So here we are, at Things I Bought That I love 003. I love how I set up this series allowing room for TIBTIL to grow into the triple digits. Honestly, does anyone expect me to get to “Things I Bought That I Love 467?”

I’m not sure I want to hear the answer to that.

There’s a medley of products on the left, but I’m going to start with the Urban Decay Book of Shadows II. For those that don’t know, it’s a makeup box set that comes with the eyeshadow palette you see, two eyeliners, and a sample size of their beloved Eyeshadow Primer Potion. Everyone’s blogged or vlogged about it already, but I’ve had a few questions about my eye makeup, and wanted to share.

It’s a good range of colors. Plenty of neutral brown tones, with a few pops of color for when you want to experiment. The eyeshadow palette slides out of the box, and at first I hated that design (I suppose I still do…) but now I just leave it open, just as you see it. I’m actually at a loss as to how I’ll organize my makeup once I’m through with it, as I now use the original portion of the box as a platform for my other products– and I quite like it like this, aesthetically and practically. I’m inclined to experiment when all these colors are open at my disposal, and it’s a relief not to have a mountain of tiny little eyeshadow pots rolling around.

For the next item, I’m not really sure if this counts as something I bought… It’s more of a something-I-reorganized. I used to keep my makeup brushes loose in a jar, which was fine enough, but I wasted a few seconds moving them around each day so I could see clearly which brush was which.

At Sephora, they sell their makeup brushes by standing them upright in containers filled with little clear plastic beads. I thought that was an awesome way of organizing brushes, only I had no idea where to get those little effing beads. Then I realized that I could just use rice instead, and it looked just as pretty.

This format makes it a lot easier for me to see which brush I need, and adds some structure to the mess that’s usually associated with girls and their hoards of makeup.

Another thing that has made my life so much easier is this earring stand. I had actually never seen one until I visited my friend JH’s new place, and I love it for its functionality. I’m quite fond of it visually as well, though– I like the draping and hanging gold, and the way all the little jewels catch the light. JH bought hers from Korea, but I just got mine off of eBay.com from the seller polybag-monster. $9!!

Bath & Body Works had a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” special so I went and bought myself some new perfume. I used to be a bit of a douchey snob when it came to perfume. I loved layering Jo Malone fragrances to create personal, signature scents– which is all fine and dandy, but at $80+ a bottle, it borders on absurd. The only person who really cared was me, so once I stopped caring, there was no one left to fuel the habit. In stepped these bad boys. To be honest, I’m mostly hysterical over “Sweet Pea”, but it’s very distinct so I’m glad I have the other scents so that I can take a break. “Sweet Pea” smells like fresh raspberries and candy. Mmmm. I spray my winter scarf with it now and then, so even when it has faded on my skin, I can creepily remember the scent by smelling my scarf. I had to answer for this behavior when I did this in front of my friend SH last week.

Finally, this is something I’m working on. I visited Anthropologie a while back and saw something I’ve been trying to replicate. They filled jars with incense ash, and used the ash to hold the incense. The brilliant part about this is that when the ash falls, it only contributes to the ash that’s holding up the incense stick.

Here is my sad collection so far. I know I could probably buy some sand to get it started, but I can’t find any sand that resembles incense ash.

I thought this process would be a lot quicker than it has been. In actuality, an incense stick provides even less ash than you’d imagine. In a fit of impatience, I tried to fill the jar with several incense sticks and set them all on fire at once. They were on fire, that’s for sure…

After warily watching the smoke spew from the top and the flames lick the sides of the jar a frightening black, I extinguished the sad attempt. It’s for the best, anyways. Burning one incense stick at a time is heady enough. This shall be a labour of love. Or it will be the empty jar in my room filled with a little bit of dirt.