❤ Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤ Here’s a sweet post to make you smile. 🙂 Back in December, I proposed the idea of a swap with fellow blogger, DaniiJane, of A Beautiful Thing blog. Dannii lives in the UK, and I live in Canada so it was an opportunity for both of us to get our hands on things that would otherwise not be easily accessible to us. Look at what Dannii sent to me! 😮
We shipped our parcels out at the end of January and they arrived last week. As with previous swaps, I asked Dannii what types of items she was interested in receiving, and I gave her a few things I was interested in. She sent me those and then some! 😀
• Soap & Glory bits: Clean on me, Scrub of Your Life, The Righteous Butter, and Hand Food
• Zoella Ginger Cream – this smells like gingerbread – yum!
• Flutter Strawberry Lip Balm – how cute is this?
• Soap & Glory Multi-Colour Blush Brick in Love at First Blush
• Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in Nude Mauve
• Seventeen Mono Eyeshadow in Rose Quartz – sadly, there was a casualty in the shipment. Dannii wrapped everything up meticulously in bubble wrap but it seems this product is just super fragile. But no worries, I will still be able to use this like a loose eye shadow. I’ll just transfer it to a small jar. 🙂
The interior of the Soap & Glory Multi-Colour Blush Brick in Love at First Blush.
• Makeup Revolution Handbag #hacks Strobe, Light and Cheek
The kit includes a powder blush, cream highlight and a brush.
• Makeup Revolution Luxury Powder in Banana – so excited about this, I’ve just started “baking” my under eye area recently.
• Sleek i-Divine Palette in Oh So Special, and Vintage Romance – My first ever Sleek palettes which I’ve pined after for eons! Only after I opened the lid, I noticed that the black matte shade (“Noir”) in the Oh So Special palette was chipped (lower right corner of the top palette) which made a bit of a mess, but after wiping off, it’s still completely usable. 🙂
• Makeup Revolution Fortune Favours The Brave Palette – Oh Em Gee! This is one of the most hyped palettes of 2016. 😮 There’s such an impressive range of shades in this palette, including some neat marbled / melange colours.
• Cadbury Mini Eggs, Dairy Milk and Crunchie bars and a beautiful butterfly card! ❤ I’m guarding the chocolates from the SO… but he loves those Mini Eggs, maybe I will share a few with him! 😉
Thank you so much Dannii for the thought and care you put into selecting these items for me! I cannot wait to dig into everything – you’re right, I don’t need another eye shadow palette for a long while! XD Check out what I sent to Dannii over at her blog! 🙂
Have you tried any of the items I received? Have you ever swapped with someone from another country?
A great selection there 🙂 I love soap and glory products, hand food is my go to hand cream and I always have a couple of different scents in it. Sleek palettes are great too, I may have bought too many of them but always want the new ones when they come out. Lots of awesome things in there, it’s always fun to see swaps because, living in the UK, it’s interesting to see what’s hard to get in other countries or the things people want to try from here as well as the swaps going the other way to see what people recommend in these things.
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I specifically asked for a Sleek palette because of all the raves (I first heard about them from the Pixiwoo sisters!) For some reason, there are a lot of beauty gurus who are British and they often talk about things we can’t get here. I’m sure from your perspective, you see lots of North American gurus and get annoyed you can’t get the stuff they talk about! 😛
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Haha, yeah for years I saw these things on YouTube I couldn’t get. It seems we are getting more of the high end American things over here, on certain sites anyway, but the drugstore things are still only eBay and places like that which I’m always a bit scared of trusting with makeup.
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I’ve had good success on ebay purchasing Asian (Japanese and Korean) makeup. A lot of the sellers are actually online retailers that just happen to have their store front on ebay to reach more customers. But, the prices are quite marked up online though… versus buying a plane ticket and flying to Japan / Korea. 😛
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Yeah, I’ve bought a few Korean beauty products on there, I also live the free postage. Some of them haven’t got a huge markup if they’re based in Korea, British ones selling Korean products cost at least twice the price. I just never know which ones are good for American products as there are so many fakes out there and the huge markup. Some of the makes are drugstore but cost so much on eBay as people know we can’t get them. There used to be wet n wild ones for £10 each around $15 USD at the time which seemed a huge markup. Add on postage that costs more than the products and the price keeps going up!
