Today's look, swaps, new stuff etc. [Warning: Long with lots of pictures.]

*Hoping that all our blogger girls in the Philippines are alright & everything gets back to normal as soon as possible.

I've noticed that looks are quite liked ;D, so I'm trying to post more of them. Here's my look for today.

Huge eyes (enhanced ones :-P), peach cheeks, and nude lips ;). [Finally starring Revlon Nude Attitude. Took me a while >:-) - but better late than never :-P.]

This look's product pic is huge - I ended up using so many products that they barely fit onto my Hello Kitty bag. But they're basics & I don't think this is too hard to copy if you are so inclined.

Skin: Barbara Daly for Tesco Moisture Foundation in Porcelain (for the record, I've finished the Oriflame one ;D), Tigi Fixx-It Stick in Light, and Bourjois Mineral Radiance powder in Vanille. I applied powder with my Jemma Kidd kabuki brush this time. And I contoured with the MAC brush & Bourjois Miel Dore powder - a video I've seen recently recommends using a contour colour similar to the shade your eye lids are (they're usually slightly darker than most of the face), and this fits :).

Eyes: I'll write out steps 'cause this was a bit elaborate ;).
*Line the upper waterline with black (Oriflame Retro Chic Kajal pencil - not pictured, I forgot to add it >:-/), and the lower waterline with white (my ridiculously tiny Laurel & Hardy by Oriflame - will be needing a new one soon).
*Use a sheeny pinky peach colour (I used the bottom left from my Markwins palette) all over the lids.
*With a soft dark colour (top row, second from the right, Markwins), draw a fat line just above the crease. It should be visible but not fully when your eyes are open.
*Sort out the line. Make sure its shape is right. (This is why I recommend starting with a soft colour.)
*Once you have the shape you want, go over it with black powder liner (Revlon Bedroom Eyes in Fishnet Jet). If you don't own a powder liner, you can use pigment or eye shadow.
*With a smudge brush (mine's by Sephora, but the brand doesn't matter as long as it works :-P), blend the colours.
*Line the upper lash line with a black gel (if you prefer, you could use a liquid) liner (I used the Jane Be Pure mineral gel liner in black). Make it a thin line with a slight flick that should end about where the thick black powder line does.
*Use a brightening pencil (Wet & Wild Idol Eyes pencil in Pixie) on the inner corners.
*Curl, and apply loads of (black) mascara on all lashes.

Cheeks: Bourjois powder in Miel Dore to contour, Mary Kay blusher in Apricot Breeze as the cheek colour, and the mess I ended up with when the face products section of my Too Faced Love Lisa Beauty Battle Box palette smashed on me (lol) as a highlighter :-P.

Lips: Revlon Matte lipstick in Nude Attitude.

More pictures...

I never have a 'normal' expression, do I >:-)?

I forgot to take a close-up of my eyes. Sorry about that. I think they are visible enough on these though.

Shiny face, funny facial expression. I must've scared myself >:-D.

Kidding XD...

Here's the usual Swap Update.

Swap 1 [The USA].

(For my Benefit lip glosses in No Peeking and Who Are You Wearing?, and my Just Cavalli 75 ml shower gel.)

This swap was...

A pain. She wouldn't send me anything for three months, and only did after I threatened to report her. The funny thing is that I had a funny feeling about this swap before agreeing to it - so here's some advice to swappers: listen to your intuition, if a swap feels wrong, don't do it, and know what you need to do in case you do get tricked. I was lucky 'cause I did get my items eventually :). She even added extras.

We agreed to swap for two Mary Kay palettes (Floral Fantasy and Enchanted Garden), an Avon Daring Curves mascara in Navy, an Estee Lauder Pure Colour Gloss in Praline, and a Mark Gloss-Tastic See Through Lip Shine Hookup Stack in Crystal Clear. She added samples of Mary Kay gloss and eye shadow, an Avon quad in Blushing Raisins, an Avon Lip Delight gloss in Vanilla Mint, and two mini Avon wash-off waterproof (how that is supposed to make sense, I have no idea either :-/) coloured mascaras (a purple one and a blue one) as extras.

