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?