fruitycat’s Neighborhood

New balm: Tuxedo Mocha! This one has coffee butter added... yum.
Also selected balms are on sale right now. Go here to see them.
I also have a "you choose flavor" listing if you want to choose your favorite flavor.
Or if you want a good deal, you get 6 balms for one low price. Perfect for stocking stuffer or just to keep them for yourself.

Last but not least, you get a gift with purchase with every order. :D

Ok, so here’s another total rant… stop reading here if you don’t wanna hear all about it and scroll down about a page to read about more fun stuff… two hauls!!!

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I am soooo praying that this is just a STAGE in my eldest’s development. Been dealing with so many issue this past couple of weeks. Ranging from lying to stealing (well, according to him borrowing… but who borrows $100??) and now…

He spent the nite at my MIL’s. I went to bed forgetting to switch off my ringer on my handphone (this is my old set cos my new set won’t take photos and I had to send it in for servicing which is a whole ‘nother rant! *grrrrrrr*)

Woke up from a deep sound sleep by a very loud ringing phone. Picked up the call and was greeted by silence… lots of silence. Even with my repeated hullos… there was no reply… and then the call got disconnected. Given the number reflected by my caller id… the suspect list was really short… couldn’t be my MIL or my FIL… so only person left in the house… my son.

The call triggered one of the worst headaches I’ve had since getting preggy way back in 2001. It wasn’t an ache… but a throbbing pain echoing in my head. The kind that makes you wanna bang your head against something. So got up and popped in two panadols (paracetamol) and tried to go back to sleep.

Woke up late with the pain still there… mumbled some nonsense to my hubby over the phone (yeah, I know… same house and I can’t get my butt off my bed to go talk to him in person) and he coaxed me to go eat something so that he could give me a stronger painkiller afterwards. After breakfast, in went Ponstan, an antiacid and a muscle relaxant. All of which combined to make the pain more of a fuzzy interference in my head.

The meds have lasted quite a while and the pain hasn’t really returned… it more of a nagging ache now. Much easier to handle… just that I’m sensitive to sharp sounds. Sends an echo bouncing round my head. Sigh…

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Anyways… on to more fun stuff… checked my mailbox…

*drum roll*

My package from LT was there… nice and fat… and so was my recent SN order. (no pics… cos no phone => no camera *sobs*)

*cartwheels around the room*

I <3 <3 getting packages in the mail!!!

opened LT’s first and here’s what she sent me (for pics, check out her post here -

• SN perfecting powder (yippeeee I’m all out)
• Revlon azure mist palette (been eyeing this in the stores but couldn’t bring myself to pay the price)
• LA Splash liquid eyeliner in Blue Whale
• EDM blush sample in Walkie Talkie
• Body Shop blue and pink/peach e/s
• Jessie’s Girl e/s in skywalker (can’t wait to try this one out!)
• Ulta e/s in Truffle and Zephyr
• Juice organics light tint moisturizer – sample size (ideal for my quick trip to Malacca coming soon)

Its been a while since I’ve gotten excited over m/u but getting my hands stuff I’ve been drooling over and itching to try… well, put it this way… pretty good chance I’ll be going out with my face done tomorrow. :D

Then I opened my second (smaller package).

*wanders off on a tangent*

You know how there are some companies that just give you such good service that you can’t stop buying from them? Well, I gotta say SilkNaturals is one of my all time fav m/u companies. Their customer service totally rocks! even when I had problems with shipping going awol, they made it up to me.

ok… so I placed an order to restock on perfecting powder, date bait, foundation (ebony, white and tried a packet of the new glow) and their new zinc powder. The way it works is that they give one free ‘surprise’ e/s and then with every $30 you get a e/s of your choice FOC.

well, I don’t like SN’s e/s… doesn’t suit my need for color *grin* but I DO like their lippies… so I added a note to my order asking if I could please change my free e/s to a lippie instead.

Surprise surprise… they not only sent my the freebie lippie I requested for but an extra one for good measure… and… I still got a free e/s thrown in.

