I realize I haven't been blogging much lately since I started working as cheap labour interning. T_T From now on, I will definitely try my best to post at least once a week! *determined*

Happy surprise parcel :)

For today's post, I have something exciting to share with you all - a beauty swap! My first successful one, to be exact. My previous tries... weren't very successful, to say the least. *shrugs* This lovely swap has restored my faith in mankind! Okay, not really, but at least restored my faith in bloggerkind. (Is that even a word?)

Sneak peek!

I arranged a swap in early June with Mary from Happiness That Lasts; she's a fellow Malaysian but she's studying in Canada, so it was great to be able to try out some items from brands that aren't available in Malaysia. :D Thank you, Mary! ♥

The Reveal - here's what was inside the box of surprises she sent me! :)


The first thing that caught my eye when I opened the box and removed the hot pink tissue paper was the EOS lip balm in "Summer Fruit". The bright orangey-red colour is really perfect for summer! I have been dying to try these lip balms out ever since I heard of them, and now I finally can.

EOS lip balm - Summer Fruit

Next was the NYC lipsticks, and there were 2 of them! I haven't opened them out yet, but from the tube, they are definitely colours I would pick myself. :)

NYC lipsticks

Fragile Pink (left) and Smooch (right)

Also in the box was another lip product, which was a Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lip gloss in "Candy, Baby".

Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lip gloss in "Candy, Baby"

I also received an Essence eyeliner pencil in "Everybody's Darling", which is a soft lilac shade, and a Wet n Wild nail colour in "Blazed", a vibrant coral.

Tucked at the bottom of the lil' box were these 2 eyeshadow palettes. First is the Victoria's Secret "Sexy Spring Eyes" palette. I super love the sultry purple shades in it!



The 2nd palette was hidden underneath the VS palette, and I was super excited to see it because it's by Stila! I remember Stila used to be sold in Malaysia, but they stopped selling it quite a few years back so I never got to try anything from them. The floral pattern on the palette is really pretty, and reminds me of batik print for some reason. XD

Stila Flora Palette

This palette is really pretty, and isn't something that I would normally pick for myself due to all the green and blue eyeshadow colours, but I used it once and it looked really nice! The blusher shade is really lovely, and balances out the darker colours of the eyeshadows. :)

I followed the instructions on the palette on how to apply the eyeshadows, and it turned out pretty good! :D The blush turned out super bright in the picture though. >__<

That's it for my first beauty swap post! Thank you so much to Mary for doing this swap with me. I really love all the items she sent, even though I can't really bear to open them up, haha!