Avon lotion sample review & Swap Update & Essence Vs. Avon quad comparison.

*Explanation about sample reviews: I like to review the skincare samples I receive, so that I can remember what worked, what didn't, and what I'd like to acquire in the future. They may be helpful to others too ;). But obviously I can't review a product I've used once in the same manner as one I've been testing out for a while, therefore I mark sample reviews as just that ;).

*Avon Solutions Hydra-Radiance Moisturising Day Lotion SPF 15 sample mini review: I've never liked Avon skincare (with products from the Planet Spa line being the notable exception). But this was a sample, so why not test it out? It's light, and not as moisturising as I like my products to be, but with the current hot weather, light is good...The problem comes from the low SPF. SPF 15 is fine in countries with little sun - but these tend to be cold >:-). In cold climates, this won't be moisturising enough for most people. In hot climates (if there's a place that's hot and sunless that I've forgotten about, feel free to let me know), SPF 15 is not enough. I can only recommend this to teenagers in cold countries, and preferrably you should try out a sample before getting the actual thing. Not an impressive product, and I won't purchase ;).

Next comes yet another Swap Update :).

Swap 1 [Indonesia].

(I bought her two Korres Body Butters and added a decant of my Kings & Queens body lotion as an extra.)

Remember the Too Faced Peacock palette I got on my birthday :D? I finally managed to find the Unicorn one too :), and was even willing to buy new stuff to swap for it ;). So worth it. Too Faced palettes are glorious :-P.

I also got a Kate eye shadow in GN-1, two mini tubes of Clarins Extra-Comfort Cleansing Cream and one of Gentle Foaming Cleanser, a Clinique mini Superbalm Moisturising Gloss in Ginger, and Fancl powder tea sachets as extras :).

Here's a close-up of the Too Faced & Kate...

I'm thinking of wearing the blushes from both palettes as a flush/contour duo ;D. And the Kate shadows are beautiful :). They look like they'd suit my dark eyes...Will probably get more Japanese shadows in the future ;).

Swap 2 [Germany].

(For my Lip Smackers Party Pack, Mark Femme 4 quad, Mary Kay eye shadow in Storm, Prestige eye shadow in Indigo, Oriflame loose eye shadow in Midnight Star, NYX depotted eye shadow in Lakemoss Blue - well, the blue shade from the Lakemoss trio, and lots of extras :D.)

I swapped for the two Estee Lauder lip glosses (Pure Pops in Peppermint and Blueberry), IsaDora Colourmatic Eye Pen (microliner ;D) in Soft Black, and four mini perfume oils :). She also added candles and samples (an eye shadow sample & skincare - Nivea eye cream, Vichy Normaderm lotion and Bebe Young Care face cream & body lotion) as extras :D.

I had to give the Bebe Young Care to my sister because she adores the brand and we can't get it here, lol.

Unfortunately we both hadn't realised that the glosses were the Not For Individual Sale ones (thus not full-sized), but she offered to send me a swap evener (so kind of her - I'm sure many swappers would just tell me it was my fault), and today I got this :D.

Yeah, I asked for a mini Pikachu XD. Also the Essence Quattro eye shadow in Sixties Reloaded and Clinique trio (containing Sunburst & Rum Spice - I have Sunburst but it's part of a similar mini quad and I could always use more of those colours ;D :-P). And she still sent me extras: a mask, Vichy moisturiser sample, tea and sweets ^_^. I haven't had Campinos in years XD. Everything looks wonderful :). I'll probably swap with her again ;).

The Essence quad kept reminding me of something though :-/...
I went through my collection & discovered this.

They look similar, but they aren't really (as you will see). For one thing, all four Essence shades work >:-D. (Which is way ironic considering that the Essence quad is much cheaper...)

I swatched the Essence quad to prove that they're actually quite different :-P. (You can see swatches & a review of the Avon quad here.)

[Don't mind my ghostly hand, I'm still figuring out how to work that phone camera, and I wanted the truest-to-life swatches possible for obvious reasons ;). Feel free to request an accurate pic of my hand colour if you need one >:-).]

The colours may be alike, but the Avon ones are matte. The Essence ones are gorgeously shimmery, they remind me of Japanese shadows :). I definitely recommend Sixties Reloaded to all my EU readers ;).

I still have more swaps to post up XD...

Thanks for reading :).

My Make-Up Collection Part 1: The Rimmel Case.

As you may (or may not :-P) know, I have collected so much stuff that I need more than one case to store it in. Some bloggers keep their stuff in clear cases or train cases...Not me though - mine have to be cute :-P ^_^. In fact, two of them are Hello Kitty ;). (These, I will cover later.) But I chose to begin this series (yes, this will be on-going until I cover all my stuff ^_^) with another much-loved case...

This was a present from my sister for my 19th birthday :). I specifically asked for this XD, and not because of the make-up it came with (wasn't much: Rimmel mascara, nail polish, a shadow duo and a foundation sample that was too dark so I gave it to her, but it was too dark even on her and she had issues getting it off 'cause it was a long-lasting one so she had to go to school with a mismatched face - lol, sorry for getting off-topic there XD)...I fell in love with that case :). It's just so nice and black and red and lovely ^_^.

Close-up of the Rimmel logo 'cause it's pretty :-P.

So...What do I keep in there ;D?

Well, the top section houses this lot...

