What's In My Make Up Bag? ♥

 I love, love, looove this make up bag from Primark. It's actually meant to be a toiletries bag that you hang on the back of your door, but I thought it would be perfect as a make up bag. Only costing £4.00 from Primark and being an excellent Cath Kidston dupe, well, I had to have it! 

 All of these products are my must-go-to items in my make up bag at the moment. I'm loving Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, and it is so beautiful mixed with Mac Strobe Cream...perfect duo. I find that as my foundation is so long lasting, I'm not really having to use my L'oreal Studio Secrets Primer, but It's such a lovely product that I always pop it in my make up bag just in case. My favourite concealers are Benefit Erase Paste and Collection Long Lasting Concealer. I never used to be a big fan of the Erase Paste- I didn't feel it did anything for me...ah, so wrong I was! I suffer from terrible red/blueish bags under my eyes, and I find that this product really diminishes the blue and red tones. I then blob a little Collection Concealer on, and I look awake and bright eyed. My favourite highlighters are Estee Lauder Double Wear Highlighter, perfect for above the eyebrows, and Me Me Me highlighter, which looks a real treat on the cheek bones. I always finish the look with a touch of Rimmel Stay Matte Powder as I have oily skin occasionally, and a little Rimmel Sun Shimmer in the Summer- it's also perfect for contouring as it has very little shimmer to it. 

On my eyes I am loving Estee Lauder Double Wear creamy eye shadow pots in Ivory Lace. It stays put all day, and has such a natural, beautiful shimmer. I also enjoy L'oreal Colour Appeal Star Secret Trio eyeshadows (what a mouthful!) when I fancy a smokey eye. Favourite mascaras are L'oreal Telescopic mascara for super curled and separated lashes, and L'oreal Double Extension Renewal Mascara for extra length. I also really love my H&M Light Brown Eyebrow Pencil....an absolute bargain, lovely colour and stays put all day. I always curl my lashes with Primark lash curlers...absolute bargain at £2.00. 

I am currently using Real Techniques brushes; the Buffing Brush and Contour Brush being my favourite. I recently bought some Italian Brushes from a Company called Kubo Beauty. They retail around the £13 mark, but I know are also available in TkMaxx at the moment for a little cheaper. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet- the concealer brush is lovely, but I find the powder brush is a little dry and irritates my skin at times...shame, because they look pretty impressive. 

I've also been trying Seventeen Shimmer Palettes which are new to the collection- I'm not really that impressed. It has little colour pay off and the pigmentation is really pants. I am however loving the Estee Lauder Double Wear blusher....it is such a gorgeous colour, but I think it was limited edition because I can't find it to be available anywhere!

What are your favourite things in your make up bag? I'd love to know!

Benefit Sippin' n Dippin' review ♥

For Christmas I was lucky to receive lots of Benefit products. One of them was the Sippin n' Dippin Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner, which is such a beautiful shade. I'd describe it as a pearly, gold, nude colour...if that makes sense!

 Benefit say the product is smudge and crease proof, and is perfect for buildable colour and shadowing. I have to say I'm really impressed with this product, as it seems to do exactly what it says. The consistency is smooth, yet feels slightly thick. It blends beautifully and is really easy to build up more and more colour. I like to apply two coatings of the cream to my eyes as it has a lovely sheer/nude appearance. 

 The staying power is amazing. Although it's easy to apply and blend, after thirty seconds of leaving it to settle, it dries really well and doesn't seem to smudge at all. I'm usually a little funny with using cream eye shadows as I find they don't stay put, but I don't seem to have that problem with this product. I do find however, after a good six hours of wear, little creases begin to appear on my eye lid- but this has also been after a long day at work, and still don't seem so noticeable. 

It was really difficult to capture the product on camera, as it is such a sheer, golden shade. It really does look beautiful though, especially when caught in the light. The product did retail at £14.00 for 4.5g, however it has now been reduced to £7.00...bargain! You can buy the product from the Benefit website, found HERE. 

Have you tried this product before? Are you a fan of cream eye shadows?

Benefit Fast Train to Fabulous ♥

 I think there have been many blog reviews about the gift sets that Benefit did at Christmas, and I was definitely impressed. I managed to get myself the Benefit Fast Train to Fabulous set in the sale at Boots, reduced from £39.50 to £26.50...bargain!

