Halloween Blog Swap!

Hello!

Ok, I know I know! It's been ages since I last blogged properly...what can I tell you, depression is an absolute dick sometimes and likes to take over and then make me feel bad at the end of the day and I haven't blogged again. I'm so determined to actually get more stuff up on here I promise!! (Also having huge issues uploading videos on my YouTube channel too....clearly I'm not meant to waffle about makeup!!)

Anyway, on with the actual blogging!

A while ago I signed up for the lovely Jasmine's Halloween swap that she was organising over on her blog at Sweetaholic Beauty. I love Jasmine's blog and have done a swap via her blog before so was very excited to do one again! This time I actually got paired with Jasmine herself and was really excited as she's been really lovely and very supportive too, so it was nice to be able to send her some stuff for the swap and a few extra sample bits from work too as a little thank you for being so lovely! Our budget worked out to be about £30 (or $50 Aus) but working in the make-up retail industry I was able to send a tad more with my discounts etc! I was a bit worried about going overboard and thinking that Jasmine would be annoyed with how much I was able to send, esp as I worry about it looking like I'm bragging or something!! (I have a very weird anxious mind when it comes to things like this!) I was so excited about getting Jasmine's parcel though and had to be really resitrained at ripping it open before taking pictures! Haha!

So here is everything before I tore into it! I LOVE the make-up bag, and as a crazy cat lady, it's absolutely purr-fect for me! (This bag has already come in very handy!) There's some yummy yummy Australian chocolate to try as well in a cute bag (I think it's a standard to send chocolate in a swap! Haha!), there's a lovely card from Jasmine and a purple box that felt so heavy I got even more excited!!

So opening up the box I found everything wrapped in lovely orange tissue paper with super cute Halloween stickers!! It was like Christmas coming early but with spooky stickers!! (bonus points for spotting my Superman lounge pants in the picture....)

So here is everything laid out before I ripped into it! The face masks were in the make-up bag and were a little extra I think, but loving face masks as much as I do, I was very pleased to see them! Jasmine managed to get me 10 things on our budget!! I thought that was really good and I was shocked to see so much to be honest! I know money doesn't go that far in the beauty world! Haha! We had also decided to try and stick to things that we couldn't get in our various countries (but no MUA for Jasmine as she already has so much!!) This just added to my excitement as I knew there wouldn't be any dupes of stuff I already had.

So here it all is laid out after I ripped off the wrapping! Jasmine has the cutest blog cards I've seen! So firstly, I was highly excited to try a TimTam finally! Turns out they're basically Penguin bars but without the jokes (but still just as delicious!) Jasmine also included some Cadbury Caramello Koala's too (Freddos but in Koala form!) which were YUMMY! 

So on to the make-up bits! Australis paparazzi Perfect High Definition Eyeshadow in Totally Busted, Australis Blush in Glamour, Nude by Nature Natural Tinted Mineral Moisturiser, Australis Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in Ballet, I <3 Punk Jumbo Eyeliner Pen in Black, Savvy Kohl Eyeliner in Blue, Face of Australia Sundae Sheer Gloss Lip Crayon in Nude, Essence Quattro Eyeshadow in Denim 4.0, Model Co Lip Gloss in Strip Tease, Mor Hand Cream in Lychee Flower, Formula 10.0.6 Face Masks in No Time To Shine (x2) and Deep Down Detox (x2) and Chi Chi Eyeshadow Quad in Lah De Dah. Phew! That's a lot of stuff right there!!

So unfortunately one of the eyeshadows had a bit of a rough ride it seems. It was packaged really well so it was nothing to do with that I don't think, but these eyeshadows feel REALLY soft to the touch so are probably extra fragile I guess. And although I was sad to see that it had smashed during it's flight over here as it looked like the exact kind of palette I would pick for myself...it did give me the opportunity to try out the rubbing alcohol fix! I just picked out the big pieces and worked out which colour was which, popped them into their separate bowls, mixed with a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol and mushed back into their respective slots in the original packaging and they left to dry over night!

