Haul - Blog Sale Purchases

Hello! I'm so glad that Blogger is no longer down :) In the past couple of days there were errors and maintenance work happening so none of us could access it. Apparently some people have had their latest blog posts removed along with some comments but Blogger is going to try to get them all back, so fret not! It was nice talking to some of you on Twitter while Blogger had errors.

Time to do a massive photo-spam haul for you all, with the majority of my pictures taken from my new Samsung digital camera. I got a microSDHC card for it a few weeks ago, it's only 4gb which doesn't seem like much compared to my 64gb iPod lol. I can only record around 10 minutes worth of video footage on my camera :|

These items that I purchased were from MisoJenny's Japan Tsunami Donation Blog Sale where all of the proceeds went towards the Red Cross. You may remember me having my own blog sale like this but it was no where near as successful as Jenny's! With all the items that she had for sale as well as donated items from other bloggers/Youtubers including Fuzkittie, the amount raised was $804.44!

This was probably where my makeup-purchasing ban ended because I purchased quite a bit x) However I didn't feel guilty about splurging because they were bargains and I did my bit to donate to help Japan. It actually made me feel good :) Also, it allowed me to try new brands and products which you'll see soon.

So here is a picture of all the things I managed to get from the blog sale:

This post will only have swatches because it'll be too long if I review as well! I'm going to start from the top of the picture to the bottom.

  

My Beauty Diary Masks

5 Cooling Masks + 5 Mixed Berry Masks

= $9.78

Usually a box of 10 My Beauty Diary masks cost $10 plus and they're hardly ever mixed so I'm glad that I can try two different masks for the less than the price of one box. I haven't had the chance to try them yet but when I do, I may do a review on them!

NYX For Your Eyes Only - Mysterious Brown Eyes Palette

 

= $7

I think I purchased this by impulse because it wasn't something that I needed or had my eyes on but nonetheless, I'm happy with this palette. Here are some swatches:

First row

 Natural lighting + with flash

Second row

 Natural lighting + with flash

I love how they look so metallic and that they aren't heaps shimmery, just packed with lots of colour. There was a little bit of fallout when I swatched them but I blew them away. The eyeshadows had a very smooth texture which easily glided on my skin. I really like the neutral colours. I'm glad that I didn't previously own any neutral shades or palettes so this will come in handy :)

 NYX LIP PRODUCTS ♥

NYX Mega Shine Lip Glosses

= $9.99

  

How cute are those bows at the top?!

The 3D bows at the top of the lids make the product have more of an 'Asian' style to them. I guess it's because these glosses were made in Taiwan *_*

Swatches

 L-R: Natural, Beige and Smokey Look

With just one swipe, you can see that they are super pigmented :D I love all of the shades that I got, especially 'Natural' because well.. it looks so natural on my lips hehe. I don't have lip swatches at the moment but if I decide to review the NYX products then yes I will have lip swatches up. I must say that these lip glosses aren't sticky at all and they last quite long. I'm glad I snatched these up for less than $4 each.

NYX Lip Smacking Fun Colours

 = $9.60

Swatches

 L-R: Thalia, Indian Pink, Frappucino and Louisiana

These are my first NYX lipsticks and I'm so glad that I've had the chance to try them. I'm quite impressed with their formula - they have such a silky-smooth texture and nice pigmentation. It's great how they have the exact shades at the bottom of the lipsticks so you can tell exactly how it looks like and you can easily pick the lipsticks out from your collection without needing to look at the names.

Revlon Lipstick in 020 Baby Pink

= $4.50

It's great that the colour on the lid is the exact colour of the lipstick itself. Sometimes they can be a little misleading but this one isn't at all. It's quite sheer when swatch however, I like that about it because the colour is buildable. It reminds me of my Rimmel lipstick in 006 Pink Blush which supposedly is a dupe for MAC Viva Glam Gaga #1. $4.50 is really cheap for this lipstick - in Australia these lipsticks are $20+ dollars each!!

Jenny included some 'freebies'/gifts for me as a way of saying thanks for my contribution to the appeal. I was going to talk about these at the end but since they're lip products, I might as well continue talking about them and show some swatches:

Covergirl Natureluxe Gloss Balm in 210 Thistle Cardon

Stila Lip Rouge Liquid Lip Stain

I had never seen or heard about the Covergirl gloss balms until I saw them on Jenny's blog sale. They aren't sold in Australia (yet) but I think they should be because it's quite nice :) And this is my first Stila product, yay.

Swatches

L-R: Stila, Revlon and Covergirl

The Stila Lip Rouge is so much like a permanent marker o_o I swatched it and it was soooo hard to remove without makeup remover! It definitely has that stain-like effect, it's incredible. Unfortunately, I'm not fond of having red lips - especially stained ones :/ So I won't be using this Stila product. I was thinking of selling/giving away but since it was gifted so I should keep it. I'll be using it as a permanent marker haha. At least I'll be making use of it, right?

