Another noteable item that has been on my wishlist for almost 2 years is the Must haves 2005 set. It comes with 4 eye shadows, 2 lip shines, and a mini mascara for only $8.75.

Guinevere’s deluxe palette is a nice all-in-one set that even includes a mini brush. The apricot lip color included is a winner and I hardly ever use the lip colors included in the all-in-one sets $11.90.

Finally, if you are already into Stila like I am the empty 8 pan is a great deal for $15 (includes a mini brush) and is being discontinued.

There are many other great items available too such as smudge pots (takes some practice when using), the cool LE Wicked set, copper glow trio, and more so check it out!

Stila is one of my favorite cosmetic brands for the soft blendable eye shadows, gorgeous (and amazing smelling) lip glazes, and also very nice convertable color eye pencils (eyeshadow w/ applicator on one side and eyeliner on the other side). If you have never tried Stila before now is the time, these are drugstore prices for quality cosmetics. Free shipping with $75 purchase use code 75PLUS, checkout was easy, web design was decent, and there are rumors that they are throwing in a Stila raspberry lip glaze with every order. Enjoy!

Bliss Naked Body Butter (naked because it is fragrance-free) retails at $35/8.5 oz. This body butter is seriously moisturizing, sinks in well, and leaves you with a nice silky texture. The other thing I have been impressed with is that I still feel moisturized at the end of the day (very rare) without reapplication. I have been using a 1.7 oz. size that I received from Sephora beauty insiders (every time you spend enough to equal $100 you get to choose a deluxe sample) and also get exclusive & early access to new products.

I really love this body butter and for 1/2 the price would stock up and use it often. Right now I have just used it to layer perfumes that I don’t have the matching lotion/body cream to go with.

Overall, a great quality, non-gimmicky, simple product. I haven’t found any substitution that compares very close to this products so if the price doesn’t matter to you, this is a great purchase.

This week I tried a John Masters Organics Blood Orange & Vanilla Body Milk sample that I received with my most recent beauty.com purchase. I like Orange and I love vanilla so I thought this sounded wonderful. Essential Oils, certified organic, no artificial color, cruelty free, bio-degradable. Reasonably priced $18/8 oz. and comes with a pump. Sounds like my kind of product.

Here is the blurb from beauty.com

“At John Masters Organics, we are committed to using the finest, most therapeutic organic ingredients on the planet.

My Blood Orange & Vanilla Body Milk is a luxurious lotion that replenishes your skin with a quickly absorbing, delicate blend of milk thistle, aloe vera and sea algae.

Essential oils of pink grapefruit, bourbon vanilla & blood orange create a euphoric scent.”

I was very disappointed in the scent. The orange was too sharp and had an odd bitter note to it. The vanilla didn’t soften this out like it should have. Obviously not blended by master perfumers. It had a decent texture and seemed moisturizing enough. The dry-down was a little less sharp, but I still don’t like it much. This quickly came off my potential to buy list.

I think the Superdelegates should vote for what the people of Utah want. It’s pretty clear that we want Obama. The election results show Obama’s 55.6% to Clinton’s 39.2% Let’s make our voices loud and clear while there is still a chance to be heard. Change is now.

Here is a list of the Superdelegates in Utah:

Bill Orton: committed to Obama

Former State Senator Karen Hale: committed to Hillary Clinton (on her statewide steering committee)

National Committeewoman Helen Langan: committed to Hillary Clinton (on her statewide steering committee)

State Party Chair Wayne Holland: uncommitted

Wayne Holland, Jr.

455 South 300 East Ste 301
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

wholland@utdemocrats.org

House of Representatives Jim Matheson: uncommitted

1323 Longworth HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Fax – (202) 225-5638

https://forms.house.gov/matheson/contact_sec.shtml

If you aren’t quite sure what to say, here is a sample letter taken from http://weneedobama.blogspot.com

Dear Mr./Mrs. [X],

I am deeply interested in the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. I believe we have reached a turning point in our history and deeply feel that we need a truly transformational candidate that can bridge the partisan divides of the recent past.

