Friday Finds & Check-ins, Volume #633
Share your recent beauty purchases or rediscovered favorites in your stash (for those on low/no-buys!), chit chat about weekend plans, and learn a little more about each other!
Let's Chat!
Share your own answers in the comments!
- Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Still waiting to receive some orders!
- Weekend plans: Celebrating Christmas with both of our families! We were able to spend Christmas with hubby’s family last year, but this is the first Christmas (on actual Christmas) that I’ll see my parents in several years.
- What song or album did you last have on repeat?: “The Lay Down” by Shelley FKA Dram and H.E.R.
P.S. — Want to chat with readers on the regular? Check out Temptalia’s Discord where you can chat about beauty, makeup, and more! 🙂
P.P.S. — Check our hubby’s new site for video gaming guides — good if you (or someone you know or your kids!) is into games like Roblox and Minecraft!
This week's doggo photo/video...
Share your pet photos to the Temptalia Pets flickr group!
Haul: I am SOOOOOO excited! I was at Winners looking for more closet sachets (got some and didn’t think to get extras for all our linens and the spare rooms) and nearly fainted (okay, exaggeration but not much). Years ago, I really wanted Buxom’s 24KT Stilettos eyeshadow but it was never available in store at Sephora…..and I’d wanted it all these years. WHAT do you think I found, in pristine condition and for a mere $4.99. I couldn’t believe my luck. I also found Marc Jacobs Overt pencil liner for less than $10. I’d wanted that one for a long time but never wanted to pay the price and was happy with the Sephora dupe I have but, again, I couldn’t pass this up. I know, however, to use this often and enjoy it because I’ve had consistently bad luck with these pencils drying up very quickly.
Weekend plans: CHAOS – just chaos – happy chaos. People coming and going (kids, their partners, my dear friend who recently lost her mother) – I don’t even know who is coming when or for how long and when they’re coming back again…. I’ve got most of the serving dishes out and labelled (a trick I learned from my late MIL) and most of the “make ahead” things made but still it feels like chaos.
Music on replay: Alison Krauss playing on the Google thingy we have. And Tom Waits – I’m always happy to listen to Tom Waits. Oh – Steve Winwood’s version of Christmas Is Now Drawing Near at Hand. I’ve been listening to that a lot as it’s one of my favourite Christmas “carols”.
oh….and can I just say that the 24KT Stilettos was totally worth the wait. I think it’s the nicest and best gold eyeshadow I own.
My younger son and his partner got the booster last night. She is feeling rotten and did a rapid test….the result was POSITIVE. We couldn’t believe it and were so disappointed (but pleased that she had access to rapid tests and thus averted a whole new spread within our family). He texted about an hour later to say she did a 2nd rapid test and it was negative but they’re still going to stay away out of an abundance of caution. She was hoping to go for a PCR test but it’s almost impossible to get a slot for testing because case numbers have just shot up ridiculously in the past week.
Merry Christmas Mariella. I hope your sons partner recovers quickly.
Thanks, Shari. It’s not a certainty that she has Covid – the rapid tests detect the presence of a virus – so any virus such as a cold virus will give a positive result. But it really isn’t worth taking the risk – this newest variant is so highly transmissible that is just isn’t worth it. We’ll do a FaceTime stocking “unstuffing” later this morning. A Merry Christmas to you too, Shari, and to all who celebrate.
First of all, I wish you and your family a really lovely Christmas and I hope that your younger son and his partner are not Covid positive, but just have a bad cold. They have made the best decision, but I have heard that those rapid tests can give you a false positive. The trouble is in knowing is it false or is it true?
How devasting for all concerned to miss this special day with you all together.
We are also experiencing an upsurge in cases, whether it’s Delta or Omicron – hard to know and the test waiting times have blown out to hours and hours.
I have just looked up the Buxom shade of Stilettos and OMG – what a gorgeous gold shade it is. It will pair very nicely with all of your browns and olive greens.