The color I asked for was Fashionista… a nude wine shimmer vegan lipstick and I got Mirage (Ultra Nude Vegan Lip Gloss) as my extra. I have to say I wouldn’t have order Mirage on my own… but I can’t wait to see what it looks like on my lips and how it’d blend with other shades to make something special :)

So… the day started out bad and ended on a pretty upbeat note. Gotta stay thankful even on bad days, don’t you think?

stay cool everyone and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it.  

some postive stuff first…

remember the lovely set from Crabtree and Evelyn that I got. Well, I’ve been using the hand therapy cream… really like the smell and how it feels on my hands.

I’ve never used a shea butter product before but I sure do like the way it gets absorbed into my skin and not leaving a residue behind. The tube sits on my computer table and I use it when I remember. I try to make sure to rub it into my cuticles too and my elbows.

On the whole, really liking this although I’m not sure if I’d buy if for myself. Still I have 2 tubes of it so it should last a long long time. :)

Been looking at the various holiday collections from mmu coys… tempting… oh so tempting but I’m staying strong… so far. I have put in an order with SilkNaturals for mre powders and foundie… in particular, gonna try out a more ‘glowy’ foundation. Can’t wait to see how that’s gonna turn out.

ok… really have to get this off my chest… totally not m/u related… but parents out there… help me out…

how do you keep your temper when dealing with a kid who doesn’t want to to do the work you set him? I’m clenching my teeth so much they ache and I think my blood pressure is sky rocketing. Seriously, 2 hours to do 1 problem sum question is totally nuts! I don’t really wanna ask my hubby for help cos his idea of help is the liberal use of Mr Cane. sigh… 

Good Morning.  Happy Sunday. :)  I hope your weekend is going great. :)  Yesterday instead of going to agility class, I attended an Excel class.  haha.  I can be nerdy.  Well, this is actually for work.  It touches a few different subjects:  pivot table (oh joy!), formulas and some other fun stuff.  It's actually fun... sort of.  I enjoyed it and didn't fall asleep... that would be hard when you are sitting in the front row and have to do exercises and such.  But anyway, it went great.

Ok, now on to the main point.  I am cleaning and organizing and have been collecting little jars and tubes and baggies of good stuff and am planning to give them away... am thinking around Christmas.  Maybe before or after... I am not sure yet.  I will post an "goodie bag sign up post" later so that you can enter the drawing.  Some of them might be gently used (eg:  mmu sample or colored lip gloss etc).  Some will be full size, some sample size.  I have a bag sitting next to me and with goodies in there already.  I will post in greater detail of what's going to be in there.  But right now, I will give you a list of companies that will go into the bag:

• YLBB (sorry, can't help it.  lol)
• Lure Beauty
• Aromaleigh

I have a few more goodies in mind... but will post in my future post.  Right now it's the collecting stage.  All the goodie will go out in ONE box/bag.

Rules/key points for now (subject to change): 

• Free to you
• US only, as the box will be heavy and oversea shipping is expensive... please understand
• If you have won something from me before, either via Vox (jenfer) or via YLBB, please refrain from participating and give others a chance
• You will have to make a post of some sort in my "goodie bag sign up post" to qualify.

Well, I think that's all I can think of right now.  Stay tune for more.  Thanks for reading.

THIS IS NOT THE "sign up" POST.  REPLYING TO THIS POST WILL NOT GET YOU INTO THE DRAWING. 

I'm done!!!  With the Holiday collection.  I love love love what I do- it's about as much fun as a job gets- but this collection was an uphill battle every single day.  The latest snafu was the site just totally decided to behave itself in any sort of civilzed or predictable way- at about 2:00 this morning.  I'm not adding anything else to the site for at least the next couple of weeks.  There's a backlog of IOU's and even a couple of things that haven't made it to the site for no particular reason- but I'm stopping here.   For now.  I don't want to jinx it, or mess anything else up- it's not my week, and I'm packing it in. This is kind of an abbreviated Holiday collection.  They almost always are- ideas flow fast, but time moves faster, and there comes a point where you just have to put it on the site, and take it from there.

