Christmas in July! Woooo!!

The ever so amazing Shelby is having a really amazing give away where there will be FOUR winners! Why? because she's the amazing Goatz, that's why. (: Want to enter? Go check her out here & tell her i sent you.

love & all things vintage,
becca

CVS Haul + Extreme Couponing = 1 Happy Makeup Junkie

so i'm pretty sure everyone has seen the show "extreme couponing" on tlc, right? if not, check them out here. anywho! i was going through the circulars on sunday & saw that cvs was doing 40% off of all physician's formula makeup. FORTY PERCENT!! went to cvs on thursday, figured out its not in my budget at the moment. poo. however! fear not, my wonderous ladies... someone in a makeup group im in on facebook did a haul at cvs for PF & pretty much extreme coupon'd it! here's her blog: get thee to a cvs. in her blog she provided a coupon link for $5 any full-sized PF. [here] so top that coupon on the 40% off and you can be paying anywhere from nothing to a mean dollar and change! best part? the coupon has unlimited prints so if you plan on buying ten PFs, print 10 coupons!

so i went to cvs to grab some soda for the easter bbq i'm going to & picked up some PF. here's what i got:

top: bamboo wear bambuki brush
bottom l->r: plump potion in pink crystal potion, eyedefiner felt tip eye marker in ultra black, shimmer strips for brown eyes, & shimmer strips glam collection for brown eyes.

top -> bottom: shimmer strips glam collection for brown eyes & shimmer strips for brown eyes.

top -> bottom: eye definer felt tip eye marker in ultra black & plump potion in pink crystal potion

bamboo wear bambuki brush

 ok. so here's how the pricing goes before the 40% & my $5 off coupons {& without taxes, going off my receipt, i can't remember exactly how much they were listed for}.

» bambuki brush: $10.99 {i think thats what it said on the shelf}

» plump potion in pink crystal potion: $10.99

» eye definer felt tip eye marker: $8.27 {i think thats what it said on the shelf}

» shimmer strips for brown eyes: $10.99

» shimmer strips glam collection for brown eyes: $10.99

now here's what i paid:

» bambuki brush: $1.29

» plump potion in pink crystal potion: $1.47

» eye definer felt tip eye marker: FREE {money maker of 63cents}

» shimmer strips for brown eyes: $1.59

» shimmer strips glam collection for brown eyes: $1.59

 $5.31 + tax = $5.94

savings of $47.20!

my entire order was $44&change [BEFORE coupons but after the 40% PF discounts] & i brought it down to under $20

anyone else get in on this deal? whatcha get? whatcha spend? whatcha save?

EDIT: 23april2011 @ midnight30
did another PF haul & this takes couponing to the extreme - at least for me. My total before coupons & discounts was $65.20. what did i pay?! 88CENTS!

 

Rockin' like a Betty.

So this has been a looooooooooong time coming. I ordered from an amazing pinup-esque shop called RcokaBetty Beauty. They can be found on etsy & they have a facebook fan page. As part of my "spoiling allowance" from our tax return, I decided to try this girl out. I've been stalking her etsy since I met her in the top secret squirrel make-up group [yep, this group will get me in trouble]. I placed an order from Miss Kim on March 4th & received it the 12th. She had all ready informed me there was a delayed turnaround time so I wasn't too horribly worried. Besides 8days isn't bad. :D  & that was with the shipping. I'm not exactly sure when it was processed.

Anywho! onto the goodies! I ordered the "After Party - Threesome to Go, 3 mini (3g jar) shades" & "Snuff - Mini Lid Luster Eyeshadow, 3g jar" for $13.98 [after shipping]. So in total, 4 3g jars for $14. Average it out to about $3.50 for a 3g jar or roughly $1.17 per gram. Now remember, these are filled by volume, not weight. Lets take a look at everything.

Packaging:

yayy for censors!

personal thank you note & cute little bag that houses everything.

inside the pop corn bag.

the extras; sample, sticker, business card, & double ended makeup brush.

 So before we dive into looking at the pigments & their packaging, I would just like to say that I adore this packaging. The mini vintage-esque popcorn bag is to die for & the business card just screams pin-up. I'm also quite obsessed with the "Warning: May be habit forming" sticker - so obsessed that it's now homed on the back of my phone.

