shopping haul: unichem

telescopic mascara on left eye, mascara applied at 6am on right

sorry for the crappy pictures, thursday nights are my lazy nights but i wanted to get something up since i didn't post yesterday. normally after work on a thursday i go straight home and coma, only moving when i need to shower or smoke or get a cup of tea as i have to be up at 5am and at work at 6. today, however, i had to make my way to the grocery store to buy $50 worth of salad ingredients for a spit roast work is putting on tomorrow. the only highlight on my shopping trip was a stop at unichem pharmacy and the noodle canteen for tea.

unichem are smart. they have a table outside the door with sale items to lure you in, and it works. i was lured in by the table, especially when hello kitty caught my eye. i will be 90 and still be a fan of hello kitty. it does help that the perfumes smell nice, one moreso than the other, but the wee bottles are so cute! and after being marked down from $22.99 to $3.99 i couldn't say no. they also happened to be strategically placed next to the clearance l'oreal mascara.

i'm not a huge fan of l'oreal and am very picky about mascara, but again the dramatic price drop got me. i own the feather lash mascara which i like, but it seems really wet and takes an age to dry, plus it isn't black enough for my liking. i like the blackest black possible and the feather lash just doesn't cut it. i also have the volume shocking mascara...hate it. it is horrible. the wand is too small, the mascara is too thick, all around it is crap. i've only used it a couple of times and both times it felt like i had glue on my lashes. just horrid.

i wasn't holding out much hope for the telescopic but it has surprised me. one coat made my lashes look thicker and longer and it is a very good black. i can feel it on my lashes, but i think that has more to do with putting it over 9 hour old mascara than anything else.

this is my 4th foundation brush. i have the elf one, but it is so small that i use it mainly for concealer. i also have two stipling brushes, one elf and the other some brand i bought at farmer's. i love the stipling brushes, but after watching hours upon hours of makeup videos on pixiwoo's youtube i wanted a fuller one. i'm sure i could have gotten this cheaper at k-mart or farmer's, but the thought of trolling the mall for one brush didn't excite me at all. i have yet to try it, but i'm hoping it does a good job. one thing that always irks me about brushes is the brush lines you get on your face (the main reason i don't use the elf foundation brush all over), and no amount of blending with the same brush seems to get rid of it. hoping this one leaves me with a nice flawless finish.

what i wore: striped flowers

JAY JAY'S dress; JEANSWEST cardigan; DIVA rosary, starburst ring, and stone ring, LOVISA gold bar ring, BLING snake ring; GLASSONS red jewel ring, THE WAREHOUSE tights

my check list for getting dressed for a family lunch on sunday included something comfortable and cute. it did not, however, include something weather appropriate. and i didn't expect to be walking around in the cold and rain when i was getting dressed either. needless to say, i was freezing. it didn't help that i paired this with some rather thin tights and ballet flats. the big winter coat i wore did nothing.

i bought this dress sometime last year, and i remember having to try on about 4 different sizes before i found one that worked. the sizing from store to store is ridic. i ended up buying this dress in a NZ size 10 (US6/UK10) and getting a shirt dress in an XL, all from the same store. I'm not sure if it's the sizing at the store or if i'm just super disproportioned, but it does make shopping a bit of a hassle at times.

i love the skirt part of the dress, but i'm not a huge fan of the top. I have a few dresses like that, t-shirt type on top and flowy skirt on bottom...they are some of the least worn items in my wardrobe. not sure why i keep buying them when i don't wear them.

the cardigan gets a lot of wear, it's super soft and comfortable, but OH SO big. it was the last one in the store, and either an XL or XXL, but at $20 i couldn't resist it.

the rings are my favourite part. i'm so addicted to buying rings lately, i have well over 50 i'm sure. the red one was purchased a couple of days before and was $3 with a BOGO, so i bought it in a blue-green as well. in fact all the rings were $3 except the snake one, which was around $5 i think.

i don't have a proper picture of the rosary, but it is, without a doubt, one of my favourite things ever. i became obsessed with crosses after buying one of the double finger cross rings, and have slowly added to the collection. only problem with the necklace is it likes to break, but it's an easy fix so i keep on wearing it.

i am in dire need of a hairstyle. i need to go get it thinned out and trimmed, something i never remember to do. also thinking about ditching the pink. i've had it for a little over 2 months now and at first i thought about changing it to purple, but i'm keen to go back to all red. i touched up my roots the other night with a different colour than my norm and it came out brown with a red tinge. not pleased, took me well over a year to get the perfect red colour. any hairstyle suggestions? i don't want to go short, i've been growing my hair out from a short, choppy angled bob for 3 years now, so i def want to keep it. it needs something before i take the scissors to it out of boredom.

