Target Beauty Box May 2016

Tilasin kokeeksi taman kuun Targetin Beauty Boxin ja kirjoittelin siita sivublogiini.

Joten jos boxin sisalto tai sellaisen tilaaminen kiinnostaa, lisaa juttua loytyypi taalta :)

Mukavaa viikonloppua kaikille!

Kindle lovin'

I had only one (material) wish for Christmas and it was the Amazon Kindle e-reader. 

Amazing husband made my wishes come true and when I opened my package there it was; Kindle Paperwhite 3 G!

So excited to open this!

Here's the catalog photo courtesy of Amazon.com:

I've never had a Kindle before, but I assume they're all pretty much the same size. It's pretty lightweight and really flat. I checked the measurements from Amazon and it's 6.7" x 4.6" x 0.36" (16.9cm x 11.7 cm x 9.1 cm) and it weighs 7.8 oz (222g). It holds about 1100 books, which is plenty. The battery lasts for about 28 hours of reading (with the light and the wireless on). I read a lot, so I've had to charge it like every 5 days.

I also purchased a case for it, so I can easily take it with me to the university and not worry about scratching it. This case is from Amazon.co.uk and it's a purple ForeFront case. I actually just bought the cheapest one (with good reviews) I could find, since I figured I'd get bored with the color at some point anyways. So far it's been a pleasant surprise.

The Kindle is pretty handy sized even with the case, here's a scale comparison to my Blackberry phone.

Kindle in sleep mode. When I'm not using it, it shows some advertisements for books and tv shows. You can get rid of the advertisements, if you pay more, but I figured the ads wouldn't bother me that much, and they haven't. It's got a touch screen, which is really handy as well. Just tap it and it'll switch pages. If you tap on the left side, it'll go back a page and if you tap on the top of the page, you get the menu. It comes with an experimental browser, so you can check your emails, Facebook/Twitter, news etc. whatever you want with it as well. You can also easily go to Kindle store on Amazon.com and purchase a  new book. Paperwhite 3G has free global 3G so it should work wherever there's a 3G connection available. You can also download some games to it,  but I haven't yet felt the need for them.

Here's Kindle Paperwhite with full lights on. I told husband I didn't need the Paperwhite version, since I didn't think I'd need the background light and I was worried I'd get a migraine from any sorts of light. I'm happy to say I was wrong, the light is extremely handy, since I read mostly in bed. Now I don't need a reading light and the build-in light does not bother me at all. No migraines or even the feeling of getting one :)

Here's how I usually read, with minimal light. 

I have about 300 books downloaded it already, so I have plenty of reading to be done :) Besides the books available for purchase, Amazon.com Kindle store has a ton of free books available and I've also downloaded free books from the Project Gutenberg site, which has a ton more.

In a nutshell, I really really love my new Kindle :) If you read a lot and want to downsize your library, I would recommend Kindle Paperwhite wholeheartedly. I'll still probably purchase some of the books, the ones I know I'll read and read again, as paper-versions, but the books that I probably won't read more than one (as in a bunch of fiction) I'll only get as e-books.

Hope everyone's been having a wonderful weekend!

p.s Stay tuned for next week, since I'm having the first ever The Sugar Antelope Giveaway! 

I absolutely love giveaways and raffles and I'm so excited to have one in this blog too!

How to fight fall gloom?

This is my second fall in Finland after a long absence and I'm once again feeling a bit gloomy. It's not just that the days are getting shorter, it's more of the fact that sun doesn't even make a quick appearance. It's just rain, rain and some more rain. The darkness never used to bother me before I moved to the U.S, it only started affecting me after I returned to Finland, so this gloom is a relatively new phenomena for me.

Do you experience fall gloom and how do you fight it?

I know some people travel elsewhere for the weekend, go to spas, watch movies, meet up with friends. Some resort to more home-y things like cooking yummy foods, burning candles or just plain sleeping more. I've resorted to online shopping, which always makes me a bit happier, to the dismay of my husband, I'm sure. This time the antidote was a lovely Disney (I know haha) bag and, surprise surprise, a pair of Rieker heels!

