Asian Benefits and new hair cut picture!

As mentioned a while back, I was invited to attend my first beauty blogger event by Vex in the City. It was hosted by Benefit and aimed for people with Asian/darker skin tones.

To be honest, I’m rather fair (I’ve been colour matched as NC 20, 25 and 30 on three separate occasions at a Mac counter, to my exasperation). However, being ethnically Chinese, I am definitely yellow. Anyone recall the old Pink Panther movies where Peter Seller always referred his Japanese lodger Cato as his ‘yellow friend’? So whilst I’m not in the same spectrum as the Simpsons, I am pretty far away from the classic English Rose complexion. However, good news is Benefit will be bringing out a large range of colours soon. I think the launch will be sometime in April, but don’t quote me on that.

It was lovely to meet some other beauty bloggers on the night and I’ve included some makeover photos as Head Makeup Artist Lisa demonstrated some products.

I also had a mini-makeover done by a lovely MUA (but I’ve forgotten her name now…*bangs head*. I’m blaming my revision cramming here). She focused mostly on my face and lips. Originally, I really wanted a perfect red pout that Jasmine from Benefit showed us. It was on the runway during London Fashion Week and was completed with red glitter. However, it was deemed unsuitable for my complexion (I was rosy red by that time due to downing around 5 sips of the white wine… that’s the Asian flush for ya!), so she went for a pink instead, and I experienced Posey Tint for the first time. Here are some photos of the finished look once I got back home.

I wore an ASOS navy dress and a vest underneath. For my eyes, I played around with the Naked Palette since I distinctly remember having labs that day and was rather rushed in getting ready – I headed for the train station right away and didn’t have time to get changed. That’s how bad it was! Cue lots of makeup touch-ups in the ladies room of the station.

Anyways, since my headshot included the length of my hair before my London cut and haul a week later, I thought to include a photo of my new cut so you can compare the two. Apart from length, not much was changed since I’m trying to grow it out a la Elena-from-Vampire-Diaries.

Whaddya think?

Weekend haulage and bank breakage

Hello guys and dolls, how’s your Wednesday so far? I’ve been pretty busy moving home from uni and unpacking this week, so the posts have been rather sparse. Well, no worries as everything should be on track again.

I had a good ol’ browse at Boots before I left uni, and here’s what I got! I was rather numb as I entered my card pin, since the total came close to £100… for a single transaction! I think the total on my What’s Your Face Worth post should be updated with my additional purchases, but that number already scared me. However, I do think the great GWP incentives negated the price slightly.

So here’s what I got! There might be a few GWP items missing, as I had packed everything away before remembering to take a photo, and couldn’t recall all the small samples that came with the purchases.

Lancome Primordiale Skin Recharge night cream (*gulp* £52. Remember my raving review on the day version? Well, I loved it so much I decided to get the other one too. It’s worrying how the combined total of these two creams can almost get me a Clarisonic Mia, which I want desperately).

Lancome GWP, which includes Galateis Douceur, Tonique Douceur (gorgeous scent – light and refreshing), Bi-facil (fantastic makeup remover – no panda eyes please!), Genifique, Hydra Zen day cream (so yummy – leaves my skin soothed and soft. A close favourite to the Primordiale), Genifique Yeux (pretty good, not sure how effective it is on my 20-year old skin, but great moisturiser), Hypnose mascara (very black), and finally a juicy tube in framboise (strawberry, for non-French speakers. It has a yummy scent, great formula).

Max Factor Lip tint pen in Pink Princess (£7.99)

Max Factor lipstick in Pearl Orange (great coral shade for summer, £7.99)

Max Factor GWP, contains a miniature mascara, lipgloss, eye shadow, nail varnish and a coupon for £3 off a foundation, all in a cheap but smartly designed makeup bag that has an attachable mesh bag inside.

Benefit High Beam (£18.50)

Origins serum sample

Did anyone buy anything fun over the weekend? There are so many great GWP deals out there at the moment that I’m rather spoilt for choice! I know Estee Lauder has a ‘customise your own’ freebie deal which sounds like a great idea, and UNE is giving away a free blush with every foundation purchase.

   

Top Celebrity Beauty Buys from £2!

I spotted this slideshow feature on the Marie Claire website and clicked through the 25 products current celebs love and rave about. I picked out 5 of my favorites which I’ve tried before to share with you guys. If you want to check out all 25, click here.


