Tag Archives: Benefit

Benefit Roller Lash mascara review – curl power

Posted on February 23, 2015 | 2 comments

Beauty confessions: I hate mascara.

I know, I know… mascara is like, everyone else’s desert island essential. But with crazy-sensitive eyes that tear up at the merest suggestion of the music from Up (the other day I even cried about how cute a dog on Instagram was), I very rarely wear the stuff. In general, I find mascara heavy, that it irritates my eyes, that it’s a pain to remove… and for all that, it doesn’t even make that much of a difference to how my face looks. [Note: I opt for lashings of eyeliner instead.]

BUT if I did wear mascara often, then Benefit’s Roller Lash mascara would probably be high on my list.

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Tagged Beauty, Benefit, Benefit Cosmetics, Benefit Roller Lash, Benefit Roller Lash mascara, best mascara, best mascara for curl, best mascara for short lashes, best mascara for small eyes, best mascara for straight lashes, cosmetics, curl power, make-up, mascara, review, Roller Lash

Benefit The POREfessional: Agent Zero Shine finishing powder review – your secret weapon against sticky summers

Posted on September 29, 2014 | 4 comments

“Girls don’t sweat, they perspire.”

… Said no girl who lived in Hong Kong ever.

Hong Kong is not the place to come if you’re scared of a bit of sweat. Our summers basically read like the keywords for an x-rated video – hot, wet, sticky, sweaty – and there ain’t much you can do about it. However, there are a few secret weapons you can deploy to help you look a little more fresh-faced and fragrant even in the stickiest of summers, and one of my favourites is Benefit’s The POREfessional: Agent Zero Shine powder.

“Secret weapon” is a totally apt phrase for Agent Zero Shine. Not only is the packaging officially the cutest – adorned with Benefit’s cartoon Spy Gal, a secret agent “porefessional” whose mission (should you choose to accept it) is to combat the appearance of pores – but like many of the best cosmetics, when applied right, no one can even tell you’re using it… just that you look extra awesome instead.

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Tagged Agent Zero Shine, anti-shine powder, Beauty, Benefit, Benefit Agent Zero Shine, Benefit Agent Zero Shine powder, Benefit Cosmetics, Benefit The POREfessional: Agent Zero Shine, best anti-shine products, best complexion enhancers, best complexion products, best finishing powder, best loose powder, best pore minimisers, cosmetics, finishing powder, loose powder, make-up, pore minimiser, review, setting powder, Spy Gal, The POREfessional

Benefit World Famous Neutrals, Most Glamorous Nudes eye palette review

Posted on September 9, 2013 | 3 comments

Having sufficiently scratched my cultural itch (for now anyway!), it’s time to bring my blog back to basics – beauty basics, that is! And as every girl knows, one of the key building blocks to any well-stocked make-up drawer is an arsenal of neutral make-up!

Now I know… neutral and nude generally equals beige and boring, right? WRONG. Not when Benefit are involved anyway! Benefit has been one of my favourite beauty brands ever since I first started getting into make-up, thanks to their cute and quirky (but never cringe or kitsch) packaging – and of course, you can trust them to bring a fun take on neutral make-up… Enter Benefit’s World Famous Neutrals Kits!

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Tagged Benefit, Benefit Creaseless Creams, Benefit eye shadows, Benefit Most Glamorous Nudes kit, Benefit Most Glamorous Nudes palette, Benefit World Famous Neutrals Kit, best eye palettes, Birthday Suit, Call My Buff, cream eye shadows, eye palette, Gilt-y Pleasure, It's Complicated, Kiss Me I'm Tipsy, Most Glamorous Nudes, neutral, neutral eye palettes, nude, nude eye palettes, palette, powder eye shadows, review, swatches, Two Cents, World Famous Neutrals

Beauty Spot: Sneak peek… hello my pretties…

Posted on September 29, 2012 | 6 comments

Lots of exciting beauty stuff crosses my path far too frequently for my wallet’s liking! Here’s a few of the things that have me excited this month (plus the fact that I have finally learned how to use Instagram ha)…

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Tagged bareMinerals, Beauty, Benefit, Complexion Kit, Crabtree & Evelyn, Feelin' Dandy Lip & Cheek Kit, Himalayan Blue range, Kid Orange nail polish, Mac, Marilyn Monroe Collection, PTNT, Pure Night Transformation Treatment, sneak peek

Here Today, Haul Tomorrow

Posted on September 10, 2011 | 15 comments

It’s that time again… another EPIC haul post. So here’s what I’ve been buying over the past few months. Non-shopaholics look away now!

