Showing posts with label Benefit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benefit. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

June favourites



No introduction required surely? You know the drill. New month = last month's most reached for and loved products, here goes:

Dior Forever Flawless Perfection Fusion Wear Foundation - £32

This is a gorgeous product and my most reached for base throughout June, an odd choice really. Why you ask? Well it's a full coverage foundation for a start, and personally I prefer a light to medium coverage. Also, a full coverage foundation during the summer months, Naomi what are you playing at? But despite it being full coverage, this does not wear heavy on the skin at all. No cakeyness, just a natural looking, velvety finish. Also a perfect colour match for me, I use the shade 011, which I think is the lightest or next shade up. A lovely product and the kind of quality you would expect from Dior!

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Bikini-tini - £15.50

Yes, I know this appeared in my May favourites post but this continued to serve me well throughout June. It adds that bit of something to every look and the reason it's made another favourites post is because I discovered another use of this already perfect product... Its champagney, gold colour means it can be used as a highlighter at the top of your cheekbones! Try it, you'll thank me later!

Origins Make a Difference Plus+ Rejuvinating Moisturiser - £34.50

This stuff has solved a lot of my skincare woes. I don't want to speak too soon but this could well be a lifetime favourite, not just a monthly favourite. At the start of June my skin was suffering, not only from a minor breakout but it was also pretty dehydrated. However between this and Origins' Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask (I will get to this next) - they've been a total godsend for me. This divine smelling moisturiser, featuring Nature's Rose of Jericho, plus a Lychee and Watermelon hydra-sustain complex claims to quench deep to help add moisture to dry, dehydrated skin. That it does and despite its lovely scent, it does not irritate my skin in the slightest. At the start of the month my skin was looking lacklustre to say the least, however using this product daily has ensured my skin is looking and feeling hydrated throughout the day. Thumbs up for this!

Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask - £23

Another June skincare saviour, as mentioned above. This is my first dabble with an overnight mask and my word, I will never look back. I used this once a week during June and each time I woke up with my skin appearing healthier and plump, and just looking better overall. I apply this fairly thickly after my Avene Soothing Hydrating Serum, and use this in place of my moisturiser. Overnight my skin "drinks it up" - as the name suggests. At first this is fairly sticky but don't be put off, it sinks in easily after a few minutes. Another bonus is its delightful, fruity smell - which is obviously down to it containing avocado oil, mango butter and apricot kernel oil. These ingredients also help to deeply hydrate the skin. I will review this product by itself in the near future, as it has worked wonders on my skin.

Batiste Dry Shampoo Dark & Deep Brown - £3.99

If you would've told me a few months back that a dry shampoo would make one of my favourites posts I would have probably laughed in your face. It's taken me a long time to feel comfortable with the idea of dry shampoo and June was the month when I actually became okay with it, well in fact more than okay. During June, I used this on a number of occasions as a hair texturiser more than anything. It added a bit of body to my hair, when it started to look a little lacklustre (new favourite word, can't you tell?) and it made all the difference, and added that necessary bit of 'oomph' to my locks.


Follow me on Bloglovin':

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11870233/?claim=7hx5e9ntq8w">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

My (uber belated) May favourites



I know, I know it's June 18th and I'm posting my May favourites. Poor effort from me but number one -working full time and blogging doesn't always go hand in hand, number two - my laptop went in for repair this month and number three - my OCD just wouldn't allow me to miss a monthly favourites post! Oh and Alix from I Covet Thee only posted her May favourites the other day, so it must be acceptable! *wink Emoji*

So now I've done my explaining, I shall proceed with what beauty products in particular I enjoyed using throughout May. This is a slightly smaller favourites post than usual but as we get into the summer months, I try to use as little amount of products as possible... Nobody likes a hot mess!

