Update on Dior Diva Charm Bracelet

So for all of you who want or have gotten the bracelet, I have a bit of a warning you should heed.


There's a little booklet that comes in the bracelet box about how to keep the metal away from such things as solvents, oils and water.  Yep, water! I thought they were lying but this is costume jewelry so maybe I should have listened.


At first I would take off the bracelet before washing my hands but I got lazy that last couple of weeks and kept it on.  The result???


Some of the links on the bracelet have discolored to a light brass color.  It's only on part of the link ad not the entire thing but it's a bit annoying when you look at it close up and think it's the light then realize it's not.


But for me I knew that I wasn't going to take care of this bracelet and so it's not such a big deal to me.  But for those who get upset about such things, keep you're bracelet away from water.

Happy Almost Holidays: Fingerpaints Special Effects and Ninjabread Men

Lets just say I'm pretty worn out.  I really wanted to sleep when I got home but as many will attest to, it's hard to sleep when you really want to.

Update on my ticket:

I finally got some info looking online using my citation number.  Only problem was that they give you 21 days to do something about it and this Friday would be my only opportunity.  So I woke up early, had DBF drive me to the courthouse, told the cashier that I wanted to take traffic school but couldn't afford the ticket fine and set a court date for April.

Now if you didn't know, California is notorious for having huge ticket fines.  My total (including traffic school fee and convenience fee) came to $420.20.  Now I don't lay golden eggs so I knew there was no way I could come up with that amount.

Hopefully with the court date so far away I will at least be able to save up for my fine if the judge is unwilling to reduce the fine or offer a payment plan.  Just another lesson to be careful when you live in a cash-strapped state and it's nearing the end of the month.  I'm going to be driving extra-old-lady-slow this Christmas weekend.

I also recently discovered that there will be no gift exchanges this year in my family.  This kind of sucks because I love giving gifts.  In fact I already bought the gifts and now I have the arduous (and kinda embarrassing) task of returning it all to Bloomingdale's.

I'm sure I'm going to get some dirty looks from some pissed off SA for returning all this stuff.

Cosmetic

Onto Fingerpaints!  They have new topcoats that give a duochrome flakie effect.  These are awesome but also slightly more expensive compared to the regular line.  My receipt shows the special effects polishes at $5.49 each while my regular bottle was $4.99 each. 

Not too bad, and right now with a 3 bottle purchase of Fingerpaints you get a free clutch.

Twisted and Flashy

So I got Twisted and Flashy

Flashy is a red to gold to green duochrome.  This is much like the flakies seen in Nfu Oh 51 except there is no base color.

Flashy and Twisted over black without flash

Twisted is different.  It looks to me as if they mixed all of the other colors they came up with and bottled it as this.  This looks like a rainbow on your finger with multiple shades showing at the same angle.  You get flashes of aqua, blue, purple, red, green and gold.  It's unique and so festive.

Flashy and Twisted over black with flash

Confection

I was planning on making cookies and bringing them over to my old workplace.  However, due to reasons I really don't know about I have to stop by the lab on Saturday and Sunday.  This leaves me with no convenient opportunity to drop by my old workplace before I go to my current job.  I suppose I will have to make cupcakes and bring them in after the holidays.... sigh....

In either case here are my naked ninjabread men.

Ninjabread men. HIYAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

I tried adding a bit of cocoa powder to make them chocolaty but gingerbread really overpowers all of my deep dark cocoas.  They just ended up looking like chocolate cookies but tasting like gingerbread....

Well folks, that's all.  Have a wonderful weekend!

  

Let the Weekend Begin! Dior Diva Gift Reveal!!!!! Plus Schweddy Balls!!!

So it's been a rough week all around for me.  Last Saturday I got a ticket for speeding.  It could have been worse, well it can always be worse.... but it was a total buzz-kill for my long weekend.  

My mom had a reasoning that tickets were just involuntary and non-deductible donations to law enforcement.  As long as you could take traffic school or get it fixed, then consider yourself lucky.... and warned.

