Today I received my Musq mineral makeup samplers. The price was $12 and postage was free. When they arrived I was surprised how small the samples were. Each colour testing sachet appears to have enough mineral makeup to cover my nose - maybe. But according to the enclosed leaflet, the mineral makeup is concentrated and each bag is said to hold enough for 2 light applications for the entire face. I will test most of the colours, except perhaps "Waikiki". My colour is possibly somewhere between "Sorrento" and "Maldives" but "Rajasthan" and "Amazon" are not out of the question.

One of the biggest challenges I have found when choosing makeup is that I have yellow undertones in my skin and most, if not practically all makeup appears to be made for people with pink undertones. It will be interesting to find out if this is the solution for me. I may not recognise myself after this test!!

Tips:

* Ensure that moisturiser is fully absorbed and dry before applying mineral makeup so as not to create a patchy effect

* Apply with a "kabuki brush" in order to achieve coverage of large areas

TIP: Do not necessarily buy the first expensive brush you find. Prices ranged from around $60 (?!?! sixty dollars for a makeup brush?!?!) down to $5-$10, which is the range I have settled in. I have read a range of reviews on these more expensive "mineral makeup brand name" brushes and the reviews are disappointing. I will try the cheap brush, if it packs up I will have lost $10 rather than $60, as some shoppers have complained to have lost with overpriced brushes that reportedly shed "like a cat".

* Do not apply too thickly or the colour will appear distorted

* Apply very thinly at first, then add a little extra over imperfections.


I have been researching mineral makeup ingredients on various websites and according to the information I have ascertained, Musq seems to have the best ingredients.

Mineral Makeup Ingredients to Avoid:

Talc - may clog pores

FD&C and DC colours - possible irritants

bismuth oxychloride - creates heaviness / caked look and tends to "slide off" after hours of wear and is a possible irritant







Now I'm just waiting for my "KABUKI Brush Goat Makeup Beauty Tool". Sounds exciting, yes? I presume this Ebay description means that it is made from goat hair, not a makeup brush specifically for use on goats. Not that goats don't need pampering just like everyone else.

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Buy leading cosmetics brands at reduced prices. Free shipping anywhere in the world.

If I can do this, so can you.

It works like this - you submit your article to Digg, choose a category, etc.

When the submission has been successful, switch to the front page of Digg and click "upcoming".

Press Alt+PrtScn

You have just captured yourself on the front page of Digg.

For example, here is my front page Digg story - "Chinglish Delivery" - it made it to the front page around 4pm today.


How long did my article stay there?

About 10.5 seconds.



P.S. Please Digg me for being a smartarse.

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I thought I'd mention my top 10 Entrecard Droppers here and give them a little linky love xox

Dropper # of drops Lapidary Queen Wannabees 28 cheapdanny 24 UnderHeavens! 19 Heart of Wisdom Homeschool 14 Lap Band Progress 13 MamaFlo's Place 10 Heart at Home Homeschool 10 IXELA 10 THE PAPER VISION 10 j o s h u a o n g y s 9

Thanks guys! I've received 69 drops today. I think I'm going cross-eyed from dropping Entrecards and leaving comments. I've discovered heaps of new blogs - some funny and some giving me some new savings ideas. Some just make me wonder (you know who you are).

I will list my top droppers from time to time to show all you lovely people how much I appreciate the droppings! I mean drops!

:-)

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I have been desperately searching for cherry tomatoes for a salad I am making. For some reason the tomato gods are against me this week - my first foray into cherry tomato picking at the local supermarket turned up blue molded, fuzzy, smelly, watery tomatoes. I understand that the US is going through a difficult time in terms of tomatoes - perhaps it's contagious!

Finally, after my efforts turned up nothing but mank, I decided to try the local greengrocer. Who better to guide me in the direction of crisp, ripe, fragrant tomatoes.

I reached the counter and there they were in front of me...cherry tomato heaven.



I looked up at the lady in the greengrocer for some kind of affirmation.

"Very good." She said. "Very fresh. Beautiful."

And they did look good under those fluorescent lights, all shiny and red.

When outside in the daylight, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Tiny hairs were growing from almost every pore of every tomato. (do tomatoes have pores?) Perhaps it's just lint, I thought. Then I took a closer look later on. It was definitely hair, not lint. I had just bought a bunch of hairy tomatoes. Perhaps they were ok, perhaps this stuff was external and would come off. So I opened the cling film wrapper.

Whiff!!!



If you know the smell of rotten tomatoes, you will know what I was smelling. No fresh tomato could smell like this. But still, I found myself vainly sniffing for a hint of freshness underneath the stink to no avail.

Rule #1 when buying tomatoes - Smell them. If they are covered with cling wrap, be suspicious, try and sniff them anyway. If you can't get in to smell them, move on. It is too easy to disguise stinky tomatoes under plastic.

Rule #2 - Check for hairs.

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Sometimes after one of those stressful weeks you just feel like relaxing in your very own bathroom. It's a retreat in which you can soak off the stresses of the day or rejuvenate yourself for a special night out. But there's only one problem. What if your bathroom sucks? I've seen my fair share of mouldy, ratty, leaky bathrooms and quite frankly they could have done with a little help from these guys.



Better Bathrooms has a range of Bathroom Suites for all kinds of bathrooms. The site features claw footed baths (my favourite!), spas/luxury baths, showers and bathroom furniture such as mirrors and basins, even bidets! They have a nationwide delivery service throughout the UK with 3-5 working days for standard delivery for stock items, 7-14 working days for out of stock items. Delivery charges are cheaper for combined orders and the delivery charge can vary between delivery destinations from mainland England to further afield. The delivery page explains in clear diagrams the process of ordering to the point of the item arriving on your doorstop. Better Bathrooms are open 9:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday in Wigan and Lancashire and you can purchase a 120-page full colour brochure from the website.

Many people have an idea of what they want their perfect bathroom to look like. Mine involves a freestanding bath, lots of storage space for towels and a large enclosed shower area. And lots of room for tealight candles! All that's needed now are the bath salts!


This post brought to you by BetterBathrooms