Haul | Sephora USA, LA Splash & Sephora France!

Recently I took part in a blog swap with my friend, Rena, who lives in New Jersey, you can see the blog swap post here if you're interested. In the swap box Rena had kindly said I could have things to her house to save myself a bit of money, I got some things from the US Sephora and LA Splash sent to her house.

The stuff I got from the US Sephora I'm really glad I got and I can't wait to give it all a try! Since when I did the order last year it was my birthday month I got the Sephora birthday gift, the one I picked was the NARS One Year Bolder lip set. The set comes with two miniature pencils: Cruella and Rikugien. Cruella is a lovely red shade and Rikugien is a nice your lips but better nude shade. I also got a 100 point freebie, the one I decided on was the Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in the shade Lovecraft, this is another nude shade - it looks like it will be quite a good nude shade and hopefully it suits me. 
Sticking with Kat Von D - I got two more things from her range - I am so excited for her brand to launch here! I also decided to buy the High Voltage Eye Primer, I don't actually remember buying this, so it was a nice wee surprise seeing it in the box. Her makeup seems to be pretty heavy duty and it'll be interesting to see how it helps eye makeup last. The last Kat Von D thing I got myself was the Shade & Light Contour Palette. It was between this one and the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour kit, I think I chose the Kat Von D one because it was a little cheaper and the colours looked to be better for my skin. My NARS laguna bronzer is running out so hopefully one of the shades in this palette will be a good replacement. 
Next up is the Becca x Jacklyn Hill Champagne Pop Highlighter. I bought this when the hype for it was at its highest. And basically two weeks after I bought it, it was released in the UK. Just my luck. It looks stunning though, I'm not sure if its too gold toned? I'll have to have a wee play around with it to see how suits my skin. 
The final thing I purchased was the Sephora Ultimate Oil-in-Gel Lipstick Remover. There is no worse thing than being unable to get last nights lipstick off that has now encrusted itself onto your lips. Or when you decide to change your lip colour but its a stubborn one and stains your lips. Hopefully this comes in handy and will help with taking off a bright lip. 

Next four things I've got are from LA Splash, they're all part of the Dia De Los Muertos collection that was released last year. The shades I have are: Catrina, this looks to be a grey shade with hints of green and purple running through it; Sangre Azul, this is a beautiful blue shade - I've always wanted a blue lipstick but finding one in the UK is a little tricky; Guadalupe is a beautiful burnt copper orange shade - I can't wait to try this out; and finally Hasta La Muerte, a very dark purple shade - its definitely the darkest purple shade I own. I'm thinking of doing a first impressions video with swatches of these so keep your eyes peeled! 

Final things are from Sephora France, I only got two things but if I had waited and gone into the Champs Elysees store I'd have probably spent a lot more! The first thing I got was the Sephora Metamorphosis Exfoliating Power, it cost around 15 euros and it looks like you get a fair bit of product. I do quite like exfoliating my face once or twice a week, but I much much muuuuch prefer the powder ones, but again there doesnt seem to be a lot of these on the market. 
The final thing I got was an ETTANG Charcoal Peel Off Mask Cup, it looked really interesting so I decided to pick one up - I now regret only getting one but alas too late now to go back and get more. 
Product reviews will probably be coming up soon on the blog and maybe even in YouTube video form. Have you tried any of these before? 

Rome Beauty Haul | Sephora & Kiko

As soon as I booked to go to Rome, I knew I was going to be hitting up Sephora and Kiko. The poor boyfriend was dragged around 4 or 5 different shops before I decided I bought everything I wanted. 

I got a few Kiko things while in the main station, Termini - they had a Sephora too! Kiko in Italy is a little cheaper than it is in the UK - so I waited till I got to Rome before getting anything from them. I got their 3D Lifting Foundation - I got in in the lightest shade, I've yet to test it out but the colour looks pretty good for me. 

I also got a Rebel Bouncy Blusher in the shade Velvet Peach - it was on offer and looked pretty, couldn't say no to it! 
The last thing from Kiko I bought was one of the Water Eyeshadows, its in the shade 200 and looks stunning! 

Sephora is a place of dreams, I can only imagine how I'd feel in one of the American ones - one day I'll go and spend all my money!
Make-up wise there wasn't much that caught my eye - the skin care stuff on the other hand did. 

The first time I went into Sephora I tried a bit of the Bubble Mask on my hand and was amazed when it actually went bubbly - I don't know why I didn't expect it to bubble. I also got myself a Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water and cotton wool to go with it - I didn't actually realise the girl asked if I wanted cotton wool until I'd already said yes and it was too late. Oh well.  

