while in new york i took advantage of the reduced prices and shops not available locally to me here in the uk, such as elf, forever 21 and a bookstore called books of wonder. i did also grab a primer and setting mist from elf, a 4 pack of burt's bees lip balms (that cost just $10 - bargain!!) and an eric carle pencil case on my visit, however i seem to have left them at my student house so didn't have them to hand to photograph, silly me! my goodies cost $137 altogether, working out to around roughly £82, which i don't think is bad at all for a shed load of make up, 4 books and a playsuit, however this has all highlighted to me just how much i spent on food while away... ouch!
first up is elf! the store was a lot smaller than i'd anticipated, but it was nicely laid out and the majority of the pricing was $3 which of course was an absolute delight as that works out to roughly £1.80. amongst the $3 items i bought were the tone correcting powder, white eyeshadow (which i intend to use as a highlighter,) mascara and setting mist, which is incredible value as these items usually cost around £3.75 which works out around $6, meaning i bagged all these items for half the price i would have paid if i were to buy them online - crazy good value! i also grabbed a couple of waterproof eyeliner pens as they were $1.50 each (however this shows, they're terrible...) and a couple of lip stains for $2 each. there was also a sign up saying if you spent over $20 you could grab a new prism eyeshadow palette for just $5 (usually $10), and after eyeing up the above palette and noticing that it vaguely resembled some of the shades in the naked 3 palette, i snapped it up as i'd not yet seen it available on the uk elf site.
ah, books! my main mission of the trip was to head to books of wonder to pick myself up a signed oliver jeffers book, and after much deliberation between two of his books, i laid 'the day the crayons quit' down and trotted off with 'the great paper caper' because of the variety in spread composition, ranging from simple shapes amongst white space to beautifully detailed full page illustrations; if you haven't checked out oliver jeffers' work, you really should! i think anyone from any walk of life can appreciate the jaw dropping beauty every brush stroke brings to his work. just wonderful! while browsing the shop, another book also caught my eye; "sparky!" as soon as i saw the cover i ran over to the book and squealed in sheer delight as it's the first book i've randomly picked up that's featured a sloth! it's full of charming illustrations by chris appelhans and now sits proudly on my new bookshelf.
we visited several independent bookstores throughout our visit, and while on 10th avenue we headed into one called 192 books where i picked up 'what's important is feeling'. after watching frozen to kill some time throughout our 8 hour flight there, i knew i wanted something to keep me occupied on our way back, and after being drawn in by the book title and the somewhat terrible cover design, i decided to pick the book up for a skim through. after reading lines about sexual promiscuity, cocaine abuse and difficulty conversing with others, i was intrigued enough to head to the counter and buy it. i'm still not entirely sure whether or not i enjoyed the book, but i'm not sure that's the point. it's made up of several short stories from different people's points of view that i assume the author based on people he's met throughout his years, and although it was odd, and even slightly uncomfortable in parts, it was definitely an interesting read and even provided a few laughs here and there.
the last book i picked up was 'show your work!' after recognising the cover design from the book 'steal like an artist' which i haven't yet read, but probably should after enjoying this. it's full of humorous anecdotes that give you insight into austin's journey as a creative and he talks you through effective ways of successfully promoting yourself, which largely lies in being a fan of what you do as well as a creator of it. one part in particular that has stuck with me is a part where he speaks about 'vampires', which are things (people, places etc.) that leave you feeling drained, lifeless and uninspired while they continue to thrive, and i thought it such an appropriate read for my exit of new york city as it had pretty much been my vampire for the past five days.
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