Buff'd Cosmetics..Canadian jewel ..Review

Okay my third investigation of a mineral makeup company is of Buff'd Cosmetics out of Canada.

They offer more than just makeup. They offer body products as well.

I got samples which were $1.50 for a baggie of product. I got 3 foundations and 1 blush sample. They have cute names for the foundations like Apricot, Ginger, Saffron, and Magnolia. I got samples in Apricot, Warm and Pecan in the "Original Mineral Formula. "

Buff'd comes in three formulations: (the next descriptions taken from the webpage)

Available in three outstanding formulations:

original: a great full-coverage foundation with fantastic oil absorption and natural UV protection. ingredients: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, mica, iron oxides, ultramarines

light: specifically for those who prefer a lightweight foundation that still offers buildable coverage and great oil absorption. ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxides, ultramarines

concealing: made with a touch of kaolin clay offering even better coverage with greater oil absorption. Ideal for those with combination to oily skin and a great spot concealer. ingredients: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxides, kaolin clay, mica, ultramarines

The Warm shade was too yellow..didn't even have to open that one. The Pecan shade was a little too dark and looked a little too dark almost orangy on my skin. Finally, the Apricot was just right. Blended seamlessly into my skin. It did feel a little chalky going on but once it settled it was like a second skin and weightless. It covered anything that needed to be covered without using concealer. That was indeed a wonderful surprise.

It was 91 degrees today and i had a lot of running around today. Another day of no air conditioning in the car while doing non-church driving (have to look nice at chruch so whole body MUST have cool air in the car) It lasted and i have to say i even got compliments on my skin and it's radiance. That was amazing.

full size jar: 21 grams volume / 10 grams weight $15
sample size: 1/2 teaspoon sample bag $1.50

The Blushes are another fun looking collection. They have fun names as well like Sugar Coated, Chick Pea, and Winterberry.
The blush sample i got was in the color "Tricky." The webpage descibes it as a Peachy pink with shimmer. At $12 it's not bad for the amount that you get. It felt creamy going on and has great staying power. A little goes a long way with this product as well.

A concentrated formula of all natural minerals and pigments, a small amount of our blush is enough to flush your cheeks with plenty of color.

ingredients: mica, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, iron oxides, ultramarines

full size jar: 14 grams volume / 3 grams weight $12
sample size: 1/4 teaspoon sample bag $1.00

They also carry setting powders for oil control, finishing powders for those with normal to dry skin and color correctors all with a wonderful explanation of key ingedients that make the product work as well as a list of all ingrdients. These are $12 as well for the same amountof product as the Blushes.

There are also bronzers and illuinators that serves as highlights for your cheeks.

Eyeshadows, Pure pigments and brown powders are all $8. There is a very good selection in each category. They even have a beautiful array of lipsticks for $12. The site is very simple in construction and very user friendly. I had not problem looking around and finding exactly what i needed to know. It took the item 4 business days to get from Canada to Central Texas..not bad at all.

I have a tough decision between the LA Minerals and the Buff'd Cosmetics. I like both.

LA Minerals a Texas cosmetics company..Fabulous!

Well, in my journey for the ultimate mineral makeup I have encountered quite a few web pages and have greatly increased my delicious list. Upon good reviews from several makeup blogs, I decided to get samples from LA Minerals.

They offer a full line of cosmetics from foundation to lip balm and skin care. All made in the US and at great prices. Slightly less expensive than BE in the foundation area but a little more expensive than Everyday Minerals, the quality of the LA Minerals product that truly speaks for this company.

LA Minerals offers 3 levels of coverage with theier loose mineral foundations:(descriptions are from the website)

1) Hollywood: Hollywood Face BaseTM is a premium, medium to heavy coverage mineral makeup foundation that includes the best minerals and all natural mineral pigments, blended into a light-reflecting powder. Enhanced with pure silk powder, silica micro-spheres, and boron nitride minerals. Sweep on our luxurious, premium mineral foundation for a natural and flawless finish.

If other mineral foundations left you overly glowy and itching...give Hollywood Face Base a try.

2) Valley Girl: Valley Girl mineral foundation is our newest addition to the L.A. Minerals line. Designed with specific skin issues in mind, this heavy coverage, matte formula is gentle, pure and soothing.

