beauty swap

December 2013- Sometime in November I noticed an announcement from a blogger that I follow to sign up for a beauty swap.  The blogger is Crystal Cattle - www.crystalcattle.blogspot.com.  She shares stories from her life as a farm girl and wife, AGvocate and lover of all things turquoise.  {She'll be coordinating more beauty swaps so if you want to give it a try be sure to follow her blog or Instagram - crystalcattle - for the notice of when and how to sign up.}

I'm not a beauty expert but the idea of sending and receiving fun products in the mail was exciting to me...a modern and fun pen pal type of scenario.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good nail polish and lip gloss and I secretly LOVE having my hair and makeup done but the idea of connecting with others in the blogging world with similar interests was most appealing to me.  {Let's face it, my blog is seriously lacking in updates and this was one way I hoped would kickstart me into more regular updates.}  I'm not sure how the pairings were done but I was matched up with Melanie Acklin in Iowa and it was perfect.  We have quite a bit in common and perhaps at a future meeting/tradeshow/ag gathering we'll cross paths.  Check out her blog at www.thetravelingcowgirl.blogspot.com or travelingcowgirl on Instagram.  She has a few recipes that I need to find time to try, and her pictures of snowy days make me appreciate the generally mild and only temporarily frigid winter climate in the Texas Hill Country.  

Back to the beauty swap.  We exchanged several e-mails and from those digital conversations I picked out a few things that I thought Melanie might like along with a few of my favorites that I thought she'd like to try.  She did the same and here's what I got:

Here's a rundown of some of the contents:

Not Your Mother's Clean Freak Dry Shampoo- It's no secret that wrangling my boys and trying to get a multitude of work done around the house (and for clients) means I sometimes miss a much needed shampoo.  Problem solved.  This stuff is great!  

Too Faced Tinted Beauty Balm- I'm liking this as a base coat under my powder foundation but come spring and summer I suspect this may be my go to hurry-up-and-get-out-the-door makeup.

Ulta Mango Butter Lipstick- I don't know if the shade has a name but it is number 218: a beautiful maroon color.  Not something I would have picked for myself because I usually stick to the neutral shades, but I like the boldness of it and so far it has really made people notice that I "did something different," {although you probably won't find me wearing it in carline at school.}  What a great pick for this Aggie from my Mizzou beauty swap partner.

Ulta Baked Eye Shadow- This product fits in great with my rushed morning routine.  The shades are quickly becoming my new favorite neutrals- a pale pink and charcoal gray; Ulta has named them 'Taken'.  Melanie claims this travels well so I'm looking forward to packing it in my carry on {if only I had somewhere to go...}

Whipped Coconut Butter {in a grapefruit scent that I LOVE} and Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub- Melanie made both of these herself!  Glad I don't have any other girls in this house to share!

There were so many other products in my package {lip gloss, mascara, cleanser, etc.} and I love them all.  So THANK YOU, Melanie, for being such a great beauty swap partner and new ag and blogging friend.  And THANK YOU to Crystal Cattle and Jenny Dewey for coordinating the swap.