I have a biiiig list of IOU products and colors- and I'm not ignoring you- I love your requests and the fresh challenges you bring to me every day.  It's just sometimes with some things I'd rather take a little bit of extra time to get things right.  You deserve that.

With that- we have passed a new milestone- Silk Naturals is 3 years old today!  Back then we weren't even Silk Naturals- we weren't even a "we"- it was me, making Perfecting Powder on my kitchen table, and then selling it on eBay-  adding Date Bait doubled the line....it was our big Holiday release that year.  Today we just added our 1000th product to the site!

This totally calls for a celebration!  We'll be tucking little gifty Thank You's into each package through the holiday season.  Fun, neat, little interesting things- just as a way to say Thank you for all of your support, wisdom, and encouragement.  It means a lot to us.

On behalf of Susan, Jamie, and Jen- THANK YOU for everything!

Just a quick note...we will be closed Thursday and Friday to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We'll ship on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week- and then we'll be back to our regular schedule of shipping every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The new GWP started shipping on Friday- I'm thinking we'll have a new GWP after shipping on Wednesday so we start Monday's shipping with a new color.  That seems to make the most sense right now.

After a very long afternoon of having absolutely no Internet access- I'm finally back online.  Our web service got restored about an hour ago.  It was a major setback in listing the new collection, but I'm going to try to power through it  this weekend, and make sure everything is online ASAP.  Holiday collections are always jinxy for us- everything that normally runs beautifully and smoothly- just goes poof.  We'll get there, and thank you for bearing with us.

We have lots of winners- but let's bring an end to the suspense that I know was driving some of you crazy.

1) In Bloom- Nirvana- Bloom Lipgloss
2) Honey Honey- Abba- Honey eye shadow
3) Desire- U2- Desire lipgloss
4) Theme song to Bewitched- Bewitched eye shadow
5) Careless Whisper- George Michael- Whisper eye shadow
6) Boom Boom Boom Boom- John Lee Hooker- Boom eye shadow
7) Breathless- The Corrs- Breathless lipgloss
8) Superstition- Stevie Wonder- Superstition eye shadow
9) It's Not Fair- Lily Allen- this was the stumper- in the spirit of fairness I'm also accepting Tiger Lily eye shadow- which a few people guessed, and counting it as a correct answer if you guessed it as the stumper.
10) Bad to the Bone- George Thorogood- Bone eye shadow
11) I've Got a Crush on You- The Jetts- Crush, Cherry Crush, or Berry Crush
12) Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd- blush (they all sound alike don't they??)
13) Satisfied- Richard Marx- Satisfied blush

I did add a two song margin of error because well...the point is to have fun and give away makeup.

Congratulations goes to:
Helena S. Scotland
Tracey S. UK
Megan F. BC
Samantha E. PA
Andrea D. CA
Paula H. FL
Caroline P. OH
Lisa R. CA
Jaquie S. Canada
Sarah W. MN
Zeebs- MN
Karmen C. IA
Christy A. TX

Congratulations to the winners!  Check your emails in the morning for your coupon code.

so here’s what I got as some of my birthday prezzies…

from my darling hubby…

 

we found this at a shop at Parkway Parade. Looks like your normal choker but there’s a difference. Its magnectic beads… so you can come up with your own patterns for usage. Thing is that they do tend to stick to each other so it can get pretty messy.

Here’s a simple necklace I came up with and…

a cool bracelet.

He also found this while looking around at Guardian…

I’ve been looking for a nice shady sunhat for quite a while now. Need to hide my skin from the hot noon day sun as I bike around sending/picking kids.

 

Needless to say, I bought it in purple… I’ve tried it and it does a fabulous job of shading. No sunrays are able to get at my face. YAY!

what I especially like about this is that it rolls up easily into this…

which is small enough to go into my handbag or pocket. See the black elastic band that holds everything together? Japanese really know how to make things usable but oh so convenient.

Plus this is machine washable and according to the japlish description, protects against UV. So all in.. it was a lovely prezzie that has been used regularly.

