Friday Finds & Check-ins, Volume #698
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: Pat McGrath SatinAllure lipsticks arrived! I have to do lip swatches still (hopefully later this morning).
Weekend plans: Spending as much time as I can with the puppies and Bri. The pups all have their next fosters lined up (they will go in pairs/trios), and fingers crossed, Bri will have a foster as well (I heard there was interest but nothing is confirmed yet), and so they’ll head back to the rescue on the 6th, get their first vaccinations, and those lucky Steaklets will head to the next stage in their journey to their forever homes. They will get neutered/spayed late April and be available for adoption on May 4th (Bri will be spayed in late April and be available for adoption on April 28th), so after the 6th, I probably won’t see them until late on the 3rd or early on the 4th. I’m going to miss them so much!
What are you looking forward to in April? Getting a little more sleep, having some free time, and spending more of that free time with Winnie once the pups leave my care. Thankfully, I enrolled Winnie into doggy kindergarten, and he’s going twice a week for five hours each day. He plays puzzles, does mazes, learns how to use agility equipment, plays with water, socializes with other dogs… They said they have not seen him nap yet, LOL, during the brief nap time on each day.
Psst… since it’s Friday and we’re heading into the weekend, if you have some downtime, consider playing one of the games hubby and I have created! 🙂 You’ll find all of our games on Awordy, but here’s a breakdown of what we have so far:
- Adoptle (guess the name of an adoptable pet in six guesses)
- Concludle (figure out the subject within six clues)
- Mislettered (guess one letter at a time to figure out the phrase/quote)
- Word Frenzy (find as many words from the letters available before the shark devours them)
This week's doggo photo/video...
Share your pet photos to the Temptalia Pets flickr group!
Recent Purchases: This week, I did my very last Back-to-MAC and got a shade I’ve been wanting for a long time: Mocha (gorgeous!). Since MAC announced the end of this program, I’ve done five Back-to-MACs, getting rid of 28 lipsticks (all bought pre-pandemic), one eyeshadow that I never use, and one empty powder compact. I also bought Ole Henriksen Dewtopia 20% Acid Night Treatment because I’ve been using a sample bottle of it for the past few weeks and my skin texture has noticeably improved. Macy’s had a big sale, so I bought NARS Creamy Concealer, UD 24/7 in Psychedelic Sister, and backups of EL Double Wear and Benefit Precisely My Brow. Oh, and a bought a fragrance at the Kiehl’s store: Kiehl’s Original Musk. It’s such a nostalgic scent for me. I don’t know how much I’ll wear it, but it was inexpensive and I just had to have it. (I really wanted to buy a bottle of Chanel Coromandel, but couldn’t bring myself to spend $275 for small bottle of perfume…but it smells soooooo good!).
Rediscoveries: Mugler Alien Flora Futura. This fragrance was a blind buy last year and I thought it was just ok. But I decided to give it another try yesterday and now I’m in love with it!
Weekend Plans: Visiting family, Cards Against Humanity game night with friends, chores, relaxing.
What are you looking forward to in April? I have four vacation days, one day for each week of April. No real plans for those days other than not working!
What a winner having 4 days off in April – it will be great to just relax and take each day as it comes. I hope the weather is pleasant for you on those days.
You have certainly scored well on those back to MAC program and the lipsticks that you have received are gorgeous and I can see them working with your neutral eye looks.
Enjoy your weekend Seraphine.
Thanks! I have a bunch of use-them-or-lose them days that I needed to take by June, and I have a few days off more in May. I scattered them so I’d have a bunch of short weeks, rather than putting them all together for one long vacation. You have a good weekend, too, Genevieve!
I am not a big steak person but I will take one of each please!! I cannot believe they are already five weeks old…. they are getting so big!!! We are all gonna miss them, but not as much as you will for sure. I know these little sweethearts are going to have the most awesome homes!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: I got a replacement of MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation when it was on sale for 21 days of beauty. This is my go-to touch up powder to keep in my bag, and since I mostly use it for touch ups one pan lasts forever.
Weekend plans: Reading, cleaning/catching up on laundry, and dying my hair. I am transitioning from my more conservative WFH FT job to a PT job in the beauty industry, so I can have more fun hair again. I usually like to bleach, do olaplex, and then do the dye, so I stretch it out over a couple of days.