Yup – it’s a gorgeous shade, made even “gorgeous-er” by how long I’ve craved it. And thank you for your good wishes. World-wide, this newest variant is taking a huge toll in terms of numbers although the latest reports here are that hospital ICUs aren’t being swamped which seems to confirm that while it’s highly and easily transmissible even to those who are double and triple vaccinated, in those groups at least it is much less severe, so I guess that’s something to be a bit grateful for. But, honestly, is this EVER going to end?
I had to Google Buxom Stilettos, it is gorgeous! What fun to find it just like that. and what a great Christmas gift to yourself.
It sounds like you have lots to do over Christmas, I hope it’ll be a wonderful one. A pity your son and his partner can’t come. But better to stay at home in case it is Covid.
Have a lovely Christmas!
Thank you so much, Helene. We did a FaceTime visit so the whole family was sort of together and son’s girlfriend is feeling much better. My son, though, looked pretty rough….like he’d been at some all night poker game or something but it turns out he’d been up much of the night, online, trying to book a PCR appointment for her. It was heartwarming to see how much he cares for her and what a caring young man he’s grown into.
What a sweet son you have there! He obviously has great parents. 🙂
Why am I not surprise that your tree is in shades of golden doggies!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Nothing.
Weekend plans: A Chinese restaurant, along with many other non-Christian New Yorkers.
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: I don’t have a repeat function on my sound system.
A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish by Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, Ph.D. in the third chapter entitled “We Eat Chinese Food on Christmas.” The story of the Lower East Side and the close Jewish and Chinese immigrant communities, going back to before 1900 is as culturally significant as Christmas itself. Growing up in Newton, Mass, we visited our Jewish friends for left overs on Boxing Day and brought our desserts. Kind of a nice high school tradition as well!
Winston baby dog is quite well behaved with the tree. He only gets cuter. Last year a neighbor got a screech owl in the tree, even decorated it, and discovered it when it called while they were asleep. It’s a little fellow, but how could they have missed it? And how could it not have been terrified? All creatures are so incredible and precious.
Have a lovely lunch/dinner Lesley and I hope you enjoy it.
Even though you don’t celebrate I hope you’ll have a nice long weekend.
Chinese food is very tasty, unfortunately I don’t think we have one close to where I live. That’s life in the countryside! 🙂
Rediscovery – I felt like crap yesterday and wanted to rifle through my makeup for a bit of cheer. Found NYX’s matte lipstick in Alabama. Great color, so-so formula. I enjoyed wearing it around yesterday and my lips will appreciate the break from it today.
Plans – enjoy the chill life of not needing to be anywhere this weekend.
Song/album – I haven’t listened to an album start to finish in a loooooooooong time. I seem to have developed a very specific taste in music and most albums have only one to two songs (or a handful of misses) that really get my interest. The playlists I’ve created based on those moods/tastes have been getting a lot of listening though.
I have always wanted to see/swatch NYX’s Alabama shade, but it hasn’t been available here in Aus and the shipping costs were worth more than the lipstick. So the matte aspect is very drying on your lips Z -hmmm – not good news for me as my lips are permanently dry and I have to wear creamy, hydrating lipsticks. But yes, I do love the colour.
To be fair, my lips are always dry. Like sooooo dry that I have to be careful about wide yawns without lip balm, they might crack at any moment. Anything matte makes them feel worse, even wearing balms underneath. Some lipsticks can handle being put on a light balm layer and not move around, NYX just isn’t one. It sucks cuz you guys all know the variations of red and how they look. Alabama is damn near perfect for my coloring. I find the lip pencil in Alabama is nice, but a little pinker maybe than the bullet lipstick.
I own NYX Alabama lipstick too, it’s such a beautiful shade 😚💋
I had to look up NYX Alabama, it’s really gorgeous. What a pity it’s drying.
A Merry Christmas to Christine and all the commenters who celebrate!
Purchases/rediscoveries: Nada! Zilch! Nothing! We did our Solstice Stockings on Tuesday, and while my spouse gave me some very nice things, I did not get anything beauty related. Spouse is excited about the lipsticks I bought them, at least.