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in my bag

i'm a sucker for "in my bag" posts on other blogs. i love seeing what people carry around with them, it's right up there with what people keep in their bathroom drawers. i'm so nosey.

two tone satchel from trademe, and I know it's a knockoff of the mulberry alexa but i'm not bothered. i justify it because I cannot, and will never be able to, afford the extortionate prices of designer items in new zealand. it's just not worth it in my opionion.

i usually carry around my life in my bag, but have added "clean out handbag" to my chores list...it gets THAT bad.

inside:
1. water bottle - i carry this 5 out of 7 days as we aren't allowed any coloured bevarages at work, but remove it on weekends as i don't want to be lugging around a bottle of water.

2. marlboro red 25s (x2) - filthy habit and i should give up, but i like to smoke. one of my vices. when i was in the states i smoked the 100s, but you can't get those here so i've settled for the 25 pack. aside from being a filthy habit, it is also VERY expensive. these babies were $17.30NZD a pop. around half the price of a carton in alabama. craziness.

3. loose items - dotti heart mirror, purple headphones, hair band, lip gloss pottle.

4. ipod - his name is seamus and he goes everywhere with me. i listen to him at work, in the car, and at home. my music tastes change constantly and i'm always adding a deleting songs. i've been fairly consistent the last few months, listening to a lot of bloc party, foals, plan b, dubstep (mt. eden and skrillex), and ellie goulding. i have a fair few apps as well, but only use a handful of them. completely addicted to angry birds and yukon solitaire, and have a relaxation app that i use at night to sleep. the dryer sound is my favourite, but i'm weird like that.

5. android phone - has no name. love this phone. i've had more phones in the last 3 years in new zealand than i ever had in the states. i just kept upgrading until i found the right one. mobile service here sucks. it's is crazy expensive and if i leave the city i'm pretty much screwed if i want to access twitter, facebook, or anything else apart from texts or calls. my favourite apps on here are all the camera apps, love picplz and little photo.

6. pens - i don't know why i have 4 pens, i never write anything down or use them even.

7. keys - two for the car (a nissan presea named priscilla), one for the garage even though i don't park in there, and one for the house.

8. lip balm - maybelline baby lips in cherry, seriously good stuff.

9. nurofen - stress headaches from work, i usually never have to take this outside of there.

10. money - $1.70 in coins. normally the boy raids my bag for loose change to go in his piggy bank, but i've managed to hold onto this. not sure when/how i got it as i never use cash, always use my eftpos card. weird.

11. passport holder/wallet - i have my passport, the boy's passport, eftpos card, drivers license, metro card (though i never take the bus anymore), ird card, social security card, alabama drivers license, a picture of my niece Prue, and random notes and loyalty cards.

12. cosmetics pouch - bought at glassons, couldn't resist the adorable print. it's a hold all for my moisturisers. i work with fabric all day and it is super drying. i have nivea hand creme for all over moisturising, sally hansen diamond cuticle and nail creme (it smells like a coconut/vanilla icing) for my nails which get really dry and peel off, lucas pawpaw ointment cause i'm always buring myself on something and i'm allergic to something at work so i slap this on if i get a bit of a rash, and (my one non-moisturiser) clarity spot treatment, that works absolute wonders.

13. 2nd cosmetics pouch - lots of lip products! l'oreal hip jelly balm in savoury, elf lippy in classy and seductive, botanics lippy in orchid, ccuk lippy in hot pink and sangaree, za gloss vibrante in g8, elf lip stain in birthday suit.

also carry around my camera (not pictured for obvious reasons) and in the mornings i have a choc ice up n go in there for brekkie. sometimes i have meusli bars or a bag of barley sugar. oh, and usually heaps of rubbish.

weekend wishlist: glassons

all from glassons

i have a love/hate relationship with glassons. usually i can go in the stores and find a million and one things i want to buy, but this past selection has been tragic. they've finally started getting some cute things in for winter, which happens to be my favourite season for dressing purposes (only! absolutely detest the cold).

completely gutted that the selection of shoes on the site is seriously limited. popped in today on a shopping excursion with the family and instantly fell in love with about 4 different pairs. they have some of the best high heeled clogs in a pale grey that are to die for!

that bird print jacket and the cigarette leg trousers will more than likely make their way into my wardrobe in the near future. i have a hard time resisting bird prints, and i need pants for winter that aren't skinny jeans. in fact, i need a lot of winter clothes as this years seems to be turning into a particularly brutal one.

week in photos #001

001. I'm having a hair crisis lately. it has to be pulled back for work, and when i wear my hair in a ponytail for 5 days i lose all gumption to actually style it on my days off. my usual go-to style is pulled around to the side and plaited, but today i felt like trying my hand at a messy up do. my hair is super thick, so trying to get it to stay up is a hassle...i probably have at least 10 hair grips in there. also considering a colour change, possibly purple on the ends. don't really care as long as i get my roots touched up.