Rieker Raffaela heels, the correct color is somewhere in between these two pics

I think this might be my last pair of Riekers this fall, unless of course I find a nice pair of ankle boots from them, must keep my options open! I ordered the heels through Javari.de, which I highly recommend to my Finnish readers. Free shipping to Finland and very competitive (although ever changing) prices! The site is in German though and I couldn't find a way to change the language, but even with my very modest German skills (acquired when living in Germany), I managed to make an order just fine.

I also ordered the cutest bag ever from Javari: 

Minnie Mouse Zip Bow Bag (in the catalog and real life), which I think looks rather snazzy. 

I don't know if you can tell right away that it is a Disney bag, but I was a bit worried it would be like a kid's bag. No worries though, I think a grown up person like me (some might beg to differ that that's not an accurate description of this blogger) can use it just fine. Love it!

My darling husband had also noticed that I'm suffering from the gloom, so when I got home from class yesterday, these were waiting for me:

Love him!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Féerie Rose des Neiges

I wrote about celebrity scents a while back and decided it was time I got myself a new one with the birthday money I got. This time I didn't venture to the celebrity scent isle. Instead I decided to do a "blind buy" based on fragrantica.com suggestions. I wanted something rosy, but not too little girly or grandma-ish, and I wanted something that I could use this fall and winter. I chose the notes on fragrantica note search and bought this through Amazon.co.uk for £14 + shipping:

Van Cleef & Arpels' Féerie Rose des Neiges

I wasn't disappointed, it was exactly what I hoped for. A sweet rosy scent without being too sweet or too rosy :) Fragrantica describes the scent, which was launched last year: "Feerie Rose des Neiges is a clean, pure and delicate fragrance of floral - fruity composition. Top notes of pink pepper and litchi bring icy freshness, while the heart of rose and magnolia provides refinement. The final trail consists of cedar wood and tonka bean.", which is pretty much accurate. Although I don't normally buy scents without trying, this blind buy was a success!

Have you bought scents without trying? Was the scent what you hoped for?

Shoes!

I went shoe-shopping the other week, since I wanted something more professional than my trusty old Converse volitant skater shoes. I'm a business graduate student now after all! ;)

I always have trouble finding the right kind of shoes for myself and every time I get a new pair I end up with blisters. Needless to say shoe shopping is challenging and I rarely find a pair that seems comfortable.

I got some birthday money from my grandpa and went to the local shoe store. The first pair I tried was Rieker Antistress Louise and I loved them! Their 70e price tag was a bit too much for me though, so I ended up buying Jana Classic heels. They were also comfortable, but more reasonably priced, 40e.

The shoes in the catalog and real life.

I got home and I was still thinking about those Rieker shoes so I checked Amazon.de and found them for 50e (shipping included). I figured this was a sign I should get them and went ahead and ordered a pair. They were as I remembered, super-comfortable and nice looking too.

The color of the shoes is more realistic in the catalog photo

I couldn't get over how comfortable the Rieker Louise shoes were, so I checked some more shoes from the brand online. I found a pair of Rieker Mirjam (49757) mary janes for 20e from Amazon.de and ordered them too.

Rieker Mirjam in white-grey

I normally don't order shoes online without trying them on at a store first, but I figured since it was the same brand the size was probably similar, and it was. These shoes are also super comfortable and pretty to boot! The heel could've been a tad higher, but other than that I love them.

After I got these shoes, I decided I should get winter boots from Rieker too, it seems I got some sort of Rieker fever haha. So here are my brand new Rieker Anna boots, I ordered them from Zalando.fi, since I had a coupon there and they cost me 55e (without coupon 65e). This was my first time ordering from Zalando, and although it took a bit longer for the shoes to arrive than expected, everything went well.

What do you think of the shoes I bought? 

Do you usually shop for shoes online?