 

 

don't mind the pic being upside down. too lazy to rotate.

 

 

Pigments:
Everything came shrink wrapped. (: That's awesome! Especially since there was no sifter [yayyy! I hate sifters. It holds my pigmies hostage D: ] & it was packed to the brim! The brim I tell you!!

Swatching:
All of these are swatched dry on bare skin. (:  I am quite please with the pigmentation of these. I am in lalalalove with maneater [the hot pink!] & snuff [the blue]. 

L » R: bullet, snuff, floozy, maneater, & fleshy

Descriptions as per Etsy:

» bullet: A shimmery, sparkly silver

» snuff: A soft, lush turquoise loaded with tons of glitter

» floozy: A sexy, smokey plum loaded with fuschia glitter

» maneater: A sexy hott, vibrant pink loaded with hot pink, bright blue, neon orange and neon green glitter

» fleshy: A shimmering, peachy caramel

The descriptions are pretty spot on. The only thing is when I apply maneater, I don't see any glitter just hot pink awesomeness. Not that its a problem for me but I think the mica to pigment ratio is a bit off if the glitter is suppose to be noticeable. Again, NOT a problem for me. (:

Pricing:

Based on my total cost of purchase, I estimated about $3.50 per 3g jar. However, according to Etsy it is $3.99 for a 3g jar & $6.99 for a 10g jar [yes! she offers big jars! :D]. So I wasn't off by much but buying the "After Party" 3 deal for $9.00 saves you $2.97 if you like the color combos she offers. So ultimately buying more saves you more. :D

Overall, I was very happy with my experience from RABB. (: I would totally recommend her. :D

everyone needs to get the virus!

i had a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the most lovely & thoughtful women through a private facebook group designed specifically for mineral makeup [mmu] formulators & hoarders wearers [is that a word?] alike. i got the chance to meet jenni of virus insanity eyeshadows; sweet, loving, somewhat neurotic - in a good way i swear! when perusing through her eyeshadows folders on the fan page, i just knew i had to have some. there was no want.. it was a need. so tax time rolled around, i bought supplies for my own shop, paid off bills, & then dove into the world of vie.

there were so many pretties to choose from... how could i just have one? or two? or even ten!? i want them aaaaallll! unfortunately, i don't have that kind of money so i limited myself to $20 + shipping costs. i got her random 6 for $20 + $5 shipping. So $25 for 6 5g jars [each hold about 2.5g as per the label]; that boils down to $3.34/jar & $1.34/gram - if my math serves me right... a bit on the high end in my opinion but so worth every penny. (:

here are the goodies: [please note that i kinda destroyed the envelope they came in trying to get them out. i was a very impatient girl today. especially since the post office completely skipped over oklahoma & sent it to texas before sending it back up -- it's coming from wyoming! why is it going to texas first?! this is a story for another time tho.]

L » R || Top Row: Dance Dance, Ferris Wheel, & Icicle
L » R || Middle Row: Party Hard, Plaid is Rad, & Tree Hugger
L » R || Bottom Row: Shapeshifter & Perverse [sample]

By now you're probably thinking: 'but becca, theres seven full size eyeshadows, not six! wth?!'  welp, ms. jenni has a special deal going on in our mmu group that if we're a first time buyer we get a free full size shadow - this is if you're in the group only. anyhow, i didn't choose any of my colors; i asked her too. She did, however, include colors i've been fiend-ing over since we first met: dance dance & tree hugger [which was mainly for the name but its one of my faves out of the bunch]

now on to swatches! please keep in mind these are all applied dry. meaning: no primer, no base, no foiling, nothing. just my bare skin. i don't want to change the effects of the colors & have people oooh & aahhh over a color because its primered-wet-based & then they try it dry & hate it. so, here we go.

L » R || dance dance, ferris wheel, & icicle

color descriptions [per the website]:
dance dance: orangeish yellow with rainbow glitter and silver rainbow hologram glitter.
ferris wheel: Medium pink with green iridescence and lime glitter. NON VEGAN
icicle:  Cold blue with dark purple glitter and silver rainbow hologram glitter.