 I went a bit mask crazy... They had face masks, over night masks, hand masks and lip masks - why don't we have that amount of masks? Connor bought me a few things too - he's a cutie pie.
I got myself an overnight Green Tea mask and a fibre green tea mask. I've yet to try any of these out, but all the masks cost 3.90 euros each - around £2.70. Not the cheapest masks around but I don't mind. 
I also got a Rose Lip Mask too - my lips are so dry now that they needed all the help they could get. 

 3 eye masks also found themselves in my basket, they seem really cool - and I'm interested to see if they do anything for my eyes, I got the honey; Rose and Pomegranate eye masks.

These last few things are some of the bits Connor was kind enough to buy for me. Shea lip mask, Pearl fibre mask and a Sephora brand cleanse gel.

Have you tried any of these products before? 

Blog Swap | UK & USA

I don't even remember how long Rena and I have been planning and buying for this swap but let me tell you its been a long time! We set quite a high budget, and that is maybe why we took such a long time between starting and sending. But anyway, I've been reading Rena's blog for a year or so and I really enjoy reading all her posts. Her blog is Kiss and Make-up and I highly recommend that everyone goes and has a wee look and maybe gives her a follow. She is seriously good with make-up and I'm envious of her skills.
Rena received her box before me - which just made me even more excited to receive mine. I have to hand it to the Royal Mail, they managed to get it over seas so quickly. I dare say quicker than some British parcels I've sent....
My box arrived the day after Rena received hers, it came stupidly early in the morning but I was so excited I wasn't bothered my being summoned from bed at an ungodly hour. The box was a blooming nightmare to get into, you taped this up so well! When I finally got into it I had to contain my joy and stop myself from just ripping through the box. I stupidly forgot to take a picture of all the items together (at least properly) so it'll just be lots and lots of smaller groups of items.
Can I just mention how beautiful the card she sent me is? Like, wow, its definitely getting saved - might see if it will fit in my photo album. I did try to film me opening the box but half the film was corrupted so yeah, that was a fail. Obviously the pictures are in absolutely no order, but I'll try say a wee bit about each thing - like what it is and colours and such like, nothing too detailed.

 In this pretty little black and pink striped box was a few lovely little bits from NYX, it was such a cute wee detail to put them in a box. Rena got me two eyeshadows in Golden Amber and Nude - Nude looks to be the colour I've been searching for, it just looks like it will be the most perfect base. Also in the box was a Roll-on Shimmer in the colour Almond and a lip stick in the most gorgeous red shade, Snow White. Very fitting.

 So much Bath and Body Works!! I'm so happy! The candles all smell amazing, Hulas and Hibiscus smells really sweet I can't quite figure out what it reminds me of but it definitely smells like some kind of baked good. Rena also kindly picked up for me Peach Bellini - smells exactly like peach with the cocktail edge to it - and Pomelo Grapefruit, this smells exactly how it sounds. Heavenly all of them. As if the candles weren't enough - Rena you spoil me - she also kindly sent over a couple of lotions and shower gels. She sent a few things from the Sweet Pea range - shower gel, body lotion and body spray. Its the absolute best thing I've ever smelt, she picked these out because they are her favourite so thank you a billion times over. She also sent me a body lotion in Endless Summer, not a strong scent but it is really nice and Japanese Cherry Blossom. The final Bath and Body Works product she sent me was the Aromatherapy Sensual Bubble Bath and Body Wash - this really does smell sexy. Its kind of musky? Is that the word I want... Hmm, could be. But this really is an absolutely amazing scent when this runs out I'll be so so sad.

 I love nail wraps, they are the lazy girls way of getting really cool "nail art" looking nails. The designs on these are so cool and not only do I have some for my fingers, I now have some for my toes! I don't think I've ever seen toe ones in the UK so it will be really fun to use these ones.

 This I know for a fact was the last thing I got, since it was hidden right at the bottom of the box. But this little notebook is so sweet. The colours are right down my street, chevron blues with a pink band. Perf.

Oh Rena how I love thy choices, she sent over two trios and one - shall we call it a palette - palette. The trios are in the colours On Cloud Nine - which is a blue toned one - and Sweet as Candy which is much more of a neutral kind of one. I'm not sure how much use On Cloud Nine will get but I'm sure Sweet as Candy will get a lot of use. The palette she sent me is in the colour The Naked Truth - the colours in this look really wearable and I'll definitely be trying it out very soon. 

 I was sent a few more bits from NYX. Although we are able to get NYX in the UK its harder to come by and tends to be a lot more expensive than it would be in the States. Rena sent over two of the Jumbo eye pencils, a blusher, an eye shadow palette and a pair of eyelashes. I love eye shadow pencils so I was really happy to have received these - and in two lovely colours as well! The colours I received were Iced Mocha - a lovely bronze-y colour - and Cottage Cream - possibly the perfect silver colour for the inner corner? The blush she sent me is in the colour Dusty Rose, I was actually really close to buying this not too long ago so good job I didn't eh? The eye palette - in Adorable -  is the perfect kind of neutral colours, there is a pink shade in there as well but the palette is so so so wearable. Now for possibly the most beautiful eye lashes ever? These look so fluttery and feathery and just out right perfect. I can't wait for a night out so I can wear these bad boys.

