Baby Haul (not paid for by me, doesn't count)

You know what's more fun than spending money? Spending other people's money! Noodle Arms is interstate for Christmas with her dad and his family, and she said she hadn't gotten me a Christmas present yet as she was going shopping with her Grandma some time this week. I told her I was going to Priceline this morning and if she liked, whatever I bought could be her present for me. Since she hates shopping unless it's to buy things for herself (when she was young I learned that to get her to come along willingly I had to buy her something, but if I was smart I'd do it right at the end, because as soon as she'd gotten whatever her thing was she was over it and wanted to go home), she was happy to go along with that.

Everything shuts down in Adelaide over Christmas. EVERYTHING. Even the pubs near us were not open on Christmas Day, which is ridonk, because in the real world (ie: not Adelaide) loads of people go out for lunch on Christmas Day rather than mess about cooking it themselves. Amazingly, even though it is a public holiday, many of the shops are actually open today, so I thought I'd trek in to Priceline and have a look at their sale. I expected the mall to be bedlam, so I figured I'd just get in as early as possible, fight my way through the teenage girls pawing everything in sight in Priceline (and opening things - who raised you, you feral trolls???). Weirdly, there was hardly anyone around. The first Priceline I passed in a side street just off the mall wasn't open (of course), so I braced myself for the sardine can experience of Boxing Day (well, the day after Boxing Day) shopping and ventured into the other Priceline smack in the centre of the city. And it was DEAD. There were more staff walking around than customers.

Priceline had a '3 for $30' Maybelline sale going on, which probably sounds bizarre to you North Americans, but believe me, that's a bargain here. Those foundations are usually somewhere between $20-$25AUD each, and that mascara is around $18 or so. I ummed and ahhed for a while - I rarely bother with Maybelline (or any of the common drugstore lines available here) because it's so insultingly overpriced, but there were actually a few things I wanted to try - the Super Stay foundation and concealer, the Age Rewind highlighter and concealer thingie, the Define-a-Brow pencils, etc. In the end I decided to be practical - I don't need concealer and I don't need brow products - I have tons of both. What I do want is a more pocket-friendly foundation than my HG Chanel Mat Lumiere. I'm one of those people who firmly believes that you get what you pay for with foundation, but the drugstore brands have been making great strides in that area of late, so I want to give them another try (mind you, if I do find one I like I'll be seeking out a cheaper source than Australian retail). I actually have another bottle of Fit Me that someone gave me because it was a freebie that was too dark, but it's too dark for me too. I like the finish though, so I bought a lighter one to mix with it. I'm not generally a fan of Maybelline mascaras (too clumpy), but everyone raves about The Falsies, so I thought I'd give it a go.

When I came out of Priceline it was about 9:30 or so, and aside from a line of young Asian people outside the Swarovski store (is that a thing with Asian people?), everything was still looking pretty quiet. Noodles told me that when she and her dad went shopping yesterday in a Melbourne shopping centre, they had to park 15 minutes walk away and it was jam-packed inside. And here's Rundle Mall...

Adelaide, you're doing it wrong.