London Beauty Haul

Hello lovelies!

As you may know, I spent the September weekend in London with my family and I may have picked up a few beauty treats...

NARS

One counter I knew I just HAD to visit in London was the NARS counter. Their Sheer Glow foundation is raved about in the beauty blogging world and I've been lusting after their dual intensity eyeshadows since their release a few months ago. I was colour matched to Mont Blanc in the foundation and the eyeshadow shades I chose were Callisto and Phoebe. The eyeshadows are freaking GORGEOUS and I can't wait to try them out some more.

The Body Shop

I've heard great things about the Body Shop's new instablur primer and as I'm always on the lookout for products which stop me looking like a melted waxwork by the end of the day, I thought I'd give this a go! I also picked up their honey bronzer in shade 1 (which is the lightest) to give my face a bit of colour.

Benefit

Finally I picked up Benefit's They're Real Mascara. As you've probably noticed, this isn't full size; I was standing in the queue in Boots right next to the tempting little shelves of offers aimed at weak people like myself when I spotted the mini version for £9.99. My old mascara was drying out anyway so I saw this as an opportunity to try a much loved product for almost half the price. 

And there we have it! Everything I bought on my little trip (except from a chocolate frog at the Harry Potter Studio Tour). I plan to review most of these products in the near future but if you're particularly interested in a specific product for a review or swatches then please let me know and I'll try to get on it as quickly as I can. 

Until next time lovelies!

Jen x

My Daily Makeup

Hello lovelies! Today I thought I'd write about the products I slap onto my face everyday to make myself look half decent. I'm always (& I mean always) running late so I try to keep it as fuss free as possible. 

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow | £26.50 | Available here

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer | £4.19 | Available here

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder | £3.99 | Available here

Mac Prolongwear Blush | £20.00 | Available here

Urban Decay Naked Palette | £37.00 | Available here

L'Oreal False Lash Flutter Mascara | £10.99 | Available here 

Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil | £2.99 | Available here

Carmex Lip Balm | £2.89 | Available here

Clinique Lip Gloss | £16.00 | Available here 

Okeydokey, I'm just going to start going through these products in the order that I use them.

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation

I don't want to go on too much about this foundation as I've already reviewed it here, but I'll just say it's a great light-medium coverage foundation which lasts all day. I have the shade "Believe in me Ivory" which is the lightest shade for pink-based skin tones (still a bit too dark for my fair skin but blended out it looks fine). One pump is enough for my entire face & I apply it with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

The beauty blogger's favourite concealer. I don't think much needs to be said about this as everybody & their granny has reviewed this but it really is the best concealer I've ever tried & I don't plan on trying another one anytime soon. I put it under my eyes to cover dark circles & then use it on any blemishes then blend it out with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush. This is my third tube of this which shows how much I really do love it & mine is in the shade "fair". 

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder

I then set all of my base makeup with this powder. It is again a blogging favourite & sets makeup really well without looking cakey. Mine is in the shade "transparent" because I don't want any more colour on my face &  I again use my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to put this on. This isn't the best brush for powder & I'm on the lookout for a real powder brush at the moment. If you have any recommendations for a brush then please let me know!

Mac Prolongwear Blush

I then move on to blush. I have the MAC Prolongwear Blush in the shade "Blush All Day" which is described by MAC as a "light dirty rose beige". This is a great colour if you just want your cheeks to have some colour without looking too flushed so it's ideal if you've got quite heavy eye makeup on but still need a bit of colour in your cheeks. Now I got this blush about a year ago when I had my makeup done at MAC & the makeup artist used this blush to compliment quite a dark grey smokey eye. I bought it because I genuinely didn't own ANY blushes at all & after she put it on I really felt like I needed one to make my face look a bit more alive. I do like this shade but it isn't anything spectacular & I'm sure there are many similar colours for a lot cheaper on the high street. What I'm trying to say is that if I was to buy a blush from MAC now, I'd probably go for something more colourful & unique that you wouldn't be able find on the high street rather than a colour like this that I'd be able to find easily from cheaper brands. I apply this with my Real Techniques Blush Brush.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I then move on to eyes. I could rave on about the Urban Decay Naked Palette all day but I'm sure we've all read enough rave reviews about it so I'll try to be quick. I absolutely love this palette; it has such a great variety of extremely pigmented colours which can be used for a lighter daytime look or a really smokey evening look & I can see this lasting me for AGES so it really is worth the money. I'm always running late so try to keep my eye makeup fuss free; I usually blend the shade "sin" all over the eye using my Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush & then either blend "toasted" or "hustle" into the crease using my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush.

L'Oreal False Lash Flutter Mascara
Once my eyeshadow is done I then move on to mascara. At the moment I'm using L'Oreal False Lash Flutter mascara in "extra black" & I absolutely adore this mascara. I bought it quite recently & I'm so glad I did; the brush is a really unique shape (winged, like a butterfly wing - false last 'flutter' - get it?) & seperates the lashes really well. I'm considering doing a full review of this mascara soon.

Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil
The picture of this brow pencil actually makes me a tiny bit ashamed as I'm really using it until the bitter end haha, I REFUSE to buy a new one when there's still some life left in the old one! My eyebrows are ridiculously light considering my natural hair colour is a very dark brown so I really need to give them some definition. I'm extremely fuss free when it comes to my eyebrows; I've never tried any powders as my eyebrows are extremely light & sparse so I don't think powder will give me the defined look I'm after. However if anybody has any recommendations of great powders then please let me know! I use this pencil in the shade "black/brown" as I really don't feel that "dark brown" is dark enough to go with my dark hair. I basically just use it as you would use any other brow pencil & then blend it out slightly with the brush on the lid. I think this is a great product for £2.99 as I've had it for quite a while.

Carmex Lip Balm
I have really dry lips so before I apply any sort of makeup on them, I really need to have a good lip balm on for a couple of hours. This lip balm is AMAZING - it actually works wonders on dry lips. It's great value for under £3 so if you haven't tried it I really recommend it.

Clinique Lip Gloss
Finally, I use the Clinique lip gloss in "clearly pink". This is a really gorgeous clear pink which gives a nice "finished" look to the face. I actually bought this a couple of years ago in the airport on the way home from a holiday as I had some euros left which wouldn't be worth much if I brought them home & transferred them back to our currency. As with the MAC blush, this is a nice colour but I'm sure a really similar colour can be found on the high street & as this one is almost finished, I'll definitely be on the lookout!

So there we have it, a list of all of the items that make me look human on a daily basis. Do you have any of these products or any recommendations based on these? Let me know!

Jen x

Review: Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow

Hi lovelies,

I have my first review for you guys today!

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation has been raved about on many blogs and I thought I'd put my opinion out there as well. I've had this foundation for well over a month now so I think I've had it long enough to really see how it performs. 

 No makeup (EEK!)

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow only - no concealer or powder on yet
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow, £26.50, available here

Benefit claims that this foundation builds from light to medium coverage to brighten the complexion and give a flawless and natural finish. It has SPF 25 and contains 30ml of product. 

I was colour matched to the shade "believe in me Ivory" which is the palest shade for pink based skin tones. This shade isn't a perfect match for me unfortunately as I am very pale but I actually don't mind this! I feel that (as long as it is blended properly!) it gives me a nice glow that my tippex-like skin usually lacks. If your skin tone is paler than mine however (which would almost certainly mean that you are transparent as I really am the palest of the pale), you may struggle to make this foundation work for you. 

You can see yourself from the swatches what kind of coverage you think the foundation gives but I agree with Benefit's claim that this is a light-medium coverage foundation and can be built up for a higher coverage if you wish. I really like this coverage as it allows for a nice natural looking finish whilst still covering up any uneven skin tone. I had previously used MAC's Studio Fix Fluid which I found could look too heavy sometimes. I still need concealer obviously for under the eyes & other imperfections & need to powder throughout the day due to my oily T zone. I find that this product lasts really well throughout the day & I've never needed to reapply once I've set it with powder. I also agree with the claim that it is a brightening foundation as I really do feel that it gives the skin a lovely glow. It's also oil free which is ideal for my combination/oily skin as it means I don't look like I've dipped my face in a tub of grease by the end of the day! I find that a little goes a long way with this foundation; one pump is usually enough to cover my whole face.

I really like the design of the bottle for this foundation. It has a pump which is always a plus as it saves unneccessary waste & I love the fact that you can see exactly how much foundation you have left, so you will always know when you are running low. Also, I'm not sure if you can see this from the picture but the actual bottom part of where the foundation is stored in the bottle moves up as the product is used up which means there's no product left around the bottom & sides of the bottle that the pump can't pick up.

As far as value for money is concerned, I really do think that this product is worth the money (although when I bought it I'm certain it was £25.50 so I don't know why they have increased the price?). As I said, I've had this foundation for over a month & going on how much I've used so far, I can see it lasting at least another 3-4 months. So judging by the quality of the product & the amount of time it will last, I do think it's worth the rather expensive price tag. However, I do love a bargain so if anybody knows of any cheaper dupes then please let me know!

Overall, I'm really impressed with this foundation & would definitely reccomend it! I think it's great for Summer as it is of a slightly lighter coverage, has SPF & really brightens the complexion, so it's perfect for dull skin tones. There's a strong likelihood that I'll repurchase this when I run out, however I've had my eye on NAR's Sheer Glow for a while, so I may give that a go next if my funds allow it. The only downside to this product is that if you're very pale then you may struggle to make the colour work for you, but a simple way to check is to head to a Benefit counter to get a colour match & see what you think! 

Have you tried Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow? What do you think of it?

Jen x