It’s my birthday and I’ll buy if I want to

~ stashy

I went to Sephora with the intention of picking up my “free” birthday present. And maybe if they had the Surratt Relevée Lash Curler, I would pick it up, cause, you know:
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The Surratt curler wasn’t in stock but the “Hot Now” display was screaming out at me – they were featuring the new hakuho-do + Sephora Pro brushes with the red lacquered handles:
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I had NOT heard about these until I saw them in that display… the SA told me that it’s limited edition – say no more – this went home with me:
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Wedge Sloping Powder Brush (Kusabi) $68 – of course it was the most expensive one of the collection, but it was also the most useful shape to me (good for powder, bronzer or some contouring).  The bristles feel very soft and are synthetic.  I can’t wait to try it and will report back soon on how I feel about it.  So I bought just ONE item from Sephora – I think that’s a record of some sort for me.  On a related note, I’ve now qualified for VIB status for next year (recall that during the last VIB sale, I offered my code to my friends, which accounted for the bulk of my qualifying purchases).  Yay, fist bump!

Oh yeah, here’s the Sephora birthday present which I’m sure by now everyone has seen:
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Nars Cruella Velvet Matte (top) and Rikugien Satin (bottom) Lip Pencils

On the same shopping day, I also picked up the new Essie Gel Setter top coat and the L’Oreal Infallible Pro-Spray & Set:
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Since getting gel polish applied for my vacation, I’ve been quite enjoying the constant shine of the gel polish.  I don’t like the idea of using a UV light regularly so I’m hoping this top coat will provide that gel-like shine to my polishes. The setting spray I found at Winners for $9 (compare to reg $19), it has rave reviews and I’m hoping will keep me less melty during this recent heat wave.

ialsomayhaveboughtnailpolishes… ahem:
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L to R: Essie Perennial Chic, Picked Perfect, Marshmallow, Sugar Daddy, Just Stitched, Comfy in Cashmere, Coat Couture (these 3 are from the Cashmere Matte collection), Highest Bidder, and Blush Stroke (these 2 are from the Silk Watercolour collection)

Justification time (besides this being my birthday haulin’): Two of these were totally enabled by fivezero!  She posted about Perennial Chic and Picked Perfect and then advised me that the local beauty supply store had them on clearance for $4 each. How could I resist?  But THEN, at that beauty supply store, there was a buy 4 get 2 free offer for all regular priced Essies.  And they already sell Essie the cheapest I’ve seen in the city at $6.95 each.  So I got 6 Essies for less than $30!  Like really, how could I resist?  And the last one was because of an incredible Optimum Points offer: get 3,000 points for any Essie polish purchase.  Essie polishes were on sale for $10 (reg $12) and normally in order to get 3,000 Optimum Points, I’d have to spend $300!  So there, that’s why I just HAD to buy 9 Essie nail polishes. 😉

I also went a bit nuts over at Bath and Body Works because I am obsessed with their summer scent Waikiki Beach Coconut:
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They had these on sale for buy 3 for $15 and I had a $10 off $30 coupon, so they were practically giving them away!  I’m not normally a fan of BBW scents but something in this Waikiki fragrance just resonated with me – its key notes are coconut, sea notes and bamboo – even Fragrantica has positive things to say about this (apparently it is a dupe for Creed Virgin Island Water). I’ve been using the shower gel, aloe gel lotion, body mist and eau de toilette every day since I got these – I’m a walking beach coconut!

For my birthday, I received some gift certificates (to Holt Renfrew and Winners – I have yet to use them, I’m terrible at using gift certificates as I’m always saving them for a rainy day), and one of my awesome friends bought me this ColoreScience Sunforgettable Mineral Sunscreen Brush SPF 50:
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I’ve been wanting to try the Peter Thomas Roth version (which is only SPF 30) but it’s not readily available in Canada. I’m so psyched to try this!

And my SO got me this awesomeness:
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Original Buddha Board – it’s a board for drawing with simply water. The water evaporates slowly so the drawings are only visible for a short time. It’s all zen-like and meant to be a metaphor for life, or something. 😛

I’ve been wanting it for ages!  It’s a fun way to unleash your creativity:
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😀
(no, that’s not my cake in the header image, and my name isn’t Sid)

57 thoughts on “It’s my birthday and I’ll buy if I want to”

    1. It’s so much fun shopping for yourself! 😛 When is your birthday and what’s on your wish list?
      I honestly didn’t INTEND to buy all this – I just went out to look around and then it got easier to justify when all those deals were staring at me!

