Here’s the things that are making my heart bit just a tich faster this week:
Tarte double-ended lipgloss — There isn’t a color here that you can go wrong with. Every girl should have Rhett and Scarlett at their fingertips. A beautfiful red rose for the Rhett end and a golden peach for the Scarlett end. I normally don’t like red colors for my lips, but this goes on soft and sheer, and I love knowing I have Rhett and Scarlett in my teeny little Brighton bag.
Kerastase hair produts (Chroma Reflect line) — No link for this because even Diamond Beauty or any other online merchant cannot get you the price that you can get on eBay. This crap is expensive to begin with, but the eBay’ers who sell it at auction at least get you a little help on the price. I’m an old woman (45 or 46, can’t remember) with hair that just doesn’t shine like it used to, and I highlight my hair. I’ve been using the pink Chroma Reflect line from Kerastase for about three months, and I’ve got the shiniest, unbelievable hair again, and that hasn’t been true for about seven years, so I’m very, very happy. Get the shampoo, the conditioner and the masquintense.
eBay — So what in the hell was wrong with me that I hadn’t used eBay until a month ago? I think eBay just improved a lot since I last looked at it, and it was time to give it another chance, not that I was being a stubborn hag.
I got back to eBay looking for fragrances, some of the older ones that are hard to find, and I found that these absolutely wonderful people, like Dragonfly Scent Me sell some hard to find and much lemminged for perfumes in 1/3 and 1/6 or 1/5 oz decants, which is a delightful way to try a fragrance for a month or more (nice big decants, not the teeny samples where you can try it maybe twice) and really find out if you like something or not. It’s also a way to get a very diverse selection of perfumes without spending the $70-160 per bottle you’d normally have to pay. I even started selling a couple of decants recently, just of ‘fumes that aren’t completely me or have one note that isn’t a favorite, but are delightful and lots of other people love, and I just can never hope to use the whole bottle. But go see Dragonfly, she has a great selection at great prices and the best service in the world.
Frederic Malle perfumes — Nobody should be allowed to charge what he does for perfumes, except if you’re buying L’Eau d’Hiver and Le Parfum de Therese, truly two of the most gorgeous scents that have ever existed on the face of the planet — no, nay, the universe. If you’ve never heard of Frederic Malle, he does things a little differently. He has the best noses create his perfume, then he puts their name on the bottle as the creator. He winds up with scents that smell like nothing else and everything else. If you don’t want to spring the 80-160 Euro clams, go to Dragonfly (see eBay above) and she can set you up with a couple of them. Search the rest of eBay to get a decant to try of the rest of them. Also highly recommend En Passant. I just love the other two more, but that should in no way diminish my affection for En Passant. Remember, these are the only three I have tried in this line, and I love all three. I’m thinking with enough time and Euros and/or credit cards, I can get ALL the bottles. I will review these in some detail coming up this week.
Okay, that covers Frederic Malle, but I haven’t even got to the other new perfume infatuations I have, so that will have to wait until next week.
Cle de Peau cleansing cream — Nobody has to explain to me how ridiculous it is to spend $59 on a cleansing cream (I did get this cheaper on eBay, so don’t laugh at me yet), but that’s about the cheapest thing in this line, and it is also amazing. Silky smooth, it really does feel like silk. I never thought I’d even care about a cleansing cream, but it’s sorta like all the best things of Noxema without the nasty menthol smell and destruction to your face. I’m afraid to try other things in this line. I’m normally pretty happy with a decent moisturizer, it doesn’t have to be the most expensive, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that my long-held belief that paying more doesn’t always get you something better, some of the products that are charging those prices may actually be pretty darn good, but not always!!!
Speaking of high prices — La Mer Hand Treatment (can’t find a link to it, I got it on eBay) is the best. I had been using Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream for the last couple of years and thought it was the stuff, but the La Mer is way better and longer lasting. My hands used to be one of my best features (smooth and super-pretty), so getting-old-hands (think ge spots and alligator skin just starting to creep up onto my hands) just isn’t making me very happy, so a lotion to keep them smooth and pretty and younger looking has gone to the top of my list of “Things that are Important to Me.” Add to that the Bliss hand gloves and cream, and I’m thinking I’ll shave some years off my hands.
Civilization IV — I’ve been playing Civilization since the first one, as has my husband. It’s one of the things that has kept this marriage going. This latest one is visually stunning, with more depth of play, but faster play. We’ve just gotten started with it, and it’s still too early to know if the AI is better. All I want is to ensure that peace-loving Ghandi stays true to his historical nature and does not launch an unprovoked attack because I accidentally bumped into one of his flippin’ elephants.