Last summer I bought myself a vintage silver wrapped stone necklace, amethyst, agate, citrine, carnelian and whatever. The dangly clangy nature of this piece won many compliments and it therefore became the official summer necklace of 2008. I found a bracelet in all aquamarine with a similar look which I mixed with a sultry collection of silver bangles and I was good to go for the whole summer.
It was a good look then and it is a good look now, but I have the maximalist urge to have variations on the theme. Vintage is sort of out as this jangly look is pretty popular on ebay, Tias, and other antique sites, so I have been rooting around ebay and etsy for other pieces with color and movement and facets. After all if you are looking for quantity of looks at a reasonable price these are the places you go. Using the search "necklace stones sterling dangle" I browsed through hundreds of items on etsy without finding what I was looking for. There were some pretty necklaces to be sure but nothing with the "look" I want for this summer.
I did better on ebay.
Lately I have been noticing a virtual stone jewelry explosion and plenty of these pieces claim to be precious stones, meaning emeralds, rubies, or sapphires. I have seen these locally at craft stores and with price tags in the 250-600 dollar range. Not what I am looking for at all.
Ebay is a mixed bag always and no matter what the sellers say and no matter how fine their feedback is, it is a crap shoot. But in this case it was a cheap crap shoot. A seller from Delhi was offering many many dangly necklaces in a variety of stones. You could get citrines, amethysts, rubies, sapphires and yes, emerald (all said to be natural, read occluded and not Cartier quality) at a good price. I went for the emeralds. A very jangly emerald and sterling necklace with matching earrings became mine for about 45 dollars. I know I will not be tricked out like Catherine the Great but that is of no importance. The goal here is a swingy necklace for summer!
I would post a link but the seller has her name Kaya_Jewels posted on the pics so I dare not try it. But as soon as I get it in the mail you'll see what I did with my money!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
New From Yves Rocher
I have no warmth for fragrance snobbery and love to find myself pleasantly surprised by a yummy cheapie scent. B&BW have some great deals, and Ava-Luxe is niche on a budget with some of the most scrumptious gourmands ever.
Now I'm going to chat a few about some rock bottom bargains from the land of haute parfumerie, France. There are bargains galore if you hunt online and if you get tres lucky at TJMaxx or Marshall's, but for consistent cheap fun I have turned to Yves Rocher, originally a mail order beauty emporium with a great website. I think of it as France's answer to Avon, a nice quality product, a versatile range of options and always something on sale.
The makeup and moisturizing options are pretty similar with points going to Avon for adopting more sophisticated formulas more quickly. Yves Rocher features natural oils and extraits, but if you want modern science Avon is the way to go.
I give a decisive TKO to YR when it comes to fragrances. Soliflores abound and they came out early with the ubiquitous tea scented eaux. They also offer a nice line of standards and always have and offer fun summer limited editions which are truly limited, so if you love them do stock up.
I started buying YR as a college girl (MSU 1970s) after I spied an introductory offer in a magazine. I bought a shampoo for redheads, some lipsticks and most importantly a bottle of Ispahan, a deep dark oriental fragrance that was unlike any of the woods and florals in my price range at the time. I was hooked back then on their natural chic and they were among the very first to employ the charm of nature. Sure there was Cornsilk makeup of the "An ear of corn gave its life so you could be beautiful", but nobody had the depth of the YR line. I have been a devotee ever since.
Anyway, back to the present. If you are on a budget or a shoe fanatic who just doesn't care to spend a lot of money on perfume, you can quench your thirst for fragrance at the Yves Rocher website AND have the added plus of not being able to sniff yourself all over town. Let the other females buy the latest CK or Escada summer flanker, you can laugh all the way to the bank by choosing good old Yves Rocher and can rub their "green" cred in your friends' faces too! What's not to love?
You also have options galore. Are you the soliflore type? Indulge in their gardenia, lilac, or lily offerings. If you want to crank it up a bit and choose a sultry floral Rose Absolue and Iris Noir are swankier, spicier florals that can be had cheaply with a discount or coupon. They also give you soli-fruits, if their is such a word, and their strawberry scent is second to none for realism. Yum. And it comes in a bdy lotion too. Double yum.
Hunt around and take a look at their Comme une Evidence, Neblina and Cocoon lines. Make it natural and try Naturelle. Go retro with Clea or the Ispahan reissue or do what I did and opt for the nouvelle summer scent Green Summer. I am really enjoying this one. Citrus galore, it is cool for the hot days and has enough floral presence to make you feel feminine too. The lasting power is just okay, but the bottle is 75ml and will last a long time. For twenty dollars, give it a whirl and they will also send you some fun freebies.
Now I'm going to chat a few about some rock bottom bargains from the land of haute parfumerie, France. There are bargains galore if you hunt online and if you get tres lucky at TJMaxx or Marshall's, but for consistent cheap fun I have turned to Yves Rocher, originally a mail order beauty emporium with a great website. I think of it as France's answer to Avon, a nice quality product, a versatile range of options and always something on sale.
The makeup and moisturizing options are pretty similar with points going to Avon for adopting more sophisticated formulas more quickly. Yves Rocher features natural oils and extraits, but if you want modern science Avon is the way to go.
I give a decisive TKO to YR when it comes to fragrances. Soliflores abound and they came out early with the ubiquitous tea scented eaux. They also offer a nice line of standards and always have and offer fun summer limited editions which are truly limited, so if you love them do stock up.