It's not as pretty as I'm sure it was when Jasmine first brought it, but it's still got beautiful colours in there! Seriously exactly what i would've picked (I actually own a palette that's almost identical but is more glittery, so it's nice to just have shimmer colour that are the same!....It also shows how well Jasmine knows me!!)

So here are the eyeshadows....

• The blues are totally me as I love experimenting with colours! The deep blue in this set is beautiful! 

• The second palette I've already raved about but seriously, it's so so pretty and the quick fix I did has taken it back to it's original softness with the smashed colours. The pink in this set is my favourite I think as it's so pigmented without being neon and I love it!!

• The Chi Chi palette is the stand out palette for me! Firstly, the packaging is amazing! It has a button to press to open it up (super classy in my book!) and the lid is so shiny that you can use it as a mirror! The colours are just....perfect! If I'd been stood looking at a Chi Chi stand for the first time, I know I would've been completely drawn to this palette myself so Jasmine did so so well with this pick! (Thanks Jasmine!!) The shadows are really pretty and quite soft but buildable in colour. I can't wait to try a soft smokey eye for the daytime with this palette!

• Face masks are ALWAYS a winner for me! Looking forward to a pamper evening with these!

• This hand cream smells so good and the scent lingers enough to smell good without being overpowering. This will sit on my desk for when I'm blogging (I've used it just now and seriously, this smells so good!!)

• I actually don't own a tinted moisturiser so I'm excited to own this! This doesn't have a colour but it blends perfectly on my skin and, again, smells really good! This has been nice to use on my days off so I don't feel like I look so ill!

• This lipgloss was a really nice surprise. I don't own a lot of nude lip products so it was nice to get something in a new colour! Again, it smells so so good! (What is it with Australian products smelling so good?!) It's almost clear when it goes on with the tiniest hint of colour, which is nice. But it's also got a hint of shimmer to basically make my lips look naturally kissable! Haha! It's non-sticky as well which is a HUGE bonus for me.

• I actually got one of these in my last swap and it mysteriously disappeared after my sister took a fancy to it one day!! So it's nice to have a replacement! Again, it's quite nude but a nice one to keep in my bag so I can pop it on if I want a hint of something without it being too OTT (It's great if I forget to put a lip colour on before I go out too as this colour goes with everything!)

• This lipstick is a colour I would normally bypass to be honest as I would go "oh...that's too pale for me..." but clearly I've been wrong all along and Jasmine knows me much better than I know myself! This is a beautiful soft pink that brightens my complexion so much and goes with almost every makeup look I've tried it with so far! I'm in love!! (Also it smells like parma violets so I love it even more!)

• I've not found a blue eyeliner quite the same colour as this one in the UK yet. It's a really nice proper denim blue and has me wondering if I should go back into my pencil eyeliner drawer rather than using powder all the time....(The answer is yes as this is really pretty on, without being too 80s or anything!)

• This blusher is almost identical to one I gave to one of my friends about a year ago and then regretted about 6 months ago! How very handy! It's a really lovely soft peach with a golden shimmer running through it. This will get loads of use during the Summer for sure!

• I'm a massive fan of felt tip pen style eyeliners because I find them easier to use than other liquids for some reason and this one is no exception! It's so pigmented and you can get a really thin or a thick line with it. It's also got an added plastic bit over the top of the pen nib to stop it drying out which is awesome news. This dries really quickly and lasts really long too! I was really impressed when I wore it out for a friends birthday!

So really....it turns out that Jasmine knows me really really well and did a wonderful job at arranging the swap and coming up with an amazing box of goodies for me! If you want to see what I got Jasmine, just head over to her blog to see! I want to thank Jasmine for organising another fab swap and for sending  me such a lovely mix of products! I literally can't wait to try them all out properly!

Until next time,

xoxo

Blog Swap Goodies!!

Hello!

So a while back I entered a little blog swap that Jasmine over at Sweetaholic Beauty was organising and after all the hassle that I assume Jasmine had to go through to pair people up, I got a lovely email saying that I was paired up with Neeka from NikaBeauty who lives in Australia. After a fair few emails back and forth to determine what to buy each other, the hunt for some brilliant presents was on! Now then, I'm the kind of person who absolutely LOVES buying presents for people....but then get super nervous that said person will absolutely hate what I've gotten them and I spend a lot of time checking they liked it all/explaining my reasoning behind why I brought them those items.... So the thought of blog swap was both fun and terrifying at the same time! (This was probably obvious to Neeka when she opened her box and found a ridiculously long note explaining ever single product choice to her! Haha! Even when I'm half a world away, I will stick with my bad habits!)

