Stars Makeup Haven Haul & A Surprise

About a week ago, a reader of mine sent me the absolute sweetest e-mail. I started this blog mainly for myself but in time, I've wanted to give back and write content that just didn't interest me but interested and helped others. Every so often, I get that pull to go work at a counter or store but because of my full-time jobs and graduate school, I never last long (at one point I was working 60 hours a week and it wore me out). I just truly love helping people, and to help especially women (though men can wear makeup too, of course) realize that makeup is not as difficult as many of them think and that they can use it to enhance their own natural beauty (though covering up some flaws is helpful too). Anyway, I never expected in a million years to receive an e-mail like the one I received. And then she said she'd like to send me a gift. Well, ok!

It arrived in the mail today. I had to keep DH from attacking the yummy treats she sent from Hawaii (and a super sweet note - DH said it was one of the nicest letters he's ever read)!

Thank you for your generosity, Jasmine!

How did she know that dried mangoes (and mangoes in general were my favorite)?!

Mmmm... though I have given DH permission to eat one of these yummy chocolate treats (he almost ate them all before dinner).

Next up, among the several packages I received today (!!) - one of them was my order from starsmakeuphaven. I had been waiting for their magnetized palettes to come back in stock and managed to grab them during a promotion. I picked up 2-28 pan palettes and 3 eyeshadow pans. Well, I open up my package to find they included 4 eyeshadow pans! A full-sized extra! I had been wanting to try their eyeshadows ever since Karla swatched them all; but I really didn't need to order every one I had my eye on (even at $4.95 a pop they add up quick).

Here they are already in their new home:

Can you tell which one was free? Hmm... neutral, neutral, neutral, blue? Duck duck duck duck gooose!

Something old. Something new. Something borrowed... Something Blue! Cute name. Not sure if I'll ever wear this color. It is way brighter than I would ever think of wearing but it's highly pigmented and silky smooth.

And the three colors I actually purchased. I know many of you are looking at them and thinking, "ummm, they all look the same". Not true! Cashmere is a taupey brown that has a touch of bronze to it (though it looks a lot warmer in the pan than swatched), Frenzy is what I would call a neutral taupe (though it may pull a touch warmer), and Breathless is a cooler taupe with a bit more silver to it. All of them are beautiful shades and I'm glad I bought them. For $4.95 I could have done a lot worse. And of course now I can fit 28 shades a piece into these magnetized palettes which are about the same price as their 12-pan MAC counterparts (though the plastic is a bit thinner). The palettes were $13.95 before the discount. All in all I'm very pleased with my order and Stars Makeup Haven's generosity.