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!

10 comments

Vanessa said...

Nice haul! I love Jen's Skin Soothing Primer too! It feels so good on my skin AND I love the smell! Nice to know it comes in a pump!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend Aileen! :)

The Shades Of U said...

Hi Vanessa! Thanks! I'm glad you liked Jen's primer. Hers is the best out of several I've tried. Do you know that she has a version 2 (just came out) specifically for sensitive skin? I'm getting that as well. =) Hope you're doing great, keep blogging!

Pia Ghosh said...

Hi Aileen! I love your blog, I read it everyday. I was really curious about Lumiere's duo fibre brushes. Do you have the MAC 187? How do they compare? I've tried the MAC one before (in store) and just ordered it, but I'd love to have the angled one as well as another regular one as backup. I've read on MUA that others were disappointed with theirs, but I think a lot of that has to do with the disappointment that the brushes aren't MAC, and they really do have the same quality. Any info would br great, thank you so much!

The Shades Of U said...

Hi Pia! Thanks for visiting my blog. :) Yes I actually have two 187s, and admittedly, the head of the 187 is denser than that of Lumiere's. However, I honestly see NO difference in application and the end result. I also prefer Lumiere's angled duo fibre optic to the 187 when applying blush because the angled head really applies pigment precisely where I want it to be. A circular head seems to apply blush all over the place. I prefer to use the 187 and Lumiere's version for MSFs and illuminizers, but for pigmented blushes, the angled duo fibre optic is the way to go. HTH!

Unknown said...

Aileen, yay you're back to MMU sampling again, please let me know
the must haves. I want to try the primer too. You rave about this a lot so it really must be good!

Shawnta said...

Hey I just came across your blog and I love it!!!! That was a cool idea to put the samples in a photo album because those little baggies can take over.

The Shades Of U said...

Olga-hey girl I missed you! You really should try Camellia Rose primer, Jen sells samples so you don't get stuck with the fullsize if it doesn't work for you. I'm pretty sure you will love Dreamworld foundation, I'm getting close to finding my match. I know you don't like loose pigments and love MAC tremendously (I love MAC too!), but SheSpace and Lumiere's new shadow colors are really good. I have a lot more recos but I'm running out of space here. LOL

Hi Shawnta! Thanks for the kind words. :) Yup those little baggies can really overwhelm if you don't wield your power over them. They have a mind of their own!

The Shades Of U said...

[b]black berry[/] says:

"Hi, I've been browsing through your blog, and I have to say I really like it. I had experimented with mineral makeup before, i ended up giving my samples away as they did not match my complexion, and as Im sure you know, mixing mineral makeup is not easy nor is it clean:D
Anyways I just wanted to say that I love your blog".

Hi black berry! Your message was accidentally erased but I was able to salvage a copy, I am so sorry! Anyways, yes mineral makeup can be messy, but I feel that the benefits to my skin outweigh the inconvenience of loose minerals. Thank you so much for reading my blog and let me know if you have any questions with any of the mineral makeup I've been featuring. :)

Dessert Queen said...

How's the zit serum working for you? I'm thinking of ordering this too! Please keep us updated!

The Shades Of U said...

Diane- so far so good. My skin didn't reject it, and it's been drying up zits so it's all good!