In the world before Almost Posh, I was a bit of a habitual review writer, including on Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook and Beauty Heaven.

Beauty Heaven is an Australian site featuring user-submitted product reviews, competitions, tutorials and general beauty news. Users can sign up and receive points based on site use and reviews submitted, which generates points, which in turn can be cashed in for products during regular Beautorium events.

I hadn't yet redeemed any of the points received from copious amounts of review writing as none of the one-off products had taken my fancy. So when I got an email inviting me to cash in 300 of said points in return for a surprise mini haul, I was so in!

The parcel arrived last Friday and the contents revealed forthwith:



Elegant Touch Nail Wraps

Since losing all ability to paint my own nails over the years, I have turned to nail wraps as a suitable alternative. I usually use the Sally Hansen ones which are quite easy to apply so will be interesting to see how these work. I like the monochrome polkadot patterns so will be busting them out "for good" soon!

Scholl Party Feet Heel Shields

These things are amazing, and I was pleased to receive a pair as they come so in handy for preventing blisters, heel rub and also getting shoes to fit properly. I seem to have some sort of foot condition whereby I'll try on a pair of shoes, feel like they fit perfectly, get them home then go to wear them of a morning and find my heels slipping straight out of the back. This definitely helps prevent such an issue and the squidgy soft gel ensures a good and comfortable fit. Scholl also make some other good foot products as reviewed here.

Kora Organic lip balm

I'm a Lucas' PaPaw Ointment kind of girl for lip balm but I popped this one on my lips to see how it went. It's in a proper lip balm dispenser tube with a slanted tip and the product is smooth and easy to apply. While the balm was indeed soothing to dry winter lips, the taste and smell lingered heavily around my mouth and I felt like I was breathing it in, which is unpleasant and not something I'd seek in a lip balm product. I think I'll stick to the magic red tube.

Colgate Total 12-Hour Toothpaste

While receiving toothpaste isn't terribly exciting, this is the brand I use regularly anyway, so obviously I'm already down with it. It feels like you get a good clean without being overly gritty or sweet. The mini size will be good for popping in the toiletry bag for travel.

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

Probably the most exciting item, as being actual make-up, I was yet to try this particular offering from Maybelline, so had a go this morning.

It has a curved brush tip which is a point of difference compared to my two mascaras currently on rotation - the Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect and Tarte Cosmetics Lights Camera Lashes.



It applied relatively smoothly but a little twitch and I had a mascara streak on my eyelid. Normally, this is just a flick of a cotton bud stick to remove but this stuff would. not. come. off. Mucking around with it resulted in under-eye transfer and then a couple of random cheek crumbs which was not cool. I essentially had to remake half of my face!


There you have a wrap-up of the Beauty Heaven mini haul. It was essentially free so no complaints. Did you go in for it? Are you a fan of the subscription box concept?

Linking up with the Fabulous and Fun Life Monday Makeup Madness Link Up Party!

For the second week of the Restyle 2015 style challenge, I had a bit of a stumble - my Sydney trip and forgetful packing activity meant that I had got behind in a few of the prompts and had to take some make-up photos to get back in the game.

Day 8 - Pencil Skirt



Feeling all secretarial in this Sportsgirl pleather pencil skirt from SWOP, mushroom (ugh!) Tokito knit with cute chain detail on collar from Savers and Lee Cooper ankle boots from Big W. Stacie and I really had to work to get this photo. We popped into the lobby of a suitably grand building and our posing kept getting interrupted as people annoyingly went about their business. How very dare they. #modellyf

Day 9 - Neon



It's nigh on impossible to get a photo accurately depicting a true neon shade (well, on an iPhone 5s it is, anyway). I picked up this Cotton On scarf at the RSPCA op shop in Prospect earlier this year. I'm not really feeling it though, it throws an awful lot of light up to the face and makes me look jaundiced so it's going into the donation bag before too much longer.

Day 10 - Animal Print



Pretty easy for a leopard lover like me although when it really came down to it, a lot of my animal print items were new and not restyled! I did, however, have this Millers blouse via Savers for just such an occasion. I'd not worn it tucked in with a skirt (ASOS via Vinnie's) like this either and was happy with the overall result. Roar.

Day 11 - Polka Dots



I scrambled for ages trying to think of something for this prompt that wasn't bought new and finally remembered these scarves that belonged to my Grandma. I need to learn how to tie them appropriately for full effect! Polka dots are fun and clearly I need more.