Cheryl Cole

Loves: Vaseline Lip Therapy stick, £2.03 and L’oreal Glam Shine Reflexion in Sheer Cassis, £6.99.

Vaseline is such a cult product, isn’t it? The original blue tin one was my first lip balm ever and I used it for at least five years to moisturize my lips overnight, before I got bored and discovered Boots Lip Wonderbalm. I love the new stick formula and the fact that it contains great ingredients like pro-vitamin E. However, I still prefer a lip balm that contains a lil’ bit less of petroleum, since that taste irritates me so much.

The L’oreal Glam Shine lipgloss is great! Smooth application, fantastic pigmentation and non-sticky wear. My lips feel slick and light after application. I would estimate it lasts more than 4 hours on me, but it’s hard to say since I always wipe off any lip product before eating as I hate the feeling of crumbs stuck to any product.


Leighton Meester

Loves: Benefit Benetint, £23.50

She says that 'It creates the most natural flush.’

I totally agree with Leighton that the Benetint is a fab product, but I actually prefer its little sister – Posietint, which I tried out during my Benefit evening on Tuesday. I think the pink would suit more skin tones and be easier to carry off.

The stain is long lasting and fades pretty evenly. I still had to apply a lipbalm over the top as I’ve tried lips, but low maintenance girls can use this from day to night without need for reapplications.


Jessica Alba

Loves: Epsom salts, £2.15

She says she ‘adds them to the bath along with eucalyptus essential oil to ease water retention.'

I love all sorts of bath products and have a selection to suit my mood, be they bubbly and fun or natural and soothing. Something really has to be said for the medicinal qualities of bath salts though. I don’t know if it’s because of the minerals in the salt crystals which give these benefits or if it’s purely a placebo effect, but my muscles feel more relaxed using bath salts.

Also, my mum loves the Dead Sea sea salts (around £6 for 1 kg at Boots) for occasional joint paints when the weather is damp and cold.


Fergie
Loves: Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, £23

She says 'It's so versatile. I use it on my skin and lips.'


To be honest, Vaseline is rather similar since it's mainly petroleum and the 8 hours cream contains ~55% petroleum, but there’s also salicylic acid, vitamin E and corn oil. Perhaps it's the the price that makes me think its more effective.



Let me know in the comments below what you think of these tips! Are there any cheap products worthy of sharing?

Free Benefit Bad Gal mascara!

Simply go to Debenhams on the 14th Feb and you'll receive a free makeupper and mascara!

You'll need to check in on facebook via your mobile browser and the first 10 people to visit their local store will get this fantastic freebie.

For further information, check out the Debenhams blog here.

I've tried the Bad Gal mascara before and have to say the brush is a-MAH-zing! It's big, round and creates fantastically voluminous lashes. If you haven't tried it before, this is a great chance to give it a whirl for free.

Debenhams Sales Haul

Yay I'm back! I've decided to start posting again but this time keeping the writing shorter and snappier. I have a tendancy to go off on a tangent but will now try to be more concise.

I was browsing Benefit makeup online last night due to my recent infatuation with the brand. I will do a review of the few items I purchased in recent weeks soon (think High Beam, cream shadows, lipstick and concealer).

On the Debenhams Sales page, I spotted some new additions in the Beauty section and quickly snapped up a few bargains.

I ordered four items with free shipping as a Beauty cardholder and this qualified me for 500 points (£5) as follows:

1. Benefit Powder time lover collection, with CORALista, dallas and dandelion (3g each) for £12.50 (RRP 25). Considering a normal blush is around 10g and costs £24, this is a definitely steal and essential for Benefit blush virgins (eg. me).

2. Urban Decay Pocket Rocket gloss duo for £13.20 (RRP 22). Considering I've been lemming to try the Pocket Rockets and one costs £13, it's probably the Fates of Shopping at work.

3. Bliss All Round eyecream, £7.20 (RRP 24). Makeupalley reviewers had mixed opinions but I figured it's cheap enough for me to give it ago without feeling worried about the negative reviews. Will let you know how I get on!

4. Bliss Best of skintentions moisturiser, with SPF15, £7.50 (RRP 25). Again, makeupalley had divided opinions and I generally prefer to purchase over the counter so I can test the consistancy myself. However, the price swayed me.

So that sums up my little haul from yesterday. Did anyone buy something fun this weekend?