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  5. Hooray for the birthday haul!! 🙂
    Girl, you got a lot! Ok, it’s her birthday, let’s give her a break coz it’s her birthday! 😀 😀
    I love your nail polish collection, ( it’ll be a collection now because of the number) and chris being the culprit. 😀 kidding!!
    I’ll personally would also chose those, I wouldn’t blame you. If I were in your shoes then maybe I have gotten more considering the sale and the points. I’m pretty lame at this kind of advertising.
    And did I just read a dupe for Creed Virgin Island Water?? (on with my boots) I think I got to go! 🙂

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    1. Well, I’m not SUPPOSED to really be buying any more nail polishes (I own 400+ but that’s NOTHING compared to fivezero’s inventory – she can open up a nail polish STORE!) so I was somewhat restrained with purchasing ONLY 9!!! 😛
      I haven’t smelled the Creed, but I’m telling you, this Waikiki Beach Coconut is SO good, I love it so much (I keep smelling my wrists! 🙂

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  10. OK that board is awesome! 😀

    And what a fun shopping spree!!! Good grief, the Sephora brushes look amazing. RED.

    I kind of hate that my birthday is at the end of the year, since I have to spend so long looking at everyone picking up the Sephora b-day gift. LOL.

    Essies! What a great sale. That place never runs sales when I’m there. Boo. I did see 3-pack sets of the Essie Cashmere Mattes at Winners, but didn’t pick them up (even though they look fab) since I don’t like mattes.

    You did great! I don’t have any of the last 5 Essies you got, so I look forward to your reviews, if you do them. So glad you managed to get Perennial Chic and Picked Perfect!

    ❤ Sean Bean.

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    1. Yeah, you totally betrayed me. And by betrayed, I mean, you alerted me to the awesome deals to be had on Essie nail polishes! I also couldn’t believe they had the 4 + 2 deal, I saw the signs and had to inquire to make sure (thus making contact with those prickly SAs there). I don’t really intend on doing watercolour nail art with those sheer ones, I just love sheer polishes, especially ones that look really dark in the bottle but apply sheerly, like jelly. I wasn’t so sure about the Cashmere Mattes until I saw Karen of beautygeeks’s post on them:
      http://imabeautygeek.com/2014/12/01/essie-cashmere-matte-2015-swatches/
      They have BLUE shimmer in them! Shimmers in mattes – HOW? They’re so neat.

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      1. Yeah, I passed on the watercolor ones, as I have no use for those tinted polishes! 🙂 I toyed with the idea of getting a couple of the Cashmere Mattes (the darker ones with the awesome blue shimmer) but I’d just slap a top coat on them so I wouldn’t have to deal with the matteness. I saw those swatches, too! Love that blog!

        And you’re welcome! Bwahahahahahaha!

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  11. HAHAHAHA I died at the name of this post! So much justification. Happy birthday! I don’t think I’ve ever smelled the Waikiki Beach Coconut scent :O and I smell EVERYTHING coconut. Gel manicures are so addicting though because of their shine and everlasting perfection, I currently have shellac on and I also hate having too much exposure to UV lamps, but dat shine though.

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  13. yes, the metaphor is the same as that of tibetan monks who labour furiously over mandalas & then simply brush them away… it’s all about the impermanent state of things & to never grow too attached to earthly objects. hmmmm…. seems the SO is trying to tell you something 😛

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    1. LMAO! I can’t imagine what he’s trying to tell me! Lalala I can’t hear you!
      So I just draw on that board and take pictures of it with my iphone, it’s ok, right? 😛

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  14. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING 😀
    It looks like you got lots of fun stuff! Those nail polishes look amazing! I love “Highest Bidder”
    I hope you had a great birthday, friend 🙂

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    1. Thanks babe! 😀
      That Essie Highest Bidder isn’t actually as deep in colour as it appears in the bottle, it’s part of their Silk Watercolour collection so it’s very sheer, it applies like this:

      (the middle finger shows how it’s supposed to be as nail art, like watercolour!)

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    1. Yes belated – since I was on holidays during my birthday I didn’t get a chance to shop until I got back.
      Re: L’Oreal setting spray: I tried it twice last week and it’s really good! Definitely kept my face from getting as shiny as early. I tried it with 2 different face primers as well – it didn’t fare as well with a silicone based primer (my BB cream broke down by late afternoon) but it worked really well with a cream based primer (the Shiseido one). I’ll use it more before I do a full review.

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  16. Happy birthday!!!!! July is my sons bday and I made him go get the NARS bday gift 😂😂😂😂 and he did. I really like that pink essie you got. Now I have to check name but it’s the 4th one in. You had a superb bday haul 👋👋👋👋 congrats on a beautiful collection of wonderful goodies! Eeekkkkk I love it!!!!!!

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  19. It’s funny how you got the brush “say no more.”

    I really want to know if the gel setter is worth it and how it compares to seche vite. I’m on the hunt for a new top coat bc soon I’ll be out!

    That buddha board reminds me of my niece and nephew’s water coloring book. Same concept except it has color and reveals more things in the background as you color. It’s awesome. I may have helped them color a few pages.

    Great birthday haul and you still have gift cards to go through!

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