Weekend plans: It’s going to be VERY cold and we might get SNOW. Between that and the holiday we will be staying home. We did our weekly meal out on Wednesday instead, after getting our boosters. Tomorrow we’re doing an online happy hour with my in-laws. MIL has been asking for another one for a while. Our last one devolved into an annoying political discussion, which made me very angry because we were using MY computer, and spouse and their stepfather hijacked it to have a convo that neither MIL nor I wanted to be part of! Other than that, at some point we’re going to drink boozy hot chocolate and read graphic novels.
Last song or album I had on repeat: I don’t really put things on repeat. I did have to keep listening to one minute of my friend Dogwood’s song “Dawn of the Dryad” because I was using it to put together a dance film. And I keep going back to Zoe Keating’s Forte when I want to listen to something pretty. But I’m much more likely to put on a playlist I like than to repeat something.
How lovely that your spouse enjoyed the lipstick choices you made! It’s always a bit tricky with lipsticks sometimes, but it seems your choices were the right ones.
How exciting to be getting snow for Christmas and not just sleet and rain. I hope that the zoom meeting with your in laws turns out to be better than the last one…political discussions of those with differing views/beliefs doesn’t always end well and it would grate me if it were held on my computer too.
Have a lovely weekend AJ.
Solstice stocking, what a wonderful thing to celebrate. I love the winter Solstice, as the days are getting longer after that long dark night. That said, I do like the dark nights as well.
Such a curious baby boy! 💙
Purchases/rediscoveries: Nothing purchased. Rediscovered my now very old stash of MAC Pro Pan singles and played with them yesterday. Mostly because I needed an easy, quick look that I knew backwards, sideways and upside down!
I did receive a very special gift from a fellow reader of 3 Clionadh multi-chrome shadows in Embroidery, Trefoil and Kiln. I’m going to have fun with these very rich, multidimensional colors this rainy afternoon!
Weekend plans: Other than my Zoom meeting tomorrow morning, literally nothing! I will say this, I am so enjoying this dark, rainy day here where this almost never occurs. Perfect day for hot cocoa and baking a pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting!
Albums on repeat? Nope, nothing comes to mind. Certain songs have been resonating with me lately, though. Adele’s “Easy On Me”, in particular. Actually, ever since her One Night Only concert and review with Oprah, I’ve been listening to quite a few of my favorite songs by her. One of my all-time favorite songs is “Rolling In The Deep”.
Just love Adele and Rolling in the Deep is an all time favourite. I have bought her new album but haven’t listened to it yet, I was saving it for after Christmas.
How kind to receive those multichromes and such beautiful colours too. Take care Nancy.
Hi Nancy. I love Rolling in the Deep.
I love my MAC pro pan singles. I find I go back tp them whenever I can’t decide what kind of look I want to do.
I’ve never listened to Adele, perhaps I should. I mostly listen to music in the car, and like listening to my son’s metal core (or whatever it is) much to his amazement as his rock loving dad finds the music to hard and heavy.
Have a wonderful Christmas, Nancy!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Nothing new.
Weekend plans: Be as active as my booster shot symptoms and rainy California weather allows me. 😅 Since I don’t celebrate any holidays, it’s a regular long weekend for me. I’m just trying to take advantage of the museums opened today in San Francisco (the Asian and Jewish one), explore empty streets in Santa Cruz on the 25th and rest on Sunday.
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: I saw some Instagram snapshots from Anneke van Giersbergen latest concerts in Turkey and I remembered how much I loved her shows when I lived in Europe. I had to listen again and again her latest, The Darkest Skies Are the Brightest, although her old songs resonate better with me.
I hope you are not suffering too much after your booster shot. Ana Maria so that you can’t visit the museums and so on. I love going to museums myself and ours have just opened up, although with our crazy increase in covid numbers, lots of people are steering clear of them at the moment.
Even if you don’t celebrate it’s nice to have a long weekend.
I do hope you’ll get to visit the museums.
Merry Christmas to everyone! It’s Christmas morning here in Aus. and the children have received their Santa presents and are happily riding their brand new scooters around and bubba loves his new little balance bike.
It’s wonderful Christine that you are able to celebrate Christmas Day with your Mum and Dad in person.
Recent Purchases: My Lorac Fairytale Forest palette has arrived and is all wrapped up under the tree!