 

L » R || party hard, plaid is rad, & tree hugger

color descriptions [per the website]:

party hard:Deep purple with purple iridescence and rainbow hologram glitter. NON VEGAN

plaid is rad: lime green with lime green glitter.

tree hugger: A frosty olive green with brown and green glitter

 

L » R || shapeshifter & perverse

 color descriptions [per the website]:

perverse: Yellow with purple iridescence. Contains light purple glitter.

shapeshifter:Deep matte black with blue, teal, and light purple glitter. 

 

all the colors jen gave me had wonderful pay off. the shimmer & glitter is so hard to capture at the angle i was taking pictures but they're there. promise. (: the only thing i had an issue with was "shapeshifter"... the stinky glitter either a: wasnt showing or b: had severe fall out ): either way, not a happy becca. the pretty blue sparkles in the jar as just, well, pretty! :D

onto the overview:

packaging: nothing fancy. bubble mailer with the pretties inside which are in a tightly wrapped plastic baggie.

shipping: super quick! omgosh she had it shipped the day i ordered! [ok, well, i ordered on a friday afternoon but it was packed & shipped on monday] & it comes with a delivery confirmation number. now if we can only slap the PO for giving me a heart attack saying my pretties were sitting in texas for 2 days. =/

overall quality: i love. <3 like i said i couldnt get the sparkles in shapeshifter to show, but i'll ask jen for advice or i'll foil it-base it-prime it... i'll update when i find out whats up.

customer service: wonderful! i gave jen free reign on picking my colors & she did a great job. + she remembered our convo about me lusting for tree hugger.

would i recommend VIE? heck yes! go. now.

this momma's going green

as my close friend's can vouch, i am a bit of a tree hugger - was vegan for 3 years [long story as to why i'm not anymore], recycle & upcycle as much as possible, buy organic & local when possible... so why am i going to let my kids carbon foot print be humongous the first few years of their life until they're potty trained?! unfortunately, by the time i was able to convince my husband to "go green" in the diapering department, hunter [the oldest - 14months] is about to start getting potty trained & i don't see a point in putting him in cloth diapers for a year... but we'll see how that goes. who knows, we might change our mind & have both boys in cloth diapers.

anyhow, being new to cloth diapering, i emailed a fellow cloth-diapering-navy-wife for her opinion of the different types, which were user friendly, best absorbancy, cheapest start up cost, etc. needless to say, after days of talking & [what can be turned into pages & pages of information] relaying the information to my husband we decided to take a dive. but where to start?! i visited kellyscloset.com & diapers.com & they were no help. >.<  so... many... choices! & the prices! oy! i'm going to be honest, when starting out cloth diapering be prepared to spend a couple hundred on different styles, size, makes, etc until you find the one that works... then a couple more to get the inserts [if you're doing "pocket diapers"].

i went with an easy, & popular one: gDiapers. they're sold at babies r us & diapers.com. we bought ours at babies r us + some organic laundry detergent [which, we found out can potentially ruin the inserts... you have to have a certain type of laundry soap to help keep the absorbancy is the pad. >.< a popular one is rockin' green which can be found here]... i'll do some research & then update this post with the information. we bought 2 "shells" [the actual diaper looking thing itself] & it came with 3 plastic snap in liners [$26.99] & a pack of 6 gDiapers reusable inserts [$26.99]. okay, okay.. that's not SO bad.. but it is when you're kid can go through 6 liners in a day! but i digress... so here's the haul:

earth's best organic laundry detergent. 6pk of reusable inserts. 2pk gPants.

inside the gPants package & the package of the inserts.

*must* read if new to cloth diapering

 okay... so now that the package is all open & we're ready to test drive this baby on my little pee machine, here's what a put together gPants look like:

snap in plastic liner & "shell" [or gPants is what gDiapers call 'em]

 now to assemble said diaper. open the insert package [obviously].... the package said to wash the inserts 6 times prior to first use. yeah, uh, about that... i skipped that part. XD

& push that sucker into the plastic liner. you have to adjust it a bit to fit snuggly in the liner. but it doesn't take much finagling.

wipe your baby all nice & clean before putting on this cute diaper alternative. (: the diaper closure is velcro & it wraps around the back of the baby for when they're older they won't be tempted to pull off the diaper [like my 14month old likes doing now]. the diapers are relatively bulkier than disposables, however. =/