Yup. Pencils :), and whatever tools I don't keep in the Shoebox ;D (will do a post on that too eventually).

Read on for pictures and lists of everything I have in there ^_^.

Tools and similar stuff:

*A little Clinique zip-up case I use to store various sponge applicators, little brushes, spatulas, eyelash curler spare pads, and any tiny tools (so they don't get lost). There's also a lash & brow comb in there ;).

*My 2 sharpeners: Tigi for normal and fat pencils, and Styli-Style for their flat pencils.

*Mascara wands, I keep them ;).

*Brushes: a MaxFactor one that came as a gift with (lol) sanitary pads, so I'm not even sure it's genuine :-P, Estee Lauder (lip and eye - but my sister discovered that the lip one works great as a liner brush :-/) and Oriflame (eye and lip).

Styli-Style Flat Pencils:

Styli-Style Flat Pencils in Rio, Paris, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Venice, Cairo, Left Bank, Soho, Monte Carlo, Madison and Aspen.

Another pic of these, from the back:

For your information, I didn't steal that 'Tester' pencil, they let me have it :-P. They had no Left Banks left except the tester, so they didn't need it anymore ;).

Eye shadow sticks, and mechanical liners:

Avon Colour Trend Bright Lights Shadow Stix in Pink Pops, Orange Crush, Vibrant Violet and Totally Turquoise, Rimmel Lash Maxxx Shadow & Liner in Pink Impact, and Oriflame Daydream Eye Definers in Free Spirit, Escape, Wander, Peace and Serene.

Pencil liners:

Oriflame Visions Dynamic Duos in Laurel & Hardy, Jekyll & Hyde, Aladdin & Yasmin, Batman & Robin, Thelma & Louise and Tom & Jerry, Oriflame Retro Chic Kajal, Avon Arabian Glow liners in Gold, Turquoise and Emerald, ArtDeco Kajal Liners in 20 and 32, and Soft Kajal Liner in 68, Tigi Bed Head Big Fat Fun Liner in Lilac, and Styli-Style Line & Seal in Smokey Quartz.

Lip liners:

ArtDeco Magic Lip Corrector 01, Oriflame Visions Read My Lips lip liners in Don't Talk Just Kiss, Nibble My Ear and Loud 'N' Clear, and Styli-Style lip liner in Tangerine.

Fat and little pencil liners (lol) ^_^:

Oriflame Visions Eye Shimmer Pencils in Shimmer Pink, Shimmer Silver and Shimmer Gold, Oriflame Visions Snow Scene Glitter Eye Pencils in Pink Ice and Silver Snow, Pupa eye liners from the Optical Red palette (gold) and the Optical Rose palette (silver), Miss Sporty Eye Pencil in Sapphire, Rimmel Eye Liner Pencil in Big Blue, Styli-Style Line & Seal eye liners in Twilight Crepuscule and Tanzanite, the silvery grey end of an old Oriflame Visions duo pencil (I used up all of the white end), and ArtDeco Camouflage Stick in 3.

That ArtDeco concealer is too dark for me, so if anyone wants to swap for it, let me know ;). And it also was something they let me have, for the same reason as Styli-Style Left Bank :-P.

That was the top section. The lower section contains...

Lip balms :).

A whole lot of lip balms ;D. I tried to collect them all for the blog, and I think I have, but there might be another one or two somewhere in a bag or pocket, you know how these things are XD. But I think they're all there :). Except the Burt's Bees lip balm from my swap with Sarah, 'cause I took the pics before receiving that ;).

Lip Smackers:

Frosty Favourites Collection (contains 2 Lip Smackers and a clear gloss), Giant Lip Smackers in Cotton Candy and Strawberry, and Lip Smackers in Strawberry Kiwi, Vanilla Lights, Berry Heavenly, Magical Melon, Cool Raspberry Ice, Party Berry, Marshmallow and Spun Sugar Shine - these were all from a party pack.

Labellos:

Top row: Limited Edition Classic, 2 different Limited Editions of Pearl & Shine, Velvet Rose, Sensitive, Med Protection and Hydro Care.
Second row: Cherry Kiss, Strawberry Kiss, Passion Fruits, Sweet Melon, Mandarin Vanilla, Sun and UV Alpin.

Oriflame (the first four are from Visions):

Strawberry, Berry, Mint, Tropics, Lollipop, Cranberry, 2 Winter Balms, and the classic Oriflame Lip Balm. I think I'll swap one of the Winter Balms away, but the problem is that they look identical so I have no idea which has been used (I used one of these maybe once or twice, and the other one's brand new).

Others:

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula SPF 20 Lip Balm, Avon Care Vita Nourish Lip Balm, Avon Care Valentine's Day Special Edition Lip Balm, Softlips Cocktails Mexican Sunrise lip balm, and Bebe Young Care lip balms in Rose Tendre and Silky Vanilla.

That was the Rimmel case, ladies :). Next: Hello Kitty Eye - that is, the Hello Kitty case that houses my eye shadows...But I may have to move them soon, 'cause it's literally overflowing XD. I have so much eye stuff...And I still want more :D! Lol. They're all different though ;). Mostly XD.

Swatches and reviews on request ;).

If you want to swap for anything, you can ask...But I may say no :-P. Or I might say yes. Depends on the items ;).

Thanks for reading :D! I hope this post was pleasurable :-P...I know I love looking at other people's collections :), so I hope some of my readers do too ^_^.