Myer Haul!

I've always been a fan of the pretty counters at Myer -- really more the perfume counters than anything else -- but now it seems that I can't pass it without buying something! Last Monday, however, I went in with a plan: to take advantage of the selected boutiques at Myer with gift offers. You know the kind: spend a certain amount of money, get a gift pack with some cool stuff arguably worth more than you spent.

The kind and considerate people of Myer informed me via email that Napoleon Perdis and Elizabeth Arden were two such boutiques with such an offer; I, being a good and faithful little customer, was instantly on board. As it happened, there were a couple of products I'd been thinking about getting anyway -- it was a win-win situation!

So here are the pictures of the haul itself! Please ignore the background mess, it's a Beauty Padawan side-effect. As you'll be able to see, I ended up with a lot more than just Napoleon Perdis and Elizabeth Arden. Here we go!

First up is this black makeup case, from Elizabeth Arden. This was the bag that the freebies came in. It's a nice shiny black colour, and I think it's about the size of your average makeup case (I'm not totally sure, but I have one about a similar size).

Next is this tote bag from Napoleon Perdis. This is the bag that my free goodies came in. The colour is a kind of... beigey pinky colour? Honestly, I'm not the greatest at telling one colour from another when it comes to anything that's not an obvious colour.

Freebies and purchases! First from the left is the Ceramide Purifying Cream Cleanser. I haven't used this yet, but I'm hoping it'll come in handy soon. This sample was 50mL, but you can purchase the full 125mL tube for $60. To the right of it is the Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment. I don't really use moisturiser that often, so I don't know how much use I'll get out of this. The 200mL tube retails for $35.

Next is the Intervene Makeup SPF 15 in "Soft Toast". This was a purchase for my mother -- it's the foundation she wears -- and apparently it's a colour that isn't always in stock. Or, at least, it never is when she goes to buy it. This goes for $69.

And then comes the Ceramide Lift and Firm Concealer in "02 Fair". This actually turned out to be a disappointment, but perhaps not in the normal way. I needed an extra purchase aside from the foundation in order to get the free gift, and I'd decided to go for the Flawless Finish Correcting and Highlighting Perfector in "02" -- it looks pretty cool and I thought I might be able to use it as a kind of highlighter. The woman at the Elizabeth Arden counter had a tester, which she used to find a match, and then found the item and rang it up with everything else. When I saw the price however -- $50 instead of the $35 I'd thought it to be -- a little flag was raised. I chalked it down to me having a Beauty Padawan moment, that I'd looked at the price for a different product, and went home thinking nothing else about it. It wasn't until I opened it up to show my mother that I realised it was actually the wrong product, and yesterday I took it back to swap it for the one I was originally after. Unfortunately, they had none left so I was able to get a refund.

More Elizabeth Arden freebies. The first on the left is an eye shadow/blush palette, but as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a name, as it's just a couple of little samples of a normally larger individual colour. The eye shadows are called "Glisten" and "Cinnamon" (available here for $38 each) and the blush is in the shade "Terrarose" (available here in it's larger pan for $40).

Then there is the Beautiful Color Lash Enhancing Mascara in "Black". It's supposed to volumise, lengthen and curl your lashes, and I'm interested to see how well this works, as I'm normally a little fussy when it comes to mascara. I like a product that gives me really thick-looking lashes. It retails for $35.

Thirdly is a little red card with a quote on it -- how nice! Actually, I'm kidding, it's a complimentary 30-minute makeup session at Elizabeth Arden. This, as far as I'm aware, is not part of the gift pack that came with my purchases -- the saleswoman at the boutique gave me this as an additional freebie. Score! I did have to book a time and a day for it, and that's coming up in the next few weeks, so who knows, maybe there's another post in that!

Above are the swatches for the aforementioned eye shadow/blush palette. "Glisten" is a skin-coloured, possibly translucent (neutral, perhaps? Or nude? I don't know.) colour with some shimmer. I'd probably use it for highlighting my inner eye corner than underneath my brow. "Cinnamon" is more or less true to its name; it's a soft matte brown colour. "Terrarose" is a natural pinkish-brown colour -- I have an idea that it might be useful for contouring.

Mooore freebies! These are two cute-looking Beautiful Color Moisturizing Lipsticks in "Red to Wear" and "Desert Rose", respectively. The first swatches a kind of fuchsia/magenta colour, but it really is a deep red matte lipstick, whereas the second is a dusty pink colour with a little bit of shimmer. Normally I wouldn't have thought that either of these shades would work on me, but lately I've come to realise through reading blog posts that people can wear just about any colour if their makeup is right! These retail for $35 a piece.