I loved the look of the Chanel’s Fall 2011 Illusion D’Ombre Collection, which marks their first foray into cream eyeshadows in nearly ten years (and as we know, I’m currently loving my cream shadows), plus some of their highly-coveted limited-edition sell-out nail polishes. The eye shadows are all kinds of gorgeous – shimmery, lightweight and extremely easy to use – and I picked up Illusoire (a smoky mauve), Epatant (a silvery khaki) and Emerveille (a shimmering peach). I have, wonder of wonders, actually swatched these so you can expect a review soon! I also got the nail lacquer in Graphite and a free sample of eye make-up remover.

These Stila Beach Palettes are the result of ‘which one should I buy… oh, I’ll just buy them all syndrome.’ Which happens to me a lot! They contain four eye shadows and two blushes/highlighters each, they’re super-cute and they were only £10 quid each. What’s not to love?

They’re from Lookfantastic.com, who I’ve already sung the praises of in my previous haul, who have since gone one better – by crowning me the winner of a competition to win a £75 beauty hamper! The spoils of my victory are shown here and I’m most excited about the mini bottle of Moroccan Oil, which I have been dying to try for ages yet never dared take the plunge full-size – and full-price!

My latest beauty discovery is Nars, thanks to the bessie beauty blogger Jenn. I love bright non-neutral colours, and it seems Nars does too! I picked up eyeshadow duos in Noveau Monde, Eurydice and Sugarland, plus a single in Strada, this amazing gold-dusted lavender. My wonderful boyfriend then bought me some goodies from their limited-edition Night Series collection – the Night Series Palette and two nail polishes, Night Flight and Night Rider, which are based on the eyeshadow colours and are seriously STUNNING. As usual, reviews to come!

Illamasqua had a summer sale so I used this as an opportunity to try my first make-up from the brand, which launched in the UK after I left. Service was brilliant – the order was beautifully-packaged, came with a catalogue, arrived by registered delivery and came within a week of ordering! I got two nail polishes – Raindrops (which I’d been lusting after since this post) and Poke, the Liquid Metals Palette, a Loose Pigment in Involve and a Liquid Metal in Stoic, both of which were on sale. Can’t wait to try these as they look all kinds of intensely awesome.

Clinique also have a new range of cream eyeshadows out – the deliciously-named Lid Smoothies. Colours, as ever with Clinique, are un-exciting but the formula and quality is great – I got Bit O’ Honey (a glistening light gold), Cashew Later (a super-versatile neutral) and probably the star of the collection, Born Freesia (a light lilac). I also stocked up on their Anti-Blemish Foaming Cleanser, one of my make-up miracles, and their Derma-White City Block, a great anti-pollution base with a high SPF that I loved from a free sample. Mega-spend with Clinique equalled a pretty awesome bag of freebies too!

I also got my Mum to send me over some stuff from Boots – can you guess which item I might be stocking up on because it’s been discontinued?! Yes, my make-up miracle, the Benefit Get Bent Eyeliner Brush SOB. I also got two of Benefit’s Creaseless Cream Shadows in Skinny Jeans and Birthday Suit, a load of toothbrush heads (which I’ve spared you) and some super-moisturising Lanolips stuff, another brand I’ve been dying to try. I got the Intense Rose Balm For Very Dry Hands & Nails (remember how my hands are falling apart?), Lemonaid Lip Aid, 101 Ointment and their coloured Lip Ointments in Dark Honey, Apple and Rhubarb (my lips are now falling apart too). Lanolips will be launching in HK soon, but as usual for mega-bucks…

After Benefit also discontinued my holy-grail, one-and-only blusher/miracle, Georgia, I’ve been one the hunt for a suitable replacement. And ever since Mac’s Semi-Precious Collection, I’ve been obsessed with baked, marbleised make-up. Enter Laura Geller, a brand which comes with great word-of-mouth Stateside and again, posted over by my Mum via QVC. I got Blush N Brighten blushers in Golden Apricot and Pink Grapefruit (I love that these come with brushes too!) and the Backstage Beauty Kit, which includes a Blush N Brighten Highlighter Duo in Como/Portofino, a Baked Eyeshadow Duo in Rome/Milan and a Lip Lights Lip Gloss in Dewberry. Can’t wait to try these stunners either!

