Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts

Monday, August 10, 2009

Cross-Border Shopping

PPGs!!!! Re-unite.

My girlfriends and I went cross-border shopping yesterday. What an adventure! We had lots of fun and shopped ‘til we dropped. Oh! I can’t leave out that we also went to The Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. Wow! That was amazing. It was my first time and totally not what I was expecting. A wonderful atmosphere and a grandiose feel. The menu was amazing too.

Some places we hit:

  • The Fashion Outlet near Niagara Falls border. The stores of main interest: Coach, Lindt, Corningware, Under Armour, Nine West, Solstice, Nike, The Bath and Body Works
  • Walden Galleria: The Cheesecake Factory, Solstice, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, The Bath & Body Works, Loft by Ann Taylor, Teavana, Geox
  • Sam’s Club.

Now, I know that sounds like a lot of places, but I didn’t spend that much. I think I got off easy – total bill was $250. Half of it was actually groceries from Sam’s Club and $35 was for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and for gas. I also got 2 t-shirts (bogo 50%), hand-sanitizers ($5 for 5), swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses.

Thanks, hubby, for watching the children! I know it wasn’t easy with a 4, 2, and 1 – year old, especially when #2 had a bad cold.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Sephora Euphoria

Does anyone else have this feeling when she enters this store? This is truly an amazing store that really knows how to bank on us girls. I mean, what would a mother of three young children on maternity leave have any business doing in here? Why would, or should I say, how would I have the time to care about cosmetics at this point in my life? Well, just because I'm a slave, er... I mean a mom, a wife... I still like to put my best foot (um, face) forward.

Ever since my late teens I've been fascinated by makeup. Foundation, mascara, eye shadow, lipsticks, and blush - you should've seen my stock, er...makeup drawers. In the last 5 years (since becoming slave to hubby and children, happily of course), I've put the makeup I have come to love and cherish aside and moved on to tinted moisturizer and bronzers plus lip gloss for a quick pick-me-up. Now that my baby is almost 1 (where has the time gone?), my lack of sleep a soon-to-be memory (ha! I have trouble convincing myself of that one, but you can't blame a mom from dreaming) , I swear I could hear my neglected makeup calling me. So I go to my lovelies and what do I see? Outdated colours, makeup that the pros and dermatologist would claim a bio hazard and blah, blah, blah because they're so old and probably have bacterial growth. So what's a girl to do? Hit Sephora!

I was in cosmetic heaven! Too bad Sephora products don't come free otherwise my makeup drawers would be overflowing by now. I decided to go slow, to pace myself. Start with the very basics: foundation. I've heard lots of wonderful things about mineral makeup, in particular Bare Minerals. I went over to the Bare Escentuals area and they have starter kits! My lucky day! It comes with two foundations (2 different shades), the mineral veil, the warmth face colour, skin rev-er upper, 3 different brushes, an instruction booklet and an instructional DVD! All for $75 (they claim that it is over $200 if purchased separately). Ooh! I like that! Now the only thing with starter kits is that they are packaged according to skin tones. I have no idea which set would be for me. And this is why I love Sephora. The ladies there are informative and friendly. So I inquired about the product and asked which shade would be right for me. I wanted to be sure that I didn't get the wrong one. Although the price is reasonable for what I would be getting $75 is still a lot of money. So the cosmetician did the whole shebang and made me look like a million bucks (so a million minus the $75, I'm richer with it, right?). I was sold.