What are you looking forward to in April? Having more free time!! The main reason I needed to leave my FT job, which I do like and am really good at, is because all I do is work and sleep. Because my illness seeps my energy I need to rest more, so my free time is limited. I am hoping that only working PT will give me more time to do what I want. I am also going to sign up for a water yoga class soon as I think that will be fun and also help with my energy levels.
I really hope that your new job will deliver on the extra free time, which you sorely do need managing your illness. I hope the flare up that you have been experiencing for the past few weeks has settled down. A water yoga class sounds like a great deal of fun to me and the activities will help to keep you fit too.
Porterhouse 😍 They are all so cute. I would miss those little faces too, and sweet Bri!!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: DHC Deep Cleansing Oil and Mild Soap set on sale.
Weekend plans: Friends are staying with me this weekend before they move to upstate NY. We might go bird watching!
What are you looking forward to in April? Spring flowers! I am also doing a long catsitting trip in the city and really look forward to it!
Enjoy your time with your friends Kira, you will miss them when they move upstate – northern NY state seems so beautiful, with plenty of wilderness areas from what I can see on maps. Bird watching would be fabulous – do you live near forests or the coast Kira?
Recent Purchases: I did purchase the new SG face palette because it looked so beautiful. I also got a couple of classic Devinah singles that were finally back in stock. Oh, and I was looking at a couple of ND lipsticks at Ulta and settled on Averyl. It’s a pretty mauve. The packaging is STUNNING. I wish that ND had more shades that were rosy; so many of them were very gray-toned or concealer-toned.
Rediscoveries: Really enjoyed using my SG Tiny Marvels palette today. I want to dip into Tropical Vibes soon as well!
Weekend plans: My son’s spring break started today and my husband and I both took the time off work too, so we have plans to stick around the area and do some fun things together for the next week.
What are you looking forward to in April? Warmer weather and a balancing out in barometric pressure. The transition from winter to spring is always hardest on my body; I get a lot of headaches and allergies.
Hasn’t this term gone so quickly? Both my grandchildren at school – Olivia and Lachlan are finishing up their first term (the school year starts in Feb for us) next week in time for Easter.
I hope the weather is kind to both of us – we get a lot of up and down weather at this time of the year too and the humidity ratings are the ones that affect me the most. Spring is definitely the time for allergies.
I hope your family has a wonderful week in your area.
Recent purchases: none (I was going to go to Shoppers Drug Mart yesterday but got too busy with other stuff); Rediscoveries: Chanel’s Blurry Grey Quad – I’ve worn it all week and love it. I also dug out Nars Baalbek (a liner/cream shadow hybrid) which is very old but which I revive from time to time with a bit of Duraline. I used it yesterday evening to make a really smokey, murky eye look and loved the effect and, man, does that stuff stay on!
Weekend plans: hoping to brunch with the daughter, son in law and grand-daughter (if we can all find a time that works) – then it’s mostly going to the gym and I might do some “pre-sewing” – tracing off a pattern I want to make (testing it out after that with some really cheap but actually nice looking fabric before I lash out on something better/pricier).
What I’m looking forward to in April: getting my Prevnar shot, getting body work done on my car (a limb from a city tree fell on it and the city has FINALLY agreed to pay for the repairs), going to the baby shower for my best friend’s daughter who is having a baby in July and, most of all, seeing more of our grand daughter as the weather improves (oh, and on a vacuous level, Obsessions coming to Netflix; I have had a major crush on Richard Armitage since the days of North and South but you can’t tell anyone!).
I do hope that you can get to brunch with your daughter, SIL and grand-daughter – she will be growing up really fast now and will probably be on the move soon (if she isn’t already!).
Good news that the city is paying for your car repairs – we have that issue here too with the gum trees that can drop branches without any warning.
What are you going to make Mariella? I can see why you like Richard Armitage – he does look quite dishy!
This is a black walnut tree – they’re valued for their wood (though everyone now, it seems, wants white furniture) but this one is dying. It’s at the end of our driveway but on city property (the city owns something like five feet of the front of everyone’s property) and we are not allowed to have it pruned or removed or anything – only the city can. The city maintains that it’s “not dead yet” (shades of Monty Python and the Holy Grail) but in a windstorm in May, and even though I park far up the drive, as far as I can get from this blasted dying tree, the wind broke off several large branches and carried them to where my car was parked. I wish they’d take the dratted thing down. It didn’t have walnuts last year but in past, it would drop down tennis ball sized walnuts (I’ve got 2 “dimples” in the roof of my car from those!)
