Happy Planner "Little Bloom Box"

Happy Planner does a "Be Happy" box periodically, with various HP items. They're usually about $50 so I have not really been tempted to order one before now. But they released one for their 5th anniversary that I decided was a good deal, and I actually set my alarm and got up to order it, because I figured it would sell out fast - and it did. I checked a couple of hours later and it was gone.

I haven't been posting here much so I probably haven't even mentioned that I've developed a Happy Planner habit. (I have talked about my Erin Condren habit but that was a while back.) I still have an Erin Condren planner for 2020 and I'm pretty sure I'll still buy one for 2021, but I also bought my first Happy Planner when everything was on sale after Christmas and I have now bought several different formats to try out. (I'm keeping the EC book at home, and I'm using a skinny classic HP to carry around and make lists with, two different classic horizontals for journaling - one for books and one for everything else - plus a mini vertical that I'm now using to record what I spend - having determined that it didn't work well for me as a planner, see - and a couple of different Happy Notes, a ton of stickers, and other assorted accessories.) I haven't quite hit every format yet but I have a bunch. I'll try to get some planner pictures up in future, but today I'm talking about the box.

Here's the actual outside of the box. (I'm linking one YouTube Video about this - see below - but there are many others, and if you've seen any of those this is all going to look very familiar.)

Even the tissue paper coordinates:

 

So does the card on top, of course.

You can see most of the contents below: it's a set of black metal discs (which is apparently like a Happy Planner unicorn thing, they've only ever used them on one or two planner styles and never sold them separately), a whole lot of color-and-theme-coordinated stickers in black, white, and gold - one small sticker pad and two big 30-page sticker books. (I should add that I hadn't tried the metal discs at all yet, so I was really excited to get my hands on some - and black is great because it coordinates with so much else.)

One big book is "functional" - black-bordered boxes and various shapes - and one is "florals" - a whole variety of line-drawn flowers, flower-decorated boxes, and on and on. See the video below for a flip-through.

And then in the bottom there's a box to hold all your sticker books - in coordinated black-and-white florals, of course.

They've had these in other prints for a while now, but I'm just getting to the point where I was starting to think I had enough sticker books to need one. It's super-easy to put together, and holds a lot of sticker books - I put twelve in it, if I'm counting right, and it's not nearly full. (And it fits very nicely into one of those 3-tiered Michael's carts that everybody uses.)

I am a fan of Heather Kell generally, anyway, and the way that she loses it over these sticker books is the best thing I've seen lately. "YALL. YALL. YALL"

The Ordinary

 Here is some stuff from The Ordinary that I bought from Ulta not too long ago:

I realized when I looked at this picture that I actually hadn't tried the Azelaic Acid yet. I think I'm afraid of anything that's like a peel. (I started to say that it was the word "acid" I was afraid of, but that's not true - I use hyaluronic acid products with no fear whatsoever.) I've now tried it and so far it seems fine. I bought it because I read an article somewhere that was written by a dermatologist, demystifying the various Ordinary products, and I actually took notes. Azelaic Acid was supposed to be the very mildest one.

I really like the Buffet, too. I have a whole bunch of Ordinary serums - including HA and rose-hip seed oil and squalane. I like all of those, I just have issues with the whole craze the last few years where people think peeling off layers of skin is necessarily a good thing. A little bit, yes, but people take it much too far! (Why am I surprised?)

Nail Collection tag, from Kelli Marissa

From YouTuber Kelli Marissa (see her video at the bottom of this post):

The Nail Polish Collection Tag!

(Since I don't do videos, you get text. I'm old-school.)

1. How many nail polishes do you own? I have a spreadsheet that's more or less up to date, and it says I have about 900 bottles, including minis. (About 100 of them are minis, I think - and in any case that's less than KM has! But still... that's a lot of nail polish.)
   
2. What was the first nail polish you remember buying? A Revlon bright pink, don't remember the name any more. This was in the 70s, when even fuchsia was still considered a little racy, and I was 12 or so, so I thought I was being very daring.
   