Bracelets from eBay - Confessions of an online-shopaholic, pt III

My sister-in-law asked me to tell about the bracelets I bought from eBay. I have to admit that I've bought close to a hundred bracelets through the online auction site, but in my defense, I usually don't pay more than a $1 for a bracelet :)

Crystal stretch bracelets, available in multiple colors, about $1 each

If you plan on bidding on bracelet on eBay, here are some things to consider before placing a bid:

"Jade" stretch bracelet, $0.80

- always check the shipping fee, they vary a lot! I usually only purchase free shipping items

Pink crystal bracelet, $0.99, one of my favorites!

- don't bid on the first item you see, check if the same seller has that particular item for cheaper. The sellers usually list the same bracelet many times and most of the items are on sale through several different

 sellers

Three row "pearl" bracelet, $0.79

-if you really want the bracelet, be sure to be online when the bidding ends, I often lose bids when last minute bidders outbid me

"wood" stretch bracelet, $0.99

-I avoid buying anything with too much metal parts, since most likely they are not hypoallergenic.As a gentle advise, here's some trinkets NOT worth buying:

photo from eBay

The two top ones have metal parts that pinch, painfully (trust me haha), and lower one has metal parts that can cause allergies to some and also, the flakes brake easily when mailed in an envelope.

-The bracelets are often tiny in size, but vary quite a bit. I have really narrow wrists so most of them fit me perfectly. Sometimes, however, the bracelets have been so huge I haven't been able to wear them. Luckily they don't cost that much, so I've just given them to my friends.

Crystal stretch bracelets, about a $1 each

-last, but not least, remember "you get what you pay for". Since the bracelets are cheap, they are not real amethyst or pearl even if the listing says so. They are cheap trinkets, so keep that in mind :)

"pearl" stretch bracelets, sold in multiple colors, about $1 each

Here's some more bracelets that I bought and liked:

Crystal stretch bracelets, available in multiple colors, about a $1 each, my favorites!

Plastic stretch bracelet, $0.99

Wooden stretch bracelet, $1.15

"Tiger eye" crystal bracelet, $0.95, my newest purchase and I love it!

What do you think about these bracelets? Have you purchased jewelry from eBay?

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Sugary celebrity scents

It comes as no surprise to anyone that this blogger loves things that are sweet :)

This is also true when it comes to scents, for the longest time I used to wear Sephora's Scented Spray in Chocolate Toffee as my only scent. That was until once when I had just applied, a friend came over and asked me if I had baked a chocolate cake. I gave up on the scent after that, since no one wants to smell like food ;)

But I still love sugary scents, only lately, as in the last couple of years, I've developed a very picky nose and some scents start bothering me soon after applying. I used to wear Calvin Klein's Eternity in my teens and after that I loved Dior's Chris 1947 and Forever and Ever, until they became almost impossible to find. I also loved Escada's Tropical Punch. After those I played with multiple scents until I found Paco Rabanne's Black XS, which I really liked. I often bought perfumes that had bottles I like without even really trying them :) Then I got tired of scents altogether and all the scents I had at home started bothering me.

Since sometimes the bottle distracted me from the actual scent I started trying out scents without checking the packaging. The first scent that I bought this way was surprisingly enough, Paris Hilton's Can Can. I never though in a million years I'd buy a scent from Paris Hilton. I tested it on husband too and he loved it as well, until he heard it was Paris Hilton :D Anyways I bought it and loved it. After that I ventured on to other inexpensive celebrity scents and found myself liking Britney Spears' (I know!) Midnight Fantasy. These two celebrity scents are surprisingly good, but the only downside is that they don't last as long as the designer scents. This suits me just fine, since I don't mind reapplying now and then, and I like that fact that they are not that strong. But not all celebrity scents are to my liking, I tried Britney Spears's Fantasy and that was way too sweet for me, I also got Jessica Simpson's Fancy Love and it was a bit too sharp floral for me. 