• Acneic skin: the addition of Allantoin, famous for it's healing properties, acts as an antiseptic and skin soother. Acne is often aggravated by pore clogging makeup which holds onto dirt and oils, causing more acne. Our Valley Girl mineral foudation is free of talc, perfumes, bismuth, and chemicals. Gentle, pure minerals, infused with healing ingredients.
• Oily Skin: the addition of Kaolin Clay, world reknown as a centuries old secret to absorbing oil, will help keep your makeup looking fresh all day long. Instead of trapping the oil in your skin, our Valley Girl formula wisks it away into the millions of ultra-fine, oil absorbing, Kaolin Clay particles.
• Scarred Skin: Using industry leading minerals created for more opacity, the Valley Girl formula is the perfect choice for skin with scars or uneven skin tones

3) NoHoGlo:
NoHoGlo Face Base:

North Hollywood, otherwise known as NoHo just added you to the hotty list! Are you ready to transform your dull, lifeless skin into that ready-for the camera look? Then NoHoGlo is for you! This formula leaves you with a flawless, lit-from-within look with light to medium coverage.

This Boron Nitride based formula offers the benefits of increased adhesion, lubricity, soft-focus effect, dewy appearance, air-brushed look, anti-inflammatory, and a silky natural feel. Fantastic for young and aging skin alike. It has a tightening effect while absorbing excess oil, without drying out your skin.



I got some foundation samples and found that I am a Medium Neutral in Hollywood formulation. The sample cost only $2.00 for a mini sifter jar. Also ordered some eyeshadow samples in Aladdin's Lamp and Playful, which were $1 each for a 1/4 teaspoon in a small baggie. Today I'm wearing the foundation and Aladdin's Lamp eyeshadow and I went out running errands in the Texas heat with no air conditioning ( trying to save gas since it's $2.35 in some areas and $2.25 in other areas and that just irks and worries me).

Let me back track, putting the foundation on was like placing silk on my face. I don't even feel it on my face. A little goes a long way with this product. My initial application resulted in a color slightly darker than i had anticipated. This morning, I lightly applied the product and found that the color really blended lightly. My pores were covered and the result was immaculate.
Running errands resulted in slight itches but were soon over and my face has no oily shine, just a luminous look. The Texas heat can't beat this stuff!

The eyeshadow went on so lightly and i needed very little to get a great hit of color. Considering the baggies is only 1/4 tsp that says a lot. There was also no fallout and it felt creamy on my eyelid.

The full on foundation jar costs: $19.95 for 8 grams of product. Given that this stuff will last longer since so little is needed, this is a great price for a long lasting product translation= more bang for your buck.

Full size eyeshadow costs: $8.95 for a jar of 5 grams. It's a dollar more than Coastal Scents where you get 0.05 oz of product with them. Everyday Minerals costs $6 and 3.5 grams I have yet to try the shadows but i bet they are nice as well)

Blush is $10.95 for 20 grams (nt wt 4g), Coastal scents 2 grams (NT weight) for $8.95, and EDM for 8g NT weight at $8. Must try thier blush as well.

I'm very happy with this company as well. So exciting to find local companies that offer great products at great prices and care about what they do and how they make their products. Fabulous!

Customer service is quick and they are very helpful with recommendations and getting you to find the right shade.

Overall, this company has impressed me and i think so far this company may be the one I go with for my trip to Puerto Rico. I have one more sample set coming in from a company called Buff'd Cosmetics. They are out of Canada so we'll try them out as well my samples are on the way already. Happy Blingn' yall!

Everyday Minerals..A Local Texas Company

The hunt for great makeup is an almost daily quest for most women. Weather, skin and life changes (like pregnancy) effect our skin in drastic ways. My skin has changed from being really oily to dry. It's odd. Along the way I discovered mineral makeup. My skin has become so sensitive that it's more sensitive than my Mom's now. I love Bareminerals. They have a great line and it looks great on me and has improved the condition of my skin.

However, i noticed that i have begun to itch with the summer heat upon us in San Antonio. I love my BE but the itching not so much. So to remedy this i have started searching for a new mineral line..that's when I found Everyday Minerals. Youtubers have greatly contributed to my desire to try this new company which I found is local for me..It's just a hop skip and a jump up I-35 to Austin. Though they don't have a physical store to walk in and purchase their online site is fabulous.

There is a sample kit you can purchase for just the cost of shipping (to San Antonio it was $3.28 and got here isn two days). You get 3 foundations, 1 blush and 1 concealer. They some nicely packaged in recycled tissue paper and it comes with a color chart to help you further decide which base wold be great for your skin-tone.



This company is totally inclusive of the skin out there. There are more foundations here than i have seen in a lot of mineral sites. In their FAQs they also help you try to define your skintone to their families of colors. When you slide your mouse over the color it gives a brief description of the color and which skintones the color would fit.

There there is the choice of coverage, from a dewy glow to intense, it will satisfy your choice in coverage. I am currently wearing the Semi-matte formula in Beige-medium Neutral. I want to try the Matte and Intense formulations in this color to figure out which one I'd like best. So I'm ordering a second sample kit since i have found my color..now I'm looking at intensity.

