Estee, I will always love you.

Aaahh, the 80's... those were the good old days.  I remember when I first started using Clinique products back then.  Everything was about Clinique.  When I had started using it, I had a mild acne problem.  It was only weeks after using the 1-2-3 step products, that my acne cleared right up.  Completely gone and never to return again!

I was so very happy with the results, I switched to it's mother - Estee Lauder.  Estee for me was expensive back then, but worth every penny and thankfully I was working full time.

Today I could care less about skin care in general and I will use anything as long as it makes me feel and look good.  Unfortunately there is no miracle product out there, but we still buy and wish for the best, don't we?  Well, you can't fool me anymore with fancy packaging and false promises.  I now prefer to grow old naturally and gracefully.

When I found a soap bar for $1.99 a few months back, Estee Lauder AND Clinique memories came flooding back again.  They made the soaps in the early 80's, but stopped in the late 80's, I believe.

Could I have the one and only Estee soap left in the world today?

Here is an old ad I found from the 80's....

And here is my soap.  The soap was still sealed in the clear plastic wrapper, but I took it off to clearly show you what it looks like.  Yay for op shops!

Stubby holders

Not my favourite things to find for free, yet I found them.

Stubby holders.  Aussie footy fans would be envious right about now, maybe?

Cheap yarn

I love it when I find balls of wool for 50 cents each:

Better still, I love it much more when I find bamboo for 20 cents:

When freinds care...

A friend of mine (yes you know who you are!) went to Bali on a whim with her partner a few months back.  How exhilarating would it be to be able to just pack up your bags and leave for somewhere exotic with not a care in the world?  Well, it wasn't totally like that- but hey if somebody can go away for a week or two and still have responsibilities back home waiting, then why not?  They also went to Pemberton and she bought me gifts from both places.  What a sweetheart ...

Some beautiful purple batik fabric from Bali, because she knows it's my favourite colour....

And a spoon and thimble set from Pemberton, because she knows I collect both....

She also kindly passed on some spoons her mother no longer wanted.  Stay tuned for those!

Little pretty forks

I found some little forks for a $1 each a couple of years ago at an op shop.  They are adorable and on special occasions, hubby and I use them.  Why keep pretty things in a cupboard and not enjoy them?  Remember people, this isn't a dress rehersal and we only get one shot in life - make the best of it and enjoy every day like it was your last!

More free kitchen stuff

So, remember a few days ago when I posted about those fabulous glass bottles I scored for free?

As promised, here are the other things that lovely lady passed onto me...

A couple of hand painted ceramic containers;

A little hand painted ceramic vase, or is it a bottle?;

A little crystal vase, but unfortunately it had lots of little chips throughout;

And lastly, another 3 ceramic containers;

Yay for free!

Smelly and fresh

I found 2 perfume bottles at the op shop, still with perfume inside.  They don't make / sell them anymore.... so would they be worth something now, I wonder?

 $4.  Avon Soft Musk.  I could tape this bottle to my face, right under my nose and smell it all day long.   It's simply gorgeous if you like a soft smelling musk, of course.  A good size at 30ml.

My mother had this perfume in the late 1980's, but in a different bottle which she kindly passed onto me last year.  The bottle is empty, but I can still smell the scent on the spray nozzle.

$3.   Lauder for men.  I'd love to smell this on the dear husband, but there is no way he's using it.

It smells quite lovely, not too over powering for a man's scent at all but a little hard to describe.   Funny... when I look at the bottle, I see nada scratches on the plastic cover.  The camera flash certainly knows how to grab every ugly scratch!

 Unfortunately the writing is so very tiny under the A45, I can't even read it with a magnifying glass!