Birthday Haul

Hi all you wonderful people, it was my birthday last month. Yaey, happy birthday to me :D

Now, birthdays are a time when everyone is allowed to go a little bonkers and I did. A bit too over the top actually and then of course I fell prey to the usual guilt trip! What is with women and guilt? Why do we have to constantly battle with ourselves to feel good? Anyway, I chided myself for feeling guilty. I mean, what’s done is done. So although I went overboard with my shopping and after my little, fun trip, my account balance was exactly half of what I had to begin with (yes, I went that crazy) I pushed those nasty guilt pangs away and decided to enjoy the outcome of my retail therapy. And what better way to enjoy than share? Since I haven’t been particularly regular with my posts on the bog, I thought I’ll do a little haul post. This was also a kind of reward for making healthier meal choices. Not that I am not eating the occasional calorie laden goodie (and oh, it is good!) or the insane binge, my meals have been more thoughtful and considered choices. So yaey to that J

Birthday Haul

I bought a ton of stuff as birthday gifts to myself, both online and in-store.

I went to a local, newly opened mall and as soon as I entered, I knew I was home. The first store I walked into was Clinique. Clinique stores/storefronts had always piqued my curiosity. The well-lit facade  the shop assistants in their white coats and that Clinique-y smell! Back in the day, on my student pocket-money I could never even dream of going there, even for a look-out but now that I am on my own and earning, 

Clinique was one of the first pit stops. This was my second visit to a Clinique store and they haven’t failed to impress me with their professionalism, yet again. Although my original plan was to buy only a cleansing lotion and one of the famed chubby sticks, I picked up a makeup remover and a kohl liner as well. I was  a tad bit disappointed with the chubby stick later since the shade, is the same as my lip color. So much for colored lip balms! The SA was a delightful lady who gave me some skincare tips and offered a free sample of their anti-blemish face pack and moisturizer! Moreover, Clinique is celebrating the Hindu festival of Diwali in India and are offering a beautiful box packaging for all customers. Clinique is also celebrating October as the Breast cancer awareness month, so I also received a booklet on same and a pretty pink awareness ribbon.

Haul from Clinique

Next on the list was MAC. I have wanted to buy a MAC blush since forever and I finally laid my hands on the gorgeous Gingerly! I love how it makes my face all warm and happy! A beautiful plush glass in Amply Pink and the MAC blush/powder brush meant another small hole in my pocket.

Haul from M.A.C

A compulsory next stop was The Body Shop. You see, I am starting to notice that my pores are rather large and TBS’s tree tea pore minimizer seemed like a God-send. A night face lotion from the tea tree range, orange body butter, a dragon fruit lip balm, BB cream and a pair of gorgeous lavender bath mitts later, I was grinning ear to ear!

Haul from The Body Shop

Birthday Haul

Like I said earlier, I also shopped online. I am currently addicted to watching movies and sitcoms over my laptop. This is rather disgraceful for a person who until recently, found her solace in the magical world of books. To rekindle that magic, I ordered a few books online. I bought a bunch of titles:10 super stories about mom and me, To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee, Losing my virginity and other dumb ideas by Madhuri Banerjee and Can love happen twice by Ravinder Singh.

Now, I wouldn't really have picked up those titles but I wanted to ease back into reading and picked up something light, for the brain and pocket alike ;)

The real reason for me trying to shop online was to pick up the Jillian Michael's  30-day shred DVD. I read some wonderful praise about it and decided to give it a try. I am still on Day 3 and loving it! I am really lazy in the exercise department and I thought that since Jillian’s workouts are only 20 minutes a day, I could as well stick with her! And mind you, they are some mean workouts!