oops, I did it again

This wasn't suppose to happen. It completely caught me off guard and in the whirlwind of euphoria, I whipped out my credit card without a second thought and I was out in 20 minutes with a bright pink shopping bag slung over my shoulder.

This is how it went down: I had stopped by Holt Renfrew on Thursday to say hi to a friend. I was heading back into the mall and to get to the overpass, I had to go upstairs and walk past the shoe section. Holt Renfrew had their shoe sale going on for about 2 weeks now, so the racks were out, shoes were strewned on the floor and overall, it was a hot mess. However, out of the corner of my eye, something sparkly caught my attention. With my spidey senses tingling, I zoned in on the sparkle and much to my surprise, it was the Prada sequined loafers that I had been lusting over for months!

When the shoe sale had initially started, I had perused the racks to see if the loafers were discounted. I couldn't find them anyway, so I asked the sales associate if there was any in the back, and she told me that they had sold out of the shoes. Disappointed, I went on my way and never thought about them again, convinced that I had missed out on a lovely pair of shoes.

Well, that obviously wasn't the case, because I managed to find the last pair of size 39's on Thursday! I was chatting with the sales associate who was ringing up my purchase and she mentioned that  there was just so much stock in the back and with the limited space on the floor, it wasn't possible to display all the shoes on sale. So, as they slowly cleared out their backroom, they come across more and more shoes to bring out onto the floor and as luck would have it, the Prada sequined loafers were one of those pairs!

I am madly in love with these shoes. So much so, that I bought a pair for my friend who loves them just as much as me (shoe twinsies!). Now, I'm off to freeze all my credit cards until September!

summer has (almost) arrived

After doing my seasonal shoe closet switch-out (switching out my fall/winter booties and replacing them with summer sandals and shoes), I realized that my favourite pair of black woven flat sandals that I wore to death over the past 3-4 years have gotten to the point where I had to let them go :( But, the upside to my loss is that I get to go shoe shopping :)

I wasn't planning to get new sneakers. This purchase came about when I went to pick up my friend's New Balance 420 shoes on Robson Street (she's ordered the mustard colour on-line), and she asked me to try them on for her to make sure they fit (we're the same shoe size). Being the wonderful friend that I am, I obliged and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and cushy they are as I pranced (a little) around the store. It was like walking on a cloud. Of course, I now had to find my own pair and while they were sold out of the orange colour at the New Balance store, I managed to find a pair from Aritzia's on-line shop. Two days later, and they were on my feet :)

The 420's also come in blue, purple, grey and mustard from New Balance.

These Stuart Weitzman sandals I have been eying for a while. I first spotted them when I happened to wander into the Browns shoe store, and saw them from afar. They remind me of a silver and black pair of sandals that I got from H&M, which sadly, only lasted about two summers before they went kaput; the silver metallic discs were peeling off and the black was rubbing off the bottoms of my feet.

After months of looking from afar, Browns finally had a sale and I managed to score the last size 8.5 in these gold beauties. They are a little expensive, even on sale, but I'm hoping that investing in a better quality pair of sandals will mean they'll last longer than two years. Also, they're sparkly :)

My last shoe purchase for the summer (hopefully!) is from Coach. Coach was having a huge shoe sale and I got these for $69. The sales associate had to order this pair from their Florida warehouse because the only sizes they had left in store was a 9. I tried them on, but my foot slipped out of them, so definitely too big for me. I love these shoes; they're so comfortable but can dress up a casual outfit because of the fine glitter (that doesn't flake off as I prefer not to leave a trail of glitter behind me).

I like sparkles as you can see :D

So, those are the shoes that I've purchased (so far!). Now time to hide my wallet, lock away my credit cards and start saving up for fall :D

no mini doughnuts here

I love shopping at Beautymark because they always have great gift ideas, beautiful jewellery, fashion items and of course, I love their beauty selection! They stock makeup lines that are not readily available anywhere else (ie. Paula Dorf, Kevin Aucoin, etc), and they have a great variety of luxurious spa products, hair and skincare lines (for men and women). 

For me, with summer (hopefully) coming, I'm all about convenience and looking natural when it comes to my makeup. Easy peasy is what I want and with an ILIA lip crayon in Karma Chameleon, that's what you get. It's a lip liner and lipstick in one, it's organic and it's so handy, because you can throw it into your bag and touch up anytime with one swipe. I also love the bright coral-red colour of this lip crayon and I think it will be perfect for summer.

The second item I bought was the Celestrial Powder in Candlelight, a highligher powder by Kevin Aucoin. I swatched this on my hand and the texture is so silky and creamy like butter! It just glides on and sinks into the skin, giving you that "lit from within" glow.

 

With my purchase, I got to spin the raffle wheel for a surprise gift and got this Dermalogica sample set. I'm always looking for new skincare items to keep my skin in tiptop condition so I'm excited to try this set out and see the results. This is also a great travel size kit to bring with me on trips. 

 

mo' money, mo' problems

But no brows, no problem!
 
They say that the eyes are the windows to your soul, so by simple association the eyebrows are the frames for those windows. All makeup artists (or at least the ones that I've spoken with) say that the eyebrows provide lift, accentuate the eyes and complete your face.

I've been trying to grow out my eyebrows after a bad threading experience a few years ago that left my brows thin, sparse and therefore non-existent on my face. With the help of some Clinique brow powder, I've made them look somewhat normal and that's pretty much all I do for my brow routine everyday. However, that's changed after today's visit to Sephora and meeting the Anastasia sales rep, whose name has completely left my mind (I want to say Emily but I'm not 100% sure). After 5 minutes of working her magic, my brows looked full, defined but still natural and not overly dramatic. Also, as luck would have it, Anastasia had the "No Brows, No Problem" kit that was perfect for me: it contains a brow enhancing serum advanced, Brow Whiz in Medium Ash and clear brow gel to keep the brows looking nice and groomed.

I'm excited to use the brow enhancing serum advance as part of my brow routine. While I'm not expecting any miracles with this product, if there is any brow growth, no matter how minute, I'll be a happy camper. The instructions recommend using the product twice a day for eight weeks. Eh, eight weeks might seem kinda long but I've been waiting years for my brows to grow back, so eight weeks isn't a big deal for me.

Let's see how well this works...

a little bit of Prada

It's my birthday, it's the long weekend and it's Prada. Unboxing pictures below to show off my new bag in all it's leathery glory:

It's the medium saffiano leather tote with double handles in the the colour Glicine. I believe it's a limited edition colour for the Spring/Summer 2013 season. It's my new favourite :)

And now I'm on a shopping ban for 2 months...  o_O