There’s a clothing company called Elizabeth Suzann that has made some of their patterns available to people who sew. I want to make the Florence pant. It’s actually culottes and I’ve seen it made up in a fabric store where I shop (it looks much nicer than the line drawing but you can see photos of the sewn up garment on the Elizabeth Suzann website). It looks like the perfect garment for travel (a bit dressy looking but as comfortable as yoga pants) as well as for every day.
I can’t believe the steaklets are five weeks old already! I wish all of them, and mom, luck with finding forever homes. I can’t imagine them all going quickly, including mom. ❤️
RECENT PURCHASES: Some body scrub for my son’s GF.
REDISCOVERIES: ND Retro Midi Palette; CoverGirl Melting Pout Gel Liquid Lipstick in Evan-Gel-Ical.
WEEKEND PLANS: Today is my younger son’s birthday, and Tuesday was my husband’s. We’ll go out to a nice family dinner to celebrate. I hope to get some spring cleaning done around the house, too.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN APRIL?
Hopefully warmer, more consistent weather. This constant boomeranging between warm, sunnier spring weather and cold temperatures with volatile storms and wintry weather is murder on my migraines.
I’m also hoping to finally get new floor covering finally installed in my kitchen. That whole thing got way delayed.
This western U.S. weather has been CRAZY! We’ve had more rain and snow resulting in MAJOR flooding than almost any other winter both here in Arizona and also in California. It hurts all over from the constant barometric twists and turns, too. Migraines here, too. So, I totally understand what you’re going through, Rachel. 🤯
Happy Birthday to your younger son Rachel and I hope you all enjoy your dinner out.
It has taken a long time to get your flooring done – and it must have driven you crazy!
We’ve been having up and down weather as well – but that is so normal for Melbourne – the 4 seasons in a day city. Hopefully your weather will settle down to soothe your migraines – which would not be fun at all.
Southern Ontario has been crazy too. We had several really bad snowstorms, followed by some warm days and then, just the other day, a sudden sleet blizzard (I’ve never seen anything like it). Cold yesterday and rainy and where I teach, the rain on the ground had turned into slush. Today, it’s warmer and sunny (but more rain coming, apparently, along with high winds).
Oh my goodness! I sure will miss seeing those precious little Steaklets, especially my 💗 Dog, Skirt! Other than her not having a purely bi-color coat, she so very much reminds me of my one and only pooch. But, I have to get realistic with myself. I’m not the person who gets up early enough for what she would need, and this place that I moved to 3 years ago not only has very strict breed restrictions, but it’s also at least 200 sq. ft. smaller than the apartment I lived in over in Old Town Scottsdale. If ONLY I had stayed there, then I could have been her Dog Mom!
Purchases/rediscoveries: Late last night I placed an order with Fantasy Cosmetica for the Rogue Palette. I knew that I would after seeing quite a few positive reviews on YT, with just one disclaimer; that a few of the multichromes are more sheer and work best over a sticky primer or on top of a same color base of a matte eyeshadow. Also have a cart ready to push pay on Kaleidos. However, I’m just a bit hesitant to do so since the Sephora Rouge sale is coming up soon…stay tuned!
Weekend plans: Can you believe that I still haven’t gotten around to getting laundry done? 😂 So, THAT. Especially for PJ’s and my cotton blanket for our eventual warmer nights. Zoom meeting tomorrow morning. Need to get my root touch-up demi-permanent products to look nice for April.
What are you looking forward to in April? Well, we have our yearly commemoration of the Lord’s Evening Meal on the night before he was executed this Tuesday at sundown, which would be Nisan 14 on the Jewish lunar calendar. While sobering to realize what took place less than 12 hours later after Jesus Christ was arrested, it is also a time to reflect, appreciate and rejoice that he and his Father did this for mankind.
Also, I’m kind of looking forward to springtime… wherever it went this year? I’m not complaining, though! I did just order a very nice black swimsuit from Torrid, and would love to go swimming eventually. It’s actually what they call a “swim-dress”, as it’s a one piece that has a thigh length skirt attached to the bodice. Hopefully, it fits!
