International beauty swap with Coco and some beauty swap advice


Hi everyone!

I received my beauty swap parcel from Coco today!!! YAY!!!!!! It came all the way from Puerto Rico!!!
Coco is such a lovely girl, she runs a fabulous blog called The Beauty Milk and she is also one of my advertisers, so you might be following her blog already. If not, I think you should :) Seriously! I adore Coco's blog! It is all about her love for makeup with great reviews and beautiful photos. It quickly became one of my favourite beauty blogs! You can visit The Beauty Milk  here. When Coco asked me if I would like to do the swap I just couldn't say no :) I haven't done a swap with an American blogger before and Puerto Rico is part of USA, so it was a perfect opportunity :) 

We decided on a £30-40 budget, but after a week of shopping for each other we decided to change it to £60 :) That's what happens when beauty addicts do a swap. At the end both of us went over the budget anyway, haha. I picked some of my all time favourite products, including Bourjois, Barry M, MUA, Collection 2000, Jemma Kidd and more. I also included some Liz Earle samples and sweeties :)
I think that everybody secretly hopes for something sweet in a swap. haha

Ok, so the parcel I got from Coco is AMAZING!!! I totally trusted her with everything and the only thing I asked for was MAC Mineralize Skin finish in Soft & Gentle, simply because US prices of MAC products are more affordable. UK is terrible with prices of high end makeup.

I had a feeling that Coco will get me some WetnWild eyeshadows :)  Every British beauty Blogger wants to try them, right? I am sooooooo excited to try them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are gorgeous!

I also got something I really really wanted- A Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush!!!
OMG! I know... I must sound overexcited, but I have been dreaming about trying Tarte products!
The shade I got is called Dollface and it is absolutely beautiful! 

I also got a NARS Blusher in shade Torrid - Oh wow! It is breathtakingly beautiful! 
I didn't expect to get so many high end products to be honest! 
(You really surprised me Coco and I can't thank you enough!!!) 

I absolutely looooooooove everything Coco got for me and the swap was an amazing experience!
If you ever get a chance to take part in a swap, DO IT!!!

________________________________________________________________________________

SWAP ADVICE:

The only thing you need to remember when doing a swap is to make sure that you are swapping with a genuine blogger, preferably an established blogger or simply somebody you can trust and talk to on Twitter etc. I've heard some horror stories before, but so far I only had positive experiences with swaps. You can read about my first one here.

Another important thing to remember is the price of postage. Me and Coco didn't include it in our budget, but if you are shipping a 1.5 kg parcel overseas, be prepared to pay around £20 for it.
I had  a little change of plans with the swap to be honest, because I forgot how expensive the postage is. I bought a beautiful canvas gift box for the swap and forgot to check the weight of it. It turns out that it was over 1kg so... far too heavy. I wrapped everything and went to the Post Office to find out that my parcel weighs nearly 4kg and would cost me over £100 to send it !!! WOWZA!!! I went back home and had to repack everything to make sure that the parcel is an alright size and under 2kg. I had to take some product out including a Liz Earle Skincare set, a blog planner and more sweeties :(

What did I learn from the swap -I will know not to go over 2 kg, avoid heavy gift boxes, stick to small beauty products and check the price of the postage online before I go to the Post Office :)
I still can't believe how silly I was thinking that I can send a massive parcel at a reasonable price :)
I didn't know that parcels over 2kg are shipped via globalexpress and cost a fortune.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Back to the contents of the swap - I freakin love them! I can't even describe my excitement and I will try to review most of the products on the blog in 2013.

I will list everything I got under the photo of all the products :) 

PS. Thank you again Coco!!! It feels like Christmas again and you really surprised me with the contents of the parcel. I didn't expect to receive Tarte, Nars or Illamasqua :) xo

WetnWild eyeshadows - Comfort Zone
WetnWild eyeshadows - Petal Pusher
WetnWild eyeshadows - I am getting sunburned
WetnWild eyeshadows - Cool as a cucumber
WetnWild eyeshadows - Walking on eggshells
WetnWild eyeshadow -Nutty
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in soft & gentle
NARS blusher in shade Torrid
NARS Eyeshadow Base
Tarte Amazonian Clay Blusher - Dollface
Illamasqua Nail Varnish in shade Jo'mina
China Glaze Nail Lacquer in shade For Audrey
Milani blusher in shade Dolce Pink
Milani blusher in shade Red Vino
WetnWild lipstick in shade Don't Blink Pink
WetnWild lipstick in shade Within These Adobe Wall
Covergirl lipstick in shade Sultry
Covergirl Mascara Lashblast Volume
Too Faced lip cream in shade Juicy Melons
Elf HD Blush in shade Headliner
Elf Blush in shade Pink Passion
Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch
Maybelline ColorShow Nail Lacquer in Dressed To Kill
Physicians Formula Glow 7 Mood Boosting Blush
Physicians Formula bronze Booster
EOS sweet mint lip balm


I also got some delicious sweeties - one of them was coconut flavoured (my favourite) - sooo good!
01 09 10