NAILS: Riveting Swap

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I am a fan of The Hunger Games so when my lovely friend Joann of JellyKiss.com shared with me that I would be receiving a Hunger Games related surprised through mail, you betcha I couldn't contain my happiness. She gave me two Hunger Games polishes. One of the two is Riveting, a very bright red orange with a golden yellow glitter.

I kid you not, it was opaque enough for my taste upon first layer. But out of customary practice, I did two layers. Here are more photos. I'm not wearing a top coat in the pictures, by the way.

It's such a beauty isn't it? If you're following me on Instagram, you probably noticed a lot of nail swatches lately. I blame the swap box Joann sent my way. My Instagram username is @kumikomae.

Above photo is a picture summary of everything she sent. Oh, it was like Christmas time in August because she wrapped everything in cute gift wrappers! Then I thought, and felt, crap cause I only wrapped mine in old newspapers. I always wrap stuff in old newspapers because I always try to recycle stuff. I wish I was more aesthetic!!!

Speaking of recycling, I'm so happy because Joann sent me a recyclable tote bag from her favorite store, Target. We don't have Target in the Philippines so that was such a sweet gesture. Add the fact that it's an eco-bag, I'm so down with it. I don't know if she sent it because she knew that I like anything eco-friendly or just because she wanted to share with me something from her favorite store; either way, it was a perfect gift! Here's a photo of the eco-bag from Target.

I really really really didn't expect the number of polishes she gave (second photo summary above is a general bird's eye view of all the polishes she gave!!) She was so generous and may I say very lucky to have so many affordable nail polish options near her! She was soooo helpful in introducing me to the nail polish world--in a way, she was my welcoming committee! She taught me about finishes and terms and so much more. She's like my nail polish ate (that's older sister in Filipino--derived from achie which is older sister in Chinese). She doesn't know that I regard her as that yet, but if she's reading this now (hi Joann), then I guess she now knows! :)

More than polishes, we've also been talking about cameras and photography and she also share me some precious know-hows on the topic. It's always such a great feeling to be lucky enough to meet great people over the net. I know the world wide web is a dangerous place, but the real world is dangerous on its own so I'm not going to back out from sharing online just because of that "connotation". I met and am still meeting so many great individuals and personalities through this blog and every time I get to begin a friendship with people like Joann, I know all the effort and sharing and time and every other blog-investments are worth it. You guys make it worth it!

Anyway, her swap box was like no other. She was so organized. She has amazing penmanship!!! I wish my penmanship was that good but every time I exert effort to have a neat penmanship, my hands hurt. Since I left school, I had not much writing (physical writing) to do so that affected my handwriting :( Anyway, here's a step-by-step opening of her swap box. Since she took her time to wrap the stuff by group, I thought I should document my opening the little packets too! Reactions would be placed as captions. Hi Joann, if you're reading this, enjoy!

Pack #1 Scented Revlon nail polish. Orange and Grape. First reaction, what?? Is that really the price for these two polishes? Cause a Revlon polish here is roughly $7 each! It's not even scented!!! PS. The grape polish smells soooo good. Like Grape Kool Aid!

Pack #2 Wet N' Wild Flora Collection What a very pretty palette! And the blush is very muted and workable, so professional. And that polish! Green very shimmery glitter, where have you been all my life? PS. Again with the sticker price. $4.99??? One Wet N' Wild trio here is roughly $6 each! That's just the palette! A Wet N' wild nail polish here is approximately $4 each!

Pack #3 Kleancolor Polishes When Joann and I started talking about polishes, most of it started with Kleancolor. Among the swap, it was the Kleancolor polishes that I was well aware of because she made me make a list of shades I wanted as a basis. I made a list... and didn't expect she'd get most of it! She shopped specifically for me too! I know because pack number three is a USPS pack for her, then wrapped for me, to be shipped to me. For better description, see photos below.

Inside this pack, one of the Kleancolor polishes got broken and spilled! It was that golden wonder named Firework. It didn't create a huge mess, good thing. :)

Pack #4 More polishes. She got me a Seche Vite top coat and upon trying, I knew exactly why people have been referring to it as a great top coat! It sure is great! Thanks so much Joann!

Pack #5 More polishes. I swear, I was feeling the disco vibe from the wrapper she used on this pack (and a few other packs) It was so pretty! Very consistent with the glitter theme! :D

Pack #6 More polishes. Will be keeping the polishes a surprise because I'm truly working my ass off swatching all of them and creating/finding perfect combinations for Joann's selection for me. She's the master of glitter so you should expect great NOTDs coming up!

Pack #7 More polishes. what?? More? okay yes more polishes. One of the polishes inside this pack has a ring that came with it. SUPER CUTE! I feel like a kid opening Christmas cheer!

Pack #8 Bubble gums! I LOVED the choco-mint ones! I am not feeling the vibe of the apple pie--and I love apple pies! I don't know. Will chew it again and try to find the apple pie-ness of it. As for the Orange Cream Pops flavor... my sister snatched it from me! In fact, she's the one who ate most of the choco-mints!!!

Pack #9 Mascaras. I mentioned that I wanted to give Rimmel a try cause I've been hearing about it and Joann got me three mascaras from the brand because it was on sale! When I saw the mascaras I'm llike, so ready to get my Zooey Deschanel on!

Pack #10 Rimmel Lipsticks from the Kate Moss collection! So yes, I have no unripped picture of this particular gift because I totally forgot I was taking pictures and got too excited to see the lipsticks! I saw the ad for this collection and every single stupid shade was super perfect! And I'm a lipstick person, you all know that, so I was like oh beejeezus, Joann is making me cry! She got me three lipsticks. Swatches and review soon!

Pack #11 Eyeshadows. She got me some brights from the Maybelline Tattoo range that was released last spring. . . and is still, probably never going to make it to the Philippines! grrr. Thank goodness for friends like Joann. She chose a very dear color combination by the way!

Pack #12 More nail polish... and you think it was over??? I thought so too! We're both wrong!

Pack #13 Hand Cream. This one's very dear to me because Joann shared a very fun story behind this hand cream. She also referred to this product as her favorite and I have been using it at night and it is very moisturizing and easily absorbed!

Pack #14 Journal. We also got to talking about notebooks and I remember asking Joann if I can send her notebooks but she said she had too much so I didn't. She sent me a beautiful quirky journal which I'm not using as a diary and it's so empowering!

Pack #15 Her favorite pens. I gave one to my brother and kept one for myself. :) I'm using it for my new empowering diary.

Whew! That was a lot of surprise! I have to say, I'm really bad at surprises because I can honestly say I'm a very appreciative person, and the littlest thing, I get so grateful for already--make it big and my mind blows up and I don't know how to react. How many thank you's do I say? Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you will I ever stop?

At the end of the day, I'm so excited to try everything Joann picked for me. I know she spent a lot of time and energy making sure that the package would make me happy, and it sure did! Every single day, even if I get so confused which polish to next wear since the day her box arrived, it's all worth it. It was a bit stressful waiting for her box, figuring out, was it lost? And I'm so happy it wasn't! I'm happy it arrived! I'm so happy for Joann's successful way of hitting me with an amazing surprise I didn't expect coming! Thank you so much! Please visit her blog, it's filled with cute little kids!!! :D

I hope she likes the products I sent her and I hope the cute kids (her nieces and nephews) also like the kiddie products I sent for them! :)

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