Right, enough rambling, here are the products:

Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette - £35

Ah, The Essentials Palette, or as I lovingly dub it: "the Naked Palette's older, more sophisticated sister". This came out last winter and I've tried my hardest to play down my love for this palette because I know it's going to end in tears...You see it's sadly limited edition and I don't think you can purchase this anymore *Sob*. On the surface this palette looks like your standard neutral eye palette but trust me it's so much more than that. This 10 shade palette is just divine, I adore the Naked Palettes I do, but this palette is just so much more chic, due to its sophisticated array of (mostly) metallic shades. All shades are extremely wearable day or night. I'm a shimmery eye shadow girl but I've got to say I even love the two matte shades here which is unlike me.

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow - £15.50

Another neutral, metallic eye product Naomi, really? Yes really. Throughout May I reached for this little beauty, whether I was wearing this alone all over the lid or as a base for other eye shadows. It's a lovely product and the colour is gorgeous too. It's a champagney, gold colour with a frosted finish. This lasts all day on me. Lovely, lovely.

Superdrug Coconut Oil - £2.29

I picked this up from my local Superdrug in May after noticing Coconut Oil was doing the rounds in the blogging community and I decided I wanted in on the action! Despite Coconut Oil being renowned for being an excellent multi-use product I've only used it on the ends of my hair so far, post wash. It's keeping my ends looking, feeling and smelling great, and I'm hoping it delays my next trip to the hairdressers by at least another fortnight! Another added perk, it's cheap as chips!

Barry M's Hi Shine Gel Effect Nail Paint in Lychee - £3.99

I don't need to say too much about this product surely? If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll have seen this Nail Polish formula and this particular shade appear in a number of my posts. I painted my nails in Lychee a number of times in May. Overall, I love the formula, it leaves my nails looking glossy and it remains chip-free for a good number of days, and I love the colour, it's a highly wearable nude-grey.


That was short and sweet but it's good to be back. I've got plenty of ideas lined up for upcoming posts, including some venturing into new Better Ni than Never territory... It won't all be beauty, look out for some fashion posts and maybe even a non-beauty favourites post soon! Thanks for reading!



Follow me on Bloglovin':

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11870233/?claim=7hx5e9ntq8w">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>


Monday, 19 May 2014

Beauty products that didn't live up to the hype



This post may come as a bit of a shock to some of you today, as I'm not bigging up products that I love like I usually do. Instead I'm going to give you the rundown on a few products that have disappointed me somewhat in recent months.

Before I get started, I just want to make it clear, that I'm not saying these products are dreadful, they just didn't work for me... Some of you are going to read this post and think: "NAOMI, WHAT THE HELL?!" because most of these products are adored by a multitude of beauty lovers and have a cult folloing but sadly they just didn't cut the mustard for me... That doesn't mean they won't work for you, everyone's different and I enjoy reading these types of posts, I find it interesting to discover what other bloggers just didn't "get on with". 

Right enough rambling, here goes:

NARS Blush in Orgasm - £21.50

Yep, your eyes aren't deceiving you people. This is probably the most talked about shade of blush around, it's "that blush with the funny name". NARS blushes are renowned for being just, well fantastic, and trust me it's not a bad blush by any stretch of the imagination. The formula is good, it lasts throughout the day, and Orgasm is a lovely peachy, golden pink shade but there's 501 cheaper alternatives out there. My favourite dupe being the blush in Sleek's Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette. That nifty trio contains a contour, highlight and blush, and the blush is VERY similar to Orgasm. The only difference being it's accompanied by the contour and highlight, and the overall product costs £9.99. Sorry NARS... Sleek wins it here for me this time.

Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Mascara in Medium Brown - £4.99

After reading many a glowing review on this product, I thought I'd give it a go myself and boy, was I disappointed with this. I've read many posts where the reviewer claims it gives them a natural looking brow, I sadly cannot vouch for this. The strange ball brush just would not allow the product to apply neatly to my brows, it just made them look messy and odd. It's a no from me...

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black - £12

I had a sample of this free with a magazine a few months back and I was SO excited to give this a whirl, especially as it's renowned for being the liquid eyeliner behind Alexa Chung's famous cat flick and who doesn't love that look? I had such high hopes prior to using this but sadly I found that it smudged terribly. Instead of the cat flick, I got the panda flick... Not a good look! I'm just thanking the liquid eyeliner Gods for Stila's Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner!

