Swap with Thiamere (and look featuring the products) & swatches of all my Mary Kay products as requested.

*Disclaimer: New camera, still getting used to how it works, which places to photograph at, etc. so pictures may look a bit different from my usual lighting. Sorry about that, I'm sorting it out as we go ;).

So, Thiamere has finally received the stuff I sent her :D (you can see it here if you'd like), and now I can post up my stuff too :).

How did this swap come about? Well, she left me a comment here saying how much she loved my Victoria's Secret Mosaic Highlighter, and I (knowing what it feels like to have a product you really want unavailable in one's country) offered to send it to her :). But she was so nice and offered me some things from her collection that she didn't really use - and so we had a swap ^_^.

Here's what she's sent me :).

*A note ^_^.
*A metallic pouch :).
*Hair elastics for my sister (who was so happy to receive something sent to her & a bit surprised to be known around the blogosphere, lol).
*Rose paper soap :).
*Careline (I love this brand :D) pigments in Vanilla White and Moist Green. These are amazingly metallic when used wet, and still beautiful when dry :).
*An Elianto 3D Eyeshadow Cube in Gold Brown. Which isn't gold brown >:-). (I'll post a look below.)
*Fashion 21 Fine Blush Powder in 1.
*A mini Sally Hansen lip plumping gloss.
*Everyday Minerals eye shadow minis in Matinee and After Party.
*Wet & Wild Precious Metals lipstick in Gold Rush. I'm so happy to have this 'cause word has it that this is a dupe of MAC Blonde On Blonde ;). I don't own that, but I'd like to - though for now I have this ;D. Yay ^_^!
*NYX Lip Gloss With Mega Shine in Burgundy.
*NYX Fruit Lip Gloss in Strawberry.

I've worn most of these products already, and I love everything. Thank you Thiamere ^_^!!!

Here are the close-ups...

I made up a look featuring some of these products today. This is the first one - I'll do a look with the rest too ;).

(See what I mean about the camera? But I promise I'll get used to it and take nicer and clearer pictures very soon ^_^.)
My fringe was annoying me so I trimmed it myself >:-). Could've been a disaster but I think it turned out alright :-P.

Skin: The usual. Loose powder instead of pressed though (Physicians Formula). Not sure why - I think I want to finish this one up 'cause I don't really need both. But I may change my mind >:-D.
Oh, and I forgot to contour. If it shows, I really don't care, I don't consider myself attractive anyway :-P.

Eyes: I applied the Elianto eye shadow as a wash, with a large, wide brush. Then I used Moist Green pigment by Careline wet, on my outer eyelids. Made a bit of an outer V too, but nothing too dramatic. To brighten inner corners, I pressed on a bit of Vanilla White pigment there, with my little finger. I lined my lower eye line with Styli-Style Flat Pencil in Buenos Aires (a shimmery white), using the skinny side, and then used ArtDeco Kajal Liner in 20 (a dark leafy olive green) on my inner eye line. Curled lashes with mascara on both top and bottom finish off the eyes.

Cheeks: Fashion 21 Fine Blush Powder in 1.

Lips: Wet & Wild lipstick in Gold Rush.

Sometimes I feel stupid, writing such detailed descriptions. This isn't a magazine. But even if nobody else really reads them, they help me a lot when I want to wear an old look again ;). So they stay.

Products picture:

Eye close-up with eyes open:

Eye close-up with eyes closed:

(I quite hate this pic but I need to show the colours.)

Bonus pic:

I put up my hair but then took it down again. This was the only decent pic of me with my hair up. (And the other full-face pic was the only decent one with my hair down, so they're even XD.)

And here are the swatches of all my Mary Kay products to date. Somebody asked me for a look, but it'd take me ages to use all these colours in a look XD, so I made swatches :).

Two photographs, taken with different lighting, in order to give the truest impression I could manage ;).