3. What is the most recent nail polish you added to your collection? At the time I first wrote this last week, it was two polishes from Olive Ave's new summer collection, Herbology and Fey. However, I've now gotten a couple of I Scream polishes in the mail, so for now, they're actually the newest. (There's a picture of Herbology below. I'll try to get some more posts up about all this stuff!)
4. What is your least favorite nail polish that you own? I've said it before and I'm sticking with it, OPI Decades of Shades. Total baby-poop brown. (Some people love it, so I'm thinking it's one of those warm vs. cool colors thing. I'm very much a cool-tone person, so you warms may have better luck with it!)
   
5. What is your rarest nail polish? I have Hard Candy Sky, which is the one that Alicia Silverstone made famous years and years ago. It's supposedly very HTF so I imagine that one would be the winner. I've thought of trying to sell it, but I like having it even if I don't ever wear it! Also I don't have the cheap plastic rings any more that came with the old Hard Candy colors, so I imagine that would hurt its resale value.
   
6. What is your most expensive nail polish? If we go by what I actually paid for it, probably a Lynnderella that I paid maybe $22 for some years ago. Most of the time I won't pay those kind of prices, though. I have a couple of designer polishes that I didn't pay full price (or anything) for - some Marc Jacobs that I bought on sale, a YSL that my sister gave me, etc. Some of those might have a higher value than the Lynnderella, I'm not sure!
   
7. What brand do you own the most of? Zoya, no question - I think I have about 100. (I do love Zoya, but also they have (used to have) really good sales, which is why I have so many.)
8. What color do you own the most of? Either pink or purple, I've never really bothered to figure it out. I am super-partial to those berry colors that are right on the border between pink and purple, anyway, so it's often hard to figure out which is which!
   
9. Which nail polish in your collection means the most to you? I get very attached to fall polishes, for some reason (maybe just because fall means the hot Texas summer is over!) - Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice - which is long discontinued - is one that I am pretty sentimental about, although there are some others, too. (see below for a picture)
   
10. What is your go-to nail polish right now? I have only been changing my polish once a week, lately, and I haven't been repeating myself much. I've been on a pink tear, though, so let's say anything pink, especially bright pink (but some pale ones, too). -- I've worn more pink this year than I have in years. Not sure why, exactly.

Re question 3: here's Herbology (not particularly well-cleaned-up, sorry!) over another Olive Ave green, Aster:

(I don't really think you're seeing the full awesomeness here. I really love it.)

And re question 9: here's several fall polishes that I'm very attached to (none of which are available any more, far as I know): Lippmann All Night Long, the aforementioned Pumpkin Spice, and Spoiled Cougar Attack. (Going from this, I think the thing that makes a great fall polish for me is brown + copper! But P-spice is still the best.)

And here's Kelli:

Candles from Bath & Body Works

I've had an unfinished version of this entry sitting around in draft mode for ages, and this seems like a good time to get it done and out, with practically everybody still sitting around bored at home. You can't go in Bath & Body Works right now, of course but you still can order candles online. (Important notes: Not sponsored. Also, don't buy anything from these guys that's not on sale, unless you just want to burn money - they have sales a lot.)

Now, I'm not a huge fan of sweet-smelling candles, which B&BW sells a ton of - I suspect those are their best-sellers. I like some food scents - I like spicy scents like cinnamon and clove, and I usually like citrus scents. The one below is my example about where the line is, because on something like "cinnamon bun" scents, it tends to depend for me on how overpowering the sugar scent is. The fall candle "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" is one that could go either way:

In fact, I do like this one and I'm likely to re-buy this scent in the fall. But they also have lots of things that aren't obviously sweet-scented.


Here's more one-wick candles because that's the most recent thing I bought - they were having a one-day sale, a while back. Partly I like having candles around this time of year because we get thunderstorms pretty regularly in the spring - I like to put a candle and matches in every room, because I don't like to be trying to feel my way around in the dark when the power goes out. (And I don't really need 3-wick candles for that particular purpose!)

I really like the patterned wrappers that are on a couple of these.