Anyway, we both posted our parcels on the same day and then there was the waiting period....Mine actually arrived about 3 or 4 days after Neeka had posted it to me, which was super fast and super exciting! I arrived home after a terrible day at work to find this box of goodies sat waiting for me. Now then. Neeka had already emailed me to apologise for the fact that she'd had to take the nail polishes that she'd brought out of the packet at the post office, so I was expecting it to be a fairly light parcel.....this was not the case at all and when I opened it, it was totally packed with goodies!!! Everything was wrapped in tissue paper too so it really did feel like Christmas had come early!

Everything neatly packed into bubble wrap...obviously I paid more attention to the super cute jelly lolly to start with!

Everything still wrapped (it took a lot of effort to stop and take this picture!) The chocolate was very quickly consumed by myself....and my Mum and Dad too! The Marvellous Creations Cadbury Chocolate was SO good!! I'm totally going to have to search for some of that in the UK as now the normal Cadbury stuff seems so boring! (The Marvellous Creations one had smarties, popping candy and bits of cherry flavoured jelly in it! Sounds weird I know but it tasted so so good!!)

So the one nail item that got through customs was this set of nail stickers. I don't tend to buy these myself because I always feel like I have tonnes of nail varnish that I should be using instead but I'm always so thrilled when I receive them as a gift (this means I don't have to feel guilty right?) I'm excited to use these and love the design too!

This hand cream smells so good!! It sinks in well and is now a staple before bed to keep my hands soft! The soap also smells good and I will be trying this out next time I have a bath as we have no soap dish in our shower!

I've been using the primer before putting my makeup on for work as my skin had been having a bit of a flair up due to the temperature changes and it's really good! More like a moisturiser than a heavy primer, which I like! The ointment might seem like an odd one to find in a beauty swap but I've been using this on my very dry skin and it's really helped a lot I think! Plus I scolded my foot when my hot water bottle burst today so this was super handy for that too!!

I'd tried a bronzer that looked fairly similar to this on Dior the day the parcel arrived...and I'd been seriously thinking about getting the Dior one....so obviously I was super hyped to see this in there! I've really gotten into bronzers recently so this is a great addition to my stash!

The shimmer eyeshadows are so pretty!! And as a bonus to me, loose eyeshadows can be used as nail polish too, so you know these colours will be used for that at some point soon! The neutral palette is SO pigmented! I absolutely love it!

The lip products are all amazing and exactly my kind of colours! The pink lip colours on the left of the picture are all so pretty and feel nice too. The sheer gloss ones are perfect for a quick bit of colour but feel really moisturising too (perfect for my normal winter chapped lips!) and that penguin secretly houses some lip balm in it! This is now constantly in my handbag....and not just because it's super cute and I bloody love penguins (although that does help!)

All the goodies in one picture.

I honestly don't think I could've been happier. I know Neeka was disappointed that she couldn't send the nail polishes, and although we all know I would've loved some more nail polish, it's not like this parcel was in anyway a disappointment because it was missing nail polish! I think I would've picked out everything here for myself so it's amazing how a stranger  halfway across the world can a present so right!(I say stranger...we've emailed so much that I don't think I can call Neeka that anymore!) I'm so utterly thrilled with this blog swap and would definitely participate in more as I had so much fun buying the presents for Neeka and then so much fun opening the presents from her too! If you'd like to see what I got for Neeka then click here to view her blog post on the swap. The only downside to this swap is the fact that, considering how much I love everything, once I run out of something I'm going to have to send Neeka some money so I can re-purchase stuff! Haha!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Jasmine for her time and effort in organising this swap and to Neeka for the nice chats via email and the amazing haul of goodies!!

What do you guys think? Anything in there that you'd like a full review on?

Until next time,

xoxo