My One Year Blogiversary!

~ stashy ~ 77 Comments

It’s my blog’s first birthday today! I’m the proud mama of a one year old. 😛

I thought it’d be fun to do a highlights of the year in review: [I started compiling this list before I saw that WordPress released a 2015 year in review report for each blog – how neat!  See below for a link to mine]

My most popular posts (based on view counts) are:
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Transitional Eye Shadow Shades
I would have never in a million years guessed how popular that post would be!  The majority of the views of this post is from google search hits. I find it interesting that my top posts aren’t necessary the ones that have the most comments – it seems that random people are stumbling on my blog from search results.

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Online Discount Makeup Haul

~ stashy ~ 42 Comments

This online order was actually my first official makeup purchase of 2016! Since most stores were closed on New Year’s Day I decided to place an online order to commemorate the occasion.  However, with our Canadian dollar being so crappy, I was somewhat selective in what I was willing to pay.  So I decided to place an order from a Canadian discount makeup site: SaleEvent.ca  They sell mostly drugstore brands like Revlon, CoverGirl, Maybelline and some higher end brands like OPI and RoC – all at discounted prices, and many of the items are discontinued colours.  Back in October, fivezero made a purchase from the site and I went to bookmark the site for future reference, only to discover that I already had it bookmarked – duh! 😛 I’ve never ordered from them before until now:
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I ordered it on January 1st and it arrived on January 5th – pretty impressive turnaround time.  And that Revlon nail file was a freebie they included.

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Rewards to myself for sticking to my yearlong No-Buy

~ stashy ~ 72 Comments

I had mentioned before that I would treat myself after my No-Buy was over. And I wanted to make sure the rewards weren’t makeup.  So here’s what I’ve bought as rewards for successfully completing my No-Buy:

1) Longchamp Large Planetes Tote
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I resisted the Longchamp tote for years. Everyone and their grandmas have one! I toyed with buying a limited edition design a few years back but just couldn’t justify the purchase. Then my friend’s niece visited Paris recently and my friend asked if I was interested in this bag (she owns it and I gushed over it) since it’s cheaper there. I like that it’s not a common style since it’s all black. I LOVE this bag – it’s so sturdy and holds everything I need for work. ❤

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First makeup haul of 2016

~ stashy ~ 58 Comments

Inquiring minds want to know! So here it is:
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Sephora clearance section strikes! 😛 I went to Sephora last weekend and I got:

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Zoya Free 4 You sale

~ stashy ~ 37 Comments

I caught wind of this deal through fivezero, who regularly features nail polish deals on her blog. For the past year I have not been able to partake in the sales but not anymore! This Zoya nail polish deal was too good to pass up – it’s for 4 free nail polishes, and the only cost is for shipping!

I just placed an order for the following:

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Pasha – soft, pale, taupe-kissed beige nude with silver frost and the barest hint of silver microglitter. (swatch image from here)

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Swap with A Girl With Pink Cheeks!

~ stashy ~ 75 Comments

I received this parcel just before Christmas.  It was my second ever makeup swap, this time with the lovely Isabelle from A Girl With Pink Cheeks blog!  We started chatting about doing this swap after my last one – and so, back in July, we formulated the swap guidelines: We buy each other one thing under 10€ / $15 CAD each month for 4 months (August to November), and mail out in time for Christmas. We wanted to focus on brands / products not available in our native countries – Isabelle lives in Belgium and I’m in Canada.  I’d indicated that I was most interested in eye shadows, blush, and concealers.  This is what she sent me:
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Here’s everything unwrapped:
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I’ve been completely spoiled! 😀

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Best of 2015 discoveries

~ stashy ~ 49 Comments

I posted my list of beauty discoveries in 2014 when I started this blog so I thought I’d continue the tradition this year. I consider something a “discovery” if it’s new to me, not necessarily something that was launched that year. Since I was on a No-Buy all year, I was either using up items in my stash or opening up unopened products that I had hoarded. I decided on the Top 15 since I saw it on Classic Maggie’s blog (I suppose next year I’ll need to list 16 items?)  I’ll differentiate the Rediscoveries with (R) and New discoveries with (N) on my list.
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Where available, I’ve linked to blog posts where I’ve either reviewed or mentioned the products. In no particular order:

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Trash Stash 2015 summary

~ stashy ~ 38 Comments

A “side effect” of my No-Buy was the opportunity to dig into my stash and use up what I already owned.  I didn’t imagine that I would actually go through so many products each month! And now looking at the full year as a whole, I’m quite proud of my accomplishments. 😀
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12 months’ worth of empties!

Stats of my Trash Stash:
• I documented 173 finished products during 2015 (133 were full-size products and 40 were sample / travel size)
• On average, I finished 14.4 products (full and sample size) each month
• The highest number of products I used up was 28 in October and the lowest was 7 (Jan and Feb tied)
• The average rating I gave to all the products was 7.8 out of 10
• Skincare was the main product type I finished up (46%) followed by body / hair products (36%) and then makeup [mostly mascaras and base products] (18%)
• I noted that I would repurchase 52% of what I used up, 38% I would not repurchase, and 10% I may repurchase

However it’s important to note that many of the items that I wouldn’t repurchase do not necessarily mean I don’t like the products… many of the products are discontinued and I can’t repurchase! 😳

If you’ve missed any of my empties / Trash Stash post, here they all are:

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Trash Stash: December 2015

~ stashy ~ 24 Comments

It’s the final Trash Stash of 2015! I`ve got quite a bit of stuff this month:
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I still remember my first Empties (before it was renamed to Trash Stash) – oh how time flies! 🙂

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Happy New Year! And a new focus for 2016

~ stashy ~ 49 Comments

Happy New Year, everyone!
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I wish you the best in health and happiness for 2016! 🙂

I mentioned yesterday that January is probably the worst time to start a No-Buy since there are so many temptations with clearance sales and the winter months are ripe for hibernating and shopping.  And that’s why, for 2016, I’ve decided to do something slightly different – a LOW Buy instead of a No Buy. 😀

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