Wearing "Red to Wear" (left) and "Desert Rose" (right)

Now goodness knows what my head was thinking when I took this picture, because the last of the Elizabeth Arden products (which I ought to talk about first), are at the end of the line-up. Sooo I'm going to talk about the Elizabeth Arden products first, then jump to the left of the picture to talk about the others.

First up is the Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Overnight Cream. I don't really have any need to worry about wrinkles or lines, so I gave this to my mother. This little pot is only 15mL but it seems to have a fair amount of product. Just as well, too, because a 50mL pot retails for $175!

To the right of that is a small sample packaging of the Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum. My mother adores these so, again, I gave this to her. I'm not totally sure what they're supposed to do, but she loves the feel of it on her skin! This came with seven capsules, but you can get a small pot of these capsules for around $125.

The product to the right is the Ceramide Cleanser that I mentioned earlier in the post. I'm not sure why it's in the picture -- I probably forgot that I'd taken it already.

Onto a couple of things that I bought. You can see the Smashbox Always Sharp 3D Liner in "Neptune" -- a dark blue colour. I bought this from Kit for $28.95. I've noticed that coloured eyeliner is making its way into tutorials on YouTube, so I'm pretty excited to use this.

Underneath that is Kit's Blender Sphere, a dupe on the Beauty Blender. I bought this for my mother -- she usually uses her hands to put on her foundation (as far as I know, she doesn't have a foundation brush) and, at $14.95, I thought that this would be a cool alternative. Her feedback has been that it works really well, although she's a little sad that she doesn't seem to be able to clean all the makeup off entirely! She'll be right.

Next are these Soothing Moisturising Socks by Kit. I bought these for my mother (just because, y'know) although given the state of my feet... TMI, Sarah! These retail for $24.95 and they look pretty cute. They're one size fit all and they have this squishy gel insole that moisturises your feet. You're supposed to be able to get about 50 wears out of them, which, if true, makes me think that they could be worth your money.

I featured this little beauty in my previous March Favourites post -- Hourglass's Ambient Lighting Blush in "Radiant Magenta". I've worn this a few times and I have to say, I quite like it. I bought it last week from Mecca Cosmetica for $50 -- originally the price freaked me out a little, but I really needed a good quality blush and heard that it was just supposed to melt into your skin. It gives me a nice, flushed colour without looking too much.

Woo hoo, Napoleon Perdis freebies and purchases! My two purchases are on the left: the China Doll Gel Eyeliner in "Yang" and the Auto Pilot Pre-Foundation Skin Primer, retailing for $39 and $59 respectively. The eyeliner I bought to try out a tutorial for some pastel coloured winged eyeliner; the primer because I felt that it was time to go in a different direction. I used to use Benefit's The Pore Professional primer but I go through it too quickly to justify spending $55 every couple of months. The Napoleon Perdis primer cost just a little more and is twice the size. Hopefully it's worth every cent!

Next to that is a limited edition lip gloss in "Beyond Bronze". Either this was a discontinued product or it was made especially for this gift set, because I can't find any lip product in this shade. I must have slippery skin today, because I can't open the tube to do a swatch, but looking at shades on the internet, it seems comparable to the Luminous Lip Veil in "Hot Toffee" or "Sahara Oasis", which sell for $30.

Then there is a sample size of the Sheer Genius Liquid Foundation in "Look 3". This colour might work for me, as it looks like a kind of beige-ish colour similar to the foundation I currently wear. A 30mL bottle of this goes for $72, so I probably won't be buying myself one anytime soon.

The cute square bit of paper is in fact a 60-minute Makeup Shakeup Lesson! This I am truly excited about, and I have until the end of July to use it. I'm not sure what it will entail, but I think I'm going to save it for a day when I have a lot of cash to spend on clothes and makeup (insert horrendously loud "When do you ever have that kind of money to splash?" laugh). These lessons are valued at $99.

In front of that is a sample size of the primer I bought for myself. I'll probably use this up before I crack open the big one. To the right of it is a nail polish in the colour "Biscotti". It looks like a neutral colour, comparable to their "Perfect Nude" polish. These go for $19 each, so I'm pretty happy to have this full-size bottle.

Finally is the blush in "Vintage Rose". I'm not quite sure how to describe the colour other that it is a kind of pinkish colour that should blend in well with foundation to give a natural glow. Unfortunately, Napoleon Perdis doesn't seem to sell blushes like this, but their others usually go for about $60. Below is a rather dodgy-quality swatch of the product.

And that's all I have for today!

Thank you for putting up with this super long post. Have you made any purchases lately? Have you used these products before?

Sarah xo