I thought the mini mascaras were black (there's no mention of their shade anywhere on them), so I gave one to my sister and put the other one into my swap box with the intention of adding it as an extra. Fortunately my sister opened hers and told me it was blue. I checked the other one, saw it was purple, and kept them ;). (It's alright 'cause she doesn't wear coloured ones anyway.)

Good: all shades work this time >:-D.

Bad: the bottom two shades aren't as pigmented as they look :(.

But I love the top left colour :D...So I'm keeping this :).

And I adore the Mary Kay palettes ^_^. The packaging is beautiful, they're slim and very portable, and the products work brilliantly ;). Each palette has three shadows, a cream-to-powder cheek colour, and two lip colours.

Swap 2 [The USA again, but a different swapper].

(For my unused Elf quad in Pretty 'N' Pink, two CDs, and a little something extra ;D.)

A Mary Kay empty palette and five lipsticks :-P. (Yes, I really like them.)

Pictured: my new palette, now containing duos in Cotton Candy, Ivy Duet, Jade, Tutti Frutti and Safari Sunset, and Mary Kay lipsticks in Cantaloupe, Downtown Brown, Frosted Rose, Paradise Pink and Shell.

Must post a look with Downtown Brown - it's so not what I'd expected, and incredibly beautiful.

Swap 3 [England, Kaleidoscope swapper].

(For two DVDs, my Revlon highlighter stick in Crystal Calm, and lots of extras as usual.)

Some skincare again ;). I really like the Nivea Gentle Cleansing Cream Wash & recommend it to anyone who likes creamy cleansers ;D. The Superdrug Vitamin E night cream's pretty good too :).

As for the make-up...I got the BeautyUK palette in 4 (most of the top right shadow broke off as soon as I touched it >:-D after taking the pic, but they're pigmented enough and the colours are really nice ^_^), my own L.A. Colours palette in Wine And Roses back ;D, Fyrinnae Lip Lustres in Bounce, Flavour Of The Day and Lollipop-Pop (I hate the packaging of these, but I suppose their inner beauty matters more :-P...), Prestige Total Intensity eye liner in Bold Brown (a cool-toned brown), Everyday Minerals minis in In The Garden, Mystic Night (probably the most stunning purple I have ever seen) and Starry Eyed, and MAC pigment samples in Dark Soul and Reflects Blackened Red. She also added Avon's Ideal Shade Smooth Mineral Foundation in Soft Ivory and a mini lipstick as extras :).

Swap 4 [The USA and yet another swapper].

(For my Estee Lauder DayWear Plus Multi Protection Antioxidant Creme SPF 15 mini, and some extras.)

A second tube of the Jane AguaCeuticals TM :), along with some really nice extras ;D. Tea ^_^ (fancy packaging too :-P :D), and fragrance samples - Missoni, and I've no idea what the other one is but I'll try it anyway :-P.

Will finish this off with things I've bought :).

I do shop :-P. It's just that swapping gives me more and better items for my money (and half the time, my junk) ;D. Plus, receiving a 'present' feels so nice :). As does packing one ;). Really ^_^.

So, more Tigi stuff...

Palette containing 8 full size eye shadows: 30 Euros, with Tools Of Attraction (5 mini brushes) and pouch free :D.

Incredible, right? That's a good deal even by US standards :-P.

Cyberoptics eye shadow in Jealousy: 13 Euros.

Blueberry liner: free :D, it was their tester (they had no actual Blueberry pencils for sale left) and they let me have it ^_^.

Tigi Tools Of Attraction:

[Wearing Revlon Not So Blue-Berry on nails.]

A mini face brush, shadow brush, liner brush, lip brush (that I'll be using for eye shadow anyway :-P) and baby kabuki ^_^.

Here's a close-up of Jealousy...

And two pics of the palette, in different lighting.

Peach, Brown, Wine, Passion, Copper, Natural, Black and Vanilla.

And some stuff from Sephora...

I paid 5 Euros for the Too Faced eye liner in Ruby Slippers (hey, it's red, I had to get it :-P), and 5 Euros for...

Five mini Sephora brand brushes, and a case (with a mirror). It's so cute too ^_^.

These have their uses written on them. Powder, shadow, smudge, concealer & angle brow.

I think this was my longest post to date. This is what happens when you neglect blogging...Sorry about that, and thanks for reading :).