Here are my currently favorites, Clinique's Happy Heart (light scent with a heart of water hyacinth, followed by mandarin and blond woods), Britney Spears' Midnight Fantasy (sweet scent with a heart of night orchid, freesia and iris followed by amber, musk and vanilla) and Paris Hilton's Can Can (another sweet scent with a heart of wild orchid and orange blossom followed by soft musk, amber and precious woods). None of them are new scents, but are still available.

What do you think of celebrity scents? Have you found any that you like?

p.s I made husband use the "blind selection" method to choose his scent as well and he ended up with Versace Pour Homme :)

Dresses from China

I wrote in an earlier entry that I've ordered some custom made dresses from China with varied results. I was very lucky with my wedding dress, but not as lucky with some of my cocktail dresses. Here are photos of some of the outfits I've bought. I've added both the sale photo and the reality shot, which sometimes differ quite a bit :). I apologize that some of the dresses pictured are not ironed, but hopefully you'll get the point. 

I bought this dress from Sinobay for $40 as a party dress for our first wedding. I couldn't find their website anymore, so maybe they're out of business. Anyways, this was not a custom dress, but a ready-made one. I'm usually size S, but I checked out the measurements and ordered a size L (!) It was just the right size and I was happy with the dress, although it made me look really bottom heavy haha. 

The rest of the dresses are custom made from Dino Direct. DD sells everything under the sky for a price, which varies every day. The dress you find today might be less or more expensive tomorrow. They also always have some sort of coupon code available, so I wouldn't buy anything for a full price from DinoDirect. Their dresses can be very affordable, but buyer be aware, the quality varies a lot. Also, their shipping fees can be outrageous, so I have only ordered free shipping items.  Here are some examples:

This strapless dress is my favorite of all my DinoDirect dresses. It was $50 and originally had a rhinestone brooch attached, but I purchased the flower, also from DD, to replace it. I think the flower was about $5. It was a bit longer than I expected and despite being custom made, it was just a bit too big. My Mom easily fixed to fit me. The color I ordered it in is silver satin.

This was also a custom made dress from DD and it was $34. Pretty much what I expected, the dress color is champagne. The sash was really low quality, but otherwise I was really happy with the dress.

Another custom made dress from DD. This one was $45 and the color is brown. It was a very tight fit, even though I have always ordered with the same measurements, but I did manage to squeeze into it. There were less rhinestones than in the sales photo and the sash part is narrower, otherwise I was happy with this one, despite it making me look like I have no curves...

Here's the first dress from DD that I was not happy with. It is way too big and my Mom thinks she won't be able to fix it and make it look good. So I'm going to have to take it a seamstress if I want to use it. The dress was $44 and the color is lilac.

Here's another one I've never used. It just looks so bulky on me. It was also way too revealing, so I've fixed it with a butterfly brooch. I might take this to a seamstress at some point and see if anything can be done about it. It was $31 and the taffeta color is chocolate.

And last, the biggest disaster. Not only does it look very little like the dress pictured, it was so big that I could've almost fit twice in it. I had planned to wear it as my second dress for our wedding, but quickly gave up on that idea when it arrived. Luckily I was able to resale it and got my money back. It was $40 and the color was supposed to be ivory, but it was white. Also I was told it would have a lace-up back, but it ended up having a zipper.

When purchasing a dress, wedding or other, online from China, one should always keep in mind that what you get is not the dress pictured, but a copy of it. And it is most likely made very cheaply, but you might also be surprised and get an amazing dress! It's kind of a gamble, you never know what you get. But I think it's fair to say, you get what you pay for :) Don't expect a $400 dress, if you only pay $40.

Has anyone else ordered a dress from China? Were you happy with your purchase?

