Costco Shopping and Prices 11/05/14

Just a selection of goodies priced today- let me know with a comment if you want the price of anything pictured but not in the list. Some items I didn't know what to compare them to, others I have listed before.

Costco Shopping and Prices 27/4/14

So I have continued to shop at Costco even though I haven't been posting anything about it. I usually go now for smaller trips and park outside the building and just take my own shopping bags in. The experience is much easier and shorter when you don't have to get a car park or a trolley! But today I bought quite a few things, mostly things I don't think I have posted about before either, so I have done another price comparison between Costco, Aldi and Woolies. I get my Woolies prices online, so the savings in store wouldn't be as large I think. However you will see that on these products the difference is so large between Woolies and Costco that even the lower in store prices won't be better than Costco.  If you want more details or a review of any particular items please let me know with a comment, I'd be happy to let you know :)

Items I didn't mention in the table: Yum Cha at Home Steam Selection seafood dumplings (scallop, prawn and prawn+ginger) So much yum. This is $19.99 for 52 piecces. Frozen Blueberries 6.46 for 1kg, Ceasar Salad- The lettuce is ok, the bacon is ok....but the dressing is sooooooooooo good. This is a much better shopping treat than the jerky I usually by too, I think. In this picture you also can't see the skim milk box, that blue one is full cream. 

Pre-vacuuming

After Vacuuming- Enough to last a day or two fresh
and the rest sealed up to last until we need it. I
will need to keep track this time of how long it takes
us to use it up and how nice it stays.

So even though the spell check was on, I missed a couple of 'real' spelling errors. But I couldn't be bothered fixing it and getting a new screen shot. I am truly sorry for letting you down. But not really.

Essence Gel Nails at Home Review

I have exceeded my own expectations of laziness today, but it has resulted in me being able to review the new nail products I showed from last nights Priceline visit.
The products I was looking at were the gel top coat, the gel primer, the french tip stickers and a metallic polish for stamping.

Gel Top Coat
I think this cost around $4.60, but it isn't listed on the website.
On my tester nails I did one with the two coats of IBD gel white on the tip first, then used the Gelish Tafeta colour over it, followed by the Essence top coat. On the other nail I have 2 coats of Tafeta, then two coats of the IBD on the tip, follwed by the Gelish top coat.
The reason for the different processes was because I also wanted to see if it looked better with the colour on top or under the white, and how well the tip stickers worked over a coat of gel polish. Because these are just practice nails I didn't bother with base coat at all.  In the photos the nail with the bigger white tip has the Gelish top coat.

Overall I think the Essence gel is kind of a dud. It does work, but not nearly as well or as easily as the Gelish. You can see in the images that the Essence top coat give a cloudy effect to the nail and is a much more dull finished compared to the Gelish. It was also very thick and I found it was hard to spread over the nail without being a very thick layer. It is also has a slightly yellowish tint to it which I think is what made it seem a bit cloudy. If you want to try out gels, I don't think this is the way to do. I would really recommend bypassing the 'drug store' type ones and go straight for CND Shellac or Nail Harmony Gelish polishes and base/top coats. They are much easier to work with and will give you better results for your investment to start with. Then it is easy to experiment with other polishes in the middle as you get better at application. I have yet to find a cheaper brand that applies as much like regular polish as the Gelish or CND Shellac ones, and have not found other brand top coats to give as good of a shine.  

Gel Primer

This is the product that you use on your nails before applying the base coat. The aim is to dehydrate the nail and ensure there are no oils that might make your polish lift sooner. It cost $4.60, for comparison I think the mini Gelish ones like in the picture cost about $8 at Hairhouse.

Comparing the ingredients to the Gelish brand one, I found that the main ingredient was the same (a type of alcohol) but the rest seemed different, however they could have been different names for the same chemical for all I know about it. I'm not sure how much effect this will make on my nails, as I was only playing with practise nails today. 