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Such a beautiful selection! I always hear great things about seventeen!
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I did a search online for “best UK brand makeup” and that was one of the things someone listed! 😛
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Fun, fun! International swaps are the best ever! I really miss Max Factor stuff here. I know it’s pretty much just CoverGirl but it still feels different 😀
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I know deep down Max Factor is probably just repackaged Cover Girl but MF seems more upscale to me! Did you see that I found MF mascaras at Winners? They were only $5 – you should check if they still have them!
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You two are crazy I’d rather have covergirl and not pay the middle age markup!
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Haha… I guess we always want what we don’t have! 😉
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Yay! Loved this post. So happy you loved your bits😊 I know in future to bubble wrap even more😂 I never realised the Soap & Glory blushes were so pretty! Should have ordered myself one☺ I’ll try to get my post up asap! Xx
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Thank you so much! I had so much fun swapping with you! ❤
Haha, now I've created a new lemming for you with the S&G blush… 😳 😉
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Me too! If you want to do it again later in the year let me know. I will stash your box full of way more stuff and chocolates!☺ Haha I know. I blame you xx
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I’ll keep that in mind for sure! 😉 Hehe…
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Look at this Dannii, Fleur DeForce mentions the Seventeen Rose Quartz eye shadow in this video and hers is all smashed too! Apparently they do that because it’s so soft!
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Oh wow! At least I know it’s the formula, not my dodgy packing! Xx
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Yes and I saw it with my own eye show much bubble wrap you used! 😆 XD
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😂 x
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Happy Valentines day love bunny xoxoxxoxoxxoxxoxoxxo
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Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you eating chocolates?! ❤
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#nonstop xo
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Oh I didn’t know that Revolution started doing some Ben Nye Dupes, I have those on my hitlist to try so I’m going to be seeking those out ASAP!
I sent the fortune favours the brave to Chris when we swapped, I still haven’t picked one up for myself yet!
I have a couple of the seventeen single shadows, they’re such gorgeous quality shadows, shame it broke but definitely save it for loose!
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I saw a review of that Revolution Banana powder and it says it’s really pigmented – so encouraged by that!
That Fortune Favours The Brave Palette is so interesting – I’ve never seen melange eye shadows in a palette like that.
I wonder if I could possibly press back that eye shadow? Hmm… using it loose would just be easier. #lazy 😉
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Wow this is so amazing! I’m from the UK too and I can testify that she chose some great brands to represent! 😀
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I kept track of products that UK beauty bloggers / YT gurus rave about and sent Dannii my wish list. I’m so excited to try them! 😀
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Out of interest, what do Canadian beauty enthusiasts rave about? Any Canadian brands worth mentioning?
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Actually, I have a post dedicated to Canadian beauty brands! Here you go:
https://stashmatters.com/2015/07/01/canadian-beauty-brands/
As with most brands, there are hits and misses with all of those brands. I really like the blushes and eye shadows from Annabelle. The powders and foundations from Marcelle are great. Quo has nice lipsticks. 🙂 And of course, BITE Beauty! Missing from that list is Nudestix which was started to gain popularity in 2015.
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I have that Max Factor blush, it is amazing. I’m sure you’ll love it. xx
https://simpleserenity.wordpress.com
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I’ve read so many raves online, I can’t wait! I have the Cover Girl baked blush so I’ll probably do a comparison!
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Aww, Dannii sent you some really wonderful products! Everything looks so awesome.
The S&G Blush, the Max Factor blush, and the Seventeen eye shadow are gorgeous! And the Makeup Revolution eye shadow palette :O :O There is like every colour you could possibly need in there!
Oooh, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on Sleek products too! Lucky you 😉
Dannii did a great job choosing all of these products – now I’m excited to see what you picked for her!
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I specifically asked for those items blushes and Seventeen eye shadow – I wasn’t sure if she could get her hands on them but she did! I had some items already in mind based on people’s raves online. You know, UK drugstores have WAY better palettes than what we get here – those Sleek and Revolution ones would cost mega bucks.
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Yes, exactly! I have Sleek and Make Up Revolution on my shopping list if we end up flying to Europe through London for our honeymoon (priorities, am I right?) I’ve never even heard of Seventeen!