Eucalyptus Rain fragrance notes: Aromatic Eucalyptus, Spearmint Leaves, Fresh Spring Rain
Turquoise Waters fragrance notes: Coastal Waves, Sparkling Bergamot, Sun-Drenched Musk

Limoncello notes: Sorrento Lemons, Cane Sugar, Lemon Zest
Sun-Washed Citrus notes: Sorrento Lemons, Citron, Agave Nectar


And then below are some more that are currently out of season:

This is a fall one I like, "Leaves":

Notes: Crisp Red Apple, Golden Nectar, Warm Clove Spice
(If you're not familiar with how B&BW works, they tend to rotate the same set of scents seasonally, usually with a ton of different wrappers and labels. I think this particular wrapper is especially pretty because the tiny leaves are cut-outs and so you can see the light flickering through them when it's burning.)

"Fresh Balsam" is my very favorite for winter & the holidays:

There are others I like but this is absolutely #1 for me. This one above was empty when I took this picture, months ago now, and I believe I went though another one before the winter was over. I bought a couple more when B&BW was having their big one-day sale before Christmas. I think this scent is probably a best-seller because I've seen it with many, many different designs.

Another one that seems popular is "Winter":

 Notes: White Woods, Pine Needles, Sparkling Clementine, Spiced Clove

"Cinnamon & Clove Buds" is another of my favorites for the holidays:

Notes: Cinnamon Leaf, Clove Bud, Ground Nutmeg

This is an old picture, but this is my other favorite Christmassy scent, "Tis the Season":

I don't have one of these at home currently, and these aren't on the website right now, so I don't know the notes exactly, but this one totally smells like Christmas, somehow.
Added, the notes for this one, because I ran across them: Rich Red Apple, Sweet Cinnamon, Cedarwood

NOTD: Ma-holo At Me

Here's that picture I couldn't find yesterday, which was China Glaze Ma-holo At Me on my nails:

(I had to download it from Instagram - if I had a local copy it got lost!) Anyway, I still think this is very pretty, but this is awfully sheer so that makes me think an undercoat is a good idea next time. It looked better in real life than it looks here, I have to say.

Ma-holo At Me

I've worn China Glaze Ma-holo At Me and I really like it:

It's just a light-blue holo, but that's a nice thing. I swatched it by itself and also over KLP Wishbone, which is just a light beige/tan sort of color. I think you may or may not want an undercoat, depending on how many coats you want to use and how much your nail-line tends to show. This is from the Shades of Paradise collection, from summer 2018. Here's pictures from the whole collection - you have to scroll down a good ways to find this one.)

I couldn't find the picture of it on my nails, but it was on Instagram so I downloaded it again:

(I did a separate entry for this picture, but this is the same picture I put there. I have gotten where I like to have links back and forth as much as possible - the other entry is here if you really want to see it. )

Swatches from Polish 'M

I had not tried the indie brand Polish 'M before I got the big BCA box last fall. And then sometime around January I happened to look at their website, and I noticed that they had a Black Friday duo from last fall marked down on their website (in fact it's still there). I posted a picture of Black Friday Is My Cardio a while back, but I didn't post swatches, and meanwhile I bought another couple of polishes from them that were on clearance as well.

This is the other half of that duo, 1st In Line:

It's described as "a medium grey with pink to lavender duochrome shimmer, metallic teal, orange and raspberry hex glitter, red to orange shifting UCC flakes and scattered silver holo magic flakes." I haven't worn it yet because it feels like a fall polish to me. (Really I bought the duo for the other polish in it, but this is still kinda cool.)

Here is Black Friday Is My Cardio on the left (the upper one of the two blue swatches) and Brave Hearts on the right (the lower blue swatch):

I had a bad minute - before I put these two next to each other - where I thought, man, why did I buy both of these, they are too much alike! But as you can see, they're actually not. Black Friday Is My Cardio is quite a bit lighter and totally packed with, well, stuff: "a winter blue holo with aqua shimmer, metallic teal, purple and magenta micro glitter, blue-purple shifting iridescent glitter and silver galaxy holo glitter." The other one is Brave Hearts, and it's really pretty, too, but in a slightly less showy way. (It's not on the website any more, so I don't have the detailed description for it, unfortunately.) I would call it a really heavy shimmer, offhand. And I love the color.

The other one I got is called Glow By Candlelight:

It seems to have holo and some scattered flakes. I really like this color, too.