Day 12 - 90s



You know your girl loves some 90s looks, only this day I was flying up to Sydney and wanted to wear jeans and it was all too hard so I put up this regram of an earlier outfit in an opshopped Cotton On dress, grey tights and lace up boots. I am still all about this look. And if I see an A-line button-through denim mini for the right price, I may just have to revisit that look too!

As a bonus, I hadn't worn jeans this blue since the 90s so I guess that counts?



Day 13 - Glam

So last Friday I popped myself on a plane and headed up to Sydney for a little mini-break.


Obligatory wing shot. Nice to be above the clouds for once though.


I decided to treat myself to a magazine at the airport. Obvs I haven't bought one for a while (as in years) and clearly I'm getting old because I was all like "OMG, $8.20?" It wasn't even that good! Full of bad brows, Anne Hathaway and unwearable, overpriced items that I didn't even like. Definitely sticking to blogs for my fashion fix in future.

I arrive in Sydney in unexpectedly warm weather, do the bag drop and get ready to hit the streets in my Converse, my new favourite jeans and a new jumper, both from Cotton On.


And by "hitting the streets", I mean "the shops".


That's right, ladies . . . *cue angelic choir*


I had been pre-warned that it would not be the most serene and relaxed of shopping environments so I was ready to throw elbows if I needed and ain't nobody gonna hustle me out of the way of the things I'm looking at. I spent a long, long time browsing, poking, swatching, twiddling and sniffing. Happily, I made it out with only some light markings:


So what did I get? Well, I'm glad you asked.



Made the unfortunate discovery that the "centrally located" hotel I'd chosen was indeed located centrally to Central Station which, as the name suggests, had quite a lot of train-based activity through the night, in that each one of them honked their air horn as they went into the tunnel, right outside my room. Did I also mention I was also rolling with some sort of bug/virusy thing? So, no sleep then. Awesome.

The next day, I felt rubbish but managed to pull myself together for a walk around in the gorgeous weather in my winter whites (aka legs) that haven't seen the sun since March.








My plan was to shop like crazy. But have you ever noticed that when you have the cash, the time, the opportunity and the inclination to shop, there's nothing to buy? I wandered in and out of shops and saw nothing I liked. So I didn't load up like I thought I would. A couple of items that will be revealed in a later blog post. Oooh.

Then it was time to meet my blogger blind date . . .

Christina from Love That Lippie!


We met in front of Sephora and dipped in for another go. Christina had a hit list and I couldn't resist picking up the Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipstick in Lolita (after grabbing one for my friend Stacie the day before) and a tightline mascara mini from IT Cosmetics.


We then sat down for beautifully presented tea, cake and a lengthy chit-chat about all things beauty, blogging and beyond! Christina's blog presents unfiltered, unedited lip swatches from all brands budget to luxe as well as other fun makeup looks and things, with a humourous and real approach. So check it out if you've not done so.


Christina is totes lovely. I was so happy I got in touch with her to meet up while I was there and she made the effort to come all the way into town to meet me despite being under the weather AND she was rocking a beautiful bold lip as anticipated! 

Here we are "finding our light".




I then dragged her all over the CBD as my phone took us in varying different directions back to the train station. Sorry again, Christina!

After another largely sleepless night, I had time for another good walk around the area, admiring historical buildings before brunch.




Before I knew it, I was at the airport and heading home, where there waiting for me were my daughter, husband and NEW KATE SPADE PURSE.


So how was your weekend? I think I need a weekend to recover from this one! 

As you will probably know if you've read this blog more than twice, I am a keen and reasonably successful op shopper/eBayer/trader/receiver of second-hand goods.



When I saw the Restyle 2015 challenge pop up on Instagram and at In The Dress Up Box, I knew I'd have to get amongst it, given that it's unusual for me not to be wearing a second-hand item on any given day. With Stacie and Jen also on board, we were ready to play!

Restyle is part of the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival and has local bloggers, fashion identities, designers etc. showing how to work op shopped items into everyday looks, partnering with a host of op shop charities and encouraging people to play along on social media for their chance to walk the Restyle Runway. I would love to see something like this happen in Adelaide and would totally volunteer to assist if anyone is keen to get it going.