New Acquisitions, through swaps and not, & Ji's giveaway ^_^.

*Read this.

[Though you probably already have ;D. If not, you should, trust me.]

*Ji is having a giveaway ^_^! It includes Essence :-P :D! I normally hate giveaways that require people to post about them, but she doesn't - it's optional ;D. So I chose to do so for once ;). Plus I have an excuse to promote her blog with this :-P, and her blog deserves it :).

*The clouds background on my blog is because it's easier to read with a lighter background ;). I'm not renaming it to Cloud Enigma any time soon :-P.
Though it does sound kind of nice now that I think about it :).

I will do looks this week, promise. I'm just feeling kind of drained lately and a no-look post is better than no posts at all, right :-P?

Swap 1 [Australia].

(I bought her five Korres products: a foundation, powder, serum, eye shadow and Lip Butter.)

Lots ^_^!

The Cargo Vacation Kit, Sephora Sunswept palette, Stila Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser, Tarte blush stick in Flush (raspberry loveliness ^_^, it smells and looks amazing :D!), Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Gold, OPI Hopelessly In Love, Stila pigment in 8, 2 extra pigment samples (one by a brand called Alima, and MAC Lovely Lily), MAC Flowerplay lipstick, Clinique Mango Tint Superbalm (I already own Raspberry Tint ^_^), Cargo Plant Love lipstick in Nahinni, Stila It Gloss in Striking and Inviting, and MAC Lipglass in Silly Girl and Gold Charm (mini & an extra).

She was also supposed to send me a Shadebender in Sorcery but she'd misplaced it, I'll get it if she finds it. It's still a generous swap though :).

The Sephora palette, Flowerplay & Nahinni. The bronzer's a cream product while the blush is powder ;).

(The glosses are SO much prettier in real life. I may have to retake pics!)

Contains one blush/bronzer tin in Coral Beach, 15 servings (lol) of Daily Gloss in three colours (five of each ;D), eye shadow cards (these will really fit anywhere - but I really hope they work!) in Costa Rica, Mojave, Bermuda, Aegean, Green Bay, Corsica and Yukon, and one mini mascara :).

Brilliant - I was running out of mini mascara backups (I never buy mascara) ;D. Now I'm covered ^_^.

I have access to the Aegean here, but I don't like swimming :-P. Or rather, I don't like all the SPF/hair removal/et cetera various procedures that one has to undertake, and I'm really not keen on exposing my body. I laugh at (or envy, the poisonous not the inspiring kind) others' bodies too much.

Got this 'cause I'm running out of body lotion ;).

This range is sold at supermarkets here, but it's manufactured by Korres ;). Cinnamon Orange, yum ^_^.

Here's some stuff my teenage sister bought at my advice ;D.

Korres backne shower gel (fine, it's for 'oily skin with imperfections' :-P), face wash, and spot treatment, from their teen skincare line ;). Although I have told her repeatedly that her skin would look much better if she'd be more regular with sunscreen...But who listens to their big sisters much :-P?

Also, here are some Bourjois shower gels she got (again, I recommended them :-P)...

Ten something Euros for the lot :). I prefer soap, but I may steal the chocolate one sometimes :-P...

Does anyone else have access to their body care stuff? I'm curious...If anyone's in France, you probably do though ;).

And my little sister gave me her pocket money and asked me to pick up something nice for her, so I did ^_^.

Hello Kitty by H & M :). I'll go get her the pink one too ;D.

Thanks for reading :)! Thanks for being patient with me not posting looks or reviews! Thank you ^_^!

Lol. I really want to recreate this, so it'll be up very soon ;).

P.S. Edit: Really easy contest: just go here & leave a comment ;D. That's all you need to do to enter :)! Lovely, isn't it ^_^?

Still alive :-P. Awards, swap update, some randomness and a pic.

*Me wearing Brave New Bronze...

[Bare face, just Korres sunscreen.]

My face is funny :-P.

About my neck...Yes, my face is lighter than my neck. I don't mind, but I know that most people will assume that I'm wearing badly matched foundation or something like that, and will judge me accordingly.
Anything I can do about that? No. Thus, I don't care.
But I have started high SPF & AHAs on my neck too, and am hoping it evens out eventually ;).

