Halloween Swap With Tried and Tested

Hey guys,

A while ago Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty organized a swap where bloggers who were interested had to express their interest and she then paired everyone up. We were allowed to choose if we wanted to swap with a person from the same country or another country. I chose to swap with someone in Australia as this is my first swap. I was paired with the blogger Tried and Tested who is from Sydney.

We then gave each other a list of our current products, likes dislikes, allergies, colours etc. Based on the answers provided and tweeting each other back and forth we started shopping for each other. 

About two weeks ago we sent out our packages to each other. I was really surprised to receive this huge box filled with some awesome goodies. You can see what I sent her here.

Everything was bubble wrapped and packaged neatly so that nothing broke. Look how cutely she has packed everything. I totally forgot and did not include any item remotely Halloweenish. 

The first thing I could see is this huge pumpkin filled with candies. She also sent me the cosmic ghost drop candies. I don't eat candies but my husband loves them!!!

These skittles candles she sent me smell divine. I love raspberries so the blue one sits in my room. I have placed the orange in the lounge. Love the smell!!

I had given her a wish list and these two items topped the list. The Chi Chi Rich Gems palette and Chi Chi creamy matte liquid lipstick in Wild Child. Love them both! Can't wait to try some looks with the palette.

I did tell her I love wearing false lashes so she sent me these two. I have tried the Ardell lashes but I have never tried lashes from Red Cherry so these will be fun to try out.

These were random products so I put them in a pic together. I got a Rosewater infused handcream, Yu-Be lip balm, Napoleon Perdis loose dust eyeshadow duo, Sally Hansen nail buffer and a POP Beauty loose eyeshadow. I have never tried any of these products so it will be interesting to see how they go.

Next up she sent me lip liners from Rimmel, Essence and Innoxa. The Essence lip liners I use already and love them so these will be a back up but I have never tried these Rimmel lip liners and Innoxa lip liner.

Eyeshadows Galore!! L'oreal quad, Bloom Duos, Australis quad and a Maybelline cream eyeshadow trio. I did tell her I love experimenting with colour so she sent me different varieties.

 The lipsticks I received were Natio Flutter- I already own this, got it in a Priceline beauty bag. Rimmel Drop of Sherry- Beautiful rose, Rimmel 19- One of my everyday lipsticks so great to have a backup of that and the last one is Rimmel Heather Shimmer- Lovely everyday colour.

You can never have too many baby lips!!! :) :) also I have never tried this L'oreal blush, so again it will be interesting to see how that works for me.

I would have to be blind to never notice these pencils from Essence. I thought they were limited edition or something when I received them but no, they are permanent. I have used the Essence Kajal liners before but not these long lasting pencils. I swatched them and they are super creamy. Not sure how they last because I still need to put them to test. 

I am most excited to use these eyeshadows from Medusa's Makeup. It came with a primer too!! Super glittery *Excitement!!!!*

I honestly love everything she sent me and I can't wait to use everything. I did do some swatching but haven't been able to use everything properly. I really wanted to thank Jasmine for taking the initiative and doing all the hard work to make this halloween swap a success. Without her I would not have met this lovely blogger under the name Tried and Tested. 

Have you tried any of the products mentioned above? What do you think of them?? Let me know in the comments below. 

BOE Beauty- BigW affordable makeup. Is it worth it??

Hey guys,

How many of you have heard of this brand named Boe Beauty available at BigW here in Australia?? I know many of you have tried these products but I know a lot of people who still have not even heard of these.

Basically these are beauty products sold in BigW for $2 each (LOL Cosmetics in Kmart ring a bell??) These are just like that but way better quality I think. I picked up two of their matte lip creams and one eyeshadow palette to review here. They also have a wide variety of eyeshadow duos, eyeliner pencils, liquid eyeliners, mascara, jumbo lip pencils, glosses, lip lacquers, matte lip creams, nail polishes etc.

The two lip creams I have here are #32 Blush Pink Matt Lip Cream and #33 Shock Pink Matt Lip Cream.

