Sunday, December 4, 2016

Colourpop haul




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.