002. had a wee non-clothing shopping spree today. penny lane was selling DVDs for $5 a pop so i couldn't pass these up. this doesn't show the 4 or 5 the boy bought, or the 6 he came home with the other day.

003. heard on twitter that the Mediterranean food store was open again. it closed after suffering quite a lot of damage from the earthquake in February and just reopened despite having some fairly large aftershocks recently. the quotes are from my baci chocolates that i bought there, and they are divine.

004. the is my guilty pleasure as of late. i love catchy little pop songs and this is definitely one. I've been rotating this along with Ellie goulding's lights (bassnectar remix) and passion pit's sleepyhead (starsmith remix).

005. another purchase from the Mediterranean food store, amarettini cookies! i hate almonds, but i love amaretto especially when mixed with coke. these are like a little crunchy bite of amaretto flavoured goodness.

006. crunch! i don't know when these came to New Zealand and how i missed it, but as soon as i saw them in the super market i grabbed two. re watching series one of skins, the first gen cast is still my favourite.

007. watched Friday's ep of emmerdale, well just Aaron's storyline, and teared up like no one's business. i never usually get so emotionally invested in a show, especially a soap, but this storyline has been an emotional roller coaster. and the acting! Danny Miller that plays Aaron should be in movies, seriously, he always has me crying.

what i wore: nouveau grunge

JAY JAY'S jumper; THE WAREHOUSE floral tank and grey skinny jeans; GLASSONS wedges; SILVERMOON turquoise ring; DIVA silver band and white stone ring; KOSCO owl ring; DIVA i'm a survivor nail polish

i chucked this on to go out to breakfast with the boy. in my head i imagined it would look fantastic paired with my new wedges and a black leather jacket. in reality i hated it. i haven't worn the jeans since 2008? and they are slightly too large now. the jumper was all kinds of horrible. i bought it in grey and black, the black one i have no problems with, but this one kept riding up. i couldn't wait to get home and get out of it.

the shoes are epic! i've been trolling shops and trademe for months looking for a pair of black wedges. i have a pair from the warehouse that are so uncomfortable i hardly wear them out of the house. these aren't much better, but i think a pair of inserts will do the trick. they aren't really suited for winter weather since they have the open toe, but i will sacrifice my toes to the cold.

this is only a small very tiny selection of my rings, i have heaps, and i ended up taking them off at brekkie as my fingers were in no mood for decorations. normally they fall off during the day, but not today. had a hard time removing them from my swollen fingers.

numero uno

jumping on the fashion blog bandwagon. i've been enamoured with various fashion blogs for ages now and, after toying with the idea of having my own, bit the bullet and did it. not sure if anyone will read it, but at least i gave it a go eh?

first posts on blogs are always so hard for me! i never know what to say! so i thought i would make things easier and say a few things about me.

- i was born and raised in a small town in alabama. in april 2008 i hopped on a plane for a 1 month holiday in new zealand...3 years and permanent residency later i am still here. probably one of the best decisions i have ever made in my life.

- i go shopping almost every weekend. if i'm not shopping i'm browsing trademe, dotti, or glassons. my bank balance, credit card, and the boy are not pleased.

- i'm proper obsessed with emmerdale...actually just the gay storyline on emmerdale. getting home from work, sitting down with a cup of tea and some biscuits, and watching the vids on youtube is one of the highlights of my day. it's sad.

- i have a job in a bed factory that i hate, and only keep it as there is nothing available at the moment and it funds my shopping addiction.

- for the past 9 months the city i live in (christchurch, new zealand) has been having copious amounts of earthquakes. just when you think you've gotten used to them, BOOM 6+ mag to scare the crap out of you. it really isn't pleasant.

- random things: i hate capital letters; i talk/type/text in a mix of british, kiwi, and american south slang; i will buy almost anything that is floral print; i could eat my weight in nutella, hummus, and nando's; i have dyed red hair with dip dyed hot pink ends, it is my favourite hair colour to date.