Day 1 - "Tribal"



This was a difficult one for me straight off the bat. I had an Aztecy-style print sleeveless top but it was bought retail. Would I have to bail on the very first prompt?? Then I found this vaguely tribal necklace in my collection that I'd bought from Savers and still hadn't worn so I was planning to build an outfit around it. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling up to going to work so I created this little display instead with one of my vintage elephant book-ends.

Day 2 - "Denim"

Did you know that here in South Australia, we've had a ban on lightweight checkout-style plastic shopping bags since 2009, resulting in almost 400 million less plastic bags per year?

You can still get the heavier kind at department stores like Myer and David Jones but when it comes to groceries and some discount stores like Kmart or Big W, it's BYO bags or buy a reusable bag for 15 cents each.

[image credit]

Sure, at first, it was a bit of a pain to remember to take the reuseable green bags with you into the shops and supermarkets soon had to issue edicts that shoppers brought enough to comfortably fit all of their groceries and not try and cram a week's worth of items for a 4-person family into two bags to avoid the 15 cent charge on further bags but otherwise, most normal people just cracked on with life.

There are arguments that people now have to buy plastic bin liners instead of using their shopping bags and that the environmental impact has been minimal. Personally, I feel it's about changing habits and even though I'm not rampagingly green, I like to do what I can; including recycling, waste sorting and minimising consumption of one-use bags.

For this reason, I (and most women I know) carry a small foldable shopping bag in the handbag permanently for those impulse buys carefully considered purchases or nicking into the shops for the few necessities like bread and milk and heavily reduced Maybelline products.

Practical? Yes. Stylish? Not heaps.

So when local South Australian business Pleatopia got in touch with their chic and clever fashion bags, I was so on board. Fashion? Bags? I'm there!

Pleatopia Fashion Bags in "Flamingo" and "Nocturnal" RRP - $19.95 each

As you might know, I'm on a mission to downsize my handbag and have been working at downsizing the things within it to save on space; including my Kindle, my purse (still in progress) and my card holder (need to buy a phone cover that will hold my Metrocard so I can ditch the card holder altogther). 

The Pleatopia in pouch form is a little bigger than my original foldable bag but squishes much flatter.






The innovative pleating allows the bags to expand and contract as required. So you are only carting around a bag the size of the object inside. 

Nifty.



The Pleatopia bags are a little shorter than the "standard" folding shopping bag but the expansive design means you can probably get the same volume in. 




Pleatopia offer free shipping Australia-wide, which is a big thumbs-up from me. They also ship internationally and there are 9 appealing colours to choose from. They're made of polyester and you can wash them . . . just don't iron them! (As if you I would)




Being green isn't all hemp pants and world music. Now you can be environmentally friendly and styling too! 

************************************

This post is sponsored by Pleatopia Fashion Bags. Items were gifted for review. For more information, please see my PR and Media Policy.

Me telling other people what they should do to manage their money is a bit like getting lessons in humility from Kanye, so let’s call it a "lessons still learning" workshop.



I have a rich history of being somewhat fiscally irresponsible, from funding overseas holidays entirely on a credit card to being sucked into purchasing an expensive glamour photo package from Studio 2000 (I KNOW, LOL) on same credit card plus a myriad of personal and store finance loans coupled with a significant love of shopping and a touch of FOMO.

At one point, I was looking at a total personal debt of around $12k which is not cute. Luckily, my financially stable and infinitely sensible husband agreed to help out by rejigging the mortgage to pay out this debt which I was then able to contribute back into at a steady weekly rate. An increase in earnings and a lack of other bills made it easier to consolidate and learn to manage my money better.

Once that was done and our house was totally paid off, I was cracking along quite nicely and not owing anything to anyone except utilities. I even got used to being paid monthly - which took a number of years to adjust from fortnightly – when we had some significant financial events occur; the arrival of Miss L via IVF (which isn't free), a resulting year of maternity leave and the purchase of our new house.

Everyone has different ways of managing their household budgets. Mr AP and I have always had separate personal accounts and pay the same amount monthly into a joint fund that goes towards bills, groceries, child care and other expenses. We’re responsible for our own phone bills, vehicle insurances etc and generally there is no need for consultation on the spending of private money. Which means I don’t have to justify any personal purchases!

Recently I have been working at getting my finances a bit more in order, trying to better align my full-time tastes to my part-time budget.