On the back of my hand I found they felt the same and both evaporated quickly, with the Gelish seeming like it was a bit faster. The Essence one however smells really nice and the smell lingers on your skin for ages, which is nice because the Gelish one smells awful. I would really like it if the smell stayed on may hand after applying all the layers of polish, it would just make the process a bit nicer and fancier feeling! So far I would recommend this, I will update if suddenly my polishes stop working as well. 

French Tip Stickers

At $1.80 for 30 you can't go too far wrong with these. I tried them two ways. First stuck straight onto my practise nail and then stuck on over my base colour that had been cured and dry brushed to try and remove some of the sticky layer. 

Straight on, as it would be on a natural nail when using regular nail polish or over totally dry nail polish, this will work really well and give a great crisp even line for a french tip, or other effect depending on where you place it. 

One layer before cleaning up

Two layers, cleaned up

Over gel polish, like any tape produce, it doesn't work as well and slips around a bit. That said, I think it will make tipped looks much easier for me because using these I can mark the height better so it is even across my nails. Using this to apply the first coat, then cleaning up with a brush dipped in alcohol or non acetone remover before curing means I can get neat even tips, and the second coat of colour is easy to just carefully apply over the top. I am also able to apply thinner layers this way which should mean it lasts longer as thick application at the tips often leads to lifting. 

Metallic Polish

This polish I think was about $3, so it is a bargain either way!

For stamping I found it worked pretty well, not as well as my Ulta3 gold polish, but they aren't completely the same colour. It will still be very useful and great for a warmer toned but softer look when stamping gold. 

I stamped over my practise nail, but you couldn't see it well due to the colours so I ended up just stamping over some purple paper to compare the different polishes I have that are similar. I would say that this Essence polish is now my second best one, and still better than the expensive Konad Special Stamping polish that I got with my inital set. The stamp I used is from BundleMonster.

This was the best shot I could get of the Essence colour. It turned out really well. 

Compared to the others without flash, you can see the Ulta3 gold next to it is just a bit stronger and more opaque.

Compared to the others with flash. The Konad gold is very dissapointing. It does stamp well, as all the Konad colour will, but it isn't a rich metallic gold. It just kind of looks brown/ dirty yellow and has no shine or sparkle.

So there you go! 1 dud, 2 really good and one pretty useful. Not too bad and given the prices, I'm not annoyed that the top coat isn't great. It will be useful for smoothing out glitters I think, and for playing with pigments etc. when I don't want to contaminate my good top coat. 

I would love to do more nail posts and would really like ideas for nail art looks or products to try out, so feel free to comment and let me know what you think :)

(little) Priceline Haul

You know how it is, you go in for one specific thing and come out with lots of random stuff....

I originally went in for the Sanctuary cleansing oil, $19.99, (because Youtube told me cleansing oils are where it's at), but wandered past the Essence stand and saw they have a gel polish system, so I HAD to try tthe topcoat (I can't find this on their website, but I think it was $4.60).

They also had a nice looking metallic that I thought might be good for stamping, which is also not on the website, but I think it was around $3.

I wanted to give the french tip guides, $1.80, a go with my gels and pigments to see if I can get a nice look.

The last Essence product I got was the  gel primer, $4.60. I have used the Gelish primer since I got my first kit about 3 or 4 years ago, so clearly these things last a while. It's great to have found something so easily accessed as Priceline though! Hopefully I can do a review of these nail products, as gel systems can be very expensive and sometimes hard to get.

 The last thing I got was a Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm, $3.16 on special. I got the "Smoothing Cherry" flavour...but I really just picked it because I liked the colours.

Costco Shopping and Prices 15/02/14

A slightly larger haul than normal from Costco to stock up on meat to make freezer meals. Getting back into the swing of work has been hard as it is so busy with parent-teacher interviews, sports days, info nights etc. at school that we have been eating really poorly. I need to be more organised with nice food that requires little prep and doesn't make a lot of mess to clean up.

I forgot to compare the price for the big tub of ricotta, it was 5.59 at Costco for 1kg. Although I have bought a big tub like this from Woolworths before, I can't find it online. Their best price for ricotta is $8.99/kg. Aldi's best is $7.97/kg. 