Oh, and I like Brave New Bronze on me :). I haven't bought it yet (for this, I used the tester & took a pic once I got home) but I think I will ;D.

The new shade of SolarBits, I hate :(. But the repromoted ones are beautiful :). Bright Future is really pretty :D and I like Sunsationalist and Liberated too ;D. As you can see, got a mini wishlist - now I just need to act upon it :-P.

*I want this.

*Triple award from Sammie :D - who was kind enough to award every single follower of hers :'). Check out her blog if you don't read it already ;D.

Here are my pretty pictures ^_^.

I'll leave this open to anyone who'd like to take them :).

*Remember my red, white & green contest entry ;D?

Well, Linda sent me a little something just for entering ^_^! Isn't that kind :)?

There's even a note :D.

And stuff: A CoverGirl trio, N. V. Perricone and Skyn Iceland samples, and a Bare Escentuals mini Well Rested Multi-Tasker For Eyes ;).

I only kept the last 2, but I can't wait to use them :).

*And I won the random draw with my pigeon smokey eyes :D! Am I lucky or what XD? I really should enter some more contests, haven't done that in a while...

Swap Update :)...

Swap 1 [The USA].

(For my Oriflame 36 eye shadow palette, and I added many extras ^_^.)

Two NYC liners, an Avon Satin Gel Eye Liner in Black/Brown Pearl which I love :D, I'm afraid I'll have to swap for more gel liners XD...A Revlon highlighter stick in Crystal Calm, two Revlon lipsticks in Soft Silver Red and Silver City Pink, and the last 2 items were something of a disappointment :(...

The Physicians Formula Retro Glow gloss is lovely, but...I'm allergic :(. Will swap it off.

And this is what the Fiori eye shadow trio looked like when we were arranging the swap:

This is what I got.

Yup...Broken :'(. She didn't really wrap it properly.

Oh well, at least it's a pretty colour :).

Swap 2 [England, Kaleidoscope swapper ^_^].

(I got her 4 ArtDeco eye shadows and a shadow box for them, 6 Elf single shadows, and lots of extras as usual ^_^. And I think there was something else, but we always do large, generous multi-swaps and I can't recall every single item ;D.)

Two Revlon quads in Sultry Smokes and Berry Bloom, a Pout eye shadow duo in Miss England (yay, more Pout :D), the Revlon Pure Confection Highlighting Face Powder, Barbara Daly For Tesco Moisture Foundation in Porcelain (I hope this is good 'cause it is a supermarket product :-P, but I have to say that the packaging, at least, does not appear cheap at all), a Mark Kiss Therapy tin in Shimmering Bronze (you know me & Mark lip products XD - plus I was looking for something like this for the summer), the Eyeko pink 3-in-1 cream :D, a half-full (I was aware of it, don't worry ;D) Physicians Formula loose powder in Translucent, a Victoria's Secret Sexy Cheeks Mosaic Highlighter, Estee Lauder lip gloss in Cool Coconut, Sephora tinted moisturiser in 100 (so far, love this ^_^!), Bourjois Rose Fougue blusher and Noir Cobalt eye shadow, and extras - a mini lipstick and Avon samples :).

Lol, I practically wrote a mini essay up there XD. Close-ups:

You can see the Eyeko pot better in the mirror ;D.

I'll try to do some looks soon ;D. If I still have readers :-P.

Thanks for reading then :).

As of today, I will be twenty.

I'm not technically sure whether that phrase is grammatically correct. But it sounds good to me, all rhythmic, so I chose to post it as it is :-P.

So, yes. Today's my birthday :).

Thank you God. Thanks to everyone who has ever supported me. Here's to at least another 20 years :-P ;D.

And here's something for you all ;)...

Yes...I am actually smiling :).

[I told you it doesn't look good on me, and here's proof >:-).]

But I'm still quite happy, which is probably why I look OK enough to feel secure enough to post this ;D. Enjoy :-P. You won't be getting one of these for a long while >:-D.

