Yule Gifts and Post-Christmas Sale Mini-Haul!

This year I must have been a very good little elf because I had an amazing holiday.

Hubs got me this powder and this gel eyeliner.  It is a Dolly Wink knock-off I'd been eyeing online and it is quite great, I'll post a full review later on.  The powder I used to use back in Jr. High and my mom used this stuff and her mom and her mom's mom...Yeah, this stuff goes back generations in my family and I swear by it.  It goes on lovely and smells just incredible.  I also received some other epic stuffs that aren't pictured due to me forgetting to take pictures, etc, but all prizes were super spiffy and exciting and some you will see appear in reviews!

A friend sent me these boots and I don't know much about them except they are leather and from England.  There is no mark or stamp on them that I can see but they are fuckin' stellar!

LOOOOOVE.  They do take commitment to get into though, as there are no zippers, you have to actually buckle yourself into them.

Still, I've worn them almost every time we've left the house since I got them!

This super cute necklace is from the MIL.  I think it is just too adorable and she really did a wonderful job picking it out as I <3 Hello Kitty and didn't even know she knew!

As with most holidays, my favorite day is the day after - when all the stuff goes on sale.  This is my min-haul from this year, and some of this will probably get reviewed sooner or later.  I have tons of makeup to try out and review and use now, so no makeup, but I couldn't resist the Piggy Paint because I've been dying to try them ever since I first read about them.  I got the Piggy Paint set and the color names I don't see mentioned but it is a hot pink and a green with glitter.  The other things, in case they are hard to read on your screen, are Code Red lip balm, the Pepsi lip balm set, a Hard Candy heart-shaped glitter lip gloss, and the Juicy Fruit Rich Cocoa Bean balm.  I don't know if that last was on clearance or not, but it was mixed in with the clearance stuff and I needed balms as mine's almost out so I sort of went nuts.

I do that.

A lot.

What did you do for the holiday and sort of loot did you guys get?

Any good post-holiday sale items you were able to snag?

<3 WW

Box o' Awesome Swatches Part 2

Here are all the other swatch-able things that were in my amazing box of awesome.  There was a lot of other stuff, too, but it was mascaras and skin and hair products, so those will be reviewed later on, as will most everything else I'm swatching.  :)

All this swatching was killer fun, too...Although I had to wash my hands so much I was really hitting up the moisturizer!

This is the BITE palette...I threw away the box after I snapped the picture and the black case doesn't say if the palette has a name or not.  Also, the upload-y thing fucked my picture up again.  GAAAH, WHYYY?

However, the colors are Restina, Rose, and Tannin.

I like all 3 colors quite a bit, the Restina is a very nice nude, and I've never tried to pull off a nude, so we'll see how that goes.

I LOVE Tannin, but I sort of have a thing for reds.  In fact, before this box came, I owned only two lipsticks, both bright red - one with shimmer and one flat, so it will be nice to have things to play around with.

This is an Estee Lauder blush in Rosewood.  I owned zero blushers before this.  Seriously.  I was just working with a bronzer.

This color is light and quite nice on me.  I will feel comfortable using this until I get the hang of blush again since I haven't worn it since high school, at least.

This is Estee Lauder palette with two bronzers and one blush - The bronzer I'm guessing, is "01" and the blushers are Pink Kiss and Lover's Blush.

Here's the inside...the colors look darker in person.

The swatches are under the colors, the bronzer is on the left.  You can tell how light these are by how they don't show up well in the swatches...and that was with no blending, so these will blend well and be quite hard to over-do, I'm guessing.  Good, since I'm going to have to start from scratch on blush application.

Here are more lip colors!  Two Estee Lauder and one Stila - Hot Kiss, Rose Tea, and the Stila Lip Glaze is in Kitten.

Kitten is on the right, Hot Kiss center, and Rose Tea on the left.

...and now...

LINER TIME!!
I wrote these in code on my hand in interest of my poor camera batteries.  True story - for over 2 months now my camera has been saying it is out of batteries, and I've kept eeking all these pictures out, lol.  It really is out now, though, must add to shopping list...

Here's a shot of the liners...

....here's the code...
21L - Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes waterproof eyeliner in 21L
4L - Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes waterproof eyeliner 4L
12L - Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes waterproof eyeliner 12L
2L - Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes waterproof eyeliner 2L
1L - Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes waterproof eyeliner in 1L
RB - 404: Page not found.  Seriously.  It is Revlon and I know it is in my box somewhere, but where is beyond me.  I dug and dug and can't find it, so I'll just have to locate it before review time.  Sorry!  (Note to self:  find better way to organize makeup.)
MAC - MAC eye pencil in Coffee
LAN - Lancome long lasting eyeliner in Minuit
MAY - Maybelline Great Wear Budgeproof Waterproof Eyewear in Sapphire
squiggly line - Sephora Doe Eyed Felt eyeliner in...I don't see a color on it...but its black.
straight line - Sephora glitter eyeliner in black

These are some Sephora lashes that were in the box that I just had to show off.  These are "wispy" and I can't wait to use them.

