Year of retail therapy

After over a year blogging with this project, it has come to an official end.

I was going to continue this beyond its original year. As seen from the sparse updates, I unfortunately do not have the time, and there have been commitments which have come up in my personal life.

Thank you for reading along. It has been an overall enjoyable experience. I have even more appreciation and awe for those who regularly blog.
I am still around the internet and commenting often. I can be found on the following:
twitter: @mousewings
tumblr: mousewings.tumblr.com
livejournal: mousewings.livejournal.com

Cheers and see you all around. ♥

I participated in a few decant circles by ajevie_circle. I am slow in writing about them, as the below items were from February 2013.

Perfumes from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab:

Chintamani-Dhupa: A strangely sensual blend, exotic, compelling, and commanding, adapted from an incense recipe found in the venerable sex manual, the Ananga Ranga.

En Eski Asksiiri: This is a traditional Sumerian perfume, composed of juniper, tamarisk, almond, lavender honey, sesame, myrrh, olive oil, cedar, and rose.Somnus: Named after the Roman God of Sleep. This blend helps bring on deep, restful, natural sleep.

The first two were limited edition. Somnus is general collection and under the Somnium category.

From their sister company, Black Phoenix Trading Post, I purchased a Wererat-Infested Sewer Atmospheric Room and Linen Spray goblin squirt or sample. The notes may sound a bit odd but it smells great, and I had to get at least a sample of this after I saw the artwork it inspired.

Perfumes from Arcana:

BloodLust: Rich red anise and animalic musk with fermented apples, burnt sugar, iron-distilled patchouli, Bourbon vanilla, and the merest whiff of peppermint.

CakeLust: Golden bakery cakes spiked with blonde tobacco, pipe tobacco, Balsam of Peru, cardamom, and mace.

Both Arcana perfumes were limited edition.

From Adiago Teas, I purchased a decant by ajevie_circles of Treacle Tart tea inspired by the dessert from Harry Potter.
I also purchased full pouches of the teas Snoring Rat and Tea Lovin' Rats. I've tried the Snoring Rat tea and it is delicious.

Extras were included by ajevie including a coupon for Adagio and a vial of an exclusive room spray from Black Phoenix Trading Post, ajevie's Room Spray of ♥

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

I've been away from this blog for various reasons. I may start this up again with a few changes and change it from a year-long project to ongoing.

I'm still purchasing from decant circles and from well-known brick and mortar and online retailers, as well as going to concerts, museums, art galleries, and events. There's just far too much to list and write about. I will be writing on this website about small businesses and independent makeup companies I've purchased from.

I pledged for a three pack of Fat & Lye soaps (one each in coffee, wine, and beer) via their Kickstarter campaign.

As a note, although the product and company name has the word "fat" in it, Fat & Lye's products are vegan. The fat used is vegetable.

I inquired regarding the item shelf life and the shipping. I was given quick answers. The shelf life for the soaps is one year.

The company kept supporters well informed through both their Kickstarter updates and their Facebook. The items shipped out right on schedule. They have minimalist packaging with no plastic or paper wrapping, simply having a band around the edge with information stating the company, website, type of soap, weight, and ingredients. The soaps arrived with a promotional postcard and a sticker. I'm glad I looked in the padded envelope again, as I almost missed the sticker.

I'm very impressed with the fast order fulfillment by this company and look forward to trying the products. They currently have an Etsy shop where their soaps are available.

This is a very belated post about an order I made for Avon and mark.

From mark, I purchased:
♥ mark.Jewel Shine Body Lotion
♥ What a Gem Face Brush
♥ All Over Eye Shadow Brush
♥ Set Things Right Loose Perfecting Powder in light
♥ Good Vintage Earrings
♥ No Time Flat shoes
( Photos for the last two under the cut )

From Avon:
♥ Avon Empowerment Charm Necklace

The mark.Jewel Shine Body Lotion and the What a Gem Face Brush are from the limited edition Jewel Shine collection.
This post is so late I've already used up the Jewel Shine Body Lotion, and the Good Vintage Earrings and No Time Flat shoes are all sold out. I've found and included photos for the last two.

The body lotion smelled great and was moisturizing.

I was hesitant about the face powder and the shades but did pick out the right colour. My only issue is the face powder was made in China. It used to be all Avon cosmetic products were made in the U.S. or Canada. I'd prefer to not use cosmetics made in China for quality issues. My mother says even people in China and H.K. don't use products made there.

