My Make-Up Collection Part 4: Face Enhancers.

Nice title, right? That's what I call my cheek stuff ;). I don't have too many of these products (compared to eye or lip stuff), but it's still a nice & useful lot :).

I keep them in here...

This is everything laid out on my Hello Kitty bag ;).

Well, you cannot see every single product, but it does fit most in one go. Can't imagine doing that with my eye shadows :-P...

I'll begin with my Everyday Minerals minis ;).

Everyday Minerals mini blushes in All Smiles, Anytime, B & B, Best Friends, Chit Chat, Cookie Sheet, Corner Office, Jump Rope, Once And Again, Pink Ribbon, Plum Dust, Photo Album and Theme Park. (Also pictured is a sample of Pure Luxe Cheeky, but I swapped that off.)

Estee Lauder and MAC...

Estee Lauder Deluxe All-Over Face Compact containing Bronze Goddess Soft Shimmer Bronzer in 2, and Tender Blush in Pink Kiss, Rosette and Petal, Estee Lauder mini Soft Matte Bronzer, MAC Fafi Powder Blush in Hipness and Hello Kitty Beauty Powder Blush in Tippy.

Elf and Asian brand stuff...

Elf Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Sunkissed, Warm Tan and Luminance, Nichido Powder Blush in Sunkissed (it somehow ended up cracked, but I don't mind 'cause I can still use it), and Fashion 21 Fine Blush Powder in 1.

Wet & Wild, Revlon and Mary Kay.

Markwins Eyes & Cheeks palette (there's nothing else written on it :-/), Wet & Wild Silk Finish Blush in Berry Shimmer, Revlon Leading Lady Blush in Smoky Rose, Revlon Pure Confection Highlighting Face Powder, Revlon Cream Blush in Just Peachy, and Mary Kay blushes in Apricot Breeze, Burnished Bronze, Desert Bloom and Pink Meringue.

Bourjois ^_^. I love Bourjois :D - definitely one of my favourite brands ;).

Delice De Poudre Highlighting Powder, Blushers in Rose Fougue and Rose De Jaspe, and Compact Powders in Miel Dore and Abricote. (Being pale, I use Miel Dore for contouring and Abricote as a peach blusher.)

Opened:


Various products in see-through packaging:

Physicians Formula Organic Wear Bronzer, Charm Colour Face Colour in FB5, IsaDora Diamond Glow, The Body Shop Shimmer Waves in 02 Blush, Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Gold and Sugar Sweet Cheeks in Cupcake.

Various products in opaque packaging:

Models Prefer Blush in Pretty In Paisley, Luscious Cosmetics Luscious Blooms Blush & Highlighter Duo in Coral Gables, my Oriflame shimmer balls I can't remember the official name for :-P (and that cream pot isn't their actual packaging either >:-D - I've moved them), Cargo Mini Medium Bronzer, Tarte Cheek Stain in Flush and Pout Flush Blush in Fuchsia Fusion.

Opened:

That's it ^_^. Of course, I do have blushes in palettes, but those will be published within the palettes section, coming soon ;D. Thanks for reading :).

A tag & my swap with Hanna ^_^.

*10 labels instead of 20 per post (which was not enough for me either)?!? Thanks >:-@.

[I'll do the Daily Essentials tag next ;). Must take the necessary pictures for it.]

So, I was tagged by the lovely ladies at Italian Beauty Blog and The Adventurous Purple Koala (check them out, I love promoting the Euro blogosphere ;D) with the "I think you are an awesome girl" tag ^_^. Thanks :).

Since I (as way too often, hmmm...) end up posting this later than I should've, I'll leave this open 'cause I'm not sure who has or hasn't been tagged. Any reader of mine can take it - if you regularly read this, I do think you're awesome.

Here are my ten facts...