Rediscoveries: Guerlain’s Les Gris…so beautiful still with its shades of silvery blue and dark teal blue.
Weekend Plans: Having Christmas Day with our family. My sister and her husband are coming over for Christmas dinner, which is all organised.
My son and his family are heading off to Anika’s cousin’s for Christmas lunch, whilst I finish organising the Chrissy table and get everything ready for the dinner. As the weather is nice and cool, we are having a BBQ with lots of salads (our tradition here in the usually hot weather), with roast lamb.
On Sunday we will be relaxing and kids playing with their new presents.
Songs/Album on Repeat: All Christmas albums at the moment: Pentonix Evergreen, Delta Godrun’s Christmas album.
Merry Christmas, Genevieve 🎄
Thank you Shari and I hope that you have a lovely one too.
Sounds like a wonderful family Christmas Genevieve!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
We did Helene – it was lovely. The children all adored their Christmas presents (and so too the adults!). I always get my daughter in law a great big Christmas skincare and makeup goodies bag and she is having a lovely time going through it. The children got scooters and they are now happily outside at the park behind us (with their dad) riding their little hearts out.
My twin sister and her husband came over with some food and gifts and we all had a very relaxing time.
I hope you too are currently enjoying your Christmas day as well with your family.
Those scooters sound like so much fun!
What a thoughtful mother in law you are, it’s such a personal gift, skincare and makeup, and you, of course do have good knowledge about it all.
Happy children and a relaxing time for the adults, sounds like a really good Christmas.
Recent Purchases: I purchased the Blend Bunny Cosmetics Surge palette and received it today… it shipped VERY quickly. I was impressed. I can’t wait to use it.
Rediscoveries: nothing in particular!
Weekend plans: Having a very low key Christmas. My parents and in laws are sick. My mom just found out she has Covid (she’s been sick for a couple of weeks), but thankfully a very mild case. I have been worried for her because she has Hashimoto’s disease, so her immune system is not at all strong. My mother in law is still recovering from bronchitis.
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: The Hamilton soundtrack. 😂
Oh Celesta, what tough news for your mum on top of everything else. At least she is a mild case, but it is still very worrying for you and for her. I hope she gets better quickly and is responding to the the treatment for Hashimoto’s disease (just looked it up).
And a bad bout of bronchitis for your MIL isn’t great either. Perhaps you can have another “Christmas Day’ when all are well.
I hope your son enjoyed his presents.
I hope your mom will recover quickly from Covid and your MIL from her bronchitis.
I long to see new looks on Insta!
Have a wonderful Christmas week!
Haul: I picked up Tom Ford’s Shimmering Body Oil for my daughter but nothing else.
Weekend plans: Well, I made it to Seattle. It wasn’t a horrible trip taking the roads into consideration but the crazy drivers was another thing. For some reason, Washingtonians can’t drive in snow or slush. Anyway, I made it but we have decided to stay here for the holiday rather than going back to Montana. So, we will have a quiet Christmas, just the two of us. We are going to binge watch the usual Christmas movies, Santa Claus x 3, Polar Express, etc.
Last music on rewind: Nothing actually. I mostly listen to Sirius while traveling and don’t listen to much music when I am home.
Wishing all a Merry Christmas and God’s blessings upon us in the New Year.
Deborah
Thank you Deborah for your kind wishes and I hope you and your daughter have a lovely time together too. I am sure there are lots of places and things to do in Seattle over the break. Much better to stay there than travel that horrendous way back to Montana.
I am sure she going to love her Chrissy presents from you too.
Let’s hope next year will be kinder to us all. Take care.
Genevieve.
Thank you Genevieve. You have a wonderful time with your family.
Thank you Deborah we did have a lovely day. The weather was cool, which made the food preparation and eating so much more comfortable.
I hope that you are currently having a beautiful Christmas together with your wonderful daughter.
Isn’t it odd that people in the same country can drive so differently? I am aware that your country is huge, mine is small and I noticed a lot of difference moving 550 kilometers south.
Maybe the Washington people are better at driving in rain? 😉
I hope you and your daughter will have a wonderful Christmas week!
