Review: It's Potent! Eye Cream by Benefit

I received a small sample of this eye cream when I attended a Benefit event and I liked it so much I went ahead and purchased the full sized version. I've only got round to using this jar recently as the mini sample lasted for ages.

What they say

It's Potent! Eye Cream fades dark circles, helps smooth fine lines & hydrates the eye area for brighter, younger looking eyes. This potent yet gentle eye cream contains burnet an ancient Chinese remedy to help soothe the skin, & a blend of hydrating botanical extracts. Contains apple extract, known to help boost collagen, & loquat extract, known to help protect the skin from free radical damage. Includes a peptide complex known to help restore elasticity & firmness to the skin. Contains sodium hyaluronate, a powerful hydrating agent capable of holding up to 1000 times its weight in water.

How did it work for me/What I think:

I initially liked this very much. I used it twice daily and I felt that it really did keep the thin skin under my eyes well moisturised. The cream itself is slightly thick and rich but it sinks it beautifully without disappearing from the surface of my skin completely. It also has a nice light inoffensive scent akin to cucumbers. Did it fade my dark circles? Not really but then again I don't think any cream can (unless you know of one?). I liked it purely for the fact that it kept my skin hydrated and I found it cooling even though it's not marketed as such.

I did find that after several months, the cream lost it's "potency" and the consistency was much thinner. I think this is due to the packaging, if it was in a tube this might solve the problem. I also think that the jar is way too big. It will take a while to finish but according to the sign on the bottom, you're supposed to dispose of it after 6 months! Less product would also bring down the hefty price tag of £23.50.

I wouldn't repurchase this purely because it thins out after a while and I think I need a richer eye cream because the skin under my eyes is so dry. However for someone in their late teens/early twenties, this isn't a bad first eye cream.

RRP £23.50 for 14.2g

FOTD: A 3 minute smokey eye

Popped into Selfridges after work today to have a mooch around MAC. Whilst I was queuing for assistance, I watched a lady spend 10 minutes applying as many things as she could get her hands on. Including the tester lip gloss, straight from the wand to her lips. So GROSS! How many people have also used it before her?!

I didn't walk away with a lipstick for once but bought Teddy kohl pencil, a gorgeous dark bronzey brown with gold shimmer. Flash washes the colour out so I'll put up a swatch another day.

I was meeting the Mr for dinner and only had mascara on so I used this to create a quick smokey eye. I applied Teddy all over the lid and blended, then smudged a black eyeliner along the lash line and outer corner. Finished off with Teddy on the lower lash line and black eyeliner on my waterline. Didn't use any brushes at all, just my ring finger. Quick and really easy! By the time I got home, it had creased and faded a little but I didn't mind so much :)

Benefit b.right radiant skincare

The other week I attended an event held by Benefit in their Spitalfields boutique where they introduced their new b.right radiant skincare line. We were also given the opportunity to have a mini facial to experience the products in action.

After my makeup was removed, I explained that my main problems were the blackheads around my nose and chin area, and that the skin under my eyes could get quite dry. Bearing this in mind, the beauty therapist used the following products on me in the following order:

Refined finish facial polish

This polish contains natural clay and seaweed extract. It was applied as a mask and left on for a good 5 minutes. It has little particles that gently exfoliate and it left my skin feeling really clean. It also contains Glycolic acid to help smooth away imperfections. Plus it really did get rid of some of the blackheads around my nose.

It's potent eye cream

I loved this eye cream because although it isn't overly rich, my skin felt very moisturised and it has an instant cooling effect.

Ultra radiance facial re-hydrating mist

This was used last of all and liberally sprayed onto my face. It contains Benefit's tri-radiance complex to deliver immediate and long-term hydration, which is exactly what it did as my face felt refreshed afterwards.

These are already on sale (prices and more products here) but the facial mist launches on the 21st May 2011 along with the Moisture prep toning lotion and Remove it make up remover.