If anyone can comment on the cost of the scallops that would be helpful. I really have no clue there. 

iHerb Order

Last weekend I made an iHerb order for the first time. I ordered some clay powder for face masks and some Ecotools eye shadow brushes, having heard good things about both! Hopefully I will get to reviewing them as soon as I have had a chance to give them both a go.

Ecotools 6 piece essential eye set US$7.99

Now Solutions European Clay Powder $5.34

I had heard they have very fast shipping but was more than impressed!

I ordered on Sunday, DHL attempted delivery on Thursday and redelivered Friday. And that was for only $8 shipping!

I am excited to try out the products and I think I will definately look to iHerb first for these kinds of purchases as they have good prices as well as super fast cheap postage. If you are making your first order, you can use my referral code by clicking here and get up to $10 off, or you can enter the code BJH106 when ordering. 

Costco Shopping and Prices 27/01/14

Back to Costco today. It was really busy, almost as busy as it was just before Christmas, but it took about 10 min to get a car park and we were then in and out fairly quickly. This time I got lots of things from the specials, you can view them on the Costco website here .
Just a small bunch of things this time, although the cost still gets high easily with these things!

Overall I'm pleased with my items. The toothpaste and brushes were the let down for me, but that's what I get for not checking. I have been happy with the Aldi toothpaste, however I didn't love the toothbrushes, so that is a good saving. I will see if I notice any difference with the Colgate toothpaste. If you are loyal to your brand for toothpaste the saving is very good.

The facial wipes are significantly more expensive than the Aldi brand ones, but much cheaper than brand name ones from Woolies, so I will have to use them and see how good they are. That said, it comes in a convenient package and has some smaller travel packs in it which will be handy.

Everything else was very good value and I'm pleased with my purchases. The cake mix will be so handy, being in the tub makes it easy to use and make whatever quantity I like. I will be making some Banana/Blueberry+Oat+Chia breakfast muffins later today hopefully, so we will see how they turn out.

Mirenesse Free* Trial Products

Went to go to the shops today and noticed my letter box was full, and inside I found a fairly over-sized black envelope waiting for me. It has my "free" products that I ordered from Mirenesse earlier in the week inside (VERY fast postage!).

With the offer you just pay postage or each individual item that you order, and you can order up to six products. My shipping was just under $25 and I got three products. Inside the package were my items, some instruction sheets and a bunch of coupons that I won't use...but if you really liked something and wanted to repurchase would be handy!

The items I got were:
-Skin Clone  Mineral Powder Foundation (mini size) in Vanilla rrp $19.95
It came in a little leatherish pouch and is in a nice sturdy plastic container with a separate sponge. It would be better if the sponge had a home in the container, but I guess that's why it has the pouch. I think this will be good to keep in my handbag for touch ups as I use a loose powder in the morning, that just isn't practical to carry around or apply on the go.
-Mirenesse Laboratories Fast Fix Solutions Foot Renew Cryotherapy rrp $29.95
I was hoping this would be like the Milky-Foot type things that make all your skin peel off, but its just a treatment. I am still really excited to try this and will save it for a day after school I think!
-Icon Sealer 24 Hour Concealer rrp $35
I did a quick swatch, in the picture you can see it comes out fairly yellow, but blends well. I assume this would be good for dark circles with the yellow tint, but it seems like it would be helpful on other blemishes as well because it is a good match for my skin when blended out.

Left- Unblended Right- Blended

The offer is still going and there are lots of products still on offer, including all three of the ones above. At about $8 per product and the shipping being SO fast I think it is a great way to try some good products for a cheaper price. 

You can get the offer here: http://www.mirenesse.com/85-free-trial

Did you order anything? What did you think of the products you got?

Back to School Clothes and Stationary HAUL

So, what's more fun than actually doing the preparation I need to for the new school year? Shopping for it of course!