*I've always wanted a middle name. Or three. Having one name is just...Boring :-P.
*My voice changes according to various factors, including but not limited to my mood, what I'm saying and the language I'm speaking. And I don't mean minor changes - I sound like a different person fairly often (which must be odd to others).
*I love having blonde hair and dark eyes, I think it's unique and (along with my pale skin) makes me stand out.
*I can't do that spreading-lipstick-with-your-lips thing. I just end up clumsily squishing them against each other, and if I wore lip colour while doing it, I would just mess it up.
*I'm a fast reader.
*I really like being in motion. Buses, cars, planes, trains - anything as long as I'm moving.
*I make up my own names for constellations. There's the V sign (as in Victory), and the forever (looks like the mathematical symbol for infinity, which is an 8 lying on its side), and more.
*My beauty ideal is pale. (You probably know that.) I honestly don't understand why people use fake tan to lose something attractive they naturally have.
*I love taking photographs of anything that's beautiful. That includes make-up. It does not include myself. (But for the blog's sake, I try to do 'look' posts as often as I can.)
*I'd love it if someone did a make-up video tutorial on Dior Midnight Poison. (I won't do one 'cause I'm not beautiful enough to pull it off without looking like a parody or worse, an insult to the original. Don't argue.)

If you do this tag, let me know, I'd love to read your facts ;). Oh, and coming up with mine was sort of hard...But there they are :).

For my latest Swap Update, I'll begin with a swap I'd arranged with a fellow blogger ^_^. I love swapping with other bloggers :D. So, here it is ;).

Swap 1 [Malaysia - this was a swap with Hanna ^_^].

(For my barely used Mary Kate & Ashley LA Style gift set, containing the perfume & a body mist, all in a blue MK & A pouch. And of course I was generous with extras ;D.)

I was supposed to receive two glosses and a lip liner, but after no swap showed up two months later, Hanna offered to send me a replacement & allowed me to pick some items from her list. Isn't she a wonderful swapper?

So, I got these...

Contact lenses solution minis ;), a Stila Lip Glaze Stick in Brown Sugar (not brown at all when worn - more of a sweet nude), an Estee Lauder mini nail polish in Satin Gold (so cute ^_^!), nail polish remover pads, two mini tubes of Lancome sunscreen, and a Cafe Chocolate lip gloss by Amuse.

I recommend that gloss for occasions when you need to look and feel more awake. It's a beautiful fresh rose colour and smells very strongly of coffee ;D. (If you can't stand the smell of coffee, do not get this.)

But then, three months after the first swap was sent...It showed up!

That did take way too long, but I was still happy to receive it :).

The Estee Lauder gloss looks squished and half empty because it now is :( - it somehow was punctured in the mail and ended up leaking all over the other products. But I've cleaned them up ;), and there's enough of it left for me to try out anyway :D.

The Eyeko wipe and lipstick sample were extras :). The actual swap was for the Estee Lauder High Gloss in Berry, Stila It Gloss in Enchanting (bringing my total of It Glosses up to five :D, of which it's my current favourite ^_^), and Stila Glaze Lip Liner in Nude ;).

Thanks again to Hanna for a wonderful swap ^_^ (we're currently through our second ;D), and I do advise my readers to check out her blog ;).

Swap 2 [Portugal].

(For my Elf quad in Nouveau Neutrals, and lots of extras ^_^.)

Bourjois eye liner in Fil D'Or - this was on my wishlist, and now I finally have it ^_^. She also made me samples of Avene Hydrance Optimale Riche Hydrating Cream and The Body Shop Moisture Foundation in 1 as extras :).

She added the foundation 'cause she'd noticed that I was perpetually looking for pale colours. I love it when people add extras specifically to suit me.

Thanks for reading :).

I've won another giveaway, yay ^_^! Plus some nail pics & New Acquisitions. Including a must have product under 5 $ - really.

Blogspot Beauty e-mailed me...To tell me that I'd won her contest :).

Well, that's about as good as 'welcome back to the blogosphere' can get, right XD? Thanks so much BB ^_^. Everyone else, do check out her blog ;).

Here are the nail pictures. I'll do a look as soon as I stop feeling like a dried out pancake.

So, Nails Inc Victoria:

I'd swapped for this one ages ago, can't believe I'm only posting it up now.

Well...It's an autumn kind of colour :-P? Not that I personally pick my looks like that, but many do ;).