Blush Pink

Shock Pink

Blush Pink

Blush Pink

Blush Pink is a nice nudey pink. It does not look great on my skin tone but girls with lighter skin can pull it off easily.

Shock Pink

Shock Pink

Shock Pink is a bright fuschia violet colour that will look great on light and dark skinned beauties.

As you can see in the above swatches I do find the product not living up to the name. It does not look matte in anyway. They do have a satin shine finish . The colour payoff is amazing, both lip creams shown above are one swipe of product only. They do have a perfumy smell but that does not transfer on the lips. They are not super long lasting but they do last about 5 hours which is really good for a $2 product.

Pros:

Only $2

Available in a few shades

Available at all BigW stores

Lasts pretty well

Does not dry out the lips

Very pigmented

Slim packaging easy to carry

Easy to apply, No lip brush needed

Cons:

Is not matte as the packaging claims

Has a perfumy smell

Bleeds if a lip liner is not used

Transfers if not blotted

I cannot think of any other con as I do find it pretty good value for the price.

The next thing I picked up is the Boe Beauty Glamour Eyes Palette. This retails for $5 and has 11 eyeshadows. Some are shimmery while others are satiny. The range includes neutrals to bright fun colours.  

I started swatching from the big yellow eyeshadow on the top and went clockwise. The three small colours right below the big yellow are swatched horizontally. All swatches are done by an eyeshadow brush.

Although these shadows were quite powdery I did find them to be quite pigmented (better than the models prefer gift sets I bought recently). The above swatches are only one or two layers of product. I think for $5 that is quite impressive. On the eyes these last well too. I did use a primer and the shadows lasted me 5 hours, without primer I am looking at 3 hours due to extremely oily lids.

Pros:

Cheap and affordable only $5

Variety of colours

Pigmented

Not patchy

Last well for the price

Great gift

Cons:

Powdery

May not last long on the lids without a primer

Cheap packaging

Honestly, for the price I think they are worth it.

Have you tried Boe Beauty products? What do you think about them?? 

Liebster Award

Hey guys,

Recently a fellow beauty blogger emailed me and told me that she had nominated me for the Liebster Award. I was not very sure what that meant so I did do some googling and found out that it is an encouragement given to budding bloggers. Anyways, I was tagged by Natasha from http://natashabhatt.blogspot.in/ and she has given me a few questions to answer.

Your thoughts about the Beauty Blogging Community:

I personally think blogging is a way of expressing yourself and our Beauty blogging community has grown so much. From veteran bloggers like Tiffany D and Makeup Geek to new bloggers like BBubbles and Tried and Tested, everyone has been expressing their thoughts, tips and tricks through their blogs. I have also made a lot of good friends through the blogging community. It is a great platform to express and share. I am honored to be a part of this growing community.

What was your first makeup item?

I think the first makeup item I can remember owning is a pink chapstick that my Dad's friend gave me when I visited her and was completely awed by the amount of makeup she had. This was when I was 4-5 years old.

Do you prefer high end makeup or drugstore?

I think both, I like high end for base like foundation because I don't get my colour in drugstore makeup. As for everything else I do like using a bit of drugstore and a few high end things thrown in here and there. 

What would you prefer blush or bronzer?

I would say blush. I do own a lot of bronzers but if I have to choose I will choose my blushes.

Name one brand's makeup that you feel is underrated.

I think that would be Inglot, although now people are trying to check it out more. But I think most women go for the branded MAC just because of the name, when you can find better quality products in Inglot.

What is your most cherished makeup product and why?

This answer is obvious, I love my YSL Rouge Volupte Lipsticks. They are amazing quality and the best packaged lipstick in my opinion. I have 7 shades and absolutely adore them. Also they are quite expensive for a lipstick so I would cherish them forever (I know I can't use them forever but I can still keep the tubes)

Which actress in Bollywood does the most amazing makeup?

I would say Sonam Kapoor. She is always on trend with all the new styles and colours.

Name one brand that makes the best eyeshadows according to you?

Inglot! Hands down. Pigmented, long lasting, wide range of colours and most importantly- affordable.

