BB cream -what the hell is it?

So for ages now all the beauty magazines have been going on about BB cream.  Garnier sell a cheap one at supermarkets.  I have been using Dove tinted moisturiser for about a decade, so have not been in a great hurry to try this.  But having recently run out of tinted moisturiser I decided to give this a go.  After a week I have been really happy with this, it goes on a lot better than the tinted moisturiser and feels wonderful.  My skin feels and looks a lot better barefaced as well!  You can read more about BB Garnier here: http://www.garnier.com.au/_en/_au/bb-cream/products.aspx also see a review here: http://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=146011/Miracle-Skin-Perfector-Daily-All-In-One-B.B.-Cream/Garnier/Foundations.

At the moment I am reading a book called 50 lessons to find and hold happiness - Life's little detours.  Lesson number one is Life isn't fair but it is still good.  I love this as I always try to look at the positives and enjoy life every second as its so short.  Sometimes something seems like a burden until you turn it around to be thankful for it, the example in the book included being thankful for you job when you have a crappy day or don't enjoy it, be grateful that you have that job.  Sometimes putting things in perspective is a good way to snap out of a lull!

Style files

Sometimes you stumble upon an idea and you think why I haven't I ever thought if that before? I have all pieces all similar to pictured and love all of the styling! Though I was super lucky and lost all my pregnancy weight within two weeks then lost even more after that because of breastfeeding. I stopped breastfeeding about ten weeks ago and bam weight is piling on again. Hubby had pulled the trusty cross trainer out for me and I've started eating more healthy again - when I'm not at my comfortable weight I tend to stick to outfits that I know I look good in vs trying out new ones.

The future is so bright I need to wear shades

I need a new pair of sunglasses, as blogged about already ALOT! As per previous post I got a couple of cheapie pairs, but I still needed a new nice pair.  Because of my spending ban due to an upcoming event that will severely limit my spending power, I was loathe to pay much money for a new pair of sunnies.  Then hurray, (with a little help) I found a pair of sunglasses on Mimco online shop for $45 - plus 9.95 shipping so a total of $55.  On a side note I am completely annoyed that Mimco is one of the last Australian retailers still not doing free shipping :-(.  I have never owned a pair of Mimco sunglasses so I am quite excited and really hoping that they are good quality, they were $180.  So the sunglasses dilemma is finally wrapped up and sorted out :-).  I am about to have some time on my hands again as I return to unpaid leave to spend time with my little one, I plan to really sort out my wardrobe properly.  I will need to do this anyway as I won't have any money to really buy any new clothes anymore.  I will also be going through my magazines and style files to get new ideas to reinvigorate what I have got.  The below is a snapshot from the latest Shop Til Ya Drop magazine, I have this shirt so this is a great inspiration for some styles to use it with.

Nothing in life is free

So this month's Instyle magazine has a Modelco promotion where you get three 'free' Modelco products worth $92 for free.  The products don't look to bad for free, so even though I haven't bought an Instyle for ages I thought I would get one - until I saw the price!  They had upped the price four dollars for the promotion - um that means they are not 'free with magazine' since the magazine costs more than usual.  I did not buy it, quite frankly Modelco has became the kind of product associated only with freebies (for me) they are not worth '$92' to me and I feel miffed that they were trying to pull that kind of scam.  I was going to include a picture of the promotion but now I feel so mad like I was getting scammed I am not going to - next time suck it up Instyle and actually give away something for free with the purchase of your magazine - at the normal price!  As you can tell by my rant, I am so annoyed by this! Maybe I should of sucked it up and paid the $4 but it made me frown, which causes wrinkles which makes me mad.

On a lighter note I am still on a lookout for an awesome pair of sunnies, much to my husbands distress I am still liking Raybans but not the classic Wayfarer - a more buggy looking pair.  Because I still want a coloured pair but cannot justify buying an expensive pair especially when I am on a spending ban. I bought two pairs off Ebay for $3.99 each (dark and light blue), now I know that they are cheap sunnies - but $3.99 free postage - wouldn't postage cost more than $3.99? Sometimes I don't know how these people turn a profit.