Nails Inc Victoria topped (in retrospect & as visible on there, sort of clumsily - sorry!) with Icing by Claire's Signature Runway (black with red sparkles, pics minus the sparkles >:-D here).

Can you see the red glitter on this pic? It just won't show up >:-/. But for the record (if you're planning on getting the Claire's polish, and you probably should if you can 'cause it's cheap enough to take a chance on ;D), they are there. And they're most intense under electric light. I think that topping a chocolate colour with this would look like OPI Midnight In Moscow ;) :D.

Alas, I don't own a chocolate colour XD. But I love this combo too :) - and it's even prettier in real life 'cause one can >:-) see the glitter. I think I prefer this to wearing Signature Runway on its own, and I'll be wearing it again ;).

Wet & Wild Bijou Blue...

Blue is my favourite alternative (that is, not red, white, pink or nude) colour to wear on nails. I feared that I might hate this (I don't really like teal), but somehow, with my skin colour, it works :).

[Here's a proper review ;).]

I've also worn my Essie Flirty Girl, but was too lazy to photograph it >:-). Will do next time though ;D.

On to my new stuff :D. I love things :-P. You can probably guess that by now >:-).

First of all, here are some things I actually bought >:-D.

A sharpener for my concealer (in my favourite colour, of course :-P), and two Tigi Bed Head brushes :D. They're hot pink ;D, and have names. Whoever came up with that is brilliant :). I don't like it when products have numbers instead of names & there's no real reason for it to be different with brushes. The liner brush is called Fame, and the other one's called The Love Brush ;).

These cost me 6 Euros each. If you can get them for that price, do. If you can get them full price, do it anyway if you have the funds, 'cause these rule :-P.

So far, I've used Fame with my Kate silver gel liner. (My black liners work fine with the cheap liner brush the Jane one came with, but this one called for a better tool ;D.) It works wonderfully :). I love it ^_^. And I'm sure I'll also love The Love Brush when I get around to using that ;D.

And now (you probably knew this was coming...), here are some swaps :).

Swap 1 [France].

(For my Maybelline Line Stylist in Jade Flash, and a few extras.)

An eye & lip liner from The Body Shop, in Chocolate ^_^. Also samples of a Crabtree & Evelyn hand cream and something anti-ageing by Guerlain - swapped that one off.

Swap 2 [England, Kaleidoscope swapper].

(I got her an Oriflame Radiance Energy cream and Beauty Balm, and as usual, added lots of extras ^_^.)

Palettes galore :D...

Profusion 36 Glamour eye palette, Sleek palettes (finally got my hands on these) in Acid and Chaos (which is upside down on the pic >:-D), the ArtDeco Beauty Box I'd originally bought for her (with two eye shadows in it ^_^), Coty Puzzle perfume (50 ml), Bourjois Violet Absolut eye shadow, and a metallic blues palette by L.A. Colours as an extra :). It's beautiful ^_^!

That shiny thing on the bag's top right is a pore strip, it was an extra too XD.

More pics...

The Profusion palette is a must have. I mean it. And it's only a few dollars in the US >:-). So freaking unfair to us all in other countries, but at least I managed to get one through this swap :).

It's got a lot of lovely neutrals and enough smokes, but also a red, some greens, a lovely periwinkle blue...A wonderful variety of colours :). And guess what: these colours go on metallic if used wet, and many are duochromes :D. See that pale orange in the second row (second from left)? It reflects white ^_^. This is for a single colour out of a 3.99 $ palette that contains 36 of them. If you have access to it, get it now ;D.

Oh, and it has the best and largest mirror I've ever seen on a palette XD. If you have a hard time justifying this purchase, tell yourself it's for the mirror's sake - and once you try these amazing shadows, you won't have any more issues :-P ;).

That's Acid on the left and Chaos on the right.

Well, only the middle four shades in Acid are true neons :-/. But the other shades are pigmented anyway - and I suppose that them not being fluorescent will be seen as a good thing by most people XD.

As for the shades in Chaos, they remind me of clay XD. But they're really nice colours :). Look at that orange, it'll be great for autumn themed looks ;).