Which is your favorite lipstick colour family?

Pink! I love everything pink!! :D

One makeup item you cannot do without.

Lip product- be it lip balm, lipstick, lip gloss I need one of them to make me look human.

Name one blog/website you love.

Temptalia. Your all in one stop for all things beauty.

I nominate the following beauty bloggers to answer the questions I list. If you do the tag do let me know I would love to read your answers.

Nalini : http://www.themadeupmaiden.com/

Jasmine : http://www.sweetaholic-beauty.com/

Melissa : http://bbubbles16.blogspot.com.au/

Tried and Tested : https://triedandtestedblog.wordpress.com/

Katrina : http://beautyconsultancy.blogspot.com.au/

Evelyn : http://www.cottoncandydiva.com/

Erin : http://www.the-beautybox.blogspot.com.au/

Saumya : http://thevanitybagdiaries.blogspot.com.au/

Sarah : http://www.morethanadored.blogspot.com.au/

Balmer : http://beautybalmer.blogspot.com.au/

The questions for you to answer are:

1) What is your most used beauty product?

2) If you had to pick 3 items from your collection to take with you on a holiday what would they be?

3) Concealer before or after foundation?

4) All time favorite makeup brand

5) Lipstick or lip gloss?

6) Have you tried organic products before? If yes, which is your favorite?

7) Mascara on bottom lashes, Yay or Nay?

8) Makeup brushes, sponges or fingers?

9) Most underrated brand according to you?

10) Splurging on skin care or splurging on makeup?

The rules are:

Answer the questions in a blog post.

Tag 10 bloggers and provide questions for them to answer.

Inform the bloggers that they have been tagged.

Add the Liebster badge to your blog.

I hope you enjoyed reading my answers to Natasha's questions. If you would like to read her post where she tagged me, you can read it here. 

Wearable Pink Eyeshadow look using Too Faced Pretty Rebel Palette

Hey guys,

I was playing around with my Too Faced palette last weekend and came up with this look. Hope you like it.

Products Used:

Too Faced Pretty Rebel Palette

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Ardell Lashes 110

Maybelline Mega Plush Mascara

How to:

First I primed my entire lid with the shadow insurance. Then I applied the pink color in Totally Fetch on the lid staying below the crease.

 In the outer crease I placed the color Charming which is the matte dark brown and blended into the crease. 

To soften the crease I used Gangsta over Charming and blended it till below the brow.

 For the brow highlight I used Ringleader which is the pale champagne pink colour. 

I lined the upper and lower lashline using the blue shimmery shade in Badass.

Then I applied the Ardell false lashes and the Maybelline Mascara to blend my lashes with the fake ones.

This was a very easy look I achieved with this gorgeous palette and very wearable too. I personally would not wear this out during the day but for night time it is perfect. If you are bold enough you can rock this look during the day too.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Till next time,

❤

Models Prefer Sweet Shadows and Sweet Kisses Swatches and First Impressions

Hey Guys,

Its that time of the year again where all makeup companies come out with gift sets, Yes!! Christmas is almost here. I had been eyeing this eyeshadow set since the day Priceline posted a picture of it on Instagram. Finally I found it and also found another gift set with face products too. I am talking about the Models Prefer Sweet Shadows and Models Prefer Sweet Kisses. There is another gift set launched by them which is a cute clutch purse with three makeup items in it. I did not buy that as I was more keen on getting these.

*All swatches are applied using a brush

First Impressions:

When I first saw the picture on Instagram it reminded me of Too Faced gift sets. That was the primary reason I wanted to buy these. There were no testers in store so I could not swatch the shadows before purchasing.

Sweet Shadows  $15 at Priceline:

The sweet shadows gift set comes with 12 eyeshadows, 1 eye primer and 1 mascara and brow gel duo for $15.

The eye primer feels smooth and dries matte. It does not have any tackiness to it like most eye primers have. Tacky eye primers help intensify shadows on the eye. I felt this eye primer to have the formulation of a face primer. 