NYC shopping on a low budget

As a stay-at-home mom my funds are pretty limited. I have a small income of my own, but other than that its pretty much my husband who takes care of our finances. I'd love to shop on Fifth Avenue and all the designer stores, but right now that's not really a possibility. So here are a few of the places I shopped while in NYC that would not kill my budget :)

Burlington Coat Factory (116 W 23rd St) is my #1 source for jeans, dresses, tops and jewelry when on a low budget. They also sell coats (duh! :) toys, linens etc. so pretty much everything under the sun is on discount. If you're not too picky about the quality, you can make really inexpensive finds. For example two of my tops were only $3. I bought a couple of pairs of jeans, sunglasses, dresses, a bunch of tops, toys for our lil man and a baby toy for my new Godson. Husband found a pair of shorts and a nice looking tie.

Some earrings from Burlington Coat Factory, I think they were like $5 a pair

Century 21 (22 Cortlandt Street) is fairly popular with tourists since they advertise in all the tourist guides like NYC weekly etc. From previous experience I stuck to two departments: shoes and bags. The clothing departments are chaotic and messy, so I usually just skip them. The shoe annex is crowded as well,  but the shoe selection is pretty good. 

Shoes from Century 21, Adizero sneakers for less than $50 and Sam&Libby ballerinas for $23.

Daffy's (several locations, one on 1311 Broadway) is usually the place where I get my cocktail dresses. This time the selection was not as good so I ended up leaving with just one dress and a ton of books for our lil man. Daffy's sells a lot of clothes, shoes, bags and some toys.

Strawberry (several locations including Manhattan Mall) is another cheap clothing store. I left with a bunch of tops, each less than $10. Their sizes vary a lot though, so it's recommended to try them on. I'm usually size small, but this time I  bought a couple of tops that were size large.

I also usually stop by at JcPenney (Manhattan Mall) and this time was no exception. They have really nice baby, toddler and kids clothes for fairly cheap, so I stacked up on them upcoming birthdays in mind :) I've also been a fan of Arizona jeans, but didn't find any good ones this time. Instead I found a really nice summer dress for $17 for my Godson's christening, which was right after we got back. I got a lot of compliments, so it was a good buy :)

Other places I've shopped at are Forever 21 (which has some really nice tops among other things), Rainbow (cheap clothes), American Eagle Outfitters (for jeans), Aeropostale (for simple tee tops) and some sample sales. Samples sales can be a gold mine, but more often than not I've left empty handed. I Googled some sample sales before I left, but none of them seemed to appeal me this time, so I didn't go to any. I've heard there's a bunch of decent flea markets too, but I'm not really into buying clothes from them. 

Besides the stores mentioned, I also stop by at Sephora and Walgreens/Duane Reade for all my cosmetic needs :)

Do you have any tips for shopping in NYC when on a low budget?

Hope everyone's been having an amazing weekend!

Update 08/09/12: I just received an email saying that Daffy's in going out of business :( 

Wedding/Christmas time!

We're getting married (again) in less than a week! We've spent the weekend packing and getting everything ready for our trip to the Middle of Nowhere. It involves three flights and about 7 hours of driving... I'll be flying on Panacod Airlines due to my back problems :)

I've been also getting my Christmas spirits on while wrapping presents for our family and friends in the U.S. I've been listening to Jouluradio, a Finnish Christmas music station, that you can listen to anywhere in the world. I love giving gifts and have been doing most of my Christmas shopping online to avoid the hassle (and back pain). We did go to the mall this weekend to do some grocery shopping and it was a bit chaotic out there. I've tried to think of some Finnish presents for our American family and they will be receiving some Iittala products like Tsaikka-glasses, Krouvi-glasses, Festivo-candlesticks and some Kastehelmi items. I've also bought some Marmorikynttilä-candles, since I really like them!

I won't be taking my laptop with me to the U.S so I won't be updating this blog as frequently as I usually do. Random Tuesdays will still go on, thanks to timed blogging :) I'll be back after Christmas, hopefully with some awesome wedding photos :)

Here are some festive photos to enjoy, Happy Holidays everyone!

Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield, Massachusetts in 2006

One of Yankee Candle Village's many Christmas toy train settings

Christmas 2010 in Nebraska