Amazing Parcel from Riya

Hi everyone. Recently, I did my very first blog swap with the gorgeous blogger Riya from pinkstrawberrielove. We sent each other items that we thought the other would like. The parcel from Riya was massive, about 7x the size of the parcel I sent her. She was much too generous and I feel unbelievably spoiled.

The gifts were beautifully padded with pastel coloured tulle.

Love her stationary!

I must apologise for the slightly blurry pics. The weather's been really dull lately and I'm not getting enough light for sharp pictures. She got me quite a few eyeliners!

L-R: Anastasia Matte Highlighter, Ultra Glitter Pencil, Loreal HIP Eyeliner in Blue Spark, Palty eyeliner in a gold shade (the shade was written in Japanese).

Here are swatches of the eyeliners. They are all so pretty. The highlighter is great for opening up the eyes for a bright-eyed look. The blue and gold shades are unlike anything I've owned before and can't wait to use them in a future FOTD.

I also received a couple of really great Stila items. Stila One Step in Capri Coral which can be used on the eyes, cheeks and lips! The Illuminating Finishing Powder in Rose Gold gives a beautiful wash of subtle shimmer to the skin. It's such a pretty warm shade too, perfect for Summer!

Here's a swatch of the Stila One Step. Another great warm Summer shade.

Riya also gave me Missha Shimmering Ball Blusher in Pastel Glow. Asian products are so hard to come buy here, so was extremely excited to receive this. It gives a light dusting of radiance to the skin. Really pretty.

I also received this lash booster from Sephora which I'm excited to try.

This Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer is really good. Makes eyeshadow glide easily on.

Speaking of eyeshadows, these natural and super gorgeous shades are some of my favourites in the parcel. Smashbox Eyeshadows in ASAP (left) and Pronto. I especially love ASAP. It's a really beautiful shade of brown with a hint of rose gold. I especially love how well it suits my skintone. Amazing choice Riya!

She was also generous in giving me a Smashbox eyeshadow brush.

Swatches of ASAP (left) and Pronto

My first ever cream shadow paint. Loreal HIP Cream Shadow Paint in Lofty. A beautiful radiant blushed beige. Sorry for the lack of swatch, it was too difficult to capture the true shade on camera.

I also received several beautiful lip colours.

L-R: Benefit Friends in Paradise, Majolica Majorca Honey Plump Gloss and Lavanila The Healthy Lip Shine in Vanilla Blossom.

The Lavanila Lip Shine is amazing! I absolutely love this product. It makes my lips look shiny and super healthy. Have been using this everyday!

Here is a lip swatch of the Benefit lip gloss (the darker shade). I love the little gold sparkles in the gloss.

These two cuties are from a brand called Beauty Credit. Riya sent me their Lovely Eye Color in YL26 and Lovely Lip Balm in Strawberry.

I haven't had a chance to use the eyeshadow yet, but it's a lovely 'wide awake' shade of pale yellow cream. The strawberry balm gives a pretty red flush to my lips.

The list of products seem endless and Riya was more generous than I could have possibly imagined. The Nail polish from Cosline in 209 is a beautiful peach. The Nivea lip blam gives a really pretty strawberry tint to the lips. Natural looking 'my lips but better' colour while moisturising my lips. A really great product!

Swatch of the Nivea lip balm.

Riya also sent me Bare Minerals Face Color in Clear Radiance which gives a beautiful dewy look to my skin. The Hello Kitty Eyeliner in Grape Soda is so adorable!

Swatch of the Hello Kitty Eyeliner - a vibrant purple with glitter.

I also got a whole bunch of Laniege products and samples. Laniege is a popular Korean brand and i'm looking forward to trying the samples. Items included:

- P Makeup Set of Shimmering Multi Cream, Curling Mascara, UV Total Base and Snow Crystal Shimmer Lipgloss

- Perfect Renew Dual Touch Eyes Cream

-Strawberry Yoghurt Pack Mask

-Basic 4 Step Skincare

- Makeup Remover Multi Cleanser

The nail colours are gorgeous!! Really love both shades. L-R: OR201, BR 802. From The Face Shop.

This luscious zesty scented hand cream is from .. oh no, actually I don't know where it's from as I've peeled off the label. So sorry.

As If i'm not spoiled enough, Riya has also sent me some sponges for the face and body. Love how cute the middle sponge looks! My husband saw it in the shower and asked 'what is this?'

I was also sent a couple of skincare items from the brand IOPE. I've not heard of this brand before, but it looks really intriguing. The Aquain Complete Sample Kit and Plant Stem Cell Skin Renewel Sample Kit sounds and looks good!

Last but not least, a pair of adorable flower earrings from Forever21.

Thanks so much Riya for these amazing gifts. You've really made my day/ month! I love all the products you sent me and it's been so much fun going through them all.

For those of you interested in what I sent Riya, you can find them here.

*Warning, the stuff I gave her is going to look SO pitiful and small compared to what she sent me. And her picture quality is far superior than mine, so embarrassing *

New Lancome L'Absolu Nu Lipstick in Rose Ideal

After posting my lipstick filled March haul, I found that the new Lancome L'Absolu Nu lipsticks have just been released in selected stores around the UK. I bought mine from John Lewis for ~£19.

