Merry Christmas and love packages galore!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday break with lots of food and family time. My family generally doesn’t do much for Christmas. We had hot pot last night as our Christmas Eve dinner and then that’s pretty much it. I will be spending my Christmas day mostly volunteering and then staying home with the family. I am looking forward to Boxing Day shopping though, I’m super excited for all of the good deals!

I’m super blessed to have some amazing friends around the world! Christmas is always a busy season for exchanging gifts. Even though I don’t do gift giving with my family as well, I’m really lucky to have friends around the world who remember me during this time. Thank you to each and one of you for your amazing gifts!

Lulu: Thank you so much for your gift! We’ve been chatting for over a year know and I’m very happy to have gotten to know you. Funny how we’re both so OCD about our bed! We know when we go to visit each other to only sit on the chair, never on the bed without having showered and in our PJs, haha!

Vicky: Thank you so much for everything! I can’t believe we’ve already known each other for more than a year! Thank you for always thinking of me, I am so honoured to be able to call you my friend. I can’t wait to meet you in real life, hopefully soon! Your package was so thoughtful, I love everything <3

Justine: Thank you for everything! I LOVE your paper project, that ornament will look beautiful on my closet door (I don’t have a tree at home). I am so happy to have met you in person this year, twice! It was great hanging out with you in Calgary and then in Vancouver. I hope we can meet up again next year… I’m sure we will =)

Jamilla: Thank you so much for your present that you had your brother in law haul halfway across the world to give to me! I’m super excited to try the SUQQU, as well as the items I bought from your blog sale. I LOVE that kitteh bag! I will be using it as a lunch bag =)

Kathy: I “met” you during Christmas time of last year, so it has been exactly a year since we became friends! Thank you so much for everything. You’ve been amazingly wonderful and kind to me, and I hope that you have a great holiday season with time off for yourself! Thank you for your thoughtful gift. I can’t wait to try out everything <3

Also I hope everyone is enjoying the post-holiday sales!

Blogger Secret Santa!

After a very successful time doing Secret Santa last year, I decided to organize another one this year! I opened it up only to blogger friends I knew or other people knew to keep it small, so I didn’t announce it on the blog before this. Like last year, we had pretty good turnout for this year’s event, and even stepped it up with a virtual “party” where everyone opened their gifts via webcam. This year’s participants include:

• Ashley - http://makeupkismet.blogspot.com/
• D - http://shinyprettythings9.blogspot.com/
• Evie - http://asidewalkcafe.blogspot.com/
• Jamilla - http://www.makeupforprofessionalasianwomen.com/
• Jian - http://pinkfishtart.blogspot.com/
• Kat – http://maikatoshaberi.blogspot.com/
• Lulu - http://luluchinadoll.blogspot.com/
• Rosalia - http://style-love.blogspot.com/
• Vicky - http://vanity-fashionista.blogspot.com/
• Yinnie - http://looking-glass-beauty.blogspot.com/
• Vonnie - http://ohsovonnie.blogspot.com/

My Secret Santa was Kat from Mai-Kat Oshaberi. Ironically, I was her Secret Santa last year so this was a funny turn of events for us. She gave absolutely no indication at all that she was my Secret Santa, and despite being the only participant from Hawaii, she still denied it after I received a Secret Santa package from Hawaii. I also heard she conspired with Lulu in trying to see which is the best way to conceal herself from me, even to the extent that she considered sending the package to Lulu first and then from Lulu to me. I can’t believe all of the effort she put in, and I sincerely appreciate it. I think this is the best Christmas surprise I’ve had in a long time.

I absolutely LOVE everything she got me, especially the coconut pudding that is one of my favourite foods, and the handmade pink and clear crystal bracelet she made for me. Also I knew she went through a lot of trouble to make sure she got me the Guerlain Parure de Nuit palette that I’ve been lemming over for the longest time.

THANK YOU, KAT! 

Lastly, thanks to everyone for participating. I had an absolute blast this year organizing and taking part in Secret Santa. Maybe we shall do a short and sweet Secret Valentine for February =)

IMATS haul & birthday gifts!

I went to the International Makeup Artist Trade Show Vancouver yesterday with Macnunu, Justine and Kelsie. I’m going to write about IMATS in a couple of separate posts because I took about a million different photos yesterday, but first I am going to share my haul with you.