You can also see my two new ArtDeco shadows on that pic: 82 and 217. But since I have 243 from the same collection the Beauty Box was part of, I put that one there. And to keep things green, I added my other two ArtDeco greens. It now looks like this:

ArtDeco eye shadows in 318, 243 and 390.

And this is a better pic of the Puzzle bottle:

It's so cute :). But in real life it's green, not blue :-P. (Though personally I would've preferred blue like on this picture, lol. But oh well.)

Swap 3 [The USA].

(For my mini Lancome Juicy Tube in Frozen Punch, and I added a few extras.)

C.O. Bigelow Soda Fountain Strawberry Sundae Mentha Lip Shine ;D. As you know, I love these - and this one looks so pretty :).

Oh, and it was brand new & still sealed. Not that I care XD, I don't mind used lip stuff. But I suppose it's nice to swap for something unused every now and then ;).

Thanks for reading :). I've got a lot of catching up to do XD...

What may be the largest ever swap in blogging history :-P ^_^.

After lots of bubble envelopes and boxes, weeks of swapping, and much anticipation...

Here it is.

The Hello Kitty tote pictured is also part of the swap ;D :). I'd stupidly dented mine >:-/ :'(, but Sarah had extra ones available, and she kindly agreed to send me one :).

And that isn't even all of it. This photo has the things from Parcels 1 and 2. Funny story about these: one was a bubble envelope to be sent by Airmail, and one was a box to be sent by ground mail...But bless the absent-minded guy or girl at Canada Post who sent the box by Airmail XD - even though Sarah'd paid for ground shipping (which is cheaper) :D.

Of course, I'm going to describe all this in detail ;D...

Elf powders in Sunkissed, Warm Tan, Luminance and Tone 2. In real life, Tone 2 is darker than Luminance :-/.

The first three are meant to be bronzers. However, Luminance is not going to bronze you up unless your skin is literally white >:-). It's a beautiful and well, luminous XD powder that I use when I want my face to glow (for the record, I'm quite light) - and it can also be used as a highlighter ;).

Tone 2 is just a regular powder, and I got it for my sister ;).

Elf eye shadow singles in Moondust, Mocha, Sage, Wisteria, Ivory and Truly Pink. These are very pretty, but I ended up swapping them off to somebody who had them on her wishlist ;). I would've definitely kept them had I not known her though! They're lovely ^_^. My fave is probably Wisteria ;D.

Elf quads in Butternut, Pretty 'N' Pink and Nouveau Neutrals. These are so tiny and adorable in real life, and the colours are so pretty :D!

NYX eye shadows in Orange, Prune, Blondie, Lanikai and Lime Juice.

I swapped off Prune ;). Orange is a great matte orange :D, Blondie is a blondish gold and I adore the name, Lanikai is a very blue blue, and Lime Juice is true to its name ;D. I love these NYX cute square shadows and have since swapped for a couple more of them :).

NYX Loose Pearl eye shadows in Yellow Gold, Turquoise and Ocean Blue, and Wet & Wild cream eye shadow in Champagne Toast :).

NYX round eye shadows in Deep Purple and Prune (from a trio), and trio in Copper/Rust/Bronze.

I swapped away the first two. And I broke Bronze >:-). Maybe I'll use the pigment to make bronze body lotion - got that idea from a magazine article ;).

NYC lipsticks in Smooch and Cameo.

Smooch is a fairly metallic mid-pink. But the stain it leaves is a very lovely rosy colour - makes me wonder why they didn't bottle (tube?) that colour in the first place :-/. Cameo is a very pretty and on me, very natural looking (as opposed to a statement colour) coral :). Not sure about Smooch yet, but I'm definitely keeping Cameo ^_^.

Annabelle pigments in Cool Mint and Azure.

I'm in love with these pigments ^_^! They're vivid, they don't crease or fade, and they're so flattering with my eye colour that I really couldn't believe it XD :'D. I think I'll try to track some more down ;)...

(In case you were wondering, this is a Canadian brand ;D & their website is here.)