Sooo pretty!  I will also try to remember to compare the Sephora lash glue to the Koji glue when I review them, as I really liked the Koji lash glue that came with my Spring Heart lashes and will be impressed if it is out-done.

That's it for now!  Reviews will be rolling in and now I just have to work so hard to test all this out.  I mean, this is true sacrifice, right here, people!  :)

<3

WW

Box o' Awesome Swatches Part 1 - Eye Shadows

Here's part 1 of the swatches from the Biggest Damn Box of Awesome Stuff I've Ever Seen for those of you who are interested.  There's so much stuff that I've broken it down into two swatch posts - this one will be all the eye shadows and the next post will be all the other swatch-able goodies, then reviews will follow suit as I try things out.  I like to try things several times before I post a review if possible so that I can feel confident I've given them a good testing before I review.

There was a gorgeous palette in the previous post that is black with diamantes on the top, but I didn't swatch that in this post as it has 30 colors in it, so I will probably swatch and review that one all on its own in the future after I try out all the colors.

Sorry for the crappy quality of some of the photos, my batteries were screaming at me part way through this as if to say "DAMMIT, WOMAN!"  Most of the photos don't do the colors justice, but they should give you some idea at least.

This is the Kat Von D for Sephora Rock N Roll eye shadow duo in King Cobra.

The inside is two different greens, one a bit lighter and with a heavier metallic shimmer.

Here are the swatches.  You can click all these to see the bigger version.  These are quite pigmented and as much as I don't care for Kat Von D, I really do like these colors quite a lot.

This is Urban Decay Retrograde Eyeshadow in Stardust, and I think this may be my new favorite.

IT'S SO SPARKLY!

The light this picks up is just incredible.

Here's another shot of it because I just can't get enough of that gorgeous sparkle.

This is the Stila Merry & Bright collectible holiday palette.  I love the case, its too cute...and is it wrong to covet a dress that isn't even real?

This comes with 6 eye shadows and one lip/cheek cream color.  The eye shadows are (from top, clockwise)  chill, glisten, joyful, ebony, butterscotch, and molasses.  The lip & cheek cream color is Lillium, and I adore that name.

Here are the swatches, in the same arrangement as on the palette, with Lillium on the left.

Estee Lauder, color names below.

Second Estee Lauder palette, colors below.

These are Sephora, and since these came out rather blurry in all photos I took, they are No. 7 (the darker one) and No. 11.

I swatched these both wet and dry.

I LOVE how they come out when dampened.

Here is a better shot where you can see how nice No. 11 is when used wet.  It comes out  a beautiful, shimmery champagne color.  Blogger messed up the pic on the upload, though, BOOO!

Another Estee Lauder palette.  The color name that is obscured by the stamp is Smoky Ember.

Here are the swatches.  All the Estee Lauder colors come out quite light, which will make them nice for blending and building.

This is Ulta in Girl Next Door.

Four colors, all nice...The mid-colored green is gorgeous.

This other Ulta palette is Girls' Night Out.

A nice mix of purples and greys.  The champagne color in the middle comes out so shimmery, it will do wonderfully in a retro eye look, which I do often.

This is an Ulta single in Peacock.

I swatched this one wet and dry as well, I just couldn't resist.  Ignore the colors on the bottom of my hand, those were from a previous swatch.

It comes out very, very light dry, as you can see on the right, but goes on as an outstandingly chrome-y, gunmetal-y color when wet.  I can see I'll be using this one wet quite a bit.

...and there we have the eye shadow swatches!  *WHEW*  That was a lot of work!  Extremely fun work, though!!  :)  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have brushes to clean.

<3 WW

Care Package of Beauty Awesomeness

A few days ago, I received this AMAZINGLY AWESOME BOX OF AWESOMENESS from a friend:

Yeah.  I'm pretty sure my shrieks were heard around the block.

There were all these samples which I've already been into and will be reviewing my favorites.  One of them I'll post a review for is just incredible.  It literally cleared my skin up overnight.  O.O

And here's what was in the box all spread out...

...and here's the other half because there was so much I had to do two shots.  Those brushes on top are Estee Lauder and my friend must be a mind reader as I'd had an...erm...incident with my eyebrow brush while waxing my brows a few weeks back, and hadn't bought a new one yet, lol.  I've already been using the benefit facial set-thing that is in the pretty box on the left under the brushes and it is just incredible, but I'll post a full review on that later.

There was also this kit for treated hair which I can't wait to use.  Since my hair is bleached, I'm quite excited to see how this does and will probably try it out this afternoon.

So stay tuned for tons of swatches and reviews coming up in the near future and also a HUGE thank you and about a billion hugs to my friend for sending me all these amazing products, it made my entire week!!

<3

WW