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I think that Seventeen Rose Quartz eye shadow was mentioned by Fleur DeForce… and you know what happens next – mayhem!
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Haha, she mentions it in this video and guess what? Hers is all smashed too!
I’m going to show this to Dannii so she feels better.
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Haha, I totally would have watched that video back in the day, but never recalled hearing about the brand! Guess their shadows are just super soft. The shade is stunning! :O
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Such a great swap! I can’t wait to see what you got for her! ❤
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She’s posted it now! 🙂
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I saw! So good!
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Oh wauw, you’ve got some really good/nice products! I have heard a lot of good stuff about the Sleek I-divine palettes! I have the palette in ‘Storm’ and it’s amazing! I haven’t swapped before with someone, not even with anyone in my own country. I hope I can do it sometime! Have fun with your products! xx
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I’ve swapped with 3 people so far. It’s always FUN! I hope one day you can swap with someone. It’s kind of like Christmas shopping hehehe. With beauty bloggers, it’s so fun to shop for them because you know they’ll love whatever makeup you pick up for them – sometimes with friends / family members, they may not share the same love for makeup as you. 😛
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Yes, that’s totally true! 🙂
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Very cool! The Seventeen Mono Eyeshadow in Rose Quartz is gorgeous!
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It is! I can’t wait to use it. 🙂
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Excellent swap girls! And those eye palletes girl i am jealous! Hehe
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Aren’t those palettes amazing? We don’t have such awesome palettes like that at our drugstores – so jealous!
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Neither do I! Jejejeje
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Such a cool and nice thing to do!! Looks like you got lots of new makeup to try!!! 🙂
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Yes, never ending amount of new makeup! I’m on a no-buy until April though…
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CRUNCHIE BAR!!!!!! I love those & Curly Wurlys so much! I hate Hershey and their stupid lawsuit preventing for that chocolatey goodness to be imported here in the US. They’re being douchebags. Not our fault their chocolate sucks.
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We have Crunchie Bars here in Canada too so if you need a fix, get them from here – we’re a lot closer than the UK! Other countries that have Crunchie Bars are: Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India 😉
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I used to be able to get them at Publix (regional grocery chain) in the Brit section, but they pulled all the proper British Cadbury because of Hershey’s lawsuit. At least I can still get my wine gums & jelly babies.
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I think you’re a secret Canadian. 😛 I love wine gums!
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I just like British & Japanese candy. 😂
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Wow, it looks like you’ve got some wonderful items there!! Enjoy! 🙂
http://www.alifyalifestyle.com/
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Thanks! I will!
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I haven’t done a swap in a while and this is making me want to do another one!! I love everything you got from her, the UK seems to have so much amazing drugstore makeup.
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Definitely! It’s a great way to try things from other countries. I need to find a buddy who lives in Asia next… 😉
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Oh, this is a fantastic selection of UK drugstore stuff! ♥
I also love the stuff you sent Danni. Those Bath & Body Works products are just lovely. I hope BBW will set up shop in the UK! And I hope Sleek and MakeUp Revolution will be available in Canada too!
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I swear I would lose my mind if I went to a UK drugstore… we do have some Makeup Revolution stuff here in Canada but not in our province so I’d still need to order online. I just wish we could do a wholesale trade of our brands! That would be awesome. 😀
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Hmmm… that would be a great business idea…
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I’m so jealous! I always wanted to try the sleek products! Amazing stuff you got there Stashy!
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It was like Christmas all over again! You need to make friends with a UK blogger and do a swap!
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I know right? I actually did a swap last November before I went on my mini-vaca.. still in my drafts so hopefully I will be able to share them soon.😍
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C’mon girl! Will you be posting about your Valentine’s Day in July? 😆 XD
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Hahahahahahha OMG!! You never know.. im catching up!! See my valentines post? It’s very current!😂😂
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I just saw it! Your hubby is so thoughtful – that present is better than chocolate or flowers!
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Totally!!! He knows I’m not a huge flowers fan.. and the only time that I got really excited with flowers was last year when he got me tulips and it looked beautiful. But I really don’t mind not getting flowers to be honest. He then got me flowers on Monday and asked, do I like them? Haha
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I don’t like getting flowers either – such a waste! I’d rather get a plant that I can grow (or kill.. ahem). 😉
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Haha same here…🤣🤣
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What a fabulous idea 🙂 This is wonderful!
