I am sorry that I did not post for Valentine's Day savings tips like I had promised. I was experiencing technical difficulties getting into my own blog and only today, after the help of a nice technician, was I able to get into my own blog.
It's a shame too, because I was planning on taking advantage of the fact that Valentine's Day falls on Sunday this year. Which I thought was the perfect opportunity to have a Valentine's Day brunch. Complete with gifts and romantic drinks, yum!!! But, since that didn't happen, I am going to hold those ideas in my book of good, do a little modifying, and post them in time for Mother's Day. And I will wait and give the other Valentine's Day tips for next year because they won't do you any good now since the day is past.
I will be completely honest with you right now...... I do not like Valentine's Day. As holidays go, it is one of my least favorite. Do I celebrate it? Yes. But more because I feel I have to participate than because I want to participate. Some years, I feel more into it than others. This was not one of those years, so my husband and I decided that we would do a low key Valentine's this year. The rules were as follows:
1. We couldn't spend more than $30 on a Valentine's day present for one another. (I can do ALOT
with $30 so I was okay with that sum.)
2. We would not be going out to eat and contributing to the suffering of some poor wait staff and
chefs/cooks at a restaurant.
3. We would not be doing any grand romantic gestures for one another, such as surprising the other
with reservations to a mini-holiday at a bed and breakfast, etc.
4. We would spend time together and we would do something we both wanted/enjoyed doing.
5. It being a Sunday, we would relax as much as possible.
Done.
We actually started our Valentine's the evening before. We went to go have burgers at a little local 50's diner. (Not romantic, but wonderful none-the-less because we are both trying to live healthier lifestyles and burgers are no longer on our weekly menu. In fact, we have cut down on beef in general and fried foods. So, or us, it was heavenly.) And then we went to the bookstore. I love books! I hardly ever buy them anymore though. Oh, I still read as much as ever, but now I have a Kindle, and I read books on my Kindle. They are less expensive this way, and I can purchase them from my home and read them right away so it also provides me with instant gratification. So now, when I purchase books, they tend to be the super-duper expensive books that have beautiful pictures in them. (Although in this too I wait and see if I can get them in used but good condition on Amazon. Sometimes I can save ten's of dollars if I wait long enough--sometimes not. Some books never go down in price and then I have to decide if it is worth it to me to spend the money. For example, I have been eyeballing a book called 1940's Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook for a while now and the lowest that it has gotten is $25. I will probably put it on my birthday or Christmas list this year and see if I can't get it from a friend or family member.)
I found a book like this in the bookstore called Coco Chanel: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon by Megan Hess. SQUEEEEEEE!!!! An illustrated picture for adults about Coco Chanel. I swoon. But it was $25.00--nope, out of my budget. Fortunately for me, my husband had yet to get my Valentine's day present. So, voila, I received a Coco Chanel picture book!
Isn't it pretty?
Did you notice the black and white Basil?
What did my husband get you may ask?
I used my eBay and Etsy skills and got him a pair of slim fit jeans, (A reward for losing almost 20 pounds.) a French cuff, button down shirt (This was my biggest score as the shirt was new, with tags, from Banana Republic and originally sold for $56 and I got it for less than $8.00.), some solid cologne that smells of pipe tobacco and a leather cuff bracelet. All of this, and I stuck with the $30 budget.
Then for Valentine's Day I made the aforementioned brunch and tonight, when I am done posting this and my husband has finished mowing the lawn, (My husband has a love affair with our lawn, so it was only fair that it would get some attention for Valentine's day as well.) we are going to spend the evening together eating pizza, yet another food we normally don't allow ourselves, and doing whatever we want as long as we're together. See? Romantic.
But, y'all don't come to this post to read about my life, you read to see how to live a luxury lifestyle on a teeny-weeny budget.
So here goes.....
This week, two of my favorite eye shadows fell off the counter top and crumbled into hundreds of pieces. Grrrr.
They were practically new and one was part of a set, so I didn't want to throw them away, nor did I want to spend the money to buy new ones when I had so recently purchased these. What is a girl to do? Fix it!
I will show you how.
Equipment needed:
1 broken powder make-up (I am showing eye shadow, but this works on any pressed powder make-up.)1 tiny spatula or spoon (I like the tiny spatulas that come with high end moisturizers. You can get these at high end skin care counters with their samples. I got mine with a sample of La Mer when I went to Nieman Marcus one day.)
1 small custard bowl or dish
Rubbing Alcohol
Paper towels
A press- in the shape of the make up you are pressing (In my case, I used a quarter and a match book with the bottom wrapped in aluminum foil
The Process:
1. Using the tiny spatula, scoop out all of the eye shadow in the compartment into the custard bowl. (I know this seems counter-intuitive, to completely destroy the eye shadow, but you need to turn all of the shadow back into loose powder form in order to repair it.)
2. Crush the powder with the spatula until it looks like loose powder.
3. Very carefully add the rubbing alcohol and stir with the spatula. The amount of rubbing alcohol that you add will depend on the size and amount of the make-up that you are repairing, so go slowly, adding a little at a time until the powder has become the consistency of paste.
4. Once the make-up is the right consistency, using the spatula, scoop the make-up back into its original container. Pressing down and making certain that the paste goes into all of the corners.
5. Take a piece of paper towel and place it over the paste. Press slightly with your finger tip to soak up some of the rubbing alcohol. Lift up and place a dry piece of paper towel on the paste and press down with the mold. For round eye-shadow compacts, a quarter or nickel works well. If you are repairing blush or face powder, then you can often use another container in your make-up bag or the lid of the container itself if it is a screw top. Carefully lift up the paper towel. You will see the pattern of the paper towel is impressed on the powder.
6. Using the paper towel and rubbing alcohol, clean the sides of the make-up container. (Is this necessary for the process? No. But you spent the time to repair the make-up, you can spend the time to clean it and make it look nice again.
7. Let the make-up sit until it completely dries. The amount of time this takes will depend on how much rubbing alcohol you used, but I usually let it sit over-night before I use it.
There you go, a Frugal Femme tip for make-up repair.
I hope you find it helpful. My next post will be a post about dressing on a budget and I am working on another two week menu which will be coming up soon, so I hope you keep checking in and staying interested.
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