& voila! That's all there is too it. so how does the absorbancy hold up compared to a disposable diaper? uh-MAZE-ing! little man pees right through the huggies little snugglers diapers in 4-5 hours. but he slept through the night in his gDiaper [from 9pm - 7am] & there was no sign of leakage what. so. ever!

so how do we "dispose" of the soiled reusable liner? drop it into a pail or a wet bag until laundry day. (: so what happens if you run out of liners or you're a frugal shopper like me? you know those white burp rags that everyone gives you millions at your baby shower? use those! they're really just old fashioned cloth diapers. we have 12 gDiapers liners & 14 burp rag liners. :D

see? the usual 'burp rag'

so how do these 'liners' compare to the gDiapers inserts? they work just as great! grant it, it will make the diaper thicker because you have to fold the 'burp rag' to make it fit into the liner but it works just as good.

 

see? fits right in there.

i wish i could tell you how to deal with a poopie diaper but little man has been constipated  so i will update once i deal with that mess.

would i recommend gDiapers to people? yeppers! i can't believe we didn't start this sooner....

pros:

» better absorbancy [fave word today!] than disposables.

» better for the environment.

» cute colors & designs.

» many types & fits available to suit your lifestyle.

cons:
» start up cost. >.<

» bulkier than disposables.

» most shells can only be ordered online.

antoinette's revolution cosmetics: up & coming.

well hai there! & welcome to my first review of a shop. (:  yes, i am a shop owner myself [a fairly new one at that] but that doesn't mean i can't offer the advice that was given to me to some wonderful up & coming stores. my first review is for the wonderful, racheal, who is one of the founders of antoinette's revolution cosmetics [arc]. aside from the amazing colors, how can i not want to review her? the first time i saw her profile picture i wanted to stalk be friends with her - she had pink hair! how can someone with pink hair not be cool? ^__^

anywho, i bought a scale off of her to help with my shop & she asked if i would like to partake in the tester group for arc. well certainly i would! i love trying [& having] other company colors. so here is the overall screenshot of everything:

lets first talk about packaging:
it was mailed to me in a bubble mailer, even though i wasn't a paying customer or a tester - nor did any one [including myself] know that i would start a review blog. aside from shipping in boxes - bubble mailers are the next best thing. (: inside said bubble mailer was my scale, the samples, & a thank you note all wrapped in pretty black tissue paper - very classy.

lovin' the stickers. <3

my thank you note. (:

on a sadder note, the cute little box that housed my samples came open during transit. ):  the adhesive on the boxes weren't strong enough to hold in shipping - so i would suggest using additional adhesive on the box.

sad box. ):

the eyeshadow samples:

they came in baggies. rather large baggies for the size of the sample. blehk. however! racheal told me the bags she usually uses were out of stock & they will be in stock for their grand opening may 1st. 

 

dauphin [yellowy-gold] ; majesty [deep purple] ; ladies in waiting [nudey-pinkish] ; icing collection purple [pale shimmery, well, purple]

the colors are as true as they come. they do not look different in the bags as they do on skin. they are amazing.. go on smooth & are ridiculously bright & vibrant [well, save for the icing collection purple & ladies in waiting - theyre pale because, well, theyre suppose to be & majesty is dark... ok, so i guess only dauphin is vibrant XD]. the only thing i would suggest is including an ingredients label with the samples. yes, this is not necessary, i just know that i would make people feel better. oh! & including ingredients in the listing [be it on etsy, fb, artfire, etc] is a major plus.

L->R: dauphin, icing collection: purple, ladies in waiting, majesty. applied dry [no primer, no base, just my bare skin]

these are all applied with only one application - i did not have to go over them more than once to get a gorgeous & consistent color.

pricing:

while their shop isn't officially open yet, racheal has said that her & her partner are looking at pricing their 5g jars at $5 a pop ; that's $1 per gram. average priced. now, do not quote me on this price since they're still in the testing & research phase.

hmm... can't really think of anything else to put except that i am DYING to purchase from them once they open. what? can't another mineral makeup formulator buy some from other companies?? besides, i like racheal. she is an awesome lady! she has informed me that if you have any questions for her about the shop to feel free to email her at: ARCpigments@gmail.com