Make-up: Nothing except Jean by Oriflame (the lipstick I used here) on my lips, except that most of it has faded so it's a sheer reddish stain on there. I'm surprised it has lasted at all - I've had it on since 9 A.M., I had sushi, I had my birthday cake...Should be long gone, it's just a lipstick after all, and not a long-lasting one XD. (I hate those, I much prefer to reapply than to feel like I have glue on my mouth.)

For a beauty blogger (sort of >:-D) and product addict, I do go out bare-faced quite a lot :-P.

My cake:

It's lemon ^_^! Store-bought, of course XD. Yes, it's tiny, but it'll still take me a few days to finish it :-P.

I like the idea of having paper numbers on my cake ;D. It started on my 18th when we were out of candles and I came up with this :-P, but I ended up liking it and have done it ever since ^_^. And of course they're my favourite colour :-P.

With the candle lighted:

That's a singing candle by the way ;). It sings Happy Birthday To You :-P. (Well, just the tune, like a ringtone ;D.)

I hope my wish comes true ^_^!!! (But of course, for that to happen, I can't share it with you :-P.)

Next...Lots and lots and lots of New Acquisitions ;D. Yay ^_^!!!

First of all, here's some stuff I received in the mail ;).

Swapping is wonderful :).

These are all from Make-Up Alley swaps ;). I won't be putting the lovely swappers' names here, but if you'd like to swap with them too & want to know who they are, you can ask me ;D.

Swap 1 [England].

(For my 3 L'Oreal Star Secrets lipsticks in Aishwarya, Laetitia and Claudia, Clinique Bamboo Pink and Maybelline Sugar Plum Ice. And some extras :-P ^_^.)

A Sugar Kaleidoscope palette :D, Essence eye liner, Wet & Wild lipstick, Mark quad and Mary Kay mini quad :). Extra stuff: the gold glitter liquid liner and Nivea body cream sample ^_^. The tiny bottle's mine, and don't worry, I will explain :-P ;).

Opened so you can see the colours ^_^:

Isn't everything just lovely ^_^?!? The left page of Sugar Kaleidoscope has the lip colours, while the right page houses the eye shadows ;D. I love the Mary Kay mini quad ^_^ - I really hope I can find those colours in full-size pans once I'm done with these! I love everything of course, lol :-P :).

(For the record: OPI Russian Navy on nails, one coat. Adore this. I need to find more OPI lacquers. To swap for, that is - they retail for 15 Euros at Sephora here. US people, please convert to dollars and think about whether you'd buy them at that price >:-D.)

Just one minor issue left to resolve - I don't really use liquid liner :(. Yet the glitters are prettiful...What's a girl to do?

DIY: How to de-liner-ify a cheap liquid liner ;).

You will need your liner, and a tiny bottle cap that fits it. That's what the mini bottle was doing on the pic above ;D...It's actually a soya bottle that came with some sushi I bought last week ;). Fortunately, I kept it :).

The liner will have a plastic insert thingy that makes the hole skinny enough to only fit the liner brush.

Well...Use manicure scissors (or whatever works for you, really) to remove it ^_^!

You will end up with this...

Result: A bottle of liquid glittery gel ;D, and a liner brush that's yours to keep for whatever uses you may have for it ^_^! I'm gonna use it when I use mascara as a liquid liner ;). I refuse to buy one :-P. Or for this product, if I ever use it as a liquid liner, and I probably will ;D.
(You can also see the insert I removed on the pic - and the now capless soya sauce bottle XD.)

Swap 2 [Norway].

(For my L'Oreal Penelope Cruz Red and Rimmel Walnut Pearls duo. I didn't include extras, and I feel terrible about it now because she did.)

An Estee Lauder nail polish in White Beige (I'm using this next ;D), eye and lip liner from The Body Shop (wow, I didn't know these existed XD), and 2 extras: an Ulta duo (I love the left shade ^_^) and Chanel Chance sample. I never tried that fragrance before because of the stupid ad, but I did now, and I love it :). I'm keeping this for my sample fragrance wardrobe ;).

Does anybody know whether Ulta tests on animals :o? I hope they don't, I really want to keep this!

Oh, and I love the Estee nail polish bottle ^_^! I want more XD!

Swap 3...Well, Gift 3 [The USA].

This was really quite unbelievable...