The Mascara wand is a rubber wand with short bristles on one side and longer bristles on the other. I quite like the formulation of the mascara as it is a thick consistency. The Brow gel side has a normal mascara wand with clear gel.

The eyeshadows have cute names and most of them fall under the mauves and purples category. The shadows are very chalky and don't have much pigmentation. You have to layer them 4 or 5 times to get the shadows to actually show up. In the pictures I had to layer the shadows 4 times to make them look close to color. 

Highest Pigmented shades:

Precious

Enchanting

Lowest Pigmented shades:

Innocent

Adorable

Angelic

Sweetened

Overall Verdict:

Cute gift but not a must have. There are other gift sets from Models Prefer under the same price range which have better quality eyeshadows.

Sweet Kisses $25 at Priceline:

When I saw this box I expected some lip products to be in there but there is none. Like the name Sweet Shadows had eyeshadows, Sweet kisses did not have any lip products. Instead it has face products like blush and bronzer.

This box comes with 16 eyeshadows, 1 eye primer, 1 mascara and brow gel duo, 1 bronzer, 1 highlighter, 2 blushes and 1 eye brush duo for $25

The eye primer and mascara duo is the same as in the Sweet Shadows. The duo eye brush is synthetic with one side shader and one side blender. It is quite a stiff brush and I personally will not use it.

The highlighter in Macaroon is very powdery and has a slight sheen. It is not a very noticeable highlighter.

The bronzer in Cinnamon Spice has a nice texture and is warm toned. It is not completely matte.

The blushes in Marshmallow and Peach Parfait are hard and not very blend able. They are not at all pigmented. Even when I used my finger to swatch hardly any color showed up on my skin.

All the eyeshadows are named after sweets and again not very pigmented. The 3rd and 4th columns of eyeshadows seem to have more color pay off than the first 2 columns. 

Highest pigmented shades:

Toffee

Black Forest

Honey Crunch

Dark Cluster

Lowest Pigmented Shades:

Chocolate Whip

Mint Slice

Cherry Ripe

Caramel

Overall Verdict:

Again this is a cute gift but not something that will be of any use because there is no proper pigmentation. The tin boxes that these come in are reusable to store knickknacks. 

I was just looking through some pictures online and these gift sets are exact copies of Too Faced products. In terms of eyeshadow colors, Models Prefer tried to come out with almost exact dupes but unfortunately the quality just does not match up. These are just my first impressions and all eyeshadow swatches did not have a primer or base underneath. Maybe they will perform well with a primer, can't be too sure though. I really liked the quality of Models Prefer eyeshadow quads but these don't look like similar quality. 

Have you tried the Models Prefer gift sets? what do you think of them??

http://www.beautylish.com/p/too-faced-shadow-bon-bons

http://www.beautylish.com/p/too-faced-sweet-indulgence-palette

Lust Have It! Giveaway

Hey guys,

Its giveaway time, I had tweeted about this last week that I received 3 Lust Have it! September boxes when I had paid only for 1. I did email and tweet them regarding the mix up but got no reply. Since I did get similar products I thought of giving one away to a lucky reader. Unfortunately at this point of time this giveaway is for Australian residents only but don't get disheartened my global readers I have another giveaway planned for you soon.

What you will win:

Lust Have it! September box containing the following items

WotNot Facial wipes

Mary Kay oil free makeup remover

Baji Eye Serum

L'oreal Base Magique Primer

L'oreal Infallible sample

Tom organic tampons

Bioderma Sebium Foaming gel

Lust Have it! precision brush

You can read about the products in detail here.

Giveaway rules:

You have to be an Australian Resident with a valid Australian address.
No P.O. Boxes please
No giveaway blogs/ profiles
You must be 18+ or have your parents permission to enter
Winner will be contacted via email so please do check your email and reply to me within 3 days
If I get no reply from the first winner after 3 days another winner will be picked.
This giveaway is open till 20th October 2013 00.00 Melbourne time.
Please do bear in mind that I will send you an email of the postal receipt but in no way will I be responsible for lost package. AusPost is reliable most of the times.
And most importantly don't be sad if you did not win, I will host more giveaways in the future.

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