Boticca: An Essentialist’s Delight

I recently received a perk from Klout to celebrate the US launch of Boticca. Perhaps you’ve never heard of Boticca. I was not familiar with the site until I received the perk. From their website:

Boticca is the online boutique for unique jewelry and fashion accessories by top emerging designers from around the world.

Sounds good right? I used my $25 off gift code to purchase two pairs of earrings from two separate designers. But since I was shopping through Boticca, I was able to pay in just one transaction. My packages arrived separately, each with a handwritten note of thanks from the designer.

There’s no denying my purchases are cute. But what sets a Boticca item apart from a cute snag at Target?

The site’s tagline says it all:

I’d rather wear a unique story.

And that brings me to Paul Bloom and his TED talk: The origin of pleasure. NPR’s TED Radio Hour episode Our Buggy Brain featured Bloom’s talk.

 Psychologist Paul Bloom argues that human beings are essentialists — that our beliefs about the history of an object change how we experience it, not simply as an illusion, but as a deep feature of what pleasure (and pain) is.

I had to wait longer to receive my earrings from Boticca. And I paid more for my earrings from Boticca. In fact, blog gal pal Gingersister told me I could have made the pink earrings rather simply. I would argue that Bekki could probably make those earrings. Me? Not so much. That’s not the definition of “crafty” that applies to me. But I love them. Why?

Because buying earrings from Boticca made me feel special. Buying from Etsy has a similar affect. You know the designer. You correspond with them directly. You end up with a piece that is unique, not just for its form, but for its story. When someone asks you where you got your earrings you have something to tell them other than which big box store you shopped at.

It’s not a feature that will appeal to everyone. But it appeals to me.

(Not-So) Ugly Outfit Friday

Back in the days of yore, there was a blogging community called Vox. And the lovely Janie started the “Ugly Outfit Friday” meme. Now honestly, I don’t know if Janie started it, but she’s the one I first noticed doing it, so I’m giving her all the credit and I really don’t care to check my attribution. This is not the New York Times.

I’ve been a very bad blogger lately. There are lots of reasons for that. Maybe I’ll explain some of those reasons. Eventually. But not today. No, today all you are going to get from me is a photo montage of my outfit. I don’t think it’s ugly at all.

Dress: DKNY; Cardigan: Lane Bryant; Shoes: Old Navy; Watch: Charming Charlie; Sunglasses/Bag: Coach; Makeup: Urban Decay eye shadow in Snatch, Toasted; Urban Decay eyeliner in Rockstar; Buxom lip gloss in Bambi; Sephora by OPI nail colour in Access 24/7

Glamming it Up: My First Glam Bag!

For those of you who have known me a while, I never do anything once when I can go overboard and do it twice. So when I signed up for Birchbox, I signed up with MyGlam, too. No, I probably don’t need to subscribe to either of these services, but so far I kind of love them both. I’m certainly not ready to cancel either one yet!

Here we go – it’s the Glam Bag packaging! Woo!

Rather than a box, you get a cute little make-up bag. Nice!

There was a short note from MyGlam founder and my new bestie, Michelle Phan!

And of course, what we’re really all here for, the products!

My January Glam Bag included:

• Sheer Cover Duo Concealer: My skin totally cooperated and cooked up a horrible blemish for me to try out this product. I usually use a powder concealer, but this cream concealer had a nice texture to it. I applied it with a concealer brush and it gave good coverage. I liked that the concealer came with two tones for custom blending. I’ll admit that I went back over my problem areas with my usual powder concealer at the end. But I’ll definitely use this when I opt for tinted moisturizer over my usual powder routine.
• Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner: This is an odd product. I’m a diehard Head and Shoulders user due to dandruff (ugh!), so I don’t often mess around with new shampoos. But I did give this a try. Read my full review (with photos!) later in this post.
• Freeman Cucumber Facial Peel-Off Masque: Masks are the step in my beauty routine that I’m mostly likely to skip, but this was fairly simple and I was pleased with the results (see below). I’ll try this again. And it was nice getting the full-size of this product!
• theBalm Cosmetics Hot Ticket Nail Polish: I love theBalm, but have never tried their nail polish before. I was impressed with the color and quality. Check out my photos below!

We all know I can’t really paint my nails, so disregard the technique and focus on the glam color, okay? The polish gave great coverage and went on nice and smooth. I like it!

Here I am with Freeman’s Cucumber Facial Peel-Off Masque all over my face. Sexy!

Next time, I’ll apply a lighter layer. And I will try not to get so much goop in my eyebrows and hair. The masque has a nice tingling feel as it’s drying. But you really do have to give it a good tug to get it off…

Um… That’s gross.

Horrible camera quality (and my bathroom mirror really, really needs to be cleaned and no, I did not pick out that wallpaper), but I do think my skin looks soft and kind of glowy after the masque was removed. My pores seemed clean and tight afterward, too.

As I mentioned above, I’m pretty tied to my regular shampoo due to my problem scalp. You can see a “before” picture to the left. Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing Conditioner is supposed to take the place of both your shampoo and conditioner. It doesn’t really lather up, but you massage it in and then rinse it out. The package said you could also use a small amount as a leave-in conditioner. I’m often scared of using too much product and getting left with greasy hair, so I worked the teensiest, tiniest dab through my wet hair.

I’m prone to frizz and Wen definitely helped with that. I also think my hair is softer and shinier. It definitely, definitely made it easier to comb through my wet hair and I guess that’s a good thing. And I love the smell of almond and mint, so the scent was a big hit with me. You can see my “after” picture to the right. Again, I’m taking crappy self-portraits in bathroom mirrors, so you can’t really tell what my hair looks like. You’ll just have to take my word for it that I saw improvement!

Once again, $10 brought me a lot of joy. Can’t wait to see what MyGlam sends me in February!