Wet & Wild nail polish in Bijou Blue and NYC nail polish in Kool Blue [sic >:-)].

Here's a detailed blog post about Bijou Blue ;). I swatched it on one nail and it turned out very turquoise - greenish blues don't really suit me (or rather, I dislike them), so that turned me off doing a full mani, but I will in the future and hope it grows on me.

While Kool Blue (stupid spelling notwithstanding) is The Perfect Icy Blue I Have Been Seeking All My Life :).
Thankfully, it's a 15 ml bottle XD ^_^!!!

The Body Shop Shimmer Waves in Rose :). This is a lovely blusher that can be used as eye shadow & for highlighting too if you'd like ;), and as you can see, it has 5 rosy colours :-P. Love it ^_^.

(A bronze version also exists ;D.)

Everyday Minerals mini blushes in Pink Ribbon, Anytime, Theme Park, Corner Office, Jump Rope, B & B, Plum Dust, Best Friends, Photo Album, All Smiles, Cookie Sheet, Chit Chat, and Once And Again.

Once And Again was sent in an envelope because she forgot to include it with the rest of them - and due to Canada Post's rules about bubble envelopes not exceeding a certain thickness, she had to depot the blush into a baggie, unscrew the cap, and send it in that disjointed state XD.

I originally planned to swap some off, but after trying these, I don't think I will ;). I love them :). Oh, and the 'mini blush' name is misleading - since these are mineral loose pigment, you only need a little bit at a time, so they'll last for long ;D ^_^.

Everyday Minerals eye shadows in Tinsel Time and Bubble Tea, eye liner in Gingerbread Man, and sample size eye shadows in Wild Flowers, Baby Bath, Well Being, Oasis, Birdhouse, Shopping Spree, Pressed Olive and Cypress. The full size eye shadows are the same size as the mini blushes above ;).

My pigeon inspired smokey look features Well Being ;D :).

Everyday Minerals Lip Scrub & Silk Naturals Date Bait Perfection Powder and Sleep In A Jar Under Eye Concealer.

I love the way the Silk Naturals stuff feels, but unfortunately it's just too coloured for my pale skin :(. I gave Date Bait to my sister ;), and while Sleep In A Jar makes my under eye area look jaundiced, it works well as lid concealer (think Benefit Lemon Aid, but in powder form) ;D.

Dior Detective Chic palettes ^_^!!! I got the eye shadow & highlighter (Pearl Reflection) palettes, and I now have 3 Dior clutch palettes total :D :) ^_^.

Great classic neutral colours ;).

I'll probably use these as eye shadows too XD.

[Wearing NYC Kool Blue on nails ;).]

And...

Hey, I didn't swap for these!!!

She gave me extras ^_^!!! Hello Kitty pins and a Wet & Wild I-Sparkle quad in Celestial Realm ^_^!!! Thank you ^_^!!!

Here's the pic of Parcel 3's lot ;).

The Wet & Wild liner came in Parcel 1 or 2 (I can't remember which), but I forgot to photograph it then so I added it to this pic ;D.

Pictured: NYX trios in Spring Leaf/Lime Green/Green Tea and Aquamarine, and NYX round eye shadow (I suppose this has been depotted from somewhere) in Lakemoss (far right). There's also a MAC ribbon ^_^, a primer sample, and a Wet & Wild lip liner in 666 Brandywine. That was a wishlist item of mine :D, and a replacement for the Wet & Wild tinted moisturiser we agreed on, because she'd discovered it had gone bad ;).

And some more extra stuff - ads ^_^!!! If you're swapping with me and have any you don't need...Take note ;). I love them :).

That was a MAC promo card that I gave to my sister 'cause she's a Fergie fan, while I hate her >:-).

Lise Watier ^_^! Another Canadian brand ;). I like the look she's wearing there :D. And I like the look of this...

Colourless mineral foundation to match all skin tones? That's brilliant ^_^!!! Has anyone tried this ;D?

Gosh...Featuring 6 looks. This is my fave ;).

And Revlon :).

Sarah, thanks again for a truly perfect swap :D :) ^_^.