Beauty Loot: Lush Favorites + Holiday Releases

I said in my Stuff I've Been Using post that I was saving my recent Lush loot for another day. Well today is that day!

My love for Lush goes back to the early 2000s, which is a long time to like something. However, I never found out about Lush sales until Nikki of Forgivain told me about them. It seems that they almost always have something at 50% off. Now I'm on the lookout when I go to a Lush store. Here's my recent loot:

 Sorry I took this pic with my phone. I was too lazy to pull out my camera.

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My Doughnut-themed Office Desk

The creative bug bit me pretty hard lately, and I've just been tinkering with a lot of things around me. A few months ago, I saw that my officemate's desk (I don't know her name) had a silver and white theme, and felt inspired to decorate my own desk. These are pics of my first cube at my fairly new workplace. I've since moved, but the decor is still the same. 

 Doughnuts!

Beauty Barrage: Manicure Monday - Melon Polish

I can't believe I haven't done a Manicure Monday in close to a year! The last one was the Fault in our Stars polish that is still getting so many hits for some reason. Who knew, right?

If you've been following this blog, you probably know the reason why I haven't done one in ages. You would know that I'm both very manicure-challenged and terribly obsessive-compulsive, so I rarely ever do my nails. It's major effort for me, so I just get them done at a salon when I actually have the time and energy for it, and that's also a rare thing. I also do my nails sometimes but ruin them before I get to photograph them, so really, it's tough trying to blog about nail polish when you're like me! Well, this year I'll be trying my hardest to do more manicures just so I can use up my nail polish collection! Why I have tons of polish, I have no idea. Okay let's catch up, shall we?

Oooh orange!

Beauty Loot: Stuff I've Been Using

Since it has been a while since I've been blogging regularly, I thought I'd do a post on stuff I've been using. I haven't really been buying much makeup -- I've just been trying to use up my current stash, but every now and then, something catches my eye and I get it. All my recent loot has been drugstore stuff, actually. Here's the list, and what I think of them.

Makeup Madness: First Look - Firestarter Cosmetics

When Laura from Firestarter Cosmetics emailed to tell me that they were sending over stuff, I was beyond excited. I've always been curious about indie makeup, and now I finally get to try some! When the package from Firestarter headquarters in Thunder Bay, Canada arrived, I just ripped through it immediately. Here's my first look at the loot.

Eyeshadow pots + a bonus shadow sachet + a tube of lip balm, yay!

Home Base: Creative Pursuits - My First Project Life Album aka My First Foray into Scrapbooking

Hello! Happy new year! It's been a while, I know. The last part of 2014 was incredibly busy for me, and I really didn't have any time to spare for The Blue Purse. I felt bad about neglecting my little corner on the Internet, so I'm back, with a new year's resolution to always make time for this site. I hope I get to stick to it!

So it's a new year, and with new beginnings come new things. My new something is scrapbooking. It has always been in my life, because my mom made tons of scrapbooks for recipes, pictures, newspaper articles she loved, and the like. I loved it. I'm quite relentless about documenting things, and I really wanted to do some memory-keeping of my own, but I always thought it was a lot of work. There was too much cutting and pasting and whatnot for me so I never got into it.

Then last year, I discovered Project Life, and my thinking changed. With it, all you have to do is get an album, insert cards and photos into pocket pages, and you're done! If you're feeling more creative, and you want to do some cutting and pasting, you can too, with embellishments and other accessories. Project Life made scrapbooking so easy.

Over the past few months, I've slowly been collecting supplies. I looked for local suppliers because I really hate having to deal with customs and international shipping, and I'm so glad I found a few. I just got stuff I need for a basic album just to test it out and see how I like it. I also dug up the DIY supplies I somehow accumulated during my wedding preparations (cutters, alphabet stamps, Muji pens), then I bought a couple of Sharpies, pens, and stamps, and I was good to go. I had to wait until I had the time to actually do it though, and I finally found the opportunity during the long holiday stretch.