Other than this minor issue, I'm happy with my purchases overall. The earrings are beautiful, and the shoes match my gold Ivanka Trump handbag.

I ordered from Black Bear Laboratory a while back. I used up the Peppermint Mocha lip balm, and it was fine.

I started using the Honey Whipped Cream lip balm in May, and the lip balm tube started leaking heavily. I set it on top of an old powder compact, and a pool of liquid had formed underneath it overnight. It was unusable without making a mess.

I remembered the company's FB page had a post made in February stating to contact them if the Honey Whipped Cream lip balm tubes leaked, and they'd send a replacement. Time had passed with my purchasing the items on January 25th, but I decided to inform the shop about the product at least. I wanted to see if I could fix the tube first and contacted the shop asking for advice on how to "re-set" the unusable balm. They responded with a recommendation to place it in the freezer or to use a hair dryer or double boiler and funnel to re-mix and re-set it. They said to let them know if it worked. Not having a funnel, I tried placing the balm in the freezer for over a day. It still leaked heavily.

I contacted the shop again, stating using the freezing did not work. I have not received a response back or an apology regarding the unusable product.

I found out about the Kona Kare lip butter balm line from Spiced Beauty.

I purchased the entire Kona Kare collection a while back during a sale. The collection set includes all their current items: The Original One, French Vanilla, Peaches & Dream, and Chocolate Peppermint.

A few hours after my purchase, I received an email message from the company owner personally thanking me for my purchase. My items were shipped quickly and arrived just as quickly. I must mention Kona Kare is located in the same country, Canada, as I am. If you are outside Canada, your order may take longer to arrive as it may have to go through customs.

The lip balms were wrapped in tissue paper sealed with a "Made in Canada" sticker and had a thank you note included.

Some of them were gifted to my mother. I tried one I kept, Original One. It has a good texture and is not too soft but melts easily on my lips. It's the perfect lip balm to use throughout the day.

Currently, Kona Kare is having a sale with the entire lip balm collection being available for $12 and individual lip balms at half off. The listed prices include shipping within Canada and the U.S. They do ship to other countries but shipping may be extra. The entire collection is regularly $40, so this is a great deal available until the end of the month. If you miss it, they occasionally have sales.

I haven't written in a long while. This is a brief overview of a few places I've been and items I've purchased before or around the original February cut-off date for this project. There will be more updates and reviews from before my original cut off date. I may extend this project to do beauty product reviews only.

• I received my copy of Jaybird by Lauri and Jaakko Ahonen along with the Bad Birds wallpaper a while back in February. It's a PDF eBook I received after funding the project on Indiegogo.

I'm impressed how quickly the book was sent out. The Indiegogo updates stated the physical book would be completed in March. I was expecting the eBook to be released at the same time as the hard copy. I haven't read it yet but will do so soon.

• Went to a few art exhibitions including Women, Water, and Wells by Gil Garcetti, Chinese paintings by Wei Ren, and photography from Verge Magazine including mini-exhibitions Healing Hands (Haiti) and Born in Bolivia.

A standalone exhibit was this cool "C" shaped panorama of the arctic. You could stand in it and pretend you were in the tundra!

One about music was Smartphone QR code-based but they did have a website so everyone could view it:
Face2Face

At a new university art gallery, I viewed exhibitions about typography and another about mental health. I was tempted to purchase a print with a crow from the former but I realised I wouldn't have any place to put it.

• Attended a talk about the paranormal by Dr. Ciaran O'Keeffe and one other about courtly love in Medieval Times.

• Beauty purchases: Willow Pattern and Easter Egg Hunt soaps from Lush (both limited edition and sold out). Caramel Twist soap from Rocky Mountain Soap Company. I'll be back for their Spring Blossom soap and maybe the Rhymes With Orange soap.
Despite my supply of bath products, I purchased Axe Anarchy for Women shower gel. It smells really good.

• Culinary: sushi from T & T Supermarket. Dim Sum at a usual place. Standard Chinese food with my parents at another where they used to have dim sum; the restaurant told people arriving that they no longer had dim sum. Two guys who were around my age walked in, heard they didn't have dim sum, and left. I'm uncertain if their business levels will remain the same without dim sum.

