I think everyone sprinkled a little of their own magic glitter over all the gifts! It's always fun seeing how we all can just get to know someone as much as we do from posts without ever meeting them! Something special this Summerswap has and continues to be. I can't wait to see everyone else's reveals :wub:
It just makes me happy to see all the happiness in this thread and this forum. Even when people are not happy not a lot of negativity seeps thru. I just love it here.
I am so thrilled it arrived earlier than expected and that you like your gifts. The ladies on MuT are really fantastic. These swaps gifts have been so amazing. I will have to sprinkle more magic on my gifts, lol. But it's all in fun and just trying to bring happiness to another person. Enjoy!
I'm so glad you liked it!@@jayeme - eveything was perfect! I could tell how much time you spent picking things out and I love it all.
The first thing I picked up was the Temptations, which our cats lived. I got a little distracted playing with them, but got back to business fast!
Pretty hands and nails!
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I adore all of the Toccas, but Bianca is my favorite. And the polishes are terrific. I haven't tried Essence at all and the purple is gorgeous. And I really like the Cover Girl (I've apparently been missing something in the outlast polishes, as both of my swap buddies sent some). Such a good job picking out colors, too.
Then lips and eyes!
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The lip products won't go right side up but it's a great mix of balms and glosses. I like the Pixi balm a lot and since I go through them fast, it's great to have another pink. And the Laqa! I have 2 of the purple, but BB never sent me a different color ... or the CR gloss. The colors are great, too. Knowing I'm not a bold lips girl, I think Jayeme was a little worried about a couple of these, but I think they will be fine. And her fave balm, too!
We both are fans of the Anastasia brow gel! I'm always psyched to get minis for when I travel. And purple mascara - love!! Jayeme also included a Pixi Lid Last Shadow Pen in Brun Beam, a dupe for the Clinique Chubby Sticks I like and a great color.
Then there's Samplepalooza!
A Birchbox full of all sorts of samples, including a Coastal Scents Sunset palette (beautiful colors, especially with the Brun Beam pencil!), my BP spray that I use every day and some cologne sample for my husband.
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Plus an adorable Ahmad tea caddy with British Breakfast tea and a copy of Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. How did she know I love reading travelogues??
Here's everything!
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It's so great and everything is just wonderful. And so are you! Thank you so much for the time you spent stalking to put together such a terrific gift!
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I hope that Pixi crayon isn't too similar to the Clinique one you mentioned -- I looked up swatches & tried to get something that was still neutral but not 100% the same. Anyway, I'm glad that you liked it all, and that your cats enjoyed the treats (my cat goes nuts over those!) and i hope you enjoy playing around with everything! You were wonderful to shop for and I really enjoyed doing my stalking /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Haha, it sounds a little creepy, I know, but it was great getting to know you even if you didn't know I was doing it! <3Great gifts! I especially love the homemade scrubs.I am so overwhelmed right now by how incredible my gift was from @@Kelly Silva. She really outdid herself and I am beyond grateful for how much thought she put into everything.
Here’s the box and what I found when I opened it! Everything was beautifully wrapped with color coded paper and a note card explaining what was chosen and why. I especially loved this little shark card (perfect for Shark Week!)
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The first box I opened was labeled “face and hair” and had 1) Lancer Lift Serum 2) Borghese Brightening Makeup 3) Alterna Caviar CC Cream 3) Napoleon Skin Primer 4) ReVive Eye Serum 5) The Balm’s Hot Mama (LOVE!) and 5) SuperGoop Eye Cream.
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The second box was labeled body products which was full of fun things that I can take with me when I travel. I can’t wait to try out the different washes and lotions including: 1) Caldrea tea olive lime body wash 2) Jergens BB Cream 3) Dr. Haushka lemongrass body wash 4) Bee Kind body lotion 4) Rock Star hand cream and 5) Gilchrist and Soames body lotion. Everything smells delicious and exactly like something I would pick for myself!
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The third thing I opened was this beautiful Turkish bag with samples galore. The foils are also perfect for travel! I also adore the bag! I know I will use it a lot!
