Tarte giveaway winner!

The winner of the Tarte multiplEYE™ mascara as determined by the random number generator is:



comment #12, ginnn7!

Congratulations! Please email me within 48 hours with your shipping address to claim your prize :)

Thanks to all those that entered!

Lights, Camera, Lashes! A Tarte Giveaway (US only)

Tarte is a company probably best known for their Cheek Stains, but did you know they also make other products such as their under eye corrector, and their multiplEYE™ mascara?

In fact, I've been contacted by them to organize a Tarte giveaway for US readers! (Sorry to non-US readers, but there will be other giveaways I promise...)

The prize will be Tarte's best seller multiplEYE™ mascara, "a natural lash enhancing mascara, clinically-proven to increase lash volume by 638%."



Sounds good right? Here's how to enter:

Please leave a comment below (1 comment only per person please!) telling me why you need this product. Again, US residents only!

It would be nice but not necessary to be a follower of my blog (although I am only a few more away from my 500 followers giveaway...*hint* :P)

Contest closes 1 week from now, April 22nd Eastern Standard Time. The winner will be picked randomly via Random.org. I will announce the winner here who will need to contact me with her mailing address within 48 hours.

If you would like to learn more about Tarte products feel free to check out the official Tarte makeup review blog here.

Good luck with the giveaway!

4/23/10: Contest closed! Winner to be announced soon :)

MUA swaps + MAC Pleasantry comparison

Since March I've started swapping on MUA, quite fun but takes up a lot of time...and shipping via Canadapost isn't cheap! But its nice to pick up things to try while getting rid of products I don't use anymore.

My first swap there wasn't too exciting, just another Shiseido Hydro-powder to add to my existing collection: Colour - Spring Plum

A warm brownish plum with green iridescent sparkle which is more obvious in real life.

Other things I swapped for: MAC Aquavert eyeshadow (in Lure collection packaging), Tarte cheekstain in Tickled, and my favourite - MAC mineralized blush in Pleasantry.

Aquavert as most people know already, is a pretty light green perfect for spring, definitely a must-have. The Tarte cheekstain is something I've never tried before as they are quite overpriced in Canada ($28 in US, but $39 in Canada + 13% Ontario tax). Will be doing a FOTD with it in the future. Tickled is a basic reddish stain though, similar to what you'd get from Benetint or MAC's Just a Pinch.

Pleasantry blush is a cool toned pink with great payoff, the shimmer is finer than the recent Grand Duo releases, making it more wearable in my opinion. Comparison swatches of this will be at the bottom of this post.

I also did another swap for MAC Parfait Amour, Shimmermoss eyeshadows, Gracious Me shadestick and also backups of Apricot Pink and Softwash Grey pigments (not pictured)

The eyeshadows are pretty common products so I didn't bother swatching but if you don't own these colours already you should! Parfait Amour is the best purple from MAC in my opinion, its cool toned so anyone can wear it without fear of looking bruised. Shimmermoss is like the teal I've been looking for all my life! It has a veluxe pearl finish, so its way better in terms of colour intensity and shimmer (lol) compared with other MAC shades from the same family like Steamy and Aquadisiac.




And something else I've been lemming after a while - Stila Mandarin Mist. I know this was going for pretty cheap at Beautycrunch.com's sale but at least I didn't have to deal with any shipping/custom fees by swapping for it. Its a pleasant citrus scent, exactly my type of fragrance.




I also bought the Pandamonium quad off a reader who had an extra brand new one :) I actually bought this in March but just haven't had the heart to use it yet! Its just so pretty and rare I just kept it to look at so far, haha :D




Possible alternatives to MAC Pleasantry:

The MAC Pleasantry blush is quite sought after and I've seen people on forums wanting to know whether Love Rock duo is similar to Pleasantry, so here is a comparison.




Also threw in Bourjois's Rose D'or blush to compare:




I'd say that Love Rock has more purple tones compared with Pleasantry, which is more blue toned.

Silk Naturals' also makes a dupe of Pleasantry called Charming, which I bought a sample of back in December:



In the pan they look quite comparable, but because the Silk Naturals one is a powder, it tends to go on stronger. It is also slightly warmer toned than Pleasantry.

Left: Pleasantry, Right: Charming



Thats about it for tonight...I will try to write up more posts for the next few days hopefully if things don't get too busy. Please do take a moment to answer my poll on the top right corner, I would like to know if you prefer to have posts almost everyday or less frequently but with a lot more content. Thank you!

P.S. I am also planning to do a small summer giveaway soon, so stay tuned! :)