I had pho at the new place. The food is okay to good, depending on what you order, but the service depends on who is working. Other times, it's been great service. Last time was different. On a recent visit, I went there with my parents and we were the only table. There was a waitress we'd never seen before. She kept on talking on her cellphone as she handed us the menu. It took a while before she finished her phone call to come over and take our order. I wanted to leave when I saw she didn't even stop talking on the phone once we came in, but my father wanted to stay. I think we'll be looking in to see who is serving us first if we decide to go back.

• Fashion: purchased two pairs of penguin socks and a Fair Isle print pair. From Ricki's, two long sleeve tops, one grey and one black. They both have sequins near the neckline, which is a bit low cut for both but not too bad.

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy and other times (like today), I haven't been feeling too good.

I hope everyone has been having a great few weeks. I attended a few festivals and celebrations.

♥ The day before Chinese New Year, my parents and I attended a New Year festival in the west end shopping centre. I saw lion dances, traditional dances, a magician, and Ever (a local band) on stage for the third time.

I went shopping a bit but there wasn't a lot of time as I mainly went there to see the festival. My mother wanted items from Simons, including a few bird housewares for me, but decided to purchase them next time. It would take too long to pick out items and we wanted to see the festival more.

Guess Girl perfume samples were given to my mother and I while we were in the shop. I look forward to trying mine.

I purchased an Angry Birds watch; it has a black strap and features Red the bird. It has a fashionable larger watch face. I first didn't think I could wear these and that it would stand out too much, as my wrists and hands are so small that I can wear children's bracelets and rings. The watch size turned out to be very wearable and wasn't heavy or overwhelming. I'll be able to purchase the newer watches at Guess, as I now know this style works for me.

My other purchases were black with gold polka dot black flats from American Eagle (I lucked out and found the last pair in my shoe size) and Black Forest Cake soap from Rocky Mountain Soap Company. Rocky Mountain Soap Co. no longer gives out soap samples with purchase; the small soaps were marked as being for sale at $1.50 each. I'm slightly disappointed but I do understand why they discontinued this. The free item perk could be open to abuse by some customers who come in multiple times for the free items.

My father chose BBQ ribs for a meal. My mother and I had Pinkberry yogurt. I had pomegranate and my mother had coconut. I found mine far too tart. My mother and I shared a bit of our yogurt choices with each other and she agreed on mine's tartness. Coconut was better but still a bit tart. I strongly prefer Tutti Frutti yogurt.

My mother purchased a collector stamp for the Year of the Snake from the Canada Post booth at the festival. I entered a draw to win a gift basket worth almost $100. I won! I picked it up last week. I haven't opened it yet... from looking inside I can see stamps and collector's items from this year and previous lunar years.

♥ On Chinese New Year, we visited a vegetarian tea house for lunch. The food was good but was a bit too seasoned and savoury for my living. My mother purchased this neat flower lantern which lights up and a tub of seasoned peanuts.

♥ The week afterward, we attended a New Year celebration in the downtown shopping centre. They had lion dances, instrumentals, breakdancing, and traditional Chinese dances.

My mother purchased this surprise pack with proceeds going to charity. They let us pick two bookmarks. My parents didn't want any bookmarks; I chose a year of the boar one for myself. The surprise pack contained a free entree voucher to the above tea house, a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a bubble tea place, candy including strawberry lucky candy, bookmarks, a Canada souvenir bookmark, a yo-yo, and a neat stress ball with a happy face.

I stopped by Good Earth to try out their Chai Frappe. I was given the choice between whole, 2%, and skim milk and was recommended whole milk when I asked which was best.

On a sidenote, Canada discontinued the penny. Our credit and debit statements are calculated exactly but cash transactions have become... interesting and each store does it differently. I like how Good Earth has a half/half policy on rounding up or down on payments. If an item is, for example, $6.01 or $6.02, it's rounded down to $6 even. $6.06 or $6.07 is rounded down to $6.05. The higher amounts are rounded up: $6.03/$6.04 up to $6.05 and $6.08/$6.09 up to $6.10. I feel this is most fair to both the shop and customer. I dislike it when the total is rounded up no matter what (like $6.01 up to $6.05). T&T Supermarket does this. It is only 4 cents at the most but if you purchase regularly from those stores and get a lot of .01 and .06 totals which are rounded up, the percentages will add up over the years.

The downtown Shoppers Drug Mart has Axe Anarchy for Her body washes. So hard to find on their own. I saw these in their holiday beauty gift packs, but I don't use the included nail products and body spray doesn't last long for me. I'll be back with a Shoppers Optimum Card to purchase a bottle. Anarchy for Her smells like Philosophy's more candy-based offerings.