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Kelly also included a stash of tea and some delicious snacks. I already tore into the sea salt caramel popcorn (and am now typing this with sticky fingers.) She also included a spicy mango chili sauce (sounds delicious) and a baggie of candies, including some See’s orange cream lollipops. (I love See’s Candy!)
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The next thing I opened was this beautiful Gorjana jewelry roll. Kelly was worried that the color would be too bright but I LOVE it!! I love reds and hot pinks and so this is perfect for me. I will definitely use this when I travel.
Next was a box containing some of her favorites (to the left) and some of mine (to the right.) In it was the Balm’s Mary Lou Manizer (something that I have been dying to try), a Garden of Evil whipped body cream in “Make it Rain” (I love the scent), a Rainbow Honey French lavender soak, the LAQA lip pencil in Menatour (which Kelly knows I have been wanting to try!) Vasanti Brighten Up and the No. 4 Prep & Protect (both of which I love.)
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The next thing I opened was a little bag containing various lip products including: 1) a Yes to Carrots lip butter 2 ) a limoncello lip butter, since I had to postpone my trip to Italy this spring (so sweet) 3) the cutest Cynthia Rowley lipgloss 4) a Maybelline lipstick which she picked out because it was the closest thing she could find to the YSL lip color that is impossible to find (it looks pretty darn close!) and 5) two lip scrubs that she made in frozen margarita and guava!!! I can’t wait to try these out!
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So, the final gift was almost too much for me to process. She labeled it the “ultimate box of awesome.” I literally opened the top of the box and then quickly closed it again. I just had to give myself a few minutes before diving into it.
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First up were five beautiful nail colors. The first four will be perfect for the fall (as you can see I couldn’t wait until fall to try them out- please ignore my ragged cuticles and my fat pregnant fingers) and the last one is the perfect match for Dior color that I have been dying to try.
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She also included some perfume samples- including two of my favorite (Folle de Joie) and another of Atelier’s Rose Anonyme. There was also so many wonderful eye products including: 1) a blending brush 2) LaSplash eye shadow sealer/base 3) a Chella eyeliner pen in “indigo” and 4) Sumita eye pencil. I also got a Coastal Scents palette which contains the perfect shades for me and also the Stila “In the Moment” eye palette which has been on my wishlist forever! I feel completely spoiled. There was also an Honest Co. toothpaste for my baby to be. Finally, Kelly included two more things that she made—a blood orange foaming sugar scrub and a body butter that smells absolutely divine – blooming dogwood with a hint of ocean spray. I cannot wait to use them!
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Kelly also included several of her favorite recipes for Thai Style Pork Salad, Mushroom and Swiss sliders, Toasted Israeli Couscous, Honey-Sriracha chicken wings and Peach Whiskey Bourbon chicken. I really loved all the personal touches she included in the box. Not only did she pick gifts that were perfect for me, she shared with me some of her loves, which I know I will love as well.
I cannot express enough how overwhelmed and grateful I am. Thank you, Kelly from the bottom of my heart!
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. My hot water heater went out but I promise I'll have my reveal up tomorrowYay! I'm so glad everything got to you okay. I really hope you like everything & that it cheers you up
You are so welcome! I thought ur package had gotten lost and was so worried! Glad u liked it all, enjoy girl!Check out my AMAZING gift from @@v0ltagekid!!!
EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE!~ I am so happy.
-Boscia BB cream sample
-UDPP samples in Sin, Greed, Original and Anti-Aging
-NYX macaron lippies Key Lime, Pistachio, Lavender and Violet!!
-NYX shadow pencil in Milk!
-Maybelline colour tattoo in Fierce & Tangy!
-NYX blushes in Ethereal (one of my fav words omg) and Bittersweet!
-MAKE blush in Geisha! I'd never heard of this brand- I looked up the price and gasped :0 So generous!
-A NYX lace drawstring bag!
-A SUPER AMAZING BENEFIT CLUTCH/MAKEUP BAG it's shiny and neon orange on the inside, and it has STUDS and a MATCHING CUFF. OH MY GOODNESS. How the heck do you know my aesthetic so well???
