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. 

Recent empties and products I am chucking out

Hey guys, 

I am on a mission to finish up products I already own before buying new products, which is hard and almost impossible for me but I am trying. I am really excited that I could complete a few of them atleast.

Without further adieu I present to you my empties,

Impulse Illusions body mist : I used to carry this in my gym bag and finally I am done with it. It was a fresh smelling body spray I bought from Safeway.

Estee Lauder Day Wear moisturizer for Oily skin : Unfortunately I am out of my favorite moisturizer and it is very expensive to repurchase, so I will be saving up some money before I can splurge on this again.

Essence 24h Hand Protection Balm : It was my husband who finished up this product actually, but I thought I will just include it in here because I had bought it for myself originally. It is just a hand cream which is apple cinnamon flavored and he loved the smell of it.

Essence Get Big Lashes Mascara : I did not use up this product completely, it just dried out on me in no time. I think I had it for like 2 months and hardly used it but now it is completely dry and useless so I am just chucking it out.

Revlon Lipbutter in Pink Truffle : Yay!! I used up another lip product. With the amount of lipsticks and glosses I have I never thought I will use up any of it. But I did completely use this one up again. My previous post of May empties had one too. Love this lip butter for just a natural flush of colour everyday.

So today I thought I shall clear out some of my clutter and started with the eyeliner drawer. The following eye liners are being chucked out either due to poor performance or just dried up sitting there. It includes brands like Essence, VOV, Savvy by DB, Revlon, Maybelline and Jordana. The Revlon Colorstay on the extreme right is actually used up completely but I don't know why it was still in the drawer. I loved that blackberry colour, unfortunately it has been discontinued.

Have you used any of these products before and what do you think of them??

August Favorites Makeup, Skincare and Random

Hey guys,

Today's post is going to be about the products that I have been loving for the month of August. There are some repeats but most of them are new products. These are products that I would reach for almost everyday. I have divided them into Skincare, Makeup and Random. So here they are

For skincare I have been using The Witch Hazel toner every single day for the past one year now. This is my 3rd bottle. I love that it doesn't sting but also just clears my pores from any makeup or dirt. The Hydraluron is a new product I have added to my skincare for the past one month It is a serum used before your moisturizer. Eysilix is a serum for your eyes, again I use this everyday day and night. Both the Hydraluron and Eysilix are made by Indeed Labs and can be purchsased at Priceline. Another product I have been loving this month is the Maybelline Baby lips. Honestly this is the first time I have tried this lip balm and it is so easy to use. I used to use the MUA hot lips but that came in a pot and I had to use my fingers, which I find is not very hygienic, so this tube has been amazing.

Now onto makeup, I have been using my Illamaqua light liquid foundation almost every single day because I don't like to cover my face with too much makeup everyday and this is a very light formula. It gives a light to medium coverage thus I don't use concealer, which makes it look more natural. To set my foundation I have been using the Rimmel Stay Matte powder. For blush my go to blush has been Benefit's Bella Bamba which is a bright watermelon pink with a golden sheen to it. Beautiful colour for medium skin tones. Maybelline's line stiletto is my holy grail liquid eye liner and I am so sad that it has been discontinued. This is another product that will always be on my favorites list till I run out of it. For lipstick I have been reaching for Maybelline's Yummy Plummy, which is a pretty mauve pink and looks quite natural on me.

Random products I have been loving are my Victoria's Secret Body spray in Gorgeous and L'occtaine shea butter hand cream. The L'occtaine hand cream will be repurchased because it is the best hand cream ever. It gets absorbed by the skin so quickly and does not feel greasy at all.

Hope you guys enjoyed my favorites and if you have tried any of these products and love them do let me know in the comments below.

Love ya!

Essence 24 hr Hand Protection Balm Review

Hello beautiful,

This post is a review on the Essence Hand cream which is a limited edition product available at all Pricelines and Targets which stock Essence products.

This collection comes with 3 hand creams- Gingerbread Chai Latte, Apple Cinnamon Punch and Caramel Hot Chocolate. I own the Apple Cinnamon Punch and oh my god! It smells delicious!!!

It claims to be a 24 hr hand protection balm, I am not too sure about that because it does come off when I wash my hands with soap. If you don't wash your hands as often it does stay on pretty well. The scent however lasts a long time. Its not sticky and absorbs into the skin easily. The most important thing is it is only $1.95 !!!! You can never go wrong with this hand cream which is less than two dollars. If you want your hands to smell like yummy winter flavours I would totally recommend this product. 

Overall, it is a good product, cheap,smells delicious and easily available at all Essence stockists.

If any of you have tried these hand balms do let me know what you think of them.

Love,

DG.