Another Mac haul from their latest Mac Me Over Collection. The Icelandic Cool section was, sadly for my wallet, totally my colours! Again, amazing boyfriend gifted me the Lady Grey Eyeshadow Palette and four Shadesticks, in Tundra, Cakeshop, Heirloom and Street Cool (Butternutty is still to come, thanks to the lovely Vicky!).

I also won a Lush competition to win their Limited Edition John Burgerman Bath Bomb Set – I absolutely love the colourful tin, which is definitely a keeper, and the bath bombs look like sweets! Is this a bad time to admit I don’t actually have a bath?!

What haul post of mine would this be without some nail polish! Zoya’s Smoke & Mirrors Collection is one of my favourite collections in ages – two halves, one with a dusty murky shades (Smoke), the other with glimmering glittering smoky shades (Mirrors), and a ridiculous amount of purples. I picked up Jana, Neeka, Yara and Jem – how could I resist a polish named after Jem & The Holograms, only my favourite cartoon of ALL-TIME! Spot the odd OPI out, Grape… Set… Match!

And finally, the piece de resistance, the Urban Decay 15^th Anniversary Eyeshadow Palette. Ugh… how GORGEOUS is this?! Thanks to my lovely Mother I’ll leave you with a few pics revelling in its ultra-luxeness… try and keep your drool to yourselves!

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Tagged 15th Anniversary Eyeshadow Palette, Beach Palettes, Beauty, Benefit, Blush N Brighten, Chanel, Clinique, cosmetics, haul, Icelandic Cool, Illamasqua, Illusion D'Ombre, John Burgerman Bath Bomb Set, Lanolips, Laura Geller, Lid Smoothies, limited edition, Lookfantastic.com, Lush, Mac, Mac Me Over, make-up, Nars, Night Series, photos, Smoke & Mirrors, Stila, Urban Decay, Zoya

Benefit That Gal primer review

Posted on July 30, 2010 | 2 comments

Let’s have some light bright relief from all the murders with a new beauty review, and they don’t come much lighter, brighter and better than Benefit’s That Gal primer.

You may remember, I snagged one of these in the exclusive Hong Kong 5^th anniversary gift set and I confess, thus far it’s the only one I’ve actually opened yet. What can I say?! I just can’t bear to part with that pretty packaging!

Good job I managed it for That Gal though – it’s a fantastic product. If you’re unfamiliar with primers, let me introduce you to your new best friend. Especially beneficial for hot humid summers (are there any others in HK?!), primer is essentially a base that provides a smooth surface for your make-up and helps keep it in check throughout the day. The difference is immediately obvious to the touch both when you put your make-up on (it glides on so much more smoothly and evenly) and when you take it off at the end of the day (there’s still lots left to remove, even after a sweaty 8 hours in the sun!).

Some people have complained that primers clog up their pores but I’ve actually experienced the opposite effect – primers being far less heavy than the products that go on top of it, I’ve noticed my pores actually seem to be in better shape, especially if you apply it after moisturiser but before foundation (or in my case, tinted moisturiser).

That Gal boasts all these great benefits of a primer and more, delivering on their promise of taking you ‘from dull to darling’. It feels much lighter than other primers I’ve used in the past and glides on really smoothly, easily and evenly, with a pleasant floral/fruity scent. Its shimmery pink colour (similar to Benefit’s High Beam) adds just the right amount of dewy radiance to your skin, visibly brightening your complexion and adding a healthy glow that works pretty nicely on its own, even without a further tint on top. AND it comes in a small but perfectly-formed container, featuring an ultra-convenient non-messy method of dispensing, whereby you twist the base and product comes out the top in small amounts, allowing you to sweep it on with your fingertips.