Provocatively radiant and irresistibly lightweight, this moisture-replenishing colour embraces your lips in soft shine lustre - sounds great doesn't it?


The packaging is really pretty. Black with light grey outlines of roses. On the top is the signature Lancome rose in silver. A great thing about this packaging is that it's super user friendly. It's easy to open, and shuts with a magnetic 'click'.

There were 12 shades to choose from, and I selected no. 302 Rose Ideal. The lipstick itself is imprinted with the Lancome rose. This shade is a super pretty rose pink.

Here are a couple of swatches of this shade. Without flash:

With flash:

The lipstick on my lips:

Like other Lancome lipsticks, this one has a strong rose scent. The scent is very apparent when applying, but i don't tend to notice it after that.

The texture of this lipstick is really light. They are less sheer and glossy than the Chanel Rouge Coco Shines, but I'm in love with the texture and colour payoff. The lipstick is super smooth and glides on easily to the lips. It contains tiny particles of shimmer to reflect the light for a more radiant look.

NEW Nars Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils: New Lover and Baroque

Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a good week!

I was really excited about the lauch of Nars new Velvet Glosss Lip Pencils as I'm a big fan of their Velvet Matte range. These gloss pencils are fairly pricey and cost ~£17.50 each, but since Nars is one of my fave makeup brands, I definitely planned to purchase them when they became available.

They were launched on Feb 1st, and I bought myself 2 shades; New Lover and Baroque.


Baroque on top, New Lover below:



New Lover on the left, Baroque right:



New Lover (left) is described as Strawberry Pink laced with Gold. Baroque is a Bold Raspberry Sorbet.

Here are some lip swatches. First up is New Lover. This is a gorgeous, easy to wear shade. On me, this colour looks a peachy, pinky-red (hard to describe!)

The gold flecks are fairly evident, especially in the pic below. This pic was taken in bright natural sunlight. The bright light washes out the colour of the gloss slightly, but you can see the gold shimmer.

Next up is Baroque. This shade is alot more pigmented then New Lover, and on the lips it's really quite dark. For the pic below, I've applied the pencil really sheerly on my lips more a more suitable day-time look. For some reason, it looks lighter in this pic than it does in real life - must be thst the lighting is too bright.

Below is the gloss 'un-sheered out':

I LOVE these pencils are they give the lips the shine of a gloss, without being over-the-top. They also lack the annoying stickiness of glosses. They feel pretty moisturising on the lips, leaving me with healthy looking, shiney lips.

One thing to note is that these bloss pencils have a soft consistency, much softer than the Velvet Matte Pencils. A light hand is needed when applying them, to prevent them breaking too easilty or wearing down too quickly.

Drugstore Beauty

Hi everyone, I realised I haven't done posts on drugstore brands. Though I love makeup from the likes of Guerlain, Chanel and Dior, I'm also a big fan of brands you can easily buy in drugstores such as Rimmel London and Bourjois. (I must also mention that I especially love the skincare line La Roche Posay).

This is the blush from new limited edition Paris Liberty Chich line in Rose coup de foudre, 16



The packaging is a pretty peachy-gold pot, and like all bourjois blushes, comes with a little flat brush.

It has the distinctive, strong vintage inspired bourjois blush scent, and the colour is a beautiful peach-gold with slight shimmer. Really subtle and with a pretty glow.

I've loved shopping at Boots since my high school days, and was so happy when they decided to stock French skincare lines which incoporate the use of thermal springwater such Vichy, Avene and the previously mentioned La Roche Posay.

In today's post are some products from my previous trip to Boots. I bought a couple of their new colour show off lipsticks, Kiss me, 140 and Be Bold, 120, for £5.99 each . The lip colours come in a pretty metallic bright pink case.

This is Kiss Me, a gorgeous mauve-pink.

Here is Be Bold. When I first saw this range, Be Bold was completely sold out in the Boots that I went to. I can see why.. it's a vibrant reddish-pink colour, with a touch of coral - perfect for this season.

Here it is on my lips. For some reason, this formula was quite drying on my lips. The colour was extremely pigmented -though a bit too bright for my taste.

Sorry for such bad lip swatches, my lips were dry when these pics were taken!

I also bought the Sheer Moisture Foundation SPF12 from Boot's brand 17. This foundation was an extremely good buy at £4.99.

According to 17, it's a moisturising foundation that provides soft, sheer coverage to give you a healthy natural glow.

I found that it does exactly as it says. This foundation is extremely sheer...more like a tinted moisturiser than foundation. It felt and looked very natural on my skin, and I especially loved the glow it gave.

As you can tell from these pics, the coverage is very sheer. It doesn't conceal my pores, but it does provide an even finish.

I'm wearing this foundation only on the right cheek, so you can compare it to bare skin on the other areas of my face.

Because it's so sheer, I do not see a big difference. I do however think it's perfect for days where I want a natural look, but with radiant looking skin.

Lastly, a makeup bag from Ted Baker. They were selling in Boots for around £8. I LOVE how bright and cheerful it looks. Definately puts in in a holiday spirit.

The lining is an orange-red on one side, and lilac on the other (only the orange-red side is shown -sorry!)