The gift set includes a full size 22ml The Pore professional, a full size 12.5ml Bene tint, a half size 9ml They're Real mascara and a Benefit perfume sample. I've wanted to try the mascara and primer for ages, but I think £18.50 for a full size They're Real, and £23 for the Porefessional is a little steep in price!

I'm so happy I purchased this gift set- I understand the hype with the They're Real mascara. It separates your lashes, curls them and makes them look much fuller. Although it does all of this, I really do think I can achieve a similar look with drugstore mascaras including L'oreal Telescopic and L'oreal Million Lashes, which both retail around £9.99. I think if £18.50 sounds reasonable or you fancy a little treat, then this mascara really won't disappoint. The perfume sample was a lovely little extra too- perfect for the handbag.

I'm quite impressed with the Pore Fessional, especially as I suffer from large pores. My favourite primer is currently Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer (£11.99). I haven't found another primer that does the job as well, so the Pore fessional did surprise me. It's quite watery in consistency, but makes my skin feel smooth and velvety. I don't think it minimises pores, but it definitely makes my skin look smoother. My make up also applies really well, however I have found that I've had a few break outs since using it. It doesn't really compare to the Revlon primer, and at £23, I feel it's quite overpriced for what it is. 

I've really enjoyed using the Bene tint, which can be applied to cheeks and lips. It looks beautiful applied to either, but I did find it was a little tricky to blend. It retails at £13.50 which although seems expensive for 12.5ml, a little drop of this product goes a long way.

Did you manage to get your hands on this gift set? Have you tried any of these products?

Benefit Erase Paste Review ♥

I recently purchased my first Benefit product...I know, shocking! I've tried lots of samples of Benefit before, and I've always thought they were ok, but not amazing. I think it's their amazing packaging that really appealed to me. Lately I've been working more hours and getting little sleep, and although I don't seem to get bags under my eyes, I do get really bad red circles underneath. I've tried lots of good concealers and heard great things about Benefit Erase paste. 

Benfit say that Erase paste aims to brighten and camouflage dark circles, discolouration and imperfections in one easy step. When I tested the product in the shop, I thought it appeared perfect for this- it's a really creamy consistency, but quite thick, which I thought would cover up red circles perfectly! There are three sades to select, and I chose 01 Fair. It's always better to use a shade a tone lighter to your skin when choosing a concealer.

Benefit include a small spactula which is to be used for "easy application". Also, is a lesson and step-by-step instructions of how best to apply the concealer. I have tried using both the spatula and using my fingers, and I actually find applying the concealer with my fingers works far better. I think using the spatula is just a bit too fiddly for me. The consistency is lovely, and applies and blends really well. I'm still unsure how I feel about this concealer though- it definitely blends well and doesn't look too cakey, but I don't think it covers the redness as well as some other concealers I've used.

Benefit Erase Paste retails at £19.50, however I purchased mine for £15.50 from duty free. I'm not disappointed by this product, but can't say I'm thrilled...perhaps my red circles are worse lately! For the price I expected a little bit more from this product.

I also used the concealer on a small birthmark I have on my face which although it covered, it didn't cover as much as I'd have liked. I like the product though, and think it's perfect if you have minor imperfections or want to use it under the eye brow arch. 

Have you tried this product before? What's your favourite concealer?

Glamour + Benefit freebie ♥

I think every beauty obsessed lady is very aware that Glamour has again teamed up with Benefit. I literally rushed to the shops to grab a copy, and managed to get the Benefit Bad Gal Lash...phew! Available was the face primer and the pore professional, which I'm hoping to also get my hands on this week.

 It's a really good sample size, and I think two sample sizes would make a full size, so for £4.00 you'd be getting a very good deal! A full size (8.5g) RRP £16.50, so it's worth buying a few! Benefit describe Bad Gal Lash as "Sexy, sultry, pure unadulterated black mascara for full, voluminous lashes. It's as BAD as you want to be! Famously big, bodacious brush coats lashes with our super black formula". I'm definitely impressed as well.

 My lashes are long, separated and luscious. I was really impressed with how I could build the mascara on my lashes to create different looks. The brush is really big which makes it really easy to create big, curvy lashes, however it can be a little difficult to reach the bottom lashes as you can see from the photo...I managed to get little black dots under my bottom lashes, which is not a good look. However, there are no other faults with the mascara - It stays on for hours, and my lashes aren't clumpy and look natural. Definitely worth grabbing this freebie in Glamour magazine this month!

Did you manage to pick up any Benefit freebies in this months Glamour?