Used almost daily, one tube of That Gal lasted me about 4 months (not as long as I hoped) and the nature of the dispenser means you can’t predict when it’s on its last legs – so have a primer spare unless you wanna be left high and dry! But as ever with Benefit, one of my hero brands, it’s a happy marriage between lovely packaging and fantastic quality. That Gal is here to stay!

Benefit That Gal primer, $280 for 11ml

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Tagged base, Beauty, Benefit, best primers, cosmetics, face primer, make-up, primer, radiance, review, swatch, That Gal

I ♥ Benefit – We Are 5 gift set

Posted on May 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

A shopaholic and her money are never more quickly parted than when the words ‘limited edition’ and ‘exclusive’ appear in press releases. So kudos to Benefit for managing to score on both fronts with their latest gift set, celebrating their fifth birthday of being sold in the fragrant harbour.

Limited to 3000 sets, exclusive to Hong Kong only, the We Are Five gift set includes five Benefit favourites, specially-packaged to look like the HK skyline. Adorable, cute, classy – and a bit of a steal too, retailing for $990 (the retail value of the products bought individually is $1430).

The products are all tried-and-tested bestsellers, with only the inclusion of Woman Seeking Toner raising a few perfectly-arched eyebrows. I thought we’d long ago agreed toners were obsolete in our beauty routines… oh well, maybe it’s a Hong Kong thing. The other products are That Girl Primer, which I have been desperate to switch to after a long and not entirely happy experience with Make Up Forever’s HD seaweed green primer; PosieTint, the petal-pink version of cult cheek-and-lip stain Benetint; the ever-popular Dandelion Blusher and Dr. Feelgood, a sort-of magic balm that I’ve been looking for an excuse to afford ever since a Benefit beautician showed me its many virtues a few years back.

The fact that these cosmetics have been put in pretty limited-edition packaging in a pretty limited-edition box has given rise to a new dilemma that I usually only face with my Collector Edition Barbies – to de-box or not to de-box? Of course, I must de-box (no, I was never contemplating just putting it on a shelf and stroking it lovingly on occasion) but it is killing me a little on the inside. Expect full reviews at a later date!

Make-Up Miracles: Clinique Cream Eyeliner review

Posted on March 2, 2010 | 2 comments

Ages ago, in a dim and distant millennia, Benefit’s Get Bent brush was my very first make-up miracle. I proclaimed it the only make-up brush worth having and that its prowess for applying eyeliner was unbeaten. Well, that hasn’t changed. But now, I have found the perfect eyeliner for it to apply. Step forward Clinique’s Brush-On Cream Eyeliner.

Having never mastered the art of liquid eyeliner without looking like a jellyfish inked in my eye and sick of pencil eyeliners sliding down my face and making me look like a panda practically before I put it on (especially in HK’s humidity), it was obvious some kind of middle ground was required. Cream/gel eyeliner, here we come.

Clinique’s is certainly not the only cream/gel eyeliner on the market yet in my opinion, it’s the best. Having sped through Mac’s, Bobbi Brown’s and even my beloved Benefit’s without getting a feel for them being ‘The One’, I turned to the ever-dependable Clinque for answers.

Clinique the brand is practically a make-up miracle for me in itself. It’s one of those reliable, safe and well-regarded companies whose make-up counters are not fronted by some Next Top Model also-ran trying to plaster every shade of her brand’s eyeshadow on at once, but by someone in a white coat. Oooh, science-y. All their stuff is allergy-tested (7200 times for each product fyi) and 100% fragrance-free, which is great if you have sensitive skin. Or in this case, sensitive eyes – like me.

Admittedly, Clinique’s Cream Eyeliner can’t compete with Mac in terms of colour – the four shades available (Black, Brown, Grey and Black Honey) are squint-and-they-all-look-the-same similar – but it beats them on every other front. It goes on like a dream, stays put all-day (pretty much the only eyeliner I’ve found that does so) and can be fiddled about with easily for either a low-key daytime look or a sultry and sexy night out.

My shade of choice is Smoke Grey – softer and less harsh than pure black for day but can still be layered on for proper darkness come the midnight hour. My appliance of choice, as you’ve established, is the Get Bent brush, which sweeps it on at precise angles to achieve the perfect flick. And my place of choice is perpetual residence in my make-up bag, where one tiny pot seems to take on Tardis-like levels of seeming bigger than it is by lasting forever; it genuinely is my ‘Can’t Live Without/Desert Island Essential’ product ever since I developed a deep-seated addiction to eyeliner in my teens. Thankfully, my look is a little more grown-up than the smudgy-eyed racoon style I sported in those days – and I’ve got Clinique to thank for it.