Then from one of the sweetest gals I know… who spoils me silly… came this…

The flowers were buds when I got them and this is three days later… beautiful beautiful purple and white blossoms. I’ve no idea what the name of the flowers are and if you do recognise them, please let me know. I love them to pieces.

The red rose (still in its protective wrap) was from my hubby yesterday… he’s a sweetheart of a guy!

On top of the flowers, she gave me…

   

from Crabtree and Evelyn…. my favourite color and my one of my favourite scents.

Can’t wait to use the shower/bath gel in my bathtub. LOL! the hand therapy cream is already on my hands… *giggle*

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side note : I’m discovering that extracting the memory card from my SE901 phone is… to put it mildly… a PITA!!!!!!! will try to get used to it so I do get some blog posts out but do excuse me if it gets more text heavy at some point.

til next time.. have a lovely purple day…. *big grin*

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

 

This is done especially for Ann… who is currently filling up my order with more ‘wants’. LOL!

The swatches are done w a ‘heavy’ finger tip.. too lazy to go get my brushes… and the photos really don’t do justice to how pretty and subtle these glows are.

on the right is SN splendid perfecting glow.

Splendid is our clone of Bare Escentual's Flawless Radience All Over Face Color.  It's a creamy white tone with just a hint of golden pearl.  It gives the most gorgeous flawless, luminous, dewy finish.  There is some glow to it, but on this one it's really not over the top- just dust a little on your cheeks, chin and forehead for a youthful dewy look.

my description – erm… it looks silvery whitish to me but just a nice silvery glow when brushed lightly on… particularly good for the inner corners of the eyes :)

on the left is SN crystal perfecting glow.

Pefecting Glows are a cross between our regular Perfecting Powder and a Glow- they're very closely related to Bare Escentual's Radiance powders and give your skin a nice healthy look.  There is a good amount of silica in it which is going to help control oil, and hide pores.  Crystal is our clone to BE's Clear Radiance- BUT without the chunks of gold glitter.  It does have a slightly irridescent golden pink sheen, and looks gorgeous on light skin tones.  You could use this all over your face, or just to highlight- it applies easily with just a regular kabuki brush.

my description – more of a pinkish glow. love layering this on top of blushes or as a light brow highlight.

Personally I like both… very subtle ‘glow’ when applied with a big face brush… love using them as a brow highlight as well especially when I’m doing more everyday/neutral looks. Also adds a little something special if layered on top of blush/eye shadow.

 

Hi!  It's been a while since I've blogged...things are a bit crazy here, as usual, but even more so because we're getting ready to release the holiday collection, and I had a stupid cold for like 2 weeks.  But all is well!  We're plugging away on all of the new stuff- and it's going to be a lot of fun!  I have no idea when they'll be on the site- I'm aiming for late this week, but really, I have no earthly clue.

It's kind of becoming a tradition to have a little contest before we release the a new collection.  We're back to "Name that Tune" SN style- this is the (mostly) 70's, 80's, and 90's edition.

There are a total of 13 songs- one of them doesn't belong- it's a stumper- the rest all have the names of SN products in their titles.  They're all current products, on our site right now, oh, and one of the 13 is a TV theme song.  So you're looking for a total of 12 songs that relate to SN products.  These "name that tune" contests are NOT easy...we'll probably add a margin of error- so take a stab at it, and do your best. 

EDIT- I didn't count right when I originally posted...the numbers above are now correct.  I'm sorry for driving you all a bit crazier!

EDIT again- I forgot that I'm a complete music dork...I know odd, and obscure lyrics from a lot of songs- coming from a family of musicians kind of does that to a girl.  One hint- the third from the last song was on the US pop charts the last time the NY Mets won a World Series.

Send the names of the products, along with your name, and city and state or country (so we can identify the winners) to sncontests@gmail.com  The winner(s) get a $5 gift certificate!  All entries must be received by 11:59 pm- eastern standard time, Friday November 20, 2009, and we'll announce them on this blog shortly after that.

Good Luck!