The base when looking to purchase full size is: $12 which is a little less than half the price of BE.

Next item in your kit: A Blush. This was so much fun choosing a blush. I have been mixing a mineral blush from Coastal Scents with a blush from Flirt! at Kohls to achieve this one color Everyday Minerals has. It's called Snooze Bar. It's Perfect! Just perfect for everyday! I'm so ordering the Big one. At $8 is an wallet pleaser!


The last item is a concealer called Multi-Tasking. I used it under my eyes and to cove any acne scarring and it worked perfectly. It is a great shade for me and makes me look fresh and awake.

The company is super eco-concious and you can read all about it in the FAQs and About Us section. For me personally it's great to have a local company because I wasn't to support my state economy and I LOVE that shipping doesn't take so long from Austin. I wonder if they can do a factory tour. That would be so cool. Also on the website you can sign up for their forums and read their blogs which showcase Austin and all the traveling the company does for their ingredients. It's very cool.

As a bibliophile, i loved that they had a set dedicated to Jane Austen..which was listed in one of the blog posts. That is just too cool.

Overall, this makeup has me on a good step as i try it out. We'll see how it works out as the days go by.

Beaded Bookmarks...Bling for your books!

Okay so i am a bibliophile.

I love books with great covers and great stories..who doesn't?

i find myself trying to coordinate my bookmarks to the story or to the cover...most times the cover...i love great cover art.

So i have made a few beaded bookmarks with Silver Plated Shepard's Hooks. Just so easy to threat a headpin and attach to the hook. Simple and an elegant look.

I'm going to add some to my Ecrater Store. It's hard parting with some of them because i get attached to the look.

I hope the photo editing stuff i Dled from Picasa helps.


This is so pretty. It's got cracked glass and a huge acrylic faceted bead with silver spacers. Every time I look at it, the word that comes to mind is "elegant." Though in the picture it looks very earthy. Any suggestions for a name?

Here is another one with glass beads and swarovksi beads. I have this one in copy of The Hindi-Bindi Club. Great read and has wonderful recipes too! I'm giving Indian cuisine a whirl this week and it's really flavorful! Using cilantro in a new way is so much fun. The flavor just feels so different with masalas. Yum!

I'm also reading a vampire novel and i have these dark burgundy czech beads that i wan tto use for the book. Then there are a few more i just made on a whim. Will post as soon as i can get them scanned and edited. Any suggestions on how to make the beads clear and beautiful would be great. I'm still new to the whole photo editing thingy.

I do take custom orders so if there is some biblio-bling that i can make for you let me know!

Happy Blingn!

Jewelry for the anniversary

With my 6th wedding anniversary coming up at the end of this month I wanted to do a post on jewelry appropriate for the occasion. Anything that sparkles is always great with me, however there is a new list of specific gemstones that one can present on such a grand occasion as a wedding anniversary.

Anniversary Year Stone or Precious Metal

1st Anniversary Gold

2nd Anniversary Garnet

3rd Anniversary Pearl

4th Anniversary Blue Topaz

5th Anniversary Sapphire

6th Anniversary Amethyst

7th Anniversary Onyx

8th Anniversary Tourmaline

9th Anniversary Lapis Lazuli

10th Anniversary Diamond

11th Anniversary Turquoise

12th Anniversary Jade

13th Anniversary Citrine

14th Anniversary Opal

15th Anniversary Ruby

20th Anniversary Emerald

25th Anniversary Sterling Silver

30th Anniversary Pearls

50th Anniversary Gold

60th Anniversary Diamond

65th Anniversary Star Sapphire

75th Anniversary Diamond

As you can see, a few of the gemstones are used for more than a single anniversary. Perhaps this is in part due to the widespread popularity of the particular jewel or gemstone.At any rate, most women love jewelry, so the gift of a brilliant gemstone on her wedding anniversary is sure to be appreciated.

Son weather it's a ring, necklace bracelet or other piece of jewelry I'm sure this list will greatly help your loved one find the perfect piece with a stone or metal that is appropriate for the year. also saves from over stimulation and indecision. Can't go wrong with a guide.

Silver Sneakers and the First Lady

Having seen the amazingly expensive silver kicks The First Lady was wearing. I thought that it was a little bit of an odd pair of sneakers to wear.

I found these at Zappos.com that would have been too nice and comfy.

They are 64.90 and wold have been just as nice as the ugly French shoes. Don't get me wrong I adore most things from France but every once in a while even they have an off day. These Sketchers are just too cute.

That's my thoughts on that..not a big rant but i feel better.