Clinique Brush-On Cream Eyeliner, $130 for 5g (doesn’t sound much but lasts well over a year!)

Article also available at Teentoday.

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Tagged Beauty, Benefit, best, Clinique, cosmetics, cream eyeliner, eyeliner, favourite, gel eyeliner, Get Bent Brush, make-up miracle, review

Make-Up Miracles: Benefit High Beam review

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

We’ve been meaning to tell you about this product for years – ever since we bought it in our high-school years (…yes, that long ago) and it became firmly wedged as one of our make-up bag essentials. The 5^th make-up miracle to be inducted in my Hall of Fame is Benefit’s High Beam.

We’re massive fans of cute and cult cosmetics brand Benefit anyway (their Get Bent eyeliner brush was our first make-up miracle, fact fans!) and High Beam has long been a favourite amongst make-up artists, stunning ‘slebs (count Kylie amongst its followers) and regular Joes like me and you. Why? ‘Cos it’s blooming fantastic, that’s why.

Benefit claim it’s ‘supermodel in a bottle’ and they’re almost right. High Beam is basically a pale pink shimmery highlighter that gives a radiant, dewy glow to all those who dab it on their faces. Since it’s only used sparingly on all places, one bottle will last for ages and it’s one of those products that goes on like a dream, is fairly difficult to mess up and looks great without looking too much. There are tons of other highlighters on the market, but for our money (and teentoday.co.uk quids are not to be sniffed at), it’s the original and the best (we haven’t actually researched if it’s the original but meh).

Our top tips: use the applicator brush (handily located inside the bottle’s cap, like nail varnish) to dot High Beam along your cheekbones (smile in the mirror to find them!) and blend to bring out your cheekbones supermodel-stylee – tres flattering and tres naturel. Also, dab along under the arch of your brow (feel for the bone under your eyebrow) and in a circle around the outer edges of your eyes, blend and you will instantly, through some make-up miracle (see what we did there?!), look more awake. Which, if you get as many late nights as us, can only be a good thing.

It can also be used in a ridiculous amount of other places – mixed in with foundation for an all-over glow, used lightly as a very pretty eye-colour (dot just at the inner corner of the eye for a great look), on the cupid’s bow of the lip… In fact, it may be easier for us to tell you where not to use it, which is the forehead, the nose and the chin, all places that get shiny well enough without artificial help to draw further attention to them!

So welcome make-up miracle number five – and sorry that it’s so long overdue!

Originally posted at Teentoday.

Make-Up Miracles: Benefit Get Bent Brush review

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably think make-up brushes are a waste of time, money and make-up. After all, we all have fingers that do the job just as well… don’t they?

Well, maybe not. The Get Bent brush for eyeliner made by kitsch and cool cosmetics company, Benefit, has turned me into a complete brush convert.

You might think the £11.50 price-tag is a bit much for a twig of wood with some bristles attached. But here you would be wrong. Firstly, £11.50 is actually not that bad by professional make-up brush standards – just check out Mac’s massive range of brushes, for which you’d probably need to spend your entire student loan on if you wanted the complete set. Secondly, and most importantly, this brush will actually save you money!

Using this brush transforms any powder eyeshadow into an eyeliner. The bristles are uniquely angled to create the perfect line as close to the lashes as possible, with the brush hard enough to get the job done perfectly and professionally, but not hard enough to poke your eye out.

Gone are the days of struggling with easily-blunted rock-hard pencils and unruly and messy liquids (one slip and you wind up looking like a member of the Adams family) – instead, just dab the Get Bent brush in water, swirl it about in your favourite eyeshadow and let the angled bristles do all the work for you. This multi-tasking of eyeshadows effectively means you never need waste money on eyeliners again. It’s also perfect for creating those fluorescent lined eyes that the likes of Lily Allen have been sporting recently and gives you a far greater range of colour options than the stock brown and black eyeliners that most make-up counters offer.

In short, a true make-up miracle.

Originally posted at Teentoday