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 ^_^.

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 ^_^.