I sent a message to this girl, offering to swap for some stuff from her list. She said she didn't really need anything from mine. Fair enough. But then she offered to just send me certain things that I had asked for, with me owing her nothing in return. Of course, I accepted. But I wasn't really sure she'd do it.

Until this came.

That's an Avon quad. The ones we have in Europe have those nasty-looking stripes, which is why I never buy them >:-D. This one is sooo much prettier ^_^! And the colours are lovely :D.

And 8 mini Mark glosses ^_^! I love any Mark products I can get my greedy hands on - unavailability does make the heart grow fonder :-P >:-). It'll take me a few days to test them all, but I already love (and would consider buying full sizes of) at least half of them ;D :).

Thank you so much, Vanessa ^_^!!!

OK, that's all the swap stuff for the time being ;). But I'll be receiving more in the weeks to come ;D...Can't wait ^_^!

I'm not done with writing about my New Acquisitions though :-P. Read on ;).

In a previous blog, I had mentioned that I needed to visit Sephora @ The Mall (I know, I think that name is ridiculously corny too) to track down a certain item that I badly need for contests. Thank God, I found it :D :) ^_^. But...

I ended up getting something else as well XD.

It was simply lovely, the last one left, and thus practically begging 'Please adopt me ^_^'. How could I resist :')?

Well, here's a riddle for you :-P. Can you guess which of these was my intended purchase, and which my impulse buy ;)?

[The saleslady threw in loads of Prada ribbons ;). I like the scent :) and will have to find it in liquid form XD so I can test it properly :-P, but because I have so many ribbons now...If you're swapping with me and want one or two, ask me and I'll give them :).]

(Oh, and if you have any Midnight Poison ribbons that you don't need - yes, they do exist, I have one with a tiny stain of blue nail polish on it >:-D...Please send them to me ^_^!!!)

Anyway, the answer is...

This was my impulse buy :).

The Too Faced New Romantic Peacock Palette :). It's lovely :). The packaging's amazing. There's another similar palette called the Unicorn, and I'm trying to track one down and swap for it ;D.

A closer look at the colours, as usual...

I don't know who would wear olive sage, fuchsia and silver together, but this makes me want to try XD. The glosses are a hot pink, dirty pink and shimmery white, and they're brilliant ^_^. I'm not completely sure about the bronzer, but I can always use it as a shadow ;). For a face product though, it appears far too glittery. Why is this brand so obsessed with glitter XD?

And my final New Acquisition for this already far too long post :-P...

This is a Sephora palette :). My first product by the brand ;). I hope I'm not disappointed in it, but I did swatch before I bought it and was pleasantly surprised.

The cover art is one of those cool pictures that change depending on the angle the light hits it at. I used to have calendars with a similar effect when I was little ;).

View 1: Dark Angels...

Can transform into this...View 2: The Light Angel.

Beyond full marks for this packaging, of course :). But what about the colours?

Well, the top layer (which is a pain to open, I might add >:-D) houses this lot:

Nice soft lovely neutrals :). The top row contains the eye shadows, and the bottom row has the lip colours ^_^.

While the bottom layer contains the reason this caught my eye in the first place - and so much more ;D.

[Yes, they open differently. The top section opens by lifting the lid (by the way, I forgot to mention the simply wonderful large mirror :D), while the bottom section slides out ;).]

Do I see red?!?

Yes, I DO ^_^!!!!!

Red eye shadow :). I finally found it.

There's also black, a weird shade that can't seem to decide whether it is grey or it is brown >:-), and a fair highlighter shade :). And some gorgeous glosses ;D ^_^.

The back has tutorials for two looks that can be done using this palette ;). Certainly a very welcome addition XD. I wish more palettes would add something of the kind...

[I'm not sure whether these are readable, but if you want them, holler and I'll type them up ;).]

There's a Look Innocence ^_^...

And a Look Extravagance :-P :D :).

I will be using this a lot in the near future ;).

I also bought some stuff for my first blind swap :D, and 2 Bourjois mini cream blushes for a Make-Up Alley one ;). Yes, there will be more stuff received in swaps on this blog :-P, I hope you enjoy it ;D.

In closing...Thanks so much for reading ^_^!!!

Really :).

And Happy Birthday To Me ^_^.

P.S. Any advice on being a twentysomething XD :-P?