I LOVE ITTTTTTTT THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Also you have very nice and cute handwriting!!! Your note was so sweet, thank you again!!
bonus swatches!
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YAY glad it finally arrived!! I very much hope you will like it!! I really loved shopping for you!!I just got home from work, and guess what was on my front porch... my gift from @@tulosai! I've gotten as far as the card. But I promise I will open all of the goodies and post a reveal tonight. My husband my have to deal with hotdogs for dinner so that I can get back to the wonderful box that she put together.
Yay!! I love your reveal. I am so glad you liked your gifts. Enjoy traveling and exploring the world.Here am I with my reveal from Jac13! This is going to be a long one, ladies. Hoping this works...
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When I opened my package, I saw this lovely Paris-themed box. Little did I know, the theme of my gift was "Global," inspired by travelling. I actually work for a travel company and I absolutely love to travel (I'm already planning our next trips) - so this theme was perfect. So spot on. My inner nerd was already glowing at this point.
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First look!
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Can we just take a moment to appreciate this lovely packaging? I love minty greens so much! It's so chic and clean looking.
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The first thing I gravitated towards were these fake-money chocolate bars. How cute! Plus, I loveeeeee chocolate. I may or may not be eating the 2nd bar right now (before dinner hehe). Jennifer also sent me some postcards from her area, which is awesome! I collect postcards from all other the world/country and I'm planning to eventually make some sort of postcard collage/art-piece. It's going to be a big project, but one day it will look amazing. I want to do the same with a bunch of maps that I've collected over the years (history/map nerd here).
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My love of maps made this next gift extra special. It's a scarf with the globe on it! It combines my love for maps AND my love for travel. I wear scarves all the time here in windy/chilly Chicago, so this will definitely get use soon. My coworkers are going to be really, really jealous. And it's just so unique and perfect. Honestly, this might be my favorite item in the whole gift (although it is hard to pick). This even impressed my boyfriend, who could care less about make-up and fashion.
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On to the products! These trial size goodies are just what the doctor ordered. I love deep conditioning products, I love trying new haircare and skincare, so I've already tucked these into my collection.
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Ah, more skincare and haircare tailored to my needs! I love it! I've never tried this brand before, but they seem pretty popular? I'm going to investigate one of these days. I actually used some of the shampoo/conditioner this morning and it might rival some of my HG shampoos. Time will tell.
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Eye shadow samples! You can never have enough eyeshadow. I think that some of my posts may have made Jennifer think that I stick to neutrals all the time, so she said she was taking a risk by throwing in the bold colors. But I love bold colors, too! She took a great risk. I love having these little quads for travel, or for keeping in different rooms (yes, sometimes I move from room to room to do my make-up - is that weird?). I also need to investigate this Teeez brand. Is it indie? Is everything great? This pinky champagne shadow is just soooooo buttery - I need more!
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This Benefit neutrals box set was the next thing I found and I think I might have sequealed. I LOVE Benefit products, especially their cream shadows. I actually have a DIFFERENT box of neutrals like this from Benefit (same packaging), but the colors are quite different, so I'm really happy with this. I'm very into the pinky nudes right now. This was by far my favorite make-up goodie in the box. If Jennifer had only sent this and the scarf, I would have been a happy camper. Everything else is just bonus awesomeness.
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Fitting with the travel theme, this is a glass globe paperweight! Awesome! I never thought I'd be into paperweights, but now I can't wait to put this on my desk. I will treasure this for a very very long time.
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And then this nice little journal! I don't journal/diary a lot, but there are a lot of things that you just NEED to write down, so I look forward to keeping this. It will probably last me a decade.
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More make-up goodies! These were all individually wrapped and it was so much funny tearing them all open. Who am I kidding? This whole package was amazing to open - very interactive!
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Everything all laid out! I thought I took a picture of the unwrapped mess, too, but I can't find it now. To say the least, I made a huge mess. Like a 4-year-old at Christmas!
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I already messaged her privately to gush, so I really hope she knows how much this all meant to me. What an awesome Monday evening surprise. I can't wait to participate in Secret Santa!
!!! Thank you so much!!!!
