Collecting packages at the
Post Office must be one of the best feelings in the world (after you pay
customs). 90% because YOU GOT A PRESENT
and 10% because the South African Postal Service actually came through for you
this one time and YOU GOT A PRESENT!
About three months ago,
Colourpop had free international shipping for orders over $50.00 for a short
period of time (they currently have free international shipping until
Christmas, as far as I know). So, I
immediately looked for someone on Facebook to split the $50 x R14.00 bill with,
because finances, you know. However, my
overseas mommy decided that she would pay for the purchase as my belated
birthday present (my family is extremely confusing; we can discuss this at
another time).
Absolutely elated, I
immediately asked for the Kathleenlights quads, Where the Light is and Where
the Night is. Anything else could be a
surprise.
If you don’t know who
Kathleenlights is, she is one of my favourite YouTubers whose videos I could
spend hours trawling through. She is the
loveliest person I have never met and she’s pretty much like me, in love with
makeup with no real training in it. She
is wildly successful with over 2 million viewers on YouTube and several
collaborations with cosmetic companies such as Colourpop, Morphe, Makeup Geek
and Ofra. She is a role model to me and
watching her videos was one of the motivating factors for me starting my
blog. She's also hilarious and stunningly beautiful, as you can see below.
Anyway, so my order was
placed on 21 September. I received the
notification to collect my parcel on 23 November. Any South African reading this post will be
like, yes, obviously, but for the rest of the world, let me elucidate: the
South African Postal Service haemorrhages about R1 billion a year; they are the
most inept government service after Home Affairs (and even at Home Affairs, you
eventually get your stuff). I got to the
post office at about 9:00am this morning and queued for about 20 minutes
because one person was working at the counter (I’m not counting the motor
vehicle licences person because that was a different queue all together). When I got to the counter, it took this poor
lady about 10 minutes just to find my paperwork for the box. Overseas Mommy complained to me that her
package had £17.00 customs tax. Mine was
only R140.00. Her package, however,
arrived within 2 weeks and she received immediate notification of it. Basically, the customs tax in Scotland might
be higher, but at least they get what they pay for.
When I got my package, I
could barely contain myself. Because I
was driving my mom to her nail appointment, I made her open the package in the
front seat so I could see my beautiful shiny things. My mom, bless her soul, thought that the
design on the inside of the box was “where the colour had popped”. Let's just appreciate how gorgeous the inside of this box actually is!! While I waited for my during her nail
appointment, I played with my new stuff and I shook, literally shook, with
excitement the entire time. I was
basically a Chihuahua with nice things.
Firstly, I obviously got the
two collections I asked for. “Where the Light is” was the first
eyeshadow quad that Kathleenlights created, and the collection I slapped on my
eyes the second I got home. This quad is
all about a warm, golden eye with two matte shades (Glow and Cornelious), a
metallic shade (Blaze) and a pearlised shade (Kathleenlights). I find that my skin tone, with its yellow
undertones, looks much better with warm colours (as opposed to my sister who
has a distinct pink undertone and pulls off cooler shades amazingly).
Colours (clockwise from top): Kathleenlights, Cornelious, Glow and Blaze |
I could give you an
explanation of what I did with these shades, but basically I just layered them
one on top of the other. I used Glow all
over my eyelid as a base, because it’s such a creamy pale colour. I then blended Cornelious into my crease with
a fluffy brush, as well as my lower lash line.
This shade is the most perfect transition colour – it’s just warm enough
to blend the rest of the colours effortlessly.
I started blending Blaze into my crease too, but then I just put right
over my entire lid, because that colour is absolutely amazing. I also blended this quite closely to my lower
lash line. I initially dabbed
Kathleenlights into the centre of my eyelid and blended out the edges with my
blending brush, for a halo effect. I
added some Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect mascara. However, about 5 minutes later, I came back
and dabbed Kathleenlights all over my lid and blended it out with a little bit
of Cornelious on my blending brush, because that colour of gold is absolutely
sublime. Check out my Instagram for
photos of this look (@justcallmemuffins).
“Where the Night is” is a much deeper collection with the most
glorious shade of all eyeshadows ever created, Weenie. Weenie is a pearlised shadow that is rose gold. I mean, I know there have been eye shadows
before that have been like a metallic pink with gold tones, but this shade is
just magic. Don’t be surprised when I
start setting my foundation with this colour because it is amazing. Porter is a metallic shade that is a rich
burgundy, perfect for autumn or winter or anytime you feel like it. Midnight is a black metallic shadow with gold
tones in it and I imagine myself using it to deepen a smoky eye look. Telepathy is an ultra metallic shadow that I
must be honest about and did not actually like that much because it is so loud
and looks a little green to me. It is,
however, a true gold and once I saw the sunlight catch it on my arm swatch
outside Woolworths, I knew I could definitely fall in love with this colour.
Colours (clockwise from top): Porter, Midnight, Telepathy and Weenie |
I’ve decided to include the
links to two of Kathleenlights’ videos here, where she uses the colours in the
“Where the Night is” quad because
they are two of my favourite looks that she has ever done. In the first, she uses Porter and Weenie for
a rose gold halo look. In the second,
she uses Midnight and Telepathy for a banging New Years’ look that I will
definitely be recreating this year (not that I go to any raucous New Years’
parties; I’ve slept into more New Years than I’ve actually been awake
for).
The next two items were
Overseas Mommy’s surprises for me in my box.
I got a highlighter called Smokin’ Whistles, which is supposedly one of
Colourpop’s best sellers. I totally see
why: the pigment in this highlighter is on another level! I used it for my inner corner highlight for
my “Where the Light is” look and then
got so excited, I dabbed it on for my brow bone highlight too. I fear this is another product that I may be
setting my foundation with in the future!
I also got an Ultra Matte
lipstick in the shade “Privacy Please”.
I won’t lie, this shade of purple terrified me when it came out of the
box, but it just works for me. I
swatched it on my hand while at my mom’s nail appointment and my skin tone was
like “yes, you can do this”. I wore it
with my “Where the Light is” look; I
didn’t even bother to check if it matched.
I was just too excited to put it on.
I wore it the entire afternoon with Julian, restocking his shelves at
his stores, and it did. not. budge. I
noticed some on my fork at about 5:30pm when I was eating some greasy food, but
I kind of expected that since it was oily.
It only came off at about 7:00pm when I took a cotton pad and Clinique
Take the Day Off makeup remover for Eyes and Lips (which is oil-based).
I have uploaded a photo of
the look I did on Saturday on Instagram, as mentioned before, and I did do my
sister’s makeup on Sunday afternoon, but my photos were not great. I will, however, be uploading pictures of all
the looks I’ll create because I can’t see myself not going straight for these
products every time I put on my makeup for the next few weeks.
Wishing you all the love and
light in the universe, as well as all the happiness of receiving a Colourpop
package, until next time.