Now to the nail polishes :D These came in a separate package to the above items because it would have been way too heavy for one big package, plus the shipping would probably cost a bomb. In total, my items came in 3 separate packages. I'm glad Jenny did that because if the whole package of all the items got lost, that would be so bad!!

The Face Shop nail polish

 

= $1.99

You can get Face Shop products in Australia but I never have before. There's one store in my city and it's really quiet. In case you haven't heard of The Face Shop before, it's a brand from South Korea. I got this because it was only $1.99 and I don't have any gold nail polishes like this.

2 coats

It's a sheer nail polish so 2-3 coats is ideal. There were no streaks when I applied it and I was quite happy with the time it took for the coats to dry. For $2 it's okay, its RRP is $2.99 so that's reasonable. The leaf groove on the lid is really unique.

Essie nail polishes

= $4 each

I'm still so glad that Jenny had Essie nail polishes for sale because I've been wanting to try them! In Australia, they are around $18 each whereas I only paid $12 for 3 of them ^.^

Of course, it's silly to do skin swatches so I painted all of my nails on one hand to show you proper swatches:

 Eternal Optimist

(1 coat)

 Demure Vix

(2 coats)

 Turquoise & Caicos

(2 coats)

I had high expectations for these nail polishes because of their high cost in Australia, and you know what? They exceeded my expectations! I swatched the 'Eternal Optimist' nail polish first and I was AMAZED at how pigmented it was for just one coat. The others were more sheer so they needed another coat or two. Applying the nail polishes on was such a breeze as there was no streaky-ness. The staying power is fantastic, I was able to wear 'Eternal Optimist' for over a week without any chipping! I swear it could have lasted so much more than a week - I didn't get to test exactly how long it would last because I removed it to do more swatches. I want more Essie nail polishes for $4 each lol T_T

 Sephora by OPI nail polishes

 = $4 each

I was also happy to see some OPI nail polishes on the blog sale! I've heard so many good things about OPI and I had been wanting to try them out! These aren't the original OPI ones that are really common but the formula should be the same. Again, these nail polishes are majorly overpriced in Australia, retailing for around $20 each (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't bring myself to splurge on high-priced makeup yet.

 Havana Dreams

(2 coats)

 Under My Trench Coat

(2 Coats)

 Handpicked for Me

(2 coats)

So happy to have a pale blue and brown nail polish to add to my growing collection. They have a ball inside which is good for shaking the bottle. They're quite sheer for one coat except for 'Under My Trenchcoat' which I'd be fine to wear as one coat. When I think about their RRP Australian prices, it makes me expect more from these nail polishes. If I had purchased these here for ~$20 each, I wouldn't be overly impressed. Sure they'd last long without chipping but I didn't expect them to be sheer. However for $4 each nail polishes, they are impressive =]

That's it for my massive haul! I was going to do a video but it would have taken me forever and editing is such a pain *props to Youtubers*. Even this post took me hours to do, no joke!

Thank you Jenny for holding such an awesome blog sale for a worthy cause. The items for sale were amazing and the people who donated items were so generous. I'm really glad that I've had the chance to try some brands that I previously didn't own like Essie, OPI and Stila which cost heaps in Australia.

Blogging is really rewarding, not only for the friendships and being part of a community but also for the blog sales and giveaways ;)

Speaking of which...

There's only 1 week left to enter my May giveaway (ends 22nd May)! Which also means that there's 1 week left until I turn 18 ^_^

I hope you enjoyed reading about this haul. Should I haul more often? I will have reviews for some of these items such as the NYX lip products since that has been requested :) Feel free to leave your requests below.

QuestJen of the week is:

Have you or would you ever purchase from a blog sale?

This was actually my first time purchasing from a blog sale and I had wanted to purchase from other blog sales but the items were snatched up pretty fast. I find them interesting to browse through and it's hard for me to resist a bargain when I see one. With this specific blog sale, I wasn't feeling skeptical about it because I had already known of the seller, Jenny. She has a Youtube channel as well as a blog so she definitely isn't some random person who has decided to sell things online. When purchasing from a blog sale, you need to be aware that the items may not be in mint condition as they could have already been used etc. The prices are discounted from the RRP for a reason - you pay for what you get. You also need to make sure that they are legit and are not scamming you. I haven't come across anyone who has been scammed from a blog sale but it could happen to anyone who isn't being careful. If you ever feel unsure about a blog sale, ask other people about it just in case it turns out to be fake or misleading.

If you know anyone who is having a blog sale now, feel free to link them to me! I'd love to have a browse.

PS. The next time you hear from here me will probably be when I'm officially a year older. Ooh!