After some light shopping yesterday afternoon, I initially went out to my favourite shop outside Kmart, but for pretty much the first time ever, couldn't find anything I wanted to spend my gift voucher on. So I wanted into Kmart to look for school supplies and ended up getting heaps of cheap tops and basics.
After that I went to Target, another random cheapo kind of shop and a Kaisercraft shop.
Finally this evening I went to Officeworks, and aside from heading back to Kaisercraft tomorrow to get cute papers to make these (below) pencil toppers, I have no excuses to not start addressing what actually needs doing.

Clothes:

Yellow, longish, hi-lowish, lace embellished tank- Kmart- $12

Peach/apricot, longish, hi-lowish, lace embellished tank- Kmart- $12

Owl print, flowy tank with buttons- Kmart- $12

Floral print, flowy tank with buttons-Kmart-$12

Leopard Print round neck jumper-Kmart-$20

Purple/green layered work out top- Kmart-$12

Black/purple layered work out top- Kmart- $12

Basic singlets with shelf mint and turquoise, no shelf black- Kmart- $3 each

Basic tank top dusty coral and dusty magenta (not as bright as they show up here) $2 each

Floral embellished strap tank-Temt- $19.95

Basic tank tops black, nude-Temt- 6.95 These feel like a much more expensive material, its a synthetic blend and is like a slightly suedey microfiber 

Basic Singlet, nude-Temt 4.95 Same fabric as the tanks.

Navy/Cream Damask harem (ish?) pant- Caroline Morgan- $20

Navy stretch skinny pant with zip detail-  Target- $15

Stationary (and random make up)

Five drawer storage tub, blue- Officeworks- 16.96

3 pack binder display books- Officeworks- $2.99

Pick'n'mix bulldog clips and magets- Officeworks- $4.99

Purple wire mesh tray and bin- Officeworks- $5 each

White 2D ring binder- Officeworks- $3.83

Tropical bird print binder- Kmart- $2

Geoprint pastel wrapping paper- Kaisercraft- $1

My Day Chart calendar- Kikkik- $5

Monthly planner (to use as weekly timetable) Kikkik- $10

Lexar USB drive 8GB- Big W- $4.95

Maybelline Dream Pure BB cream, medium- Big W- $15.75

Maybelline Age Rewind under eye concealer-Big W- $~16 Annoyed at myself for these two, I realised this morning that I should have gone to Priceline and got 3 for 2. They are both good products though, so I'm not too bothered. 

All in all I think I got really good buys for pretty much everything and should get good use/wear out of it all, pretty pleased, but not excited at the prospect of putting it away and clearing out some old stuff that is getting replaced. But that's a problem for future Emily. 

Sushi with the Sushezi

A favourite meal for us is our home made sushi. I have a kitchen contraption specifically for the job called the Sushezi, it basically allows you to get the placement of ingredients right and squash everything together a lot more easily than you would be able to by hand. You can really put whatever ingredients in it you want, this is just what we do. It kind of developed over time and now we always just have the same fillings because we luff it.

Ingredients:
Sushi Rice (any short grain works)
Sushi seasoning
Kewpie Mayo
Cucumber
Packet cheddar cheese or cheese sticks
Avocado
Seafood sticks
Nori Sheets
Spray oil

1. Wash and cook the rice according to instructions. I like to use my microwave rice cooker for this job. After cooking add a good amount (I think the original recipe I used had about 1/4 cup listed, but now I just add and taste) of the seasoning to the rice and refrigerate while you get the other ingredients ready, so it is not too hot to handle.

2.Slice up everything into strips.

3.Open up the Sushezi, spray lightly and press rice into both sides. Use the stick part (technical term) to press a dent into each side to put the fillings in.

4. Add your fillings, snap the Sushezi shut and use the stick to press everything together.

5. Press out the rice roll onto your Nori sheet. Roll it up adding water as needed to soften the seaweed and stick it together around the roll.

6. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate until cold.

7. Unwrap, slice, serve!

We also made some 'free form' sushi piles with the left overs that we ate while waiting for the rolls to cool down.