I didn’t buy that much, mainly because I am somewhat on a makeup ban. I knew I wanted to get some Make Up for Ever because they were doing a pro discount of 40% for all of their products at IMATS.

I also bought a Beauty So Clean makeup sanitizing spray. I’ve never used anything like this, but people recommend it, especially if you are going to be sharing makeup. Has anyone tried this before? I’m kind of scared of spraying it on my powder in case it makes it go bad quicker =(

Lastly, I got some eyeshadow pans from Yaby. These were 2 for $5, which makes them $2.50 each. This is an amazing deal if you love to try new colours but don’t end up finishing anything. They are tiny, but since you don’t finish… it doesn’t matter, right?

In addition, when I met up with Justine and Kelsie this weekend, Justine brought me my birthday gift! She got me the Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick in 86 Desinvolte, from the Le Blanc collection, that I have been lemming since I first saw it here, as well as a ton of other goodies. Thank you, dearest, I love everything <3

Recent purchases, sponsors & love package!

I received a bunch of packages in the mail last week and I finally uploaded the photos to my computer just now.

First… thank you to Vicky who sent me a lovely love package with masks and chocolates! The chocolates were delish; the photo was taken after 1/3 of it was already devoured, and by now they’re pretty much all gone…

Next, I used my $30 coupon from Cosme-De on some more toning lotions. I got the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence for my mom and the Aromatherapy Associates Essential Skincare Rose Tonic for myself. The Rose Tonic smells very strongly of rosewater, which I love.

I also received my order from Strawberrynet from when they were doing a special on whitening skincare products. I purchase SK-II Whitening Source Dermdefinition as I had finished my whitening serums.

Lastly, thank you to Artie Beauty & Cosmetics for sponsoring Dollywink for my annual giveaway that is coming up soon! Artie also sponsored a Sana Hadanomy Cream for my review and I purchased the lotion to use alongside the cream.

You can get 5% off all orders at Artie with code MADDYLOVES, especially for readers of Maddy Loves!

What did you haul this weekend?

Thank you for all of the love!

Thank you SO much to everyone who has sent me LOVE over the past year. I’m so honoured to have “met” all of you (virtually and physically) through blogging. I’m so glad to be able to call you my friends as some of you I have really gotten to know well in the past year (cough Christine and Justine <3). I can’t wait to meet up with some of you in April when we do our blogger meetup in Calgary!

Sorry for posting these up so late, but here are the love packs I’ve received since January. Thank you so much for thinking of me, I can’t wait to meet all of you in real life!

From Jess of Ohh Pretty

Her Christmas present to me! Jess is so kind and I am very happy to have met her in person next year. Hopefully I can make it out to Austria sometime in the near future, or Jess can come visit me in Canada ^__^ Thanks hun!

From Vicky of Vanity Fashionistas

Vicky’s was super nice and helped me get the MAC Viva Glam holiday set from the UK! She also sent some goodies as part of her Christmas package to me. Thank you my dear!

From Lulu of Luluchinadoll

I helped Lulu grab some Canadian snacks last year and she sent me a love pack in return! Thank you Lulu~ I’m so glad I’ve found someone else with the same level of obsession over Jay Chou as me. Now we share Jay Chou gossip and news, hehe XD

From Kat of Mai-Kat Oshaberi

I was Kat’s Secret Santa in the SS event I organized last holiday. Kat was super kind to send me something in return. I also gotta blame Kat for reigniting my obsession with AmorePacific skincare. The samples that Kat provided me with were from their Time Response line, which is as luxurious as any skincare line can get.  Thank you Kat and I hope everyone you know is safe and well in Hawaii and Japan!

From Evie of A Sidewalk Cafe

Evie and I did a swap about a year ago but we still sent each other random love packages. This is her most recent package to me, which included my HG sunscreen, a bunch of masks (which is perfect because I am just running low) and Hello Kitty x Maybelline mascara! Thanks Evie! <3

And while we’re sort of on the topic of Jay Chou… I bought his new book! I got it off YesAsia along with Kevin Tsai‘s new book as well, just to make up for the free shipping. If you don’t know Kevin Tsai, he is a television host and writer from Taiwan who was also once the editor in chief of GQ Taiwan. I wanted to get Jay’s new DVD but my dad had already gotten one for me in China.

I hope you all had a relatively safe weekend!