Getting a better bank deal

[image credit]

For years I kept using my everyday bank account because I had won it as a prize in a public speaking competition in Year 12 and felt some sort of sentimental attachment to it. To a bank account. I’m not even joking. However, a friend recently signed up to ING Direct and the fee free ATMs, 2% cash back on Paywave purchases under $100, no account keeping fees and the additional sweetener of a $250 Webjet voucher each sealed the deal. I made 11 free dollars last month! This isn’t a sponsored post, by the way, I’m a genuinely impressed new customer and am wondering why I haven’t made the change sooner. Because I’m a sentimental moron, that’s why. There are a range of online banks out there, including Heritage Bank, that are all vying for your cash storage business by offering some pretty rad perks, so investigate and find the one that's right for you.

Credit cards

[image credit]

If you must have a credit card (and if you can get away with not having one, you’re probably better for it), do a comparison to see what works best for you, your lifestyle, spending preferences and credit needs. Some people have cards that rack up loyalty points or Frequent Flyers so put absolutely everything on the card then cash in on flights and other goods. Some people only have a credit card for emergencies or big purchases and prefer a low fee/low interest rate card. Some are linked to other loyalty programs or get cash back through bank accounts. There are loads of comparison sites, so check them out. If you have an existing balance, you might be able to get a sweet deal on a balance transfer and take advantage of an interest-free period to allow you to chip away at the total.

Home loans

[image credit]

If you’re paying off a mortgage, when was the last time you sussed out your home loan options? It costs nothing to have someone come over and go through it with you to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Banks rely on people not being bothered enough or having a misplaced sense of loyalty (like me) to keep them in check. Don’t be a sucker! Get onto it! You could save an actual load of bucks just for the sake of making someone a cup of coffee as they sit in your lounge room with you, explaining your best options. We have used our man for years; to refinance our old loan and work out a bridging loan for the purchase of our new house. It's almost time to get him back over, make him a coffee with three sugars and see if we are getting the best deal possible.

Utilities

[image credit]

It’s not just your home loan. Ring up your utility companies and politely demand to be on the best rates or plan available. You know they don't automatically adjust you to be on new lower rates and stuff, right? Ring up your mobile phone provider and gently inform them you’re going elsewhere if they don't recognise. Actually follow through on this if you find a better deal. I recently kicked my big-name mobile provider to the kerb and took up a much more affordable SIM-only plan with my home internet provider that gives me a ridic amount of data for less than half of what I was paying per month. Sometimes the break contract fee is worth it. Always investigate bundles too. Plans and deals are always changing, so make sure you are regularly in touch with all of your plan providers to make sure you’re getting the best value for money, including private health and other insurances, pay TV and more!

I used to feel mortified at the thought of asking for discounts, rebates and the like. Recently, my father-in-law told me his fee for a new SIM card was waived by the same provider I just signed up with. I rang them the next morning and got mine waived too. That's $20 back in the joint account, just for asking. Be nice, be polite, be friendly, thank the operator for their help and tell them you appreciate it. It all goes a long way. You never know what they write in your customer profile notes!

Get cash out

[image credit]

I used to keep about $20 - $40 cash money on me and hit up everything via EFTPOS which, while convenient, doesn’t give you good visibility of your bank balance. Nothing beats that bowel-cramping shame after you cheerily punch in your PIN to be greeted with “Declined – Insufficient Funds”. A housemate once told me to get out my spending money in cash on pay day and work from that to give a better feel for your real money, not that invisible stuff that regenerates every time you wave your plastic in front of the sensor. If you’re worried about carting around large sums, keep some at home in an envelope and restock your purse as required. Try not to keep your details electronically. Actually getting up to get your credit card to punch your number into your computer can be enough to demotivate a reckless impulsive purchase! (For this reason, I both love and hate PayPal)

Diarise your scheduled payments

[image credit]

In my electronic calendar, I have Pay Day as a recurring entry every fortnight, plus recurring entries for the mortgage and the joint account contribution amounts. This is to give me visibility on what's coming and going (mostly going) from my accounts so I don't think I am flush with cash and go and spend on something frivolous totally necessary.

The very excellent Smaggle has recently posted an article on How To Stop Spending Money, I suggest you check it out for additional resourceful tips. 

Also, never ask me if you should buy something because I will enable the hell out of you.