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Have you ever done a swap! It’s FUN!
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I haven’t but i think i should look at doing one down the track 🙂
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It’s really fun! Just set a dollar limit and try to watch the weight of the items. Shipping can get expensive!
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I LOVE reading swap posts! I’m sure you will love Makeup Revolution, I did an order of a few bits last year and the highlighter I got is so beautiful! That lip balm packaging is the cutest, I’m a sucker for kitties 🙂
Mini Eggs are delicious, I only tried them for the first time a few years ago and I liked them but haven’t had them since. Maybe I’ll get some more closer to Easter!
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We finally have Makeup Revolution in Canada but not in our province – we can order online though which is amazing!
We opened the Mini Eggs last night – omg! I firmly believe that UK versions of chocolates are better than what we get here. Easter candies are out in full force now! I started seeing them late January.
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Easter eggs and chocolates are out over here too! Not the big ones but Mini eggs and Creme eggs etc. They get earlier every year!
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I agree, I do think they come out earlier every year!
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I nominated you for Blog Award. Check it out ! xx
https://simpleserenity.wordpress.com
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Oh thanks so much Azra! ❤
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I’m from the UK and I LOVE THOSE BRANDS! I got the Fortune Favours The Brave palette for Xmas and it’s amazing!
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So good to know! I hear so much about them and now I finally get to try them – so exciting! 😀
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What a great idea! I’d love to do a swap especially if it involved Soap & Glory and Cadbury chocolate. 😍
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Definitely! We always want what we can get here easily…
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Holy comments, Batman! It took forever to get to the bottom lol. What a fantastic swap! I loved the items that you sent her (especially the CoverGirl palette – the WORLD needs own that palette!). Those Makeup Revolution items are giving me serious makeup envy right now. A fantastic haul – Soap Glory in Canada needs a boost!
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I love comments, they’re so fun! 😀
I’m trying hard to spread that CoverGirl palette to all corners of the globe! One also made its way to New Zealand as part of my giveaway! 😛 Hey, I think London Drugs carry some of those Makeup Revolution items! 😉
http://www.londondrugs.com/makeup-revolution-2/?sz=21
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Your blog has one of the most active comments sections. It’s not something I see very much anymore so it’s a refreshing change!
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That’s a great swap! I love me some Soap & Glory. Their hand food is my all time favorite hand creme. And Make Up Revolution is amazeballs. So glad they now sell this at my local drugstore too.
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We do have access to some Soap & Glory items but not their makeup! I always get jealous whenever I see UKers talk about their stuff. 😛 I personally think drugstore makeup in the UK is miles ahead of what we get here.
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Not here, I typically get my stuff from the UK. If you ever get the chance: try their Archery brow pencil. It is amazeballs and half the price of the Anastasia brow wiz
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Good to know! I will keep that in mind! 🙂 Thank you!
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I LOVE CRUNCHIES!!! We have it here too!!! By the way, MUR makes the best blushers!
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I picked up a couple of Makeup Revolution blushes during Hauluary – the matte ones. I can’t wait to try them! 🙂
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aw~~ sweetness overload!!! You finally got your hands on Sleek 😀
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Yes I did! Weee! Well, these aren’t my first ever Sleek items. I got a blush ages ago from online. But these are my first Sleek eye shadows!
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I love swapping!!! 🙂
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It’s so much fun, isn’t it? I would love to do it all the time but shipping can be really costly.
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Ya, I don’t worry about shipping, part of swapping I guess! I swap all the time, love it!
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Sometimes the cost of shipping is more than the value of the items though! I live in Canada so it’s like highway robbery here. I was quoted $150 for shipping before, for items that cost half that. ouch.
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Ya, true, very true! Ya I can’t imagine Canada shipping 😦 yikes!!!!
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What a fun idea – looks like she sent you some amazing things – all those eyeshadow palettes (insert heart eye emoji)! 🙂
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I know, those palettes. We don’t have such awesome palettes at the drugstore price point here! Why is that…
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great idea ! 🙂
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I’m anxious to read your thoughts on the Makeup Revolution & Sleek Makeup palettes.
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They have to wait in line… I’ve got palette OVERLOAD! 😥
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