Julep June Friends and Family surprise box swatches and review

Hello darlings!

So I have finally received my Julep Friends and Family Surprise box for the month of June. I have never ordered any of the surprise boxes so I thought I'll give it a try. I ordered Surprise box #2 (the one with the baby blue question mark).

In my box were 3 nail polishes, top to bottom: Bunny, Annie, and Jodie.

Personally I was really disappointed when I saw Bunny, as I have receieved it before in my monthly boxes, not once but twice. Now that would have been great if it was a color I constantly use and like, but I have never used it yet, I'd use it if I was to do a French manicure, but I have a baby and don't want to have long nails, so a French mani is not an option for me for the next 3 years at least.

Also this color appears to have gold shimmer in the bottle, however when I swatched it there was no visible shimmer at all, just plain white.



Annie is a very interesting blue color, I love that it isn't as bright and flashy as it looks, it's kind of a muted sea blue.

The last color is Jodie, a beautiful burgundy color with orange shimmer. I have never seen anything similar to this before, it is a very unique color and is my favorite one from this box.

 

 

Overall I am pretty happy with this box, as it was a great value, it only cost $10 and I received 3 nail polishes valued at $20. Just slightly disappointed I got Bunny, but that's the fun part about the mystery box, it's a complete surprise!

 

 

xoxo,
Em.

 

Bath and Body Works 2014 semi annual sale haul - Part 1

Hello all!

Today is the frist day of the semi annual sale at bath and body works stores, the online sale started online about a week ago and I just got home from the mall with my first purchase:

 

I decided to do more than one haul during this sale, so today I grabbed all the items that I wanted the most, as I know they are very popular and will go super fast.

This Paris Amour bubble bath was 70% off and ended costing $3.75, so I grabbed three!

(3 is my lucky number, it seems like I unintentionally got 3 of almost everything!) 

(pink petal tea cake, carribean escape, pink petals)

These candles were $12.50 each, which is kind of a good deal but isn't a must, as they often have the 2 for $25 deal quite often which is the same deal as the $12.50 each but I really like these scents and I am pretty sure they won't be around all year long.

(Twilight Woods, Aloha Waikiki, Frosted Cupcake, Paris Amour)

These wallflower refills were $3.50, which isn't part of the semi-annual sale as they were the same price before, but I needed to add something to use a $10 off coupon.

They do have a 6 for $25 sale on wallflower refills, and I had some in my bag but when I got to the register I ended up with a mix of the 3.50 and the 6 for 25 ones, baby was getting upset and wanted to go so I just ended up grabbing these. My store was kinds short on wallflowers and I could see they haven't gotten shipments in a while as many of the best scents were sold out, so I don't feel so bad about not getting the deal, hopefully they will get a shipment for part 2 of my haul :)

 

 

(Dark Kiss bodywash x3, Dark Kiss body lotion x3)

All classic signature collection products are $4 each

This is such a beautiful scent for fall-winter, it smells very sexy, feminine yet musky. I am absolutely in love with it and will probably be back for more. Crossing fingers in hopes my store will still have them as they didn't have many of these today.

 

 

(Exotic Coconut bodywash x3, Exotic Coconut body lotion x3)

All classic signature collection products are $4 each

I'm all about coconut this summer, sadly my store is all out of the Oahu coconut sunset collection products, but luckily I managed to get the body mist and body lotion before they ran out, but the new collection isn't on sale anyway and Oahu is now a permanent scent so I will wait until they restock.

The Exotic Coconut actually smells more cocnut-y then Oahu so I stocked up on these, hopefully it will last me for the rest of our short Alberta summer.

 

 

Soapy soaps!

Select sopes are 10 for $25

I couldn't help but stock up! I looooove the macaron and the coconut soaps (did I mention I like coconut?) Me and hubby seem to go through these so quickly. I will probably go back for 10 more on my next haul.

 

 

A great tip for shopping the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale: If you have the $10 off $40 purchase coupons, whether its actual paper ones, on your phone, or printed. Ask your cashier to do split transactions every $40 so that you can save more money by using your coupons more than once. The people in line behind you might get a little upset, but they can wait, it's not like they will walk away from making their purchase as this sale is too good to walk away from. Also remember to do your math as you shop, maybe get multiple bags and put $40 worth of products in each bag to make it easier for the cashier and speed up the process. Also a good tip is to check out other stores, as every store has different things.

 

And a reminder: Tomorrow starts the in store Victoria's Secret semi annual sale, so be sure to check it out as the prices are going to be insane, and things will be going fast!

 

 

 

Happy shopping!

Em ❤ 

Mommy rant: Parenting Advice

I know many new moms can relate to this and I think I should address this publicly.

Here's why we don't like when people try to tell us how to raise our children (especially people we don't even know or know briefly, who do you think you are?!)

Parenting nowdays is so different from what it was 5-10-20-30 years ago, and now we know things that weren't known back then when it comes to things like nutrition, vaccinations, childcare, and so on. Don't underestimate our intelligence, respect the decisions we make.

 

The fact we are first time parents doesn't mean we are clueless. We know what we are doing, we spend many hours learning and researching. If I want my daughter to be vegan, she will be vegan unless she chooses not to be. If I don't want her to attend the stampede or other activities involving animal abuse, she won't go unless she decides otherwise.

 

Don't say we are bad mothers because you disagree with our way of parenting. I am the mom, I decide on my child, whether someone likes it or not.

 

Focus on your own life instead of judging and criticizing others, have a positive outlook instead of looking for the negative in people and you'll see how much happier you'll be. One of the many things I have learned from parenting is to not judge other mothers (unless they don't care of their children at all/are totally incompetent, then they shouldn't have had children in the first place).

 

That is all