From right to left: Single eye shadows in Raspberry Rush, Periwinkle, Fig and Seashell, and duos in Cotton Candy, Ivy Duet, Jade, Safari Sunset, Tutti Frutti and Twilight.

And the rest ;). From left to right: Lip Liner in Dusty Pink, blushers in Apricot Breeze, Burnished Bronze (I suppose that one's technically a bronzer, but I'll use it on my cheeks), Desert Bloom and Pink Meringue, and lipsticks in Pink Coral, Pink Daisy and Pink Melon.

The lipsticks are pinker in real life, but they just wouldn't photograph properly >:-@. I gave up, but I may use those in a look or three so you'd get to see them :).

Oh, and here are swatches of my Mary Kay Mini Mineral Eye Colour Quad.

Silky Caramel, Lemongrass, Amber Blaze and Denim Frost. Silky Caramel is a soft matte while the rest are shimmery and mildly metallic.

Is there anything else I should swatch? Let me know ;). Thanks for reading ^_^.

Blind Swap lot and look & Clinique Plum Seduction swatches as requested.

Thanks so much Nikki for being my first Blind Swap ^_^!!!!!

Well, it wasn't completely blind for her, since she knew that I was sending her a Korres Body Butter - I offered to, 'cause it's hard to get in her country and easy in mine ;D. But I sent her lots of other stuff from Europe too :-P :).

It was completely blind for me though. I had no idea what I'd be getting...Which can be a bit scary, but I trusted Nikki to pick good stuff for me :).

When I got the envelope, everything was all wrapped up in pink tissue paper, how cute ^_^. Of course I didn't photograph it, I was too eager to unpack it all :-P XD.

Her note :). So sweet & nice of her to add one ^_^.

I'm not sure what this is. But it's cute XD.

Edit: It's a bag holder ;).

Skincare: Paul & Joe Light Cleansing Milk and Moisture Lotion mini bottles. (Well, they're not that mini - 25 ml each ;D, lovely ^_^.) They're beautiful :). Can't wait to use them ^_^!

Make-up :D!!!

Careline eye shadow duo in Poison Ivy, IN2IT eye shadow duo in Sphinx, Embodyment Organic Essentials Cherry Lip Balm, and Nichido blush in Sunkissed.

She remembered (from a comment I left on this gorgeous look of hers) that I was looking for an orange ;D :'D! Now I can try to recreate the look ;)...

Here's a close-up of Poison Ivy :). The built in brushes are a bit hard to manoeuvre if doing anything but a simple lid colour, but the pigments are amazing ^_^!

And masks ;). Four of them :D. These are the face-shaped tissue kind - I've never tried similar ones before, so I'm definitely looking forward to it :).

Collagen...

Coenzyme Q10...

Pearl...

And potato XD.

All in all, my first Blind Swap was a wonderful experience. Thank you Nikki :). I hope everything I sent you makes you happy too ^_^.

Of course, I had to do a look with all my new make-up ^_^. Here it is :D.

I look kind of grumpy because I was annoyed at my face being extremely unphotogenic (as usual). And I was tired.

Eyes:

By the way, the Pucci Guerlain mascara brush is terrible. I finally gave up & replaced it with my Clinique mini tube brush that I'd kept. (Thankfully it fits the tube tightly ^_^.) And the mascara isn't anything special either to be honest :-/. But I got it in the Pucci eye set & for the Pucci eye set (not for the mascara as such), so I don't really care XD.

The colours are so beautiful :). I think my next look will be light on the eyes though, I want to do something soft ;D. I've done quite a few intense eye looks for the blog so far & I need a break ;).

[Funny pic of me, starring my wonky mouth & unclassifiable expression :-P.]

Here are swatches of my Clinique Plum Seduction quad for Kim :).

It's very nice :). I swapped for it even though it's mostly purple XD. But these colours are very beautiful so I don't mind that at all ^_^.

Well...Thanks for reading ^_^! I've got a really huge swap to present next...Can't wait ;D.