Maybelline Baby Lips Balm in Pink Punch - £2.99

Following its Stateside success, the UK launch of this product was a highly anticipated one. I couldn't wait to get my hands on these lip balms, being a total lip balm fiend. Once they landed in the UK I purchased Pink Punch and Mint Fresh. I love Mint Fresh, it's one of my all-time favourite lip balms, I love any mint flavoured lip products anyway but the formula is just so hydrating. However, Pink Punch does not feel like the same hydrating product to me, it dries my lips out terribly and I also don't like the hint of colour that this has. Mint Fresh applies clear, while Pink Punch goes on like a sort of bright pinky colour but sheer too, which is fine but perhaps it should be a more muted pink if it's a sheer lip product. In my opinion, Pink Punch can't decide whether it's a balm or a tint... Disappointing but thank goodness it was dirt cheap or I'd feel a lot worse about it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara - £19.50

*gulp* I'm nervous about including this in the post but well... The UK's best selling mascara just didn't do it for me okay?! I'm sorry! Every beauty lover and their mother (poet and I didn't know it ;)) loves this mascara, and honestly I wanted to love this mascara so badly but I just don't... I find it so heavy on my lashes, so much so that it makes me feel uncomfortable and when I've had this on, I've felt paranoid of it smudging. The lash look that I tend go for is one that has the right mix of length and volume, but more so on the length side. This sadly has too little length for me, and far too much volume. I'm glad I've finally got this off my chest!

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post, it's good to mix things up a little every now and then, and it's a post I've contemplated doing for some time now. Like I said, just because a product doesn't work for me, doesn't mean the same applies for you, I just thought it may interest you to know what products I just haven't taken to. I'd love to find out what hyped up products didn't really float your bloat, let me know!


Follow me on Bloglovin':

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11870233/?claim=7hx5e9ntq8w">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Pore blimey, you can't beat a good freebie!



You can't beat a good magazine freebie every now and then, and this month Elle Magazine have really pulled out all the stops as they are giving away a free sample of the POREfessional Pro Balm by Benefit.

This freebie could not have come at a better time for me as I'm currently running out of my full sized POREfessional and despite being a total POREfessional devotee, at £24.50 for 22ml, I'd been putting off parting with my hard earned pennies, so Elle's "pricey for a magazine" £4 price tag really didn't sound so bad in comparison to that.

The magazine sample offering's size is 7.5ml which I think is pretty good, and will last me around two months.

This is one of the most talked about products in the beauty blogging world, it's a real "marmite" product - you either love it or hate it, as stated I'm a total devotee, I love it.

But why do I love it you ask? Well, first and foremost, it's described as a "silky, lightweight balm for translucent pore coverage and smoother-than-smooth skin", and I can confirm it does a sterling job in "blurring" the appearance of my slightly enlarged pores around my nose, which I think is largely due to it being a silicone primer.

(FYI - Silicone primers provide a smooth base for your foundation, as the silicone fills in any pores and fine lines.)

As well as that, it's not heavy on the skin at all and applies ever so smoothly. This can be used over or under your foundation. I always use it under, as it smooths out my skin tone, giving me a flawless base, that helps my make-up to last all day/night.

When I first used this, I was a little taken aback as it does have a slight beige-y colour to it but fear not, as that disappears once you've blended it in.

For me this product does everything that it claims to do, and I do feel it warrants the hype that surrounds it.

I highly suggest you head over to your nearest newsagent and pick up this month's copy of Elle, if you haven't tried the POREfessional yet - this product should be on every beauty lover's list of products they must try!

I may even buy another copy of Elle for this...

I would love to hear what primers you swear by, as I'm in need of some suggestions. Thanks for reading!



Follow me on Bloglovin':

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11870233/?claim=7hx5e9ntq8w">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>