I was impressed with the results of my mini facial and my skin looked far more polished and less dull than before. The products look and smell great. The scent is vey light and refreshing - in my opinion there's nothing worse than heavily perfumed products! All in all, I think this skincare line is really good quality and there will be something for everyone.

We were sent away with this mini trio kit which is brilliant if you're not quite sure what to get or whether you will like it or not. It's currently £7.50 from Benefit's website but it's limited edition so be quick! They also had this in Debenhams but I can't see it on the website. If you do want to buy a full sized product, Debenhams currently have 10% off on all beauty & fragrance products (in store tomorrow) and free delivery until the 21st May.

I've almost finished my sample pot of It's Potent and I've already bought the full sized version, so an in depth review on that soon. Is there anything from this new skincare line that you'd like to try?

(CLOSED) Giveaway - Win a mini Benefit Posietint & Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow

I hate seeing things go to waste and as I know I'll never use these samples, I'd like to offer them to someone who will. Both Posietint (4ml) and the creaseless cream shadow in R.S.V.P (3.20g) are brand new and despite being small in stature, they will last a long time.

Rulez/Info:
1. To enter, leave any comment you like along with your GFC name, as this is open to followers only.
2. If you don't have an email address on your blogger profile, please leave one so I can contact you if you win.
3. This giveaway will close at 23.59 on Saturday the 30 April 2011 when I will pick the winner using random.org.

Good luck xx

Benefit's 'Finding Mr Bright'

On Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending a Benefit event where we were introduced to their new makeup manual, Finding Mr Bright.



This little kit contains the following complexion enhancers:

Girl Meets Pearl (7.5ml): A golden pearly liquid which can be mixed in with your moisturiser or applied wherever you want to glow. I prefer to use this on my cheeks after I moisturise as it gives a new dimension to my powder blush.

Posietint (4ml): A bright pink cheek and lip stain which can be layered up for a stronger colour and it lasts for ages.

High Beam (2.5ml): Described as a "luminescent complexion enhancer" (whatever that is) but I use this as a highlighter on my cheek bones and brow bone.

Erase Paste (No2.Medium 3.2g): A brightening concealer to get rid of dark circles and shadows under your eyes.



L-R: Girl Meets Pearl, Posietint, High Beam & Erase Paste (from my own pot which is No.3 Deep)

Finding Mr Bright is £28.50 and would be great for travelling, to give as a gift or simply for someone who wants to try these products but doesn't want to spend so much on the full sized versions.

BTW, if you're a Benefit fan they're currently holding a competition on their Facebook Page.



Check out the interactive video and upload your ending to be in with a chance of winning a whole years supply of products and you could also appear in their next video. My pick would be Mr Smooth, purely for the LOL factor! xx

Benefit Gilded highlighter pencil

I don't really use highlighting products but ever since I received Gilded in the goody bag from the Benefit event, I've been wearing it everyday.

Moody McMoodyson

A lovely tangerine gold colour, I wear it in the inner corners of my eyes to add another dimension to my basic everyday eye makeup.

It's not much to shout about in natural daylight but really comes to life and sparkles in flash photos. It also blends well so can be worn anywhere e.g brow bone, cupid's bow etc.

I wouldn't buy this because highlighters aren't a necessity for me, but if they're your thing it's a nice versatile product to have.

Priced £14 from Benefit.

Benefit Beauty Event for WOC

My biggest gripe with Benefit is that I find most of their products don't cater for women of colour. However on Tuesday evening I attended an event co-hosted by the lovely Yinka for an introduction into the brand and to look at the products which suit darker skintones. We were given a demonstration by Benefit's Head MUA Lisa Potter-Dixon who did a makeover on another blogger using popular products like Bella Bamba and Benetint. She then gave her a brow wax and tint - a service I never knew they offered. We also learnt something interesting about the origins of Benetint which I thought was hilarious.

