Confessions from a samples addict - Part I

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:48:57 PST

Besides purses, I have another secret love. This one isn't as evident, and admittedly I'm kinda shy to confess this but I really have a thing for beauty samples. I don't know why, but there is something about the cute miniature bottles of skin care products that makes me go gaga over the regular, normal sized products. Now, I actually do use the samples and they are great for travel but at any given time, I have over 30 samples in my drawer.

So today, part I of my beauty samples confession will consist of my facial cleansing products.

Dermalogica samples (I use the cleansing gel and when I went to pick up a new bottle, picked up a bunch of new samples with it. This included a Anti-Bac Skin Wash, Medicated Clearing Gel, Skin Prep, Scrub, and Dermal Clay Cleanser. Apparently these are good cleansing products for those with acne prone skin. I'll let you know how this turns out.
Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser - this was a product that I picked up while I was staying in the Doubletree hotel. Am going to use when I travel
Neutrogena Daily Scrub - freebie sent in the mail. I use their sunblock, especially the new Helioplex line because it doesn't cause breakouts and leave my face shine-free.
Phytomer Oligopur Cleansing Gel and Toning Gel - this brand is gentle and hasn't caused any acne breakouts yet.
Mario Badescu Cleansing Gel. This has a light almost cucumber scent. There is a spa in NY that I want to go to. In the meantime, I'll settle for visits to Nordies to purchase their lineup
MD Formulations - new sample from Sephora. have heard of the line, but never tried it before
St Ives - another freebie. Got this in the mail and it has been a great product for exfoliating my skin
Olay Clarity Scrub - another decent product for exfoliation
Biore Foaming face wash - haven't tried yet.

Drowning in shoes

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:00:14 PST

I am a monster.

I don't know how it happened. It seemly merely yesterday that I was an average carefree youth content with her 5 pairs of shoes, which spanned the necessities of a temperate climate: 1 for the spring-fall school season, 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of running around shoes, one pair of extras, because I liked living in luxury like that.

Skip forward 10-15 years and what do you get? A shoe monster, that's what. With 67 pairs of shoes in her overflowing closet. That's right: 67. The inventory was made out of necessity, since I had started to lose track of what I had and what I needed. (What I needed--ha! Like everyone needs a pair of green and purple floral print skimmers with perforated dark green leather trim and tassels and a pointy toe. A must have indeed!). But really, when I bought these shoes I imagined all sorts of occasions they would be appropriate for. Except for the aforementioned skimmers. They were just pretty and bright and cheerful and easy on the eyes and 80% off.

But really, where does one stop? How many shoes is enough? (Apparently, the sky's the limit in my case. Why stop at one pair of orange flats, when these beautiful Marc Jacobs are clearly one of a kind?)

So, how many shoes do you have in your closet? What are you 'bare necessities'?

PS: In case you wonder, here's an inventory of mine, arranged alphabetically by brand:

Brands No. of Pairs Description

1803 1 brown suede slides

Aerosoles 2 lime green wedge slides

metallic silver and purple sneakers

Anne Klein 1 midnight blue career pumps

Aquatalia 2 croc-print aqua slides

white patent boots

Arche 1 ruby nubuck flats

Born 3 green nubuck oxfords

black knee-high faux-lace-up boots

brown and tan Mary Jane

Blay 1 distressed metallic blue+silver floral T-strap flat

Bruno Magli 1 black two-tone low wedges

Casadei 3 bow black floral velvet loafers

burgundy kitten heel tweed pumps

white and red patent kitten heel slides

Claudia Ciuti 1 studded brown suede wedge boots

C. Louboutin 1 purple suede flats

Coach 2 black patent buckle loafers

black suede ankle boots

Cole Haan 2 orange metallic and velvet loafers

blue and silver metallic and mesh skimmers

Delman 1 kiwi green suede and patent ballerinas

Donald Pliner 3 black mesh slides

lime green suede loafers

animal print pony hair ‘Ursula’ loafers

Dries van Noten 1 grey/blue distressed leather Mary Jane high heels

Espace 5 blue nubuck sandals

white and bronze slides

red leather mary-janes

red suede wedge sandals

teal patent boots

Franco Sarto 1 green thongs

Etro 1 green floral velvet skimmers

Ferragamo 1 brown croc-print patent flats

Gabor 1 perforated pink suede Mary Jane

Geox 1 tan mules

Goffredo Fantini 1 Materia Prima red bandana denim wedges

Hegos 1 red and white dotted suede flats

Hollywould 1 coral flats with white leather trim and tassels

Icon 2 ‘Illumination’ flats

‘ Carcel Street’ sneakers

Kate Spade 1 black and rainbow stripes Mary Jane mules

Kenneth Cole 2 orange flats with black flower print

‘Coconut grove’ bronze thong

Kowalski 1 distressed leather vintage print sneakers

La Canadienne 1 knee-high black boots

Marc Jacobs 2 purple suede tall wedge boots

orange velvet flats with burgundy patent toe

Mephisto 1 red ‘Gail’ Mary Jane

Merell 1 brown slip-ons

MiuMiu 1 brown (tobacco) embellished suede flats

Nike 1 light blue sneakers

Paul Green 1 tan slide

Pearl Izumi 1 turquoise sneakers

Roger Vivier 1 mauve D’Orsay suede flats

Robert Clergerie 4 green beaded slides

gold studded suede slides

wine high heel loafers

black suede pumps

Sperry Top-Sider 2 blue nubuck slides

green nubuck loafers

Taryn Rose 4 brown ankle boots

burgundy patent mules

black T-strap high heel pumps

pink wedge loafers

Timberland 1 tan boots

??? 1 black rubber boots

StylePad Confessions Group

Confessions from a samples addict - Part I

Drowning in shoes