Snap!

I love this look. I love everything she is wearing, I love her hair and I love her makeup. I pretty much have all these ingredients - snap! I'm stealing this look :-).

The magic fountain of youth

Ever since I was twenty I have been obsessed with skincare and have spent $$$ on heaps and heaps of products over the year.  I think its been worth it, I am pretty happy with my skin and the ageing of it (arrgh I said ageing).  The one thing I regret is not wearing sunglasses when I was younger (I know wear them all the time!), I think that contributed to not only my eyesight problems but to those good old frown lines.  If I wasn't squinting at the sun all those years I might have escaped them so far, but no they are appearing. I went a few years ago to get a consult for botox, but the consultant basically said no (who knew that they said no!) and recommended Retin-A.  I had never heard of Retin-A before, which was amazing as I religiously read beauty magazines and books - so I forked out my $170 for a jar and away I went.  You can read about Retin-A herehttp://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/food-and-health/beauty-and-personal-care/cosmetics/anti-aging-creams.aspx. And if you google it you can find heaps of information.

Once I ran out of that jar, I really didn't want to pay $170 for another one, it was quite a small jar!  So I did some research and found that you could get a script for it through your doctor.  $30 for a HUGE tube!!  Sometimes I just love being so frugal :-), it offsets my shopping obsession.   I was lucky in the early years that I wore tinted moisturiser all the time, and I was very lucky that it had sunscreen in it.  Sunscreen and Retin-A I highly recommend them!!  Not the quite a fountain of youth but a glass from it anyway.  I had to take a break from it for over a year while I was pregnant and breast feeding and definitely saw a difference - though maybe thats just because I got a year and half older ;-).

I am resigned to the fact that I may have to consider something stronger pretty soon, I think I want to try a laser treatment on my face, but to be honest though the results look great - the treatment still looks quite scary!  Maybe I might just start wearing my hair pulled back tight....

Tretinoin (retinoic acid)

• Not so much a new best friend as a long-time friend, these vitamin A products are recommended by dermatologists. They work by stimulating collagen production, increasing blood flow and helping your skin shed old, dead skin cells (which makes it look smoother and fresher).
• The prescription-only tretinoin products (RETIN-A or RETRIEVE) offer the best performance of all treatments you put directly onto your skin (‘topical’ treatments) at a much more reasonable price (around $40 or even less for a tube that will last four to six months). So if you’re considering some sort of anti-aging treatment, talk to your doctor about whether it would be suitable.
• Over-the-counter products containing retinol (another form of vitamin A) are less irritating to skin, though don’t work as well. As always, concentration and formulation are the key to how effective a given product is. Compare the results, for instance, of ROC’s Retin-Ox+ and Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle treatments in How well do they really work?. Neither works as well as tretinoin.

What happens when Apple rules the world

As previously blogged, I received an iMac for Mothers day.  I have an iPad and and iPhone so imagined that an iMac was going to be quite easy to use.  ARGH - after using microsoft my whole life and everyday at work, its been really really hard to get the hang of how to use this blimen iMac. I am used to using shortcuts that can't be used with iMac and its just been a challenge.  I get to work and I use the mouse and it doesn't work and i realise its because I am trying to use it the iMac way - which is completely the opposite - scrolling the pages is like having to relearn everything all the time since I use both platforms every day (work and home).  Anyway rant over, I still love my iMac I just need to apply myself and read the manual and google how to work it.  Banging on the keyboard strongly and shaking my fist at the screen isn't helping me learn how to use it :-).