♥ Quite a few food items were purchased: Little Debbie heart shaped cakes, cola, macaroni and cheese (I love this but haven't had it in over a year), cola, and aloe drinks (both regular and mango), , Humpty Dumpty snack mixes in original and all dressed (original is much better. All Dressed seasoning is more like salt and vinegar), and OMG's dark chocolates (I can see why Dragon's Den backed these. They're delicious!)

I purchased two lip balms through North Coast Organics's Indiegogo campaign. I ordered one each of WMD (cinnamon) and LSQ (mint). I love the labels on these, especially the second's bird one.

I inquired about shipping to Canada for the items and received a quick response back. It was a very reasonable extra $2.

The items were shipped January 3rd, around two weeks after the campaign ended. The campaign page read the estimated shipping date was in December but I believe this meant the Christmas packages, as I doubt they could have processed all the numerous orders from the Indiegogo page and their shop before Christmas.

My order was securely packaged in a recyclable plastic envelope with this neat paper-wood filling on the inside as padding.

I was surprised to find a full sized Death by Lavender deodorant stick included as a gift. I wrote back to thank the shop for the products; the deodorant was included as a free item as the label wasn't 100% to their standards in quality. I couldn't see any flaws with the label.

Very professional looking products and professional service. I'll be watching the shop for new products.

Thank you to everyone for all your birthday wishes on FB, Twitter, LJ, and everywhere.

I turned another year older on the 4th. My mother and I were going to the southside shopping centre for the day.

First we stopped at the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, which has a museum exhibition currently going on, Spacious Margin : Eighteenth-Century Printed Books and the Traces of their Readers.
The website has a few web exhibitions and resources available online to everyone.

I've only been to this library three other times, and the most recent was two years ago. This time, I noticed part of the exhibition in an open room which normally had the door closed. The room, which I'd never been in before, had an adorable owl painting. I'm unsure if I missed the section the previous three times or if it was a place newly opened to the public. Maybe the latter, as I do vaguely recall a closed door and a staff only or private sign. I also think I'd have noticed more artwork or artifacts through the room's large glass window if it was open to the public. Either way, I'm glad I found out about the room and the owl painting.

Outside the library, I stopped to look at sociology posters.

At the southside shopping centre, I had Arby's for lunch and my mother had fish and chips from Joey's. I've always loved Arby's food but haven't had it in over a year for some reason.

I purchased these beautiful green chandelier earrings from Banana Republic. They are the ones listed as teal but are more of an emerald (the Pantone colour of the year).

The sales associate in the BR shop was very helpful and knowledgeable. I was uncertain if the earrings would show up against my dark hair. She took an earring off the display card and held it up to my hair, asking me to go to a nearby mirror and see how it looked. Meanwhile she looked at the other earring and said that as the backing was clear, the emerald wasn't too dark, and the jewels had a gold outline, it would likely show up against my hair.
I also asked about the weight of the earrings. She said they weren't the heaviest type of chandelier earrings they carried; although, they were more heavy than typical earrings. Some people weren't able to wear chandelier earrings if they had sensitive ears. I'd worn even larger chandeliers before, so I decided to purchase them.

My mother got me to pick out texting gloves from Sears as a gift. I chose a dark purple pair.

Dinner was with my parents at a Japanese/Vietnamese restaurant near a tourist district. I had a signature sushi meal combo and half an avocado cone. My mother shared a bit of her Japanese fried noodle dish with me. I didn't really like it, and my mom thought her meal was only "okay". My father said his beef pho was great. My own meal tasted good but was around the same quality as T & T Supermarket sushi. The avocado cone was delicious. A downside is I became really thirsty afterward. I don't think I'll be back.

My birthday cake was a yummy fresh cream one with fruit ordered in from a local bakery.

My father surprised me with a Samsung mini-tablet! It will be great for reading eBooks and better for surfing the net than with my new phone. He'd given me a rectangular weighty box. I thought it was perfume, but was wowed to find the tablet.

The day after, my father made a call and had Wi-Fi enabled for the whole house so I could use both my tablet and laptop. The latter was mainly used for listening to podcasts and music previously along with writing, which was saved onto my thumb drive and uploaded later.

My friend, @Anastasoula0110, gifted me two gorgeous handmade journals from India. Thank you so much! ♥