Happy Mail Day

I was so stoked last Saturday when I received no less than 5 packages from different mineral makeup companies on some samples and full size products that I ordered online. I went out with the family to eat and while waiting for the food to arrive, I couldn't help but open my packages right there (I brought them with me - ha, how crazy was that?). I was mainly excited to see my prebuy Lumiere brushes (take 3), and they are absolutely gorgeous:



As expected, the duo fibre optic brush was heavenly, uber-soft and wonderfully crafted. I was just a little disappointed with the handle length, though. I didn't know there were actually two handle sizes of these duo fibre optics. My Lumiere angled fibre optic is considerably longer than my new duo fibre optic:



That was my only gripe. The head itself contains beautiful duo fibres, and was slightly bigger in circumference than my angled duo fibre, which is understandable considering that the latter is supposed to apply pigments at a precise angle rather than in all directions.


regular duo fibre optic on the left, angled duo fibre optic on the right

So now I have a MAC 187 dupe that cost less than half the price of the latter, and applies pigment as wonderfully and produces the same "lit-from-within" result as its MAC counterpart. The cat-tongue concealer is gorgeous and works beautifully to conceal blemishes or to apply undereye concealer. The shape of the head easily applies concealer to the whole undereye area, and the taklon bristles easily grasp mineral and cream concealer for no-brainer applications. The retractable kabuki is a true winner, perfect to place in my makeup kit for quick touch-ups.



I also got my Lumiere goodies. Lumiere's products are truly high quality, and I love the pigments of these blushes and eyeshadows. They are very pigmented, have excellent color pay-off and have good staying power. I LOVE the multi-hued eyeshadows in Peppermint Patty (a popular choice), Mysterious and Mint Chocolate Chip; these are gorgeous, gorgeous colors, and I can't wait to play with them. The blushes are breathtaking. Period. I got a sample of their Valentine offering, Be Mine blush, and I am excited to try that as well. Spiced Apple also looks very promising; no wonder it's a bestseller!



Of course, I was soooooo excited when I got my She Space eyeshadows. This is my first order with them and I've heard a lot of raves about them. I bought basically enough samples to play with for months, so I got really excited to play. I used two of the colors today, and I can say I liked the colors and the finish, especially when foiled. I will post a look pretty soon, and these are really nice, affordable samples for eye makeup newbies.



I found an unused photo album in my junk that I used to store my samples. It's easier than placing them in a ziplock bag or envelope or a box because you can actually see all the colors in one go, and you can choose combinations easily. The picture above is part of my She Space eyeshadow sample haul.


My Cory blush samples



I finally got my order of darker Cory foundation shades. I can now play and see if I can find a match in this brand.



Last but not the least, I got my haul from Camellia-Rose and Jen's sweet note. Her skin-smoothing primer is my holy grail primer, and this is my third container. I was just surprised that it came in a pump rather than a jar (it used to be in a jar). That's perfectly fine with me because a pump is much more sanitary (no double dipping of fingers). I love the watermelon-y scent of this (very, very subtle), and I like the fact that it's not greasy nor sticky on the face, and it does make skin appear smoother and helps makeup stay longer. I also got a bottle of her zit serum for those stubborn zits. Jen sent a sample of her goat milk soap. I tried it and wow! I like the after-feel and it smells so clean and fresh. Thanks Jen!