After the talk we were given the chance to browse the products in their Covent Garden Boutique. Rhamnousia and I went swatch crazy and ended up discovering lots of WOC friendly products, some of which I had never come across before.

Lust Dusters, Creaseless Cream Shadows & Silky Finish Lipstick.

These are the ones that stood out the most, and I was really impressed with the Lust Dusters which were very pigmented and came in a number of gorgeous shimmery shades. I think these products get overshadowed by best sellers such as their blush boxes and make up kits which is a shame as they're really good (and in some cases, probably better!).

Even better news is that Benefit will be releasing a new range of foundation with 20 shades where there'll hopefully be something to suit everyone.Before that there'll be their new skin care range to look forward to this Spring.

All in all I had a great time at the event, especially as I got to meet so many other bloggers. If you're interested in blogs by WOC, do check them out!

Inner Belle 

Desi girl does makeup 

Just a bowl of MOULDY FRUIT 

BeautyFulfilled

Lil Miss. Rosh

Fashion Overload

Lipgloss And Leopard Print 

Shortiee's Beauty Blog

The Postcolonial Rabbit

Vex In The City

All pics from the Benefit website as I forgot my camera. I know, I know, I fail at life.

Benefit Coralista and some pondering

My sister recently went to an in store Benefit event and to my delight, came home with a little bag of purchases. Finally, a chance to steal and play with her makeup as she does to me!

I was really keen to try the much talked about Coralista and began swatching and applying away. And what did I think? Not worth the hype and slightly disappointing. It took a few layers to get it to show up on my cheeks and even though I love coral blushes, this one is just "meh". The colour looks alright but it isn't anything special.

The sheer colour and the amount of shimmer reminded me of Nars Orgasm which is pinkier but much preferred. Even in terms of quality you can see that Coralista is slightly chalky. The packaging may be cute but it's impractical - the dinky box would take up half of my makeup bag. And at £23.50? Pah, I would rather spend £19.50 on a sleek, and highly pigmented Nars blush (which has a mirror and would slot neatly into my bag!).

Moving onto Dr Feelgood - "a velvety comlexion balm". Apparently it is an "invisible refiner, blended with Vitamin C to smooth away the appearance of fine lines while leaving skin feeling and looking more silky, flawless and matte to the touch. It is a colourless, weightless miracle worker".

It came with a smooth sponge puff which I used to apply to my skin but I didn't see any change. It just seems like a gimmick. Looking at the ingredients, the main one is modified corn starch along with wax, parfum and other complicated sounding ingredients that need to be googled. Why not just buy some loose/blotting powder? I don't get it.

This made me think about Benefit cosmetics in general so I compiled a list and my thoughts on all the products I've tried:

• Erase Paste - Loved this at first but then I discovered Mac select moisturecover which rendered this obsolete. I don't like the way it looks so obvious and it has been rotting in my makeup drawer for the past year.
• Posietint - Doesn't really show up on my skintone and there are many other cheaper dupes.
• Highbeam - Really liked the trial version but I wouldn't buy the full sized product. Especially after realising the iridescent white eyeshadow from my Ben Nye palette was better.
• PowderPop trio - Colours are okay but I never reach for it.
• Badgal Lash Mascara - This mascara was too natural for me and didn't enhance my lashes in any way.
• The Glamour Freebies - Badgal eyeliner pencil was absolute rubbish. Not pigmented at all so it made lining my eyes difficult. Rubbed off so easily as well. Eye Bright didn't do anything and I have no idea why I bought the It concealer stick which was aout 4 shades too light.
• Big Beautiful Eyes kit - Already did a review about how it did not work for me.

With the exception of their creaseless cream eye shadows, I don't rate any of their products at all and feel that they don't work for me and my skin tone (or any darker skintones). I think it's really overpriced and that I'm actually paying for the cute, retro and sometimes impractical packaging (which suckered me in, in the first place!). Obviously this is my own personal opinion based on my own personal experiences with the brand. I know there are many others who swear by many of the products I disliked. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Review: Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes

Benefit says: "This little kit with BIG results is all you need to define, contour and enhance your eyes. We've included everything you need to "go pro" with the perfect shades and tools to create that coveted contour look that everyone loves. You'll thank us later".

