I kid you not: the dollar store

I found this, new, at Dollorama for a couple bucks. Sure, it may be riddled with some toxic sludge for all I know, but it's so heavy and substantial it looks like something you'd buy in a boutique shop.

I got this one too. Not as substantial and bordering on semi-cheap looking, but I thought it was kinda pretty.

Who would have thought?

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A look at a nook

I still have to snap a pic of the vintage jewellery piece I bought in Notting Hill, but until then I'll show you a bit of the apartment re-org I did before I left on holidays.

I love this little corner nook that I refreshed by adding pops of orange: the paisley pillow found at a massive church sale for a buck; the Made in Canada retro glass vase on the top of the bookshelf (thrifted for about $10 if memory serves); the not so thrifty Anthropologie lampshade that I fell in love with when the store first opened in Toronto.

I found the beautiful framed mini picture hanging over the chair - handpainted flowers on black velvet - for 99 cents at a thrift shop. On the back there's a label that reads, "Mrs. D. M. Gowing, 77 Stubbington Avenue, Portsmouth, Hampshire" and then a postal code and phone number. Isn't it just wonderful that this little treasure made its way from England and across the pond to me and my grungy little home?

The silver glass lamp was $5 at a lamp sale; and the wrought iron chair was part of a set I thrifted at Sally Ann years ago, one of my first major thrift purchases in fact. I spray-painted them silver and covered the seats with a tablecloth I cut up, bought at the dollar store. There's grungy style for ya.

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Happy Halloween; Live Long & Prosper a la thrift!!

So here's the final thrift/what was in my closet Halloween outfit: Spock. Inspired by the vintage Sarah Coventry pin you see here - which looks freakishly like the Star Trek insignia that used to adorn the retro costumes - I put together a Halloween costume for next to nothing! All I really had to spend was $7.50 for the Spock ears!

I'm trying to stay in character as I know Spock would look serious. Unfortch I couldn't master the whole raising the eyebrow thing that Spock was so famous for.

This outfit was so easy: I already had the short black exercise pants (short pants were KEY for Spock or any male Trekkie!), and the black boots(square toe: vital) I've had for at least a decade. The blue yoga top was bought second-hand at a thrift shop for a couple bucks this past summer. I added blue eyeshadow liner I had already bought at the dollar store to my lids and voila. I didn't have any black eyeliner, otherwise I would have attempted something a little more extreme on the eyebrow front. Didn't have a communicator, but my Blackberry could have done in a pinch. Happy Halloween!!

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Cheap beauty secrets - or cheap n' nasty?

Supermodels and movie stars swear by it: Vaseline as a facial moisterizer.

I typically use it as a lip moisterizer before bed, but the other night I tried it on my face. And reader, after a few days of using it, my face looks and feels like a baby's bum.

I bought two more mini tubs at the Dollar Store last night for $1.29 each. They even market it on the packages as the "No. 1 Skin Protection" and "The Ultimate Moisturizer."

Sure, it's 100% petroleum jelly. But are we saying here that the expensive creams we buy at the beauty counters are 100% chemical-free?

In truth we don't really know for sure the potential harmful effects of the chemical ingredients that go into Vaseline or all those expensive creams. Apparently the FDA has approved the former as a skin protectant. As for the cosmetics and skincare industry, the regulations don't appear to be be all that rigorous when it comes to what can go into the products, primarily because there either hasn't been a ton of research done on those chemicals or the research hasn't definitively shown anything.

So until someone tells me that those expensive creams with the mega marketing campaigns are more safe and more effective, I'm sticking with the cheap n' effective Vaseline solution!

Do you have any cheap n' easy beauty secrets, or have you ever used Vaseline as a facial moisterizer? I have some natural ones I'll tell you about tomorrow.

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Dollar store dress

I can't believe I found this dress in a dollar store on Danforth Ave. in Toronto.

It's 100 percent tie-dyed rayon, made in Thailand, and $25 to boot.

I love dresses like this; I'm a former dancer and the cut is very 'dance-y' and flattering for a body type like mine.

It's so easy peasy breezy for this grotesquely hot and humid weather we've been having; all I have to do is steam it, throw it over my head and voila!

Thanks to pal Chris for snapping this shot of me.

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My apt, back in time

Alas, I've been doing very little in the way or re-jigging or decorating my apartment these days, so I thought I'd show you some pretty and hopefully inspiring vignettes from last year.

I know, I'm a bad blogger, recycling content - but hey it's very Grunge Queen!!

I love the colours here and the drama of the black and the purple .....

The black head sculpture was a fave find at Value Village. The black tablecloth: fab dollar store find.

One of my fave paintings, a thrift store find that I had to buy as I loved the colours and it reminded me of what heaven was like as a child.

Can't remember what I paid for it. Perhaps $50, steep for GQ but when she gets emotionally involved, watch out!

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Cheapie deapie summer wear

What do you get when you combine fast fashion with thrift?

One uber inexpensive outfit.

It's so hot and humid here in TO I've decided to dedicate this week to dress week.

I live in dresses in the summer, particularly thriffted ones.

This one was just a cheapie Suzy Shier dress for under $10.

I'm wearing it here with a sun hat I got at the dollar store for $3.99. I buy 'em every year and always get compliments on them as the wide brim is so elegant.

Easy peasy cheapie deapie!

Stay cool!

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