 Two more eye shadow palette type things, my eye shadow collection has grown so much. lolz. The Almay trio is so pretty, the colours look perfect for everyday wear - not too shimmery either - and its the one designed for brown eyes. The ULTA palette is very bright but the colour that I homed in on was the blue colour - wow it is such an amazing colour, I've never seen a blue like that before.

Next up is some bits from Milani, the last swap I did I got a blush and a lipstick from Milani and I quite wanted to try some more from them. Wait a minute... Quite wanted? That is such bad English, but you know what I mean. Rena kindly sent over a shadow eyez pencil, an eye shadow, a lip gloss and a liquid liner. The shadow pencil - your feeding my love - is in the shade Sand Dunes, it looks to be quite a gold toned brown colour. The shadow is in the colour I Heart You and my oh my, can we just take a minute to appreciate how beautiful this colour is? I adore red eye shadows like this - I have a few cream ones in my collection - so this is going to get a fair bit of use. The lip gloss is in the colour Sweet Grapefruit - unfortunately it doesn't smell like grapefruit - and looks to be a really pretty pink shade. The liner really intrigues me, this seems like an odd thing to say but I've never owned a liner in this colour and I very rarely buy liquid liner, I really want to use this but since its blue I'm not sure where I'll find the confidence to wear it out.

 I've come to the conclusion that American beauty products use a lot of packaging in comparison to British ones. With that side note, two new mascaras to try. I'm not sure if we have these in the UK or not but I'm really excited to try them. The L'Oreal Volumious Carbon Black mascara looks amazing - so hopefully it will be as good as it looks. And the Maybelline Volum' Express Mascara looks really cool as well, this is one of the Mega Plush ones and is purple so it'll be quite cool to see what it looks like on the lashes.

Rena had said she would be able to get me a sample size of the Benefit Bad Lash and she did! The They're Real just doesn't work on my lashes so fingers crossed this does a better job. I'm assuming these are all sample sizes? Why don't we get samples when we shop? Tarte recently came the the UK on QVC and I was quite interested in the mascara so now I get to try it before I pay full price for it! Okay so I'm not 100% sure if this is for your brows or for your lashes but it is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Lash Genius, I think I'll look up what its for then go from there.

 Liners, liners, liners! Pencil and Liquid. Rena sent me over two Essence liners in Teddy and Love Me Lavender, along with a Wet N Wild black liquid liner. The applicator nib bit for this looks like it could be pretty easy to use, it seems to be pretty thin so in theory no crazy thick lines. Right?

Rena also sent me a Stila lip glaze - I think I had one of these years ago - in the colour Strawberry Lemonade and a Pacifica Color Quench lip tint. This is in the shade Guava Berry and it looks really pretty, I love lip balm things and I'm always on the hunt for the perfect one so this will for sure get lots of use.

 Next up is a few products from ELF, we do have access to this in the UK but only if we order online and sometimes I'm a bit wary of ordering makeup online if I'm not sure of my colour. Rena sent over a set of three lip glosses - the darkest one looks pretty darn cool! She also sent over two Jumbo Eye shadows in Little Miss Thing - a lovely gold - and Midnight Rendezvous - a really pretty brown. The final ELF product was a Shimmering Face Whip in Lilac Petal, it looks like it will be a really pretty light highlight.

 I'm not sure if we have this concealer in the UK, but I'm excited to try it anyway. The colour Rena sent me matches my skin so well. The Maybelline Fit Me range seems to be a really good range.

 Face wipes are the thing I use when I'm too lazy to take my make-up off properly, I'd ran out of wipes but I now have these Green Tea ones to use.

 I know we do get NYC in the UK but its not a brand I've ever really been interested in. Until now though - the bronzer (in Sunny) looks like it could be even better than my NARS Laguna!!! She also sent over a Sparkles Eye Dust in the colour Amber Glitz.

Final thing now from the swap box! Miniature shampoos/conditioners by Paul Mitchell - I think we have this brand in the UK, although I honestly wouldn't even know where to get it from. I was sent the Awapuhi Shampoo and the Detangler Conditioner - after I wash my hair it gets very tuggy so it'll be interesting to see if this helps.

This post was massive! I hope you enjoyed reading it and thank you so so so much Rena for doing this with me I love everything you sent me! Any items you would like to see reviews on let me know and I'll try get them up soonish :) x

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