This little kit includes boi-ing concealer in shade 02, alabaster pink base shadow, cocoa shimmer countour shadow, rich chocolate brown liner shadow and a mini concealer brush and double ended contour and liner brush. It also comes with a leaflet with illustrated step by step instructions which you can view here.

Swatches which were taken with flash.

Blah....the end result after following the step by step instructions.

My verdict: I admit I lazily applied the base shadow (note the fallout) but the contour shadow is not pigmented enough to show up on top of the base. Neither is the dark brown liner eyeshadow. So the overall effect is washed out and quite poor. The concealer is a shade too light for me (though you can also use it as a primer) and felt cakey. The brushes weren't too great - they were okay but useful if you haven't any brushes of your own. The only thing I liked were the illustrated instructions which are great for beginners who want to learn how to contour.

I don't rate this kit much but think it would be better suited to those with fairer skin perhaps. Also it is quite expensive at £21.50 which I would rather spend on the gorgeous Natural Eye Kit by Too Faced.

Benefit at TKMaxx

The only makeup I have ever seen sold at TKMaxx were packets of 4 Rimmel lipsticks (probably from 3 year old stock) so I was very surprised and delighted to come across Benefit. I really like Benefit at the moment, even though I admit some of their products are hit and miss - most notably Badgal Lash mascara. I really like the brush but it does nothing for me whatsoever. On the other hand, Erase Paste is my saviour!

What I really wanted though was a creaseless cream and my makeup dreams were answered.

There was only one and it was in a colour that I liked - Pre-nup. Benefit's official description of this colour is "rose metal". It looks like a warm brown in the jar but when applied it is pink. The thing I love about this is that it is very sheer but can be easily built up. I wear a slick of this with mascara to work and it's perfect - I can't wear heavy eye makeup so early in the morning. It doesn't crease at all but by 5pm the colour has slightly faded and what's left is the shimmer. However I don't mind this at all. Best of all? I paid £7.99 for this whilst the RRP is £14.

I also picked up this trio of face powders called Powder Pop which has the following: Dandelion, a brightening face powder; Hoola, a bronzing face powder; Dallas, an outdoor glow. I think this has been discontinued as I can't find it on the website but they do have "Powderazzi", which has Coralista instead of Dandelion.

These don't show up well on camera. I mainly bought this so I could try Dallas which my friend swears by. The other two I am not mad about - Dandelion  shows up as a pink shimmer when blended whilst Hoola is matte and makes my skin look dull/dirty? I quite like Dallas though, which I feel is more of a bronzer than Hoola. Overall not an amazing product but it'shandy to carry around in my bag and it comes with a mini brush! I think it used to retail at £24 but I paid £12, so not bad at all.

I've also seen some silky powder eyeshadows and "miss popularity" highlighters in my local store. The problem with TKmaxx is that products are not always guaranteed to be there and they vary from store to store . However it's worthwhile to have a look next time you go in. Try looking on bottom shelves and hidden behind other products!

A week of freebies

Technically most of these aren't freebies but shhhhshh..

The other day I picked up InStyle magazine which is giving away a free L'Occitane hand cream. I also managed to snag these two Jemma Kidd lipglosses from promotional packs of Bodyform products. I'm sure most of you have read about this everywhere else so I'm not going to go on about it.

Last week I attended Fashion Thursday in the Bond St branch of Dorothy Perkins which was hosted by Look magazine. It was a great night - they had an instore DJ, free drinks/water and 20% off all purchases. I had a free mini makeover by Benefit and had my hair styled into a Cheryl Cole bouffant by Toni & Guy (I asked for waves but somehow ended up with that....) I felt so glamorous - too bad I was dressed like a tramp!