I started buying YR as a college girl (MSU 1970s) after I spied an introductory offer in a magazine. I bought a shampoo for redheads, some lipsticks and most importantly a bottle of Ispahan, a deep dark oriental fragrance that was unlike any of the woods and florals in my price range at the time. I was hooked back then on their natural chic and they were among the very first to employ the charm of nature. Sure there was Cornsilk makeup of the "An ear of corn gave its life so you could be beautiful", but nobody had the depth of the YR line. I have been a devotee ever since.
Anyway, back to the present. If you are on a budget or a shoe fanatic who just doesn't care to spend a lot of money on perfume, you can quench your thirst for fragrance at the Yves Rocher website AND have the added plus of not being able to sniff yourself all over town. Let the other females buy the latest CK or Escada summer flanker, you can laugh all the way to the bank by choosing good old Yves Rocher and can rub their "green" cred in your friends' faces too! What's not to love?
You also have options galore. Are you the soliflore type? Indulge in their gardenia, lilac, or lily offerings. If you want to crank it up a bit and choose a sultry floral Rose Absolue and Iris Noir are swankier, spicier florals that can be had cheaply with a discount or coupon. They also give you soli-fruits, if their is such a word, and their strawberry scent is second to none for realism. Yum. And it comes in a bdy lotion too. Double yum.
Hunt around and take a look at their Comme une Evidence, Neblina and Cocoon lines. Make it natural and try Naturelle. Go retro with Clea or the Ispahan reissue or do what I did and opt for the nouvelle summer scent Green Summer. I am really enjoying this one. Citrus galore, it is cool for the hot days and has enough floral presence to make you feel feminine too. The lasting power is just okay, but the bottle is 75ml and will last a long time. For twenty dollars, give it a whirl and they will also send you some fun freebies.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Pain
I read another blog today in which the blogger wrote about receiving discouraging comments from parents. She said she would have rather her parents said "You can do it" instead of "there's time to change"(career directions). I'm not 100% sure what it is she was trying to do, but it sounded like a teaching job, and you know, I bet she would be a great teacher.
There are a lot of challenging jobs out there. And not all of them pay spectacularly well or require some secret innate talent. Some just require a long adjustment period, before you feel totally comfortable, before you "hit your stride". Sometimes it takes a while to obtain that special sixth sense, a feeling that you instinctively know what to do, how to respond or what to say.
Take my job for instance. I am a psychiatric nurse. It is not glamorous but it is challenging and it takes years before you truly trust yourself to make correct decisions and even then you second guess yourself alot. The reality is that you can learn about medications and state laws and you can practice cognitive therapy techniques until you're blue in the face and it doesn't always work out.
The job is dangerous. Patients are frequently not ready to accept a diagnosis and they lie to your face. They are frustrating. But when it all comes together and you help someone dig themselves out of their state or understand the chronicity of their illness and learn to love their life anyway, the rewards are breathtaking.
The frustrating parts are real. And the danger is unpredictable, anything can happen.
I have learned not to complain because even at my age people say "It's not too late to change". Yes it is and I don't wanna.
So miss L, you'll get there and you'll thrive.
But you're wrong about something. When it comes to job hunting and networking sometimes luck has everything to do with it. And that's unpredictable too. What sort of "luck"? You never know. In my case when I applied to my dream job I thought it was futile. But I got in, in fact the HR person said "I really want you". I was elated, thinking that my qualifications and interests were key. They were not. It was my name. Seems she hired several other people with the same first name and they had worked out well, so she chose me. If my first name had been the same as somebody who quit before orientation had finished or who was fired for cause I would have never been hired. This was corroborated by others who had watched this trend over time. So luck matters, sometimes.
There are a lot of challenging jobs out there. And not all of them pay spectacularly well or require some secret innate talent. Some just require a long adjustment period, before you feel totally comfortable, before you "hit your stride". Sometimes it takes a while to obtain that special sixth sense, a feeling that you instinctively know what to do, how to respond or what to say.
Take my job for instance. I am a psychiatric nurse. It is not glamorous but it is challenging and it takes years before you truly trust yourself to make correct decisions and even then you second guess yourself alot. The reality is that you can learn about medications and state laws and you can practice cognitive therapy techniques until you're blue in the face and it doesn't always work out.
The job is dangerous. Patients are frequently not ready to accept a diagnosis and they lie to your face. They are frustrating. But when it all comes together and you help someone dig themselves out of their state or understand the chronicity of their illness and learn to love their life anyway, the rewards are breathtaking.
The frustrating parts are real. And the danger is unpredictable, anything can happen.
I have learned not to complain because even at my age people say "It's not too late to change". Yes it is and I don't wanna.
So miss L, you'll get there and you'll thrive.
But you're wrong about something. When it comes to job hunting and networking sometimes luck has everything to do with it. And that's unpredictable too. What sort of "luck"? You never know. In my case when I applied to my dream job I thought it was futile. But I got in, in fact the HR person said "I really want you". I was elated, thinking that my qualifications and interests were key. They were not. It was my name. Seems she hired several other people with the same first name and they had worked out well, so she chose me. If my first name had been the same as somebody who quit before orientation had finished or who was fired for cause I would have never been hired. This was corroborated by others who had watched this trend over time. So luck matters, sometimes.
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