One of the first things I wanted to get was a new summer fragrance. I’ve been alternating between “Liquid” by Hard Candy and “Dune Primrose” from Aveda for about a year now. I love “Liquid” – it’s refreshing and clean-smelling and it doesn’t make me sneeze, and the Aveda scent is a bit stronger, but nice, too, but I really wanted something specifically summer.  I found three in the catalogue that I thought sounded nice: Cartier “Summer”, Escada “Sunset Heat”, and Michael Kors “ Island ” . They didn’t have “Summer” at the store, but I sampled the regular Cartier scent and, wow, did it smell bad! Really strong and bitter and it reminded me of a dead animal you might find on the side of the road. Yuck! I sampled “Sunset Heat” and “ Island ” and found both to be way too overpowering for me. Still, I wanted a new scent, – dammit! – so I tried another one I’d seen in the catalogue, but hadn’t added to the list: Jean-Paul Gaultier’s “Classique Summer”. It was love at first sniff! It’s light and refreshing and totally yummy, and went directly into my basket. An added bonus is the bottle is tres cool!

Next on my shopping list was sunscreen for both my hair and my face. I already have a large bottle of Coppertone Sport for the rest of my body, but wanted something specifically for my face and something to protect my hair. I had a couple sunscreen sprays for hair: Phyto Plage Protective Beach Spray and Oscar Blandi Capris Sunshield Spray. I ended up getting the latter simply because they didn’t have the former. The facial sunscreen I wanted – Cosmedical Global Health Sunscreen for Face (SPF 30) – was in stock and was added to my basket.

I also picked up some Makeup Forever Mist and Fix makeup fixing spray and Bare Escentuals RareMinerals Skin Revival Night Treatment. I’m hoping the Mist and Fix will prevent my mascara from smudging by the middle of the day, and the Night Treatment will be a good alternative to the creams and lotions I’ve tried that gave me pimples. I wanted to try some Bare Minerals Foundation Primer, too, but I couldn’t find it, and didn’t really care enough to ask.

Speaking of mascara, as I was going wandering around the store hunting for products, I noticed new mascara: IMJU Fiberwig Mascara. Supposedly it simulates the look of false lashes. Intrigued, I picked up a tube. Apparently it’s a big hit in Japan and lots of people have been talking about it, but this was the first I’d heard of it. I’m anxious to see if it really works. So many mascaras look promising, but when I get them home, they’re crap – always, always too much gunky mascara on the brush, or, as is the case with these new-fangled rubber “brushes”, too little, or they make my lashes stiff and brittle, or they just bind my lashes into large globby clumps. Gah! Finding the perfect mascara for me has always been a traumatic – and expensive – experience. Once I find something I like, I tend to buy in bulk, which is helpful when it’s discontinued (i.e., Maybellene’s Illegal Lengths, which I ended up having to buy five tubes of off eBay; I have two tubes left.), but once I run out, I’m experimenting again. Currently I have two favourites besides the Maybellene: Stila Major Lash and Rimmel Lash Extender. Hopefully both of those will be on the market for a good, long while.

Where was I? Oh, yes: shopping at Sephora. My one true vanity purchase of the day was the Murad Cellulite Solution Kit. I’ve had cellulite for years – as long as I’ve been fat – but never really cared too much till recently. Recently I’ve started losing weight; not a lot but enough to make me think I’d like to wear shorts occasionally. Except I can’t because of all the lumpy, bumpy skin I’ve acquired. I have no idea if these cellulite minimizer lotions and lotions work or not, but I figured, what the heck. I’ll try it.

My final purchase was a new travel hair dryer (T3 Bespoke Labs Overnight Dryer), because I don’t know what kind of amenities the hotel/condo I’m staying at in Hawaii has. I suppose I could’ve asked my friend DeeDee, since it’s her time share thingie, but they I might not have been able to buy a new hair dryer, and you know, that’s really the important thing!

And thus ends my wonderful $470.00 shopping spree! Yes, you read that right: $470.00 spent in just under 30 minutes. Gotta be some kinda record doncha think? It may have been wrong, but it felt so right! I have no regrets and look forward to playing with all my fun, new stuff!

Happy Friday!