I Heart Benefit

Different kind of post than usual today, but it's something I've been wanting to write about for a while now. You can blame all the beauty gurus I've been watching on YouTube and following here on Blogger!

A couple of months ago I was wandering around Meadowhall on one of my days off from uni when I decided to take a gander inside the giant Boots they have in there, and as usual, I got attracted to the bright colours and general prettiness that is the Benefit counter. I had been wanting to use foundation in my make up routine for a while now, but as I had never gone near it before, I had no idea what shade would suit me or how to even apply it (sounds silly saying that now!) I got talking to the make-up girl and so she sat me down and tried some of their products on me. I've had my make up done at the Benefit counter before (I must admit though, they do go a bit crazy and slap it on you sometimes) so I already had an idea of what I wanted, but it was great seeing a range of their products and how they looked on me.

I stuck with my mission of wanting to buy a foundation, but I also wanted a primer as well, so this is what I ended up with:

The foundation is Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Makeup (that's a mouthful!) in the shade 'Honey'. It's not the lightest shade but I think it's the second or third along, and I was quite surprised that my skin has gone so pale. I think it's all these years living in England, I need a couple years in warmer, brighter climes to get my olive skin back! But I digress, the foundation is a perfect match for my skin tone, it has great coverage and, the best part, it brightens my eyes up so much! I know it's got 'brightening makeup' in the title, but I was still amazed at the results. I have a naturally quite dark eye area, not to mention prominent bags and lines, so this foundation does wonders in making me look more bright and awake, especially on days where I've had little or disrupted sleep, making the whole eye situation even worse.

Coupled with this I also bought The POREfessional PRO Balm Primer. I'll admit, I don't really have that visible pores, on the whole I think I actually have some pretty good skin, but as I've mentioned before I have quite a few lines under my eyes, and this does the trick. Though it doesn't eliminate them completely, it does give the appearance of a much smoother finish which you can't go wrong with. Not to mention that it really makes the make up stick, which is great since I'm a big fan of bronzer.

how it looks on (apologies for the vacant expression)

Two months down the line, and I am extremely happy with my purchases. In fact, I even know what my next one from Benefit will be! The make up girl used an amazing moisturiser on me before applying my make up, and slipped a sample of it my bag when we were at the counter. It's the b.right Triple Performing Facial Emulsion with SPF 15 (what is it with Benefit and their long names) and I must say, it's amazing. It feels so refreshing on my skin and not at all oily. Even under my make up it felt so fresh and wonderful, I was sad to see my sample run out. I really can't wait to finish my current moisturiser so I can run out and buy this!