It is very strange how it varies from place to place. I use live in Southern California and while there is horrendous traffic and rush hour is bumper to bumper for hours, they know how to drive. The traffic can move at 70 mph and usually no problems. Obviously, they have accidents but nearly what you would imagine. Here people get onto the freeway on ramp and drive to the bottom and stop rather than merging. Crazy. Anyway, you have a wonderful holiday, Helene.
No purchases or rediscovering done this week. Too busy.
Weekend plans…Christmas with my husband’s family. Otherwise, quiet time as we’re still mourning my mom. I’ve been trying to just take it bit by bit and let the grief come, but then remember something special about her. I have a Christmas tree decorated in white hand crocheted ornaments that she made.
Song on repeat…I guess the last would be Would It Still Be Christmas by The Haven Quartet. Its a beautiful song, but since I love Christmas so much I dont usually listen to songs on repeat. I listen to them all unless they involve grandma getting ran over by a reindeer.
Merry Christmas and wonderful blessings to everyone here on Temptalia.
The first Christmas without a beloved parent is so hard, just take it easy and cry when you need to, not much of and advise, I know.
My grandmother, whom I think about as a mom loved Christmas and it’s still hard, 14 years later, to add to it today is 24 years since my grandfather passed.
One day, in the future we can remember with warmth and without the acute pain.
I think every loss leaves a scar on the soul.
Yes, this Christmas will be especially hard for you without your mum to celebrate it with. Grief has no timetable and days like today make it that bit more harder to bear. It’s lovely that you’ve chosen to remember her by having the beautiful Christmas ornaments that she created herself. I have a Christms Santa that my mum knitted many years ago for my eldest son when he was little on our tree to remember her by too.
I wish you a quiet, peaceful Christmas Day as well.
How adorable Winston is, checking out the tree!
Before I forget, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: I found some MAC stuff on sale so I bought Lipglass in Works like a Charm. lipsticks in Say the Magic Word, Berry Tricky and Joie de Vivre. I also bought duochrome eyeshadow in Right Before Your Eyes. I got a kit with Brick the Spell lipstick, Woman of Mystery lipglass and lip pencil in Chili as a GWP as well as a mini Fix + and a mini Prep + Prime Natural Radiance Pink, not sure how that will work, but the free samples one can chose from are at the most four so it’s hard to find something that I know will work. Often I chose no samples.
Weekend plans: Nothing out of the ordinary.
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: I rarely listen to music at home, just in the car and when I drive alone I just have the radio on. When my son is with me in the car, he plays metal core or something like that. the kind of music Asking Alexandria plays.
Merry Christmas to you Helene and I hope you and your family have a lovely time together.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Nothing in a while, I’ve been so busy I still haven’t had a chance to try some stuff I bought a few months ago
Weekend plans: All cancelled. A friend of mine who was supposed to get leave from the military had it cancelled and my best friend went home early because both of her jobs got cancelled due to COVID
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: “Sour” by Olivia Rodrigo
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Christmas gifts: NARS Schiap (from my mom) and Jolie Mome (from my cousin) lipsticks and Night Porter eyeliner (cousin), UD Overdrive (Mom) and Wild Side (cousin) liners, Fenty Cute Ting Flypencil (Mom), Laura Mercier Rush Caviar Stick (Mom). I also shopped a couple of after-Christmas sales last night and am waiting for those orders to ship-ColourPop (Baroque and Nightmare Before Christmas palettes and Secret Life of Scorpio quad) and Ulta (ColourPop On a Whimsy and Ticket to Dreamland palettes)
Weekend plans: Had to make an emergency whipped cream run Friday, opened gifts with my parents Saturday afternoon and with my mom’s family Saturday evening, relaxed at home Sunday.
What song or album did you last have on repeat?: I’ve been on a little Måneskin kick lately! The last time I listened to them, I played the big 3 current hits-“Beggin’,” “I Wanna Be Your Slave,” and “Mammamia,” as well as their covers of “Somebody Told Me,” “Take Me Out,” “Bury a Friend,” and “Back to Black”.