In my humble opinion, I believe the best candidate for the job is Barack Obama. I hope you will consider joining me and my fellow Utah voters in supporting this truly capable, experienced and inspirational candidate and endorse his candidacy in your capacity as a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Yours Truly,

[NAME], [CITY], [STATE]

Many of us waited for hours to vote, take a few moments to write a letter or even an email and have an even bigger impact.

Right now Clinton has 224 Superdelegates pledged to Obama’s 132.

Utah Democratic Party Website

1. Urban Decay Primer Potion

This innovative product acts as a base for your eyeshadow. Use this and your eyeshadow won’t budge for hours. It also makes any shadow more vibrant. This is a must have for anyone, especially to get the most out of inexpensive shadows. A tube lasts a good 6+ months of daily use. When you feel like it is gone grab some plier and pull out the white stopper part at the top. It’ll give you another good 3 months! $15 sephora.com

2. Urban Decay eyeshadow in the color Sin

The best neutral ever. Slightly shimmery but not ever frosty. The texture is amazing and is very blendable with any other color. This is a serious must have not just for makeup junkies like myself. $16 sephora.com

3. Stella McCartney Soft Body Milk

The texture on this is pretty runny which I love because it makes it easy to use when you are in a hurry. It sinks in to skin very easily. The scent is very true to the perfume with notes of Bulgarian rose, peony flower, mandarin, rose absolute, and amber. $36 nordstrom.com

4. Tweezerman Slant Tweezers

I know. Spending this much on tweezers makes most of you roll your eyes, but it is seriously worth it. These are precise sharp and so easy to use. It makes it easy to pluck fine hairs that you can never get ahold of with drugstore tweezers. Plus you can send them in for free sharpening. Really, I have done it. My favorite color is pretty in pink. $20 nordstrom.com

5. Tony and Tina Brush Set (discontinued)

This is getting increasingly hard to get as the brand Tony & Tina has been out of production for a few years now. The brushes in this set are the best quality synthetic I have ever seen. The set comes with 5 bushes. The only one I don’t really use is the lip brush. The powder brush is big, soft, and holds up well with everyday use and regular washing. The two eye brushes pick up just the right amount of shadow and offer a good degree of control, and the angle brush is also very easy to use. Retailed at ~$75. If you ever get the chance to pick one of these up on eBay, I highly recommend it.

6. Lush limited edition perfume in Bathos

Notes are Violet, Jasmine, Rose, and cloves. This is a little spicy and a little sweet. I can’t get enough of it. It was made exclusively for an online chat party and was only available for 2 days as a pre-order. Retailed for $45.

7. Bath & Body Works Signature Collection High Lather Scrub in Japanese Cherry Blossom

I picked this one up at the semi-annual sale for only $5. I was pleasantly surprised at the great lather + good scrubbing action of this. It doesn’t leave me oily and is scrubby, but not too much so it can be used often. Also, it seems the Japanese Cherry Blossom scent is mellowed very nicely in this scrub. The packaging is beautiful (metallic looking) and actually functional…hooray for Bath & Body Works R&D team, usually it is either function OR beautiful. It leaves you lightly scented as well. $14 bbw.com

8. LUSH Snowcake Soap (seasonal)

For those of us who enjoy the gourmand scents this one is the very best. Only available at Christmas time, this soap smells like the yummiest warm marzipan almonds, with a tiny bit of rose to keep from being purely foody. This has a thick creamy lather more like a body wash. Best soap ever. $6.95 Lush.com

9. Guerlain Terracotta Blush & Sun

I’ll admit, the cute packaging got me on this one, but the product is what kept me using it. This adds the perfect glowing highlights to skin. It just works for me. Although the adorable little brush is seriously useless. $38 sephora.com

10. Henri Bendel Candles in various scents

I love these candles. They are highly scented, clean burning, and scented by master perfumers. They are full bodied scents that aren’t even on the same scale as most candles I have tried. I particularly love the scents Fig, Amber, and Vanilla Bean. $26 bbw.com & Bath & Body Works Stores.

Now, on to the questions:

What are your favorite meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert)?