As I had spent over £40, I received a goody bag with products from the sponsors.

A full size tub of Simple day cream, Carmex and mini versions of Benefit's Posietint and High Beam. (There were also Lindt chocolates, a CD and a magazine but they're weren't interesting enough to photo)

The MUA used these products during my makeover and I have fallen in love with them - specifically High Beam! Posie tint doesn't show up so well on my skin. I'm thinking Benetint would be better?

High Beam is described as a "luminescent complexion enhancer" which basically means a highlighter! I've been using this on my cheek bones, brow bone, cupids bow and inner eye corners. I love the way it makes my face glow. I'm pretty sure there are many dupes out there - I think MeMeMe does one? Not sure but I'm so tempted to buy a full size version at £16.50.

Lastly these two came in the post. I won a competition and received this Blackhead clearing scrub from Garnier which I'm going to save until I finish my Neutrogena one. The little tube is a Protecting Facial Hydrolotion SPF25 from Simple. I signed up as a Simple VIP years ago but this is the first time they've sent me something!

p.s Hello! and thank you to all the new followers x x

My makeup and I

My earliest makeup memory is aged 10? Sneakily rifling through my auntie's makeup bag with my cousin and using her mascara and lipstick before scrubbing our faces vigorously, trying to get rid of the evidence. We still got told off, perhaps it was because we thought we could remove mascara with water?

I only started wearing makeup when I was about 15 years old, and even then it was just clear mascara. I went to an all girls secondary school and there were no boys to impress so there didn't seem to be a point really. I didn't really experiment at home either because my mum only wears red lipstick. Once I got into college I began to wear makeup more regularly. I couldn't be without my black eyeliner and mascara! On special days I would mix it up with bright blue eyelinerr and maybe some blush...

To be honest, this routine hasn't really changed until recently. I stumbled across some tutorial videos on youtube and realised that there was so much more I could do, so I have come to terms that I am a complete beginner when it comes to makeup. I have a drawer full of products but I don't know how to utilise them properly, nor do I know what colours go together or which suit my skintone and I'm hoping that this blog will document my discovery.

These are what I currently use:





Ever since I was given a gift of Estee Lauder's More than Mascara I've been hooked on high end mascaras. I love Estee Lauder and Lancome, and I'm currently using Lancome Hypnose which is brilliant. It's got a rich formula, doesn't flake/clump and gives lots of volume. Previous to that, I had Lancome's Virtuose and that was equally as good. I've never been convinced by high street mascaras until I tried out Max Factor's Masterpiece mascara to see what all the fuss was about and I really liked it. I'm also using their latest mascara, False Lash Effect, which has a bigger brush but I think I prefer Masterpiece better.



MAC technakohl eyeliner in graphblack. This is my favourite eyeliner EVER and the one I carry with me everywhere. It's so pigmented and creamy, and it doesn't smudge as much as others I have tried. Im upset at the moment as I have run out and I can't afford to buy a new one at £13 :(



Urban Decay 24/7 glide on pencils are my choice for highly pigmented coloured eyeliners, AND they're waterproof. I have the two colours on the right. Zero, which is a really dark black, and Lust, a deep purple colour. I have spent a lot of money on lots of different brands trying to find deep and rich colours, so I think they are worth their £10 price tag.



This is one of the first blushers I ever bought, and I still have it! It's by Bourjois and the shade is Cendre de rose brune. The packaging is so cute - it has a little mirror and a dinky brush inside. I bought it after seeing it was voted a cult product in a magazine. It's a nice colour but it doesn't last long.



This was my first ever MAC purchase - a blushcreme in the shade Posey. I love this and wear it all the time.



The latest addition to my makeup routine! Benefit's erase paste is a light reflecting concealer and it covers my dark circles and gives me a nice glow.

So these are my staples. Hopefully there shall be many more to come!