BEAUTY | ***BOX SWAP*** Canada/UK

It has been a while since I have posted something on here. Not much has changed, still on the oh-so-daunting jobhunt (which never fails to point out the skills I DON'T have) and there just hasn't been much to write about. It's that or I didn't think it was something to be publicised on the internet. 

Anyways. I love YouTube. I spend hours watching all sorts of videos!  And a while back, I watched a box-/beautyswap video by Louise from Sprinkleofglitter and thought "that looks amazing! I'd love to do something like that!". And since I have a huge family spread all over the world, I thought I'd give my cousin in Canada a holla! My cousin Jenny has her own beauty blog and is known as JenBunny, so it would be perfect. We quickly decided on the fine stuff like what we wanted to include, the budget (which I may have lost track of when buying things...) and when we would send it out. I think we said we'd send our packages out on Wednesday 3rd, April, but funnily we both missed it and managed to send it off on the 9th (which I realised when I got her package.)

Now, I received her package within 2 weeks, maybe, but decided to wait till she got mine, so we could open them up the same day. And I waited a long time. On May 2nd, I received a package. I got quite excited, because I thought it was a bag I had won on ebay, but no, it was my swap package, which was supposed to be in Canada by this point. Everything inside (I had wrapped up everything individually) had been opened, even an envelope containing a note/letter. It turns out, you are not allowed to send nail varnish! They had taken 2 Barry M nail polishes out, as they are considered "potentially dangerous" and destroyed them. Not gonna lie, that destroyed my soul a little. As gutted as I was, I just re-packaged everything else and sent it off again, this time asking the lady at the post office, if there is anything else I should take out before sending. 

FINALLY, she received her package yesterday. Granted, it was in a bit of a state, and I am not sure yet, if there is anything missing or broken. I hope not, as this would just really annoy me further. But, it also meant, I could finally open up my package, which had conveniently fallen behind my bed! Out of sight, out of mind they say, and they were right! 

And this was what was inside:

Some bits were wrapped individually.

All of this was wrapped up in this beautiful white wrapping paper which had loose bits of glitter in it.

So pretty! The glitter got all over the bed! Like Ke$ha's dream blanket.

First off, there were these products from a brand called Quo.

Nail polishes: Quo by Orly, Lipstick:Quo and Lashes: Quo in Flirty

Magnetic Attraction, Kiss & Tell Gels, Wild Orchid Gels

The lipstick is pretty genius! You just press the silver bit at the bottom and then you can just pull it out. I think the packaging is really great! Something different! The colour is lovely, too! Don't really own the colour and it's not something I would usually go for, I tend to buy vibrant reds, dark reds or vibrant pinks. But this looks pretty natural and seems close to my own lip colour. Very creamy texture aswell.

Just push the silver and it pops out!

Next up, these two essence pigments. Absolutely gorgeous!! Although we do have essence over here, I don't think these have caught my eye anywhere. They are a Twilight- Breaking Dawn part 2 edition. There are (or were?) four different shades. These two are in 02 Alice Had A Vision- Again and 04 Edward's Love. You don't need to be a Twilight fan to appreciate the products! As you can hopefully see from the photo below, they are such lovely colours! Especially Alice Had A Vision- Again I can't wait to try out! 

  

To be fair, they are pretty cool names, too!

So shimmery!

Next up there were these two products from Milani. A very shimmery beige/golden eyeshadow in Golden Touch and a Baked Powder Blush in Berry Amore. Although I am usually not that big on blush, I am excited to try this one. It has pink and peach elements and I can imagine both being great for the summer (should we be lucky to experience that here in the UK.).

The blusher has a little mirror underneath the product and it also comes with a little brush. Probably will use a blush brush with this though.  

There were also these two eyeshadows from Hard Candy, I think. It also says "Single & Loving It" across the top of them, which I am guessing is the name of the range, maybe? Or the other way around? Either way, again, very nice summery, shimmery colours! The rose one is in the shade Flirty and the brown-ish one is in Attraction. Also just realised that there are pinky/purple-y glitter bits in Attraction. So pretty!

Also included were this brush from sonia kashuk and a Vasanti Liquid Cover Up in the shade V12. The Liquid Cover Up is a concealer and foundation all mashed up into one. Haven't tried it yet, but the shade looks like a good match. It comes with a brush similar to the Illamasqua highlighter. The brush is super-soft and feels very dense!

A couple of bath/spa products. I must say, I loved Bath and Body Works when we were in Canada! I still have my body mists. They smell so good!! (Apart from the powdery smelling one, wasn't too much a fan of that.) In this, i got a body lotion in Twilight Woods. It smells flowery and cool (as in, it has that cold kind of smell to it).I really like it, as the scent is not overpowering at all! Also got a Fruit Smoothie mask with Raspberry & Mango by Montagne Jeunesse. I believe we have these here, too. I think I tried a white chocolate mask from them before. I just wanted to eat it!! 

 Aaaaand, at last but not least: a Matt Effect Top Coat by GOSH. I was so thrilled about this! I know we have GOSH in the UK, but never really look at their products. I have two sparkly liquid eyeliners from them, in green and blue, because they were on sale. Tried it out on my hand and literally couldn't get it off me the whole day! But now I have this! I have always wanted to try a mattifying polish. Well, I thought I'd try the old Cornstarch trick, as suggested by Andrea from AndreasChoice, but it seemed like too much effort. That's right, I'm hella-lazy. 

Can not wait to try this on lots of colours! :D

So, there it is! Lots and lots of very exciting new products from beyond the pond! I haven't done any swaps or anything. If I do do them, I will add the pictures on later. 

Thank you so much to Jenny for agreeing to do this. I am really sorry for the delay with my package and I do hope you like the products you got. Thanks a bunch for my amazing package!  I am so excited and want to try everything at once! Haha!! 

This is one huge a** post, so I hope you enjoyed reading it, if you have come this far. If not, thank you for stopping by! :) 

Hope you all have a lovely day!

x ♥ x