I don't haul often. But when I do...

Hey everyone!

So what has been going on for the past 2 weeks:
a. I had exams. Thank God they're over! I don't like exams, I really don't! In fact, they've always been a nightmare for me.
b. I was ill. I had a cold for about a week and although it wasn't anything serious or life threatening, I didn't want to do anything more than eating/sleeping/bathroom activities.
c. I wasn't in the mood for blogging. I've been reading a TON of blogposts and watched hundreds of videos on youtube, but I was just...procrastinating. And boy, I'm so good at that!
d. I changed my entire haircare and skincare routine. Everything is going amazingly well and I can't wait to share my findings with you!

This post I guess, is a collective haul of (most of) the makeup items I got recently. Starting off...

I visited H&M with some bloggers a few weeks ago and I got a trio of mini nail polishes and a black eyeliner. I couldn't resist the nail polishes, they looked so cute and sparkly, so I grabbed them.

I wanted to try the eyeliner for so long. Mara has talked about it in some of her videos and I always managed to forget buying it when I was in a store! It's actually a great eyeliner, one of THE blackest blacks I've tried (including my fave, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner). Very nice buy (and super cheap as well).

Next, I got a nice little gift by L'oreal. I had participated in a contest/giveaway back in December and they contacted me then and said I would be sent some products from their Gold Elegance collection. I had forgotten all about it, until I got them in the mail last week.

I posted them on a photo on twitter and some girls wanted to see some swatches of the products, so here they are!

I had never tried any Color Infallible eyeshadows. Their packaging is lovely. First, I thought these were pigments, but the concistency is way better. They are loose eyeshadows with a velvety feel, great pigmentation and they do not crease easily. The Golden Mahogany shade is a wearable rusty red color and the Goldmine one, is a really sparkly gold. Both have shimmer. I want to try more colors, I loved that they are so soft!

I haven't tried the blush yet, but it's a nice light pink color and I think it would give a nice flush on my skin. Also, I tried the True Match foundation, but it wasn't the correct shade for me. The Rose Ivory one was quite light, so I'll give it to my best friend who's paler. However, it was a nice foundation, I liked the smell a lot and it blended nicely on my skin, without leaving any streaks. 

I haven't opened the Volume Million Lashes mascara either, but I've tried it in the past and it's the bomb. It's one of my favorite mascaras and in fact, I was thinking of repurchasing it when I'd use up all my opened ones.

I love the Color Riche lipsticks!!! The Flaming Fuschia one is a true red with a LOT of shimmer. But it was in the holiday collection, so it was supposed to be that way, right? I love the color, the pigmentation and generally everything about it. It's definately not your everyday lipstick, but although I'll wear it in rare occassions, it's one of my favorite shades. The shimmer is not extremely visible though, you can tone it down easily.

I also got 2 Revlon lipsticks on ebay. I have been in love with their Super Lustrous Creme ones recently. My lips are on the dry side, so I try to buy moisturizing and creme textures rather than mattes. These are amazing, I can easily compare them to high-end and MAC ones, but their price is just a fraction of those. In Greece, however, they are really expensive, so I always buy them online from this seller!

I got the shades Kiss me Coral and Love That Pink. I didn't want to buy boring nudes/pinks again, so I decided to get these and I'm extremely happy I did. Kiss me Coral is a really bold corally orange/tangerine and Love that Pink is a reddish pink, very bold as well. I know I'll wear them non stop in the summer!

I love Essence products, I have blogged about them a lot and I use them daily. So, when Selehna told me I won some products on her giveaway I hadn't tried yet, I was very excited!

I don't know why I hadn't tried this mascara earlier! It's simply great. I don't really want to lengthen my lashes, so I mostly prefer volumizing mascaras. This one is one of the best I've tried and it's not expensive at all. I used high end mascaras in the past like YSL, but I can't see why I would do something like that again. It's not hygenic to use a mascara 3 months after you've opened it, so why buy an expensive one when there are great drugstore ones?

I hadn't tried the smokey set either. There are two gray eyeshadows in the set, the dark one is a cream shadow, whereas the light one is a powder shadow. The pigmentation isn't THAT great and they do need a primer before applying them because they crease, especially the cream one. I like them and I will wear them even on daytime because they apply lighltly, but I won't go out and buy them.

Now this, I don't know how to use. I was really baffled when I got it. It's supposed to be a powder eyeliner and eyeshadow. I tried to use it as an eyeliner, but it was very powdery and the line was thick and uneven. I used it as an eyeshadow, but the pigmentation wasn't nice at all. Have I been using it wrong? Is there a special way to apply it that I don't know of? Ughhh.

I love the Essence lipglosses! I got this in shade 01 Pure Beauty. It's a really nice nude with the teeniest of shimmer in it. It's not sticky and has a lovely sweet smell. Just great!

I know I haven't done any fashion posts lately, but I'll do one very soon! 

Also, expect my giveaway in a few days...I think you'll like it!

♥