I have flexed my willpower muscle very strongly today and have not participate in the Mimco sale, I really really wanted this pictured bag - it was reduced from $349 to $139 www.mimco.com.au/Product/Sale_40/Bags_63/SOHO-COCOON_9089/index.aspx.j  The main reason I abstained was because I have this cocoon bag in dark red and in black sequin (indicating I do not need another Mimco cocoon bag lol) and I am not happy with how the dark red one is wearing - its only a year old and its very weathered and worn even though I have looked after it the same way I have every other Mimco bag I have had, and the metal ends of the drawstrings are all worn out already as well and look yuck.  The sequin bag leaves glitter over everything, which indicates that its not going to wear very well over the years either, both bags have been semi retired because of how worried I am about how they are ageing!  I have Mimco bags that I have had for ten years that look in better condition then they do, so I am not sure whats going on at Mimco at the moment but its put me off buying any bags for awhile.  Which is extremely good for me at this time of my life when I need to save save save!  I really want this Tilkah bag at the moment, but am not going to buy it, I'm not going to buy it, I'm not going to buy it:http://www.tilkah.com.au/catalogue/leather/solaris-sling-.

Last Drinks

We are in the midst of huge major major life decision.  Its a game changer, noting that we have been down the path of game changers before (love to make changes ;-)), but with a little baby its not just two people living life, we have to put down roots and make important choices now.  So my shopping splurges really have to be reigned back for awhile, not just because I should be saving - now it will be forced savings for a little while (luckily I have an awesome wardrobe and a million things to recycle!).  So as my 'last drinks, cause the lights are getting turned off' shopping splurge I decided to utilise my Lucy in the Sky 20% off voucher to buy: top dress -I love the colours of this dress and of course the skater look - though it seems like they are calling every dress skater now ;-0 - wasn't to thrilled when I got it and realised that the top is not lined and its sheer!  I got back online and read the description which clearly said sheer, but I zoomed in on the model and there was no way it looked sheer, so I tried it on and amazingly it doesn't look sheer on -weird huh!  Anyway I love that it was only $40 with my discount.  The second purchase was the blue wolf body suit, this is so cool matched with jeans or a skater skirt.  The second dress was a I'm not sure purchase but it looks pretty for Winter, so its lovely quality ($45 with the discount) and it has a sheer back and the front has enough coverage - but I don't know, I don't love it and I think if I tried this on at the shops I wouldn't of bought it, but I did buy it online- a belt (like pictured) and bright shoes is really needed to jazz this outfit up, I think a necklace will really help as well.  The last purchase were these cross leggings, Black Milk have a similar pair but the crosses are inverted which I didn't like - and these were really cheaper anyway :-).  The four items came to $139 with the discount! 

 So thats me tapped out for awhile.  I am actually really looking forward to digging through my wardrobe again, especially now Winter has arrived - I have another whole wardrobe!  I am inspired to figure out a better way to take photos of my outfits with my stupid mirrors in the house.

Nearly shopping fail

I have been trying really hard to be conservative with my shopping!  I am avoiding shopping centres and clothing stores, and my shopping expenditure while still quite high is nowhere near the highs of late last year and early this year.  I have returned to work after maternity leave and am enjoying going through my work wardrobe again as its quite extensive.  A lot of my work wear I have not been able to wear for ten months+ due to pregnancy and maternity leave (I only took 5 months maternity leave from work). Unfortunately my white work shirts have not really survived being packed away for so long, some are fine but the white white ones are not white anymore they are yellow - but they were old as well so it is to be expected. One of the drawbacks of Cue clothing is that it is such awesome quality your basics like white shirts last far past their use by date, my poor yellowing white work shirts are still in perfect condition apart from their age!  The only other drawback of Cue clothing is of course the price!  I have tried to bleach them, but they just look like old bleached shirts!

So I really needed a new pristine white work shirt, I had previously blogged about one that I wanted from Cue, it was $110 and it was long sleeved. I really couldn't justify $110 and I also didn't want a long sleeved shirt, so I ventured into Portman's my back up work clothes store (actually SES and Valley Girl sometimes have some awesome cheap work pieces as well).  And yay they were having 30% off and yay I found a perfect work shirt! As pictured - I love,it was $69.95 full price but I got 30% off.  BUT I nearly had a shopping fail as I grabbed a skirt on the spur of the moment as I was waiting at the counter to pay for the shirt.  I got home and realised I have a billion skirts and I didn't need another one at all, so I took it back and got a refund.  Nearly a shopping fail....!