My favorite breakfast foods are pretty traditional. I love how my Dad makes German pancakes, tasty, fluffy, and usually nice and airy. Only requirement is real butter, not margarine. It just tastes better. Mine seem to always fall flat no matter how little or how much I beat it. No matter what pan I cook it in. No matter the care I take to NOT open the oven while it is cooking. Mine are still good, but not the same. With this I would have the delicious eggs that Ryan makes. Over medium well, 1 packet del taco hot sauce cooked in the egg and light cheese on top. No we don’t live in a trailer park. It really is tasty. Ryan finally told me his “secret ingredient”. With that some hot sausage patties and fresh sqeezed orange juice to drink. I never said it was healthy!

My favorite lunch would probably be the Chicken Green Chile Salad at Bajio. I love the sweetness of the green chile sauce and the hot tortilla on the side. Plus the mango salsa is to die for.

I never really had a favorite dinner where I have the same thing every year for my birthday. It is always evolving depending on my mood. I would probably have to say that at the moment it is a big bowl of fresh chunky guacamole, fresh mild/medium salsa, and some good salty chips. Yum!

Finally, my favorite dessert. I love a good piece of cheesecake. It can’t be the no bake kind. It has to have a nice thick graham cracker crust on the bottom and all the way up the side. Not fussy, maybe vanilla bean cheesecake, very creamy. Sometimes with berries, sometimes without. I am picky on my cheescake.

If you could only choose one book, one movie, and one cd for the rest of your life what would they be? And why? What do they mean to you?

I’ve been thinking about this question all day. I think the book I would have to choose is the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I know, a weird choice. It is really long and if I could only have one book for the rest of forever I would want to be able to spread it out and also just read parts I love many times, but have the option of reading the whole book again. I actually did read this book once. I haven’t read it since but toy with the idea of reading it again often. It has historical significance, romanticism, despair, love, mercy, forgiveness, heartbreak, justice, fear, bravery, disgrace, sadness, revenge, and every else you can imagine. It is also paced so that you really feel all of the emotions fully with Monte Cristo . It’s an intricate story that will keep you reading, wondering and revisiting small details overlooked the first time through. If you have a month (or the rest of your life) to get through the 1488 pages I highly recommend it.

I would have to pick About a Boy for the movie. I love this movie. It would balance the book nicely for a little pick me up. Hilarious and just entertaining. Funny, I didn’t realize until just now looking it up on Amazon that it is based on Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel. One of Matt’s favorites. Anyway, must watch movie.

The cd was an easy one. I never tire of U2’s Joshua Tree. Great music. Great lyrics. I’ve loved this since I was 15. Not much more to say about that.

If you could do anything for a living without concern for how much it paid or current talent level, what would you do?

I would be a buyer for Nordstrom. I would love to travel and find the next great thing.

What is the next item you plan to purchase?

I just purchased Annie’s Homegrown family size shells & white cheddar Mac & Cheese pack of 6 boxes from Amazon.  It looks good.

What is on your wishlist right now?

I would love to get Lush Dream Cream (body moisturizer), and Lancome’s Mille et Une Roses perfume.

Feel free to answer any of these questions on your blog or website and drop me I line so I can check out your answers!

Filler Items:

Here is a cool website called www.filleritem.com where you can type in the amount you need to get free shipping and it will bring up a list of links to everything with that price or a very close price. Personally I usually just leave it at the default to bring up everything under a $1 to $2.50. As a side note, this website could get some serious traffic if it had a search feature where you could enter any website to scan for fillers…..who knows how many countless hours I’ve spent on beauty sites that don’t allow you to search by price for the cheapest pencil sharpener to get free shipping. Also would be awesome if you could search within a website for a specific brand name lowest to highest…..anyway enough of my rambling….back to Amazon. If the info in this paragraph doesn’t stay up long I am starting on a new business venture

Price Guarantee

Amazon’s pricing is crazy. Something that seems like it may be the deal of a lifetime could still go down a couple of dollars, as well as double in price by the next day. They must have some crazy software that tracks sales and increases/decreases prices with real-time inventory. Case in point, I was looking to possibly pick up this Wild Planet Hyper Dash game for Christmas. It was in the $20.xx range when I first saw it. Apparently it was getting really popular and was $99.99 yesterday! Now it’s back down to $14.99 (but offered from target.com not Amazon). Both other times this was offered by Amazon, not a third party seller. This has happened with so many things I can’t even list them all. Most things I ordered for Christmas have at least doubled in price. Crazy I tell ya! So here is what to do.

