have some great how to videos as well. This one from Nicole Ritchie's blog for a side braid is pretty good as an example of styling but no good if you are starting out in actually learning how to braid: http://www.nicolerichie.com/2011/09/how-to-create-a-side-braid-with-andy-lecompte/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-create-a-side-braid-with-andy-lecompte. Though it did make me laugh when he said dont worry about it being messy, the messier the better and implied that you should try and ruffle it up - I cant braid very well and it definetly doesnt need any extra ruffling up!

Braids never fade!

I heart braids.  Three of my fav looks below and link to a whole post that LipstickStarsAndKillerheels has put together: http://lipstickstarsandkillerheels.blogspot.com/2011/09/braid-your-hair.html

I ate to much/my pants are to tight and Gwyneth Paltrow needs to shut up and just look pretty

Either way I am full :-D.  My lovely husband makes me meals to microwave while he is away (I suspect they are mainly for baby on board but I will take what I can get!), lovely fish and steamed vegies and chicken and steamed vegies etc.  I am a lucky well fed chickie.

So Gwyneth Paltrow has been getting alot of press for awhile now, which is bound to happen when you bring out a cook book, make movies, have your own blog and in general be quite free with throwing around your opinions on everything.  However she has really ramped it with her style so while she is now starting to really make me want to throw something at her, she does look pretty while being annoying:

Sales the Devils advocate:-D

Ally are having 20% off instore and free shipping online: http://www.allyfashion.com/online/.  Cotton on are having 30% off at Westfield stores if you checkin to their facebook location :http://shop.cottonon.com/?utm_source=COwebsite&utm_medium=website&utm_content=redirection&utm_campaign=OnlineBShop.

Selective memory vs goldfish in a bowl memory

In my last post about frugality and saving $$ tips, I forgot to add that I am totally addicted to magazines!  Hence the subscriptions and the borrowing more from the library.  My local newsagency also has a loyalty program where you buy ten magazines and get one free.  I probably buy two a week (this week I bought Cosmo Health and Prevention), so it makes feel slightly less guilty to at least get one for free.

Rave for the day: Somebody at work complimenting on my dress that I bought for $20 from SES
Rant for the day: People who sit next to me on the bus when there are whole bays of seats empty!! Why do people do that??

Frugality and other ways that I save $$

Having many years ago racked up a lot of debt and not spent wisely, I have learnt some very hard money lessons.  Now that I am pretty much debt free (apart from mortgage and car), I no longer have a credit card and I although my savings are not awesome I can now only buy what I afford.  So to be able to afford my fashion passion and enjoy life here are some things that I do to save the precious pennies:

• I have a visa debit card not a credit card, it doesnt have any account keeping fees attached and I avoid ATM fees, though I do usually end up paying a $2.00 atm fee once a month when I am stuck and need cash out
• I borrow all my books and most magazines and cds from the library - seriously they have every brand new book thats available from the bookstore.
• I subscribe to Who, Allure and Glamour - a saving of about $350 a year.  I did have a cleo and cosmo subscription but I have grown out of them slightly and they havent come to the party with a good subscription price - plus I can get them from the library
• When I really really want a CD I buy Itunes vouchers when they are sale (recently got $40 voucher for $32 from Coles) then download them from Itunes as the are slightly cheaper and usually come with bonus tracks - I have serious issues with how Itunes and E-books are still not cheap compared to how much they cost for a hard copy and how much it must cost them to transfer electronically but there is not much I can do about that market price issue!
• Coffee- in pretty much every saving tip out there but seriously it costs nearly 5 bucks for one store bought coffee, so I usually buy one or two a week as a treat and then just suck it up and make my own at work
• eating out - I pick the cheapest dish or if I am eating with Hubbie get a pizza to share.  We usually twice a month splurge on a nice lunch or breakfast
• We never get take out.  Seriously. 
• always eat left overs, freeze them and take them for lunches - you will get hungry at work and you will eat them
• I get a hair cut every sixish months and I only get half a head of foils, I dont get a toner or any extra treatments and I try and push it out to 8 weeks vs 6 weeks (I am faux blonde)
• I signed up for Priceline club and buy the body basics and chemist stuff there as well to rack up the club points - they always have great freebies to look out for as well
• I bus it pretty much everywhere including work ( I take the early bus to avoid the crowds), this can be slightly irritating at time but saves sooo much money! 
• Walk it/bike it instead of taking the car - good exercise as well :-)

Ten Pan Project (down to 9 Pan)

Sooo after posting earlier about the ten pan project I am embarking on, I finally finished one bottle of palmers cocoa butter and I am teetering on knocking off a KMS shine bottle that I have had for a million years as well.  I started using a Clarins foundation that I have had for a million years as well (okay about 6 yrs really!) and have discovered that I love it - why did I never finish this bottle?  There is at least half a bottle left so thats not going to go quickly so have chosen a MAC foundation (been around for just as long but is nearly empty) to get rid of first.  It really has made me realise how much makeup/skincare/haircare I have that I really need to use before I get any more!

Though having said all of that I promptly went to Priceline and bought a razor, a 48hour roll on antiperspirant, a 2pk face mask, more cocoa butter for stretch marks (my belly is stretching with baby growing) and the below anti split ends serum.  I dont regret any of these purchases, I needed them all - and the serum has made an immediate impact on my hair yay :-).

Grand Total came to $50 and I got a bonus $5 voucher to spend at Priceline.

Dear Cotton On, your prices are ridiculous!!

Call me a stingy tightwad, but I won't be buying an of the many things I covet at Cotton On until they have a reasonable sale.  I went in to pick up the dress I planned to buy (a few posts below), and it was $39.95!  For a cheap looking dress clearly from China. :-( sad face!  I have been worried that with the recent shift to people buying bargain fashion from the cheaper shops vs more expensive shops (valleygirl vs portmans) that the cheaper chain stores would start hiking up their prices so you end up paying more for bad quality stuff that doesnt last.

Sale time will tell if we have something to worry about.  On the plus side, Ally still has great fashion and bargains: http://www.allyfashion.com/online/index.php/24-new-arrivals/4154-al2109-butterfly-print-1-shoulder-dress.html, and have more flash sales then the others seem to have as well