Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The not-so-official start of fall...

Happy (belated) Labour Day weekend!

Like many of the ladies here, I too returned to school quite recently. (As of yesterday, in fact.)

I will admit that I had some apprehension about it as I've been out of school for several months and, having finished a Masters degree, the "allure" of grad school has worn off somewhat. (By this I mean I know how much work it's going to be!) In spite of my concerns, I have been having a good time getting things organized with my advisor over the past couple of weeks and by the time I'd finished meeting all of the people in my new cohort yesterday (and catching up with my friends from the old cohort) most of my fears were allayed. Already things are shaping up quite nicely!

TransDesign
Anyway, because the universe loves balance, yesterday happened to be one of those days where everything just "worked". Among yesterday's "things that are awesome" was my order from TransDesign, an e-tailer I ran to after I'd heard that Head2Toe was no longer shipping China Glaze (Gena, ProLinc, Seche etc.) to Canada. (I like Head2Toe well enough, but I don't really order much besides polish so if you can't supply China Glaze well then...what's a girl to do?) If you e-mail Head2Toe they'll tell you that they're complying with an order from AII, China Glaze's parent company, but AII hasn't confirmed this for me and none of the other e-tailers have made mention of this so...I'm still waiting on further details.

In the meantime, I will say that my first order from TransDesign went off without a hitch. All in all, I think their costs are about on par with Head2Toe. Their price per bottle is a little less than H2T ($2.60 vs $2.99USD for a standard bottle/collection), but their shipping is a tad more expensive. (For everything I list below, I was charged $22USD for shipping.)

With a generous conversion rate this works out to less than $5CND/bottle and while this isn't "great" (you can score deals if you're anywhere near a Sallys with a coupon at the right time of year), it has the added benefit of giving you access to older collections and a greater polish selection that Sallys does not. Plus, compared to Head2Toe, shipping was fast! I ordered on the 2nd, received a postal notice on the 8th and picked up my package on the 9th. Not bad considering it was a long weekend and the fact that Canada's postal service doesn't work on Saturdays!

In addition to hauling some supplies (two empty spritzer bottles, a buffing block, nail polish wipes and striping tape), I grabbed six polishes from ChG's Retro Diva collection, eight more polishes from past collections and (I'm excited to say!) Essie's Matte About You. Of this haul I was most looking forward to Cords. (I think this is going to look awesome with Konad and/or with a matte topcoat). In retrospect however, I should have re-thought Japanese Koi and Atelier Tulle. :p

China Glaze: Retro Diva (not new, but "new" to me). (Sorry, I doubt I'll ever be so trendy that I'll have next season's polishes a season early.) :P

L-R: Cords, Thunderbird, Let's Groove, Stella, Free Love and Short & Sassy.



Other fun stuff:

L-R: Liquid Leather, Awaken, IX, Japanese Koi, Atelier Tulle, VIII, Sexy in the City and Adore.



-mKat

What I'm wearing: China Glaze's Calypso Blue
What I'm waiting for: ManGlaze Death Tar & Fuggen Ugly; Stargazer Chrome Silver
What I'm lemming: A Gelaskin for my netbook! :P (I hate fingerprints).