1-Go to Your Account (top right link right by help).

2-Click on items you ordered and it will pull up the current price of the item. If it is less than you paid write down the item and order number.

3-Go to this link to request a price guarantee (up to 30 days from purchase date).

find the items that you previously looked up that have dropped in price. Check the box next to the first item and then press the email button on the right side. Next you will be able to add all of the additional items that you are contacting Amazon about. Make sure to write the item’s new lower price in the email and send your email.

Lightning Deals Preview

Get a heads up on the Amazon lightning deals at this website, updated daily. If you have never taken part in the Amazon lightning deals check it out. The good stuff gets snapped up in minutes for unheard of prices.

Subscribe & Save Promo

Amazon is running a promo where if you subscribe to have 3 different eligible grocery items delivered you will get a $30 Amazon gift certificate for a future Amazon purchase. They have some great prices on grocery items that can be delivered straight to your home. If you aren’t all that interested in that (even with free shipping on any and 15% off) then just make the delivery for 6 months out, there are no restrictions on this promo as far as I know and you can cancel after getting your gift certificate. Click here for eligible items and you can browse by category or price (change in drop down box at right to sort by price). Here is a deal picked out especially for mom & dad. 4-8oz. pkgs Brown Sugar Splenda, 6-5.35 oz. jars Coleman’s Original English Prepared Mustard, & 2-9.7 oz. pkgs Splenda. After Amazon rebate & 15% off subscibe & save better than free shipped to your door!

Make sure when you add the item you want to not click “add to cart”, but look lower change button to deliver every six months (or however often you want it) and push subscribe now.

To cancel is easy, go to my account, scroll down and click manage my subsribe & save to skip a shipment, send next shipment now, or cancel. But make sure you at least wait for your $30 first!

My personal favorite is this delicious McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, a steal at this price. Takes a little effort to prepare, but so worth it!

Making it Fool Proof

www.amzon.com redirects you to www.amazon.com, smart, think how much money they will lose with you taking that 5 seconds to figure it out yourself….wait I guess it could be a lot…..when you consider the speed of my parents’ connection.

Things just feel different. That knot in your stomach you have when you just want to go home and relax in your own room, your own bed, with your own things around you. I still have the room, the bed, and the things but can’t seem to shake that knot when I go home at night. Maybe it’s the getting ready in the morning and not having things where they “should be”, maybe it’s not yet taking a bath to relax (because I am weird about things for a while and can’t get over the fact yet that someone else was using that shower…ick…even though it has been thoroughly cleaned), maybe it’s the one level instead of split level, it seems like it is a multitude of things that all add up to a homesick heart. Silly, I know.

I miss going to the places I would always go. It’s basically changing my whole life. No Kneaders….where do I get to satisfy my craving for a great key lime tart? No Williams Sonoma 5 minutes from our house located very conveniently right next to two of my other favorite places; Bath & Body Works, and Bajio. It’s the not knowing just the right place to go to get so& so a birthday present, that perfect thing to eat, the ingredient I am missing, or a great place to browse for ideas.

I miss going to lunch with my Grandma and mom. I miss being able to pop over to my mom’s house whenever I needed someone. I grew up close to where I was living and sometimes saw old friends, went shopping and dining in the same areas, and just knew my way around. Now I am trying to figure out what places are around here. I also don’t know anyone. I’m not a student, and the only people that I talk to in my line of work are people who don’t really want to talk to me much. Basically, I’m lonely.

You can buy it here at sephora for $20.

Maybe I should buy the new limited edition spiced rum…then I could really say it is intoxicating!

If they don’t have what you want, you can call the sephora hotline.  Call us at 1-877-SEPHORA or (1-877-737-4672).  I ordered from the King of Prussia store (PA) and they seemed to have a good selection left still!  They are getting slammed though and won’t be taking orders for the next couple of hours.

The rumor is Becca was unhappy with their contract with sephora and is now pulling out, but will still continue to be sold at places like Neiman Marcus.