OMG – how those beautiful little puppies have grown! They are looking so healthy and far more alert now. You and Shaun are definitely going to miss them and I know a few tears will be shed when they leave. I am sure that there new owners will be as thrilled with them as we have been, watching them grow.
Winnie would really enjoy his kindergarten days, as he is a very intelligent little doggie.
Recent Purchases: I bought some more items to put into my DIL’s makeup and skincare bag for her up coming birthday: mascara, Maybelline’s lifter gloss in Stone (that she likes) and her favourite foundation.
But nothing for me, as yet.
Rediscoveries: Still using Stila In the Garden, CP’s Foolish lipstick
Weekend Plans: Friday – I got my hair coloured and did a bit of shopping.
Saturday – the grocery shopping and cleaning
Sunday – probably going out for a drive.
An update on my twin sister’s situation: she has had her biopsy and is awaiting the results to plan out the next step. I had an ultrasound and mammogram myself this week and everything turned out to be OK. I have some fatty tissue called a lipoma and I am going to a breast surgeon to check that out – because we don’t know where my sister’s suspicious cancerous lump came from. I am not worried about this and either is my doctor – we are just covering all the bases.
Looking forward to in April: April is one of my favourite months of the year as it coincides with the true beginning of autumn here in Melbourne. The weather is definitely much cooler, although we didn’t really have a brutal summer like we have had in the past.
My DIL’s birthday is on the 4th and then we have Easter – which is lovely.
Also – daylight saving ends tonight – I always hate the start of daylight saving, but by now I am use to it, but to me the ending of it signals the start of autumn too.
Genevieve, sending positive thoughts to your sister and glad you checked ok. My MIL lived well for 40 years after BC, even with reoccurrence; technology is so much better now. I am wishing you both good health. 🙂
Thank you Lacey – your kind thoughts and wishes are greatly appreciated. And yes, the technology and treatment is so much better these days than in the past.
I’m glad to read that you are getting follow-up as reassurance about your own health, G.
As for heading into autumn, I’m envious! We’re heading into spring (if it ever turns reliably warmer) but spring, like fall, is very short-lived here and before you know it, we’re into a long-lasting, humid, oppressive heatwave (my garden is nicest in spring but it gets “cooked” very quickly).
Thank you Mariella – I didn’t think I had any issues, but you never know. I feel a lot better myself knowing that I am OK and I do think that because my sister’s lump hasn’t spread to her lymph nodes, that she will be OK too.
In terms of our weather – our summer wasn’t as bad as has been in the past – quite a lot of humidity though, but not days and days of 35C+ weather that absolutely kills me. So maybe your summer won’t be as brutal either. Fingers crossed.
I am so glad you’re following up on your results. As a breast cancer survivor (16 years), I always encourage people to stay up on their regular screenings, and if anything positive comes up, treat it as soon as possible. Best of thoughts to you and your sister.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Electrum Cosmetics Dark Magic and Galaxia!
Weekend plans: Hopefully get some rest and get rid of this headache I’ve had all day!
What are you looking forward to in April? I have a lot of medical appointments that I just want to be behind me!
I hope your headaches ease Zia – is it related to the weather you’ve been experiencing?
And I sincerely hope that your medical appts. turn out to deliver positive news for you. As someone who has just had a few myself, the waiting for results is really hard to take. Best wishes.
Those pups are adorable! Glad they’re being so well nursed before their next equally loving home!
Recent purchases: Haus Labs Hibiscus Haze. Gorgeous color, love how silky smooth it is, longevity is ok. Perhaps that’s why it’s so expensive but you get a lot of product. Rediscoveries: Terra Moons Coalescence, love this shifty light green for spring.
Weekend plans: spring cleaning.
April wishes: finding a great moisturizer with SPF that works with tinted mineral SPF and temperature extremes. IDK if that’s possible. I’d like to try layering SPF and really get up to 50+. Challenging to find products that work together with no pilling and give consistently good results.
I think the Haus Labs blushes were really beautiful and it’s good to read that you are enjoying its texture.
The couple of SPF 50+ sunscreens that I use here in Melbourne Aus, necessary because of our hot summers, is the La Roche Posay’s ultra light 50+ (which also acts as a bit of a moisturiser and primer) and more recently Dermaveen’s Sensitive face and skin 50+ – which is excellent.