Beauty Blogger Makeup Swap! | Hosted by Pretty on a Dime

Hello everyone! Today I bring you a very exciting post!

About a month ago, Mary from Pretty on a Dime contacted my e-mail asking if I wanted to be part of her Beauty Blogger Makeup Swap! Uh, yes!!! I was instantly intrigued since I had never been part of anything like this before. Please make sure that you check out our lovely host’s blog!

My first question, of course, was, how does it work?

Well, as Mary described in her original Makeup Swap post, it’s kind of like Secret Santa. All we had to do was fill out a form with some information, our makeup likes and dislikes, and wait to be matched up with someone! I specifically selected to be matched with someone in Canada, to keep a cap on shipping, because we all know how out of hand shipping costs can get. Our budget was $20-$40, including shipping, so I wanted to make the most of it! We were encouraged to purchase makeup products that didn’t require a colour match, so fun things like blushes, lipsticks, eyeshadow singles, makeup tools etc.

After filling out the form and Mary doing her Secret Santa magic, I was told who my Beauty Blog Makeup Swapper was: Jeanny from Glitz Beauty Blog!

Jeanny is an experienced make-up artist whose blog aims to help busy women to effortlessly look their best with easy beauty tips and tricks. Believe me when I say that you absolutely need to check out her blog! The layout and aesthetic is unreal: so sophisticated and beautiful! This girl is truly a professional. And don’t forget how stunning she is! Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Jeanny now lives in Ontario!

So let’s get into the items that she sent me! If you want to see what I sent her (and believe me, they are some of my tried and true favourite products), please check out her post!

Jeanny’s Package

Jeanny’s items came wrapped in brown paper with a beautiful gold-embossed card.

Clearly, Jeanny is such a nice girl! She was kind enough to give me the DL on the products that she sent my way. It was also very obvious that she chose products that she truly thought were good! Who doesn’t love a good recommendation, and the products to boot!?

Jeanny sent me:

1. Quo Blending Sponge
2. L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara “Black”
3. Essence Pure Nude Highlighter
4. Maybelline New York ExpertWear Eye Shadow Quad “40Q Designer Chocolate”

Let’s go through each of the items!

Quo Blending Sponge

This sponge is actually so great! I have never tried any Quo tools, and my go to sponge is usually the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge. Well this is a great alternative, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were cheaper than the Real Techniques one! I don’t prefer the hourglass shape, but I could certainly get used to it over time. And the texture is perfect, it’s not too dense and not too soft. Overall, this sponge is great and applies my foundation exactly how I like it! Super impressed!

L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara “Black”

I know you have all heard of this mascara. I actually reviewed this last summer in my August 31 Days of Reviews. Something that is really great about this mascara is that it starts out quite dry. This ensures that you can build volume while still keeping your lashes pretty separated, which is my number one priority. The wand itself is medium-sized with thicker inner and outer edges, resulting in a curvy hourglass shape. The bristles are densely packed and fluffy.

This was my go-to for quite a while, but I eventually moved on from it because I didn’t like the fact that it built up so much volume at the tips of my lashes, leaving them looking a little stumpy and spider-y, to me. With that being said, this is still a great staple mascara, and it’s so affordable too! If you are interested, check out my original review.

Essence Pure Nude Highlighter

You know what, it’s funny. I’ve owned and tried this highlighter before, and I thought I didn’t like it, despite everyone raving about it all the time as the best drugstore highlighter ever. I had even decluttered it quite a few months ago, giving it to a friend who was new to highlighters.

Well guess what, I was crazy! I love this highlighter! I don’t know if I was just into a different look back then or what, but this is the best daily highlighter ever! On the cheek bones it comes across as more of a neutral/white champagne, but as you can see in the swatch above, it can come across more golden in the sun. This highlighter builds up beautifully, and can go with any look. I am so glad that Jeanny decided to include this highlighter in my package, because it has allowed me to rediscover it! Isn’t it funny how your opinion of products can change over time?

Maybelline New York ExpertWear Eye Shadow Quad “40Q Designer Chocolate”

This eyeshadow quad comes with white and taupe satins, an eggplant purple metallic, and a deep brown matte. The colours in here are really nice. As you all know, lately warm tones have been all the rage, so it is so nice to delve back into cool tones, especially for spring! I also love wearing purple makeup.

As you can see in the swatches, the shadows in this palette aren’t very pigmented (and I tried really hard to get the shades to show up: 3+ swipes of the colour to build it up as much as possible). While I usually go for palettes that have more pigment, this is actually a great palette for spring to give you a nice light wash of colour. I think spring often calls for a more delicate touch with your eye makeup.

For my eye look with this palette, I built up the brown matte shade as much as I could in the crease. It took a little while to get the depth that I was going for. After that, I cut the crease with concealer, to give something for the next shadows to stick to so that I could build them up as much as possible. I then pressed the taupe shade on the inner half of the lid, and the purple metallic on the outer half. After that I tried to apply the purple metallic wet, just to get as much pigment as possible. Lastly, I used the white satin on my inner corner and brow bone. The finished look was a lighter cool-toned look, that was so perfect for daily wear. If you are someone who likes more natural looks, then you might really like this palette! Of course as usual, I threw on some winged eyeliner. I’m not myself if I don’t have eyeliner on.

Below are some pictures of me wearing all of the products from Jeanny!

Overall, this makeup swap experience was a great one! Please make sure that you check out both Mary and Jeanny‘s blogs!

I absolutely want to thank Mary, from Pretty on a Dime, for hosting this makeup swap. It was a great first experience for me and I am so glad that she reached out. If she had never e-mailed me, I would have never known about it! This must have been so much work for her to put together! Make sure that you check out Mary’s Blog so that you can see what all of the other makeup swappers sent each other. She will have links to everyone’s posts!

And of course, a huge thank you to Jeanny, from Glitz Beauty Blog, for sending me such awesome products! Clearly she put a lot of thought into this package and it really means a lot. Don’t forget to check out Jeanny’s blog to see what I sent her! 

The best part about makeup swaps like this is it gives everyone an opportunity to discover new blogs in such an interactive way! I love being part of the beauty blogging community, and this is such a great way to build your network!

Have you ever been part of a makeup swap? What was your experience like? Would you join one in the future? Comment down below!

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