I suppose I inherited this reasoning.  No one wants to get a ticket, but I figure that I drive a somewhat flashy car and have a lead foot so it's inevitable.  At least I can take traffic school.

But during the week..... holy crapulence!  I will not go into details here, but let's just say I've been very close to giving my 2 weeks notice.  It is to the point that I do not care if I'm homeless, I just don't want to be there.

Onto the goodies!!!!!

Cosmetic (kind of)

So in my last post I talked a bit about the Dior Diva program.  I saved up my points and mailed them in to redeem them for a Dior charm bracelet.  Not many of you may know this, but Dior Beauty makes a good amount of costume jewelry.  I only see them available as special gifts or raffles. Some are very pretty, others look totally cheap.

The box I've been waiting for

Perfectly packaged

I got my charm bracelet today and it made the end of a crappy week into the beginning of an awesome weekend.

There's something to be said about the packaging and attention to detail.

Close up shot of box interior.  Seriously gorgeous.

A thank you card.

The gift also included a deluxe mini of Miss Dior Cherie which is such a sweet and pretty fragrance.

Pretty gift

Pretty box

A snugly wrapped gift

I am absolutely in love with this bracelet!  It fits me perfectly, so for all you smaller wristed guys and gals this may be too big.  I was seriously worried that it would be too small.  It has a toggle closure (which I'm not a fan of) but the toggle is extra secure.  I might add something else there to make it more secure and ease my paranoia.

The receiving loop says Dior Beauty on it.  It's even printed on both sides.

Such a pretty bracelet

The charms on the bracelet are a Dior shopping bag, square gift box and circle gift box.  Again I can't believe the attention to detail.  The front of the gift boxes has a cute bow and the backs say Dior.  The shopping bag also says Dior on both sides.  The metal is so shiny, I feel bad that I will dull and scratch it up because I'll be wearing it so much.

Another thing to note is that the bracelet has some weight to it.  I like bracelets to be heavy since you can lose a lighter bracelet and not even notice.  This is perfectly weighted so that you notice it when you move your hand but it doesn't cause fatigue.  But I am stronger than most average women so that might be a different story with you.

Here's a close up of the charms.  The reflection you see on the charms is actually my camera.  

Again, I absolutely love this bracelet!  I am seriously considering to get another one once I reach 500 points again. 

If you love the bracelet but can't imagine ever meeting the point requirement, there is always (sad but true) Ebay.  If you look up Dior charm bracelet you will see them going from less than $20 to around $70.  I think $70 is a lot and I would never get it for that much.  Granted I spent $500 to get this, but it was used to buy other stuff so I consider this bracelet to cost the price of a stamp and envelope.  

But if you don't use Dior beauty products and want the bracelet, I suppose paying $70 for something you love is better than buying $500 of stuff you'll never use just to get something for free.  But for that price I would just get Dior boutique costume jewelry.

Confection

Now there has been a long buzz about Schweddy Balls.  I looked everywhere to find a pint but failed time and time again.  I finally was able to get to my local scoop shop and scored big time!  The guy over packed my pint with Schweddy Balls.

Yumminess for the night (sorry for the dirty counter, think bf dropped meat and didn't clean up the sauce).

Seriously over-packed 

Schweddy Red Velvet

I really like this ice cream a lot, even more so than the Red Velvet ice cream.  It reminds me of something I would get from Humphry Slocombe (but not).  I suppose it's just personal preference though.  I heard many comments on there not being enough balls.  This was not the case for me.  Maybe because I got the last of the container the balls all sank but that's pretty unlikely.

As you can see, there's no lack of chocolate covered balls here.

Now is it hoard worthy?  Maybe.  I wouldn't hoard it but if it's on the menu I would totally get a scoop (or a pint).  Is it unique?  Yes and no.  These are flavors I've had before, but never in the same ice cream. The boozy caramel and malted ball crunch is a great combination.

Hmmm..... booze, caramel, crunch..... Aha!  Add Coke and it has similar components of a Secret Breakfast float (told ya it reminded me of Slocombe).

So if you have the chance to try it then I suggest you do.  But is it the ambrosia of the gods?  Far from it.