Overcoming Shopper's Guilt

So, does anyone read Things I Bought That I Love? It's Mindy Kaling's blog—she plays Kelly on The Office and also writes for the show. Sadly, she doesn't update too often, but I love reading her posts because I like living vicariously through people who have more money than I do. Personally, I have an incredible case of shopper's guilt. I can't buy anything without fretting about the money that I've spent on it. Like I still feel guilty for buying The Sims 2 in 2004. This is five years of guilt, people. I have a real problem.

However, occasionally, I buy something that is so fantastic that I am able to enjoy it freely after only, like, maybe a week of shopper's guilt. This is a huge victory for me, and I feel so awesome about these purchases that I just have to tell people.

Black Corduroy Jacket, Smart Set

First of all, I totally love Smart Set. They have super cute clothes in classic styles, but trendy colours. I can wear things from this season and look fairly fashionable and when I re-wear this season's styles next season, I will still look plenty cute, just maybe not trendy, because it's not the hottest colours. I'm poor, so I can deal with that just fine. And Smart Set is totally affordable and I can't complain about the quality, except the time I tried to iron one of their shiny camis and it melted, but I'm willing to accept full responsibility for that blunder. The major drawback is that it's only in Canada, so I hardly ever buy anything from there. Usually getting to Canada breaks my budget and there's no money for frivolous shopping while I'm there. I don't know why I was feeling so wealthy the last time I went to Toronto and buying this jacket actually wasn't the best idea ever once I got home and checked my bank account, but you know what? I didn't care. Two nights of wearing this jacket and feeling fabulous made me totally forget my shopper's guilt. I'd link to it on the website, but their website is kind of a hot mess and I can't get it to work, so you'll have to believe me that it was less than $50, full price, and you can settle for this photo of me modeling it, instead of an actual model who looks more fabulous than me. Oh, and the shirt under it is also Smart Set and was only $15 or something ridiculous. Fabulous sales.

Photo of me entering the Toronto subway for the first time by Christina!

Green Walnut Masque, Warren Tricomi

OK, so full disclosure: I work for a large beauty retailer, and I've had some training on this brand. But they're not paying me that much, trust me, so I wouldn't just promote the products that we sell without really believing in them. I have fine-textured hair and a scalp that tends to be oily, but I flat iron the ends under and put it up in ponytail holders when it gets longer, so I definitely deal with some breakage. I'd been thinking about trying a reparative conditioner, but I didn't want anything that would weigh my hair down. Enter the Green Walnut Masque by Warren Tricomi to the tune of an angelic chorus. I substitute Green Walnut for my normal volumizing conditioner (the Lemongrass one by MOP) once a week, usually on Saturdays or whenever I want my hair to look and feel extra amazing (usually for the benefit of a boy who doesn't notice), and the difference is fantastic. My hair feels healthier, lays flatter (without being heavy-flat), the breakage is less noticeable, and it's really shiny. Completely awesome product. It's $38, but using it only once a week, I'm expecting it to last a year, maybe even longer, so I think it's completely worth it. For friends with more texture to their hair or a drier scalp, I'm told that their Daily Hair Masque is just as fantastic—and you don't really need to use it daily.

This concludes this blog post. I'll do my best to write about something less frivolous next time.