The Benefit of Benefit

There was once a time when every third item in my make up bag was Benefit. Seriously, I was obsessed... from the Dear John moisturiser through Playsticks foundation, Get Even powder, Bad Gal liner and mascara, Georgia blush and everything in between (including Maybe Baby perfume and the entire Bathina body line) but somewhere along the way, I started using different products and Benefit sort of fell out of favour (aside from Bad Gal Waterproof which is amazing and on my daily must-have list), relegated to the back of a drawer.

That was until I happened by the Benefit counter in Bloomingdales last week... Oh My.
There are so many new products! They're all amazing! I'm now broke! Seriously, I thought I was going to have a little cry. It always begins with 'hey, why don't I refresh your make-up?' and ends in 'that will be $2oo' and I never, ever learn.

We started out using the Pore-Fect primer which is fantastic, so far, I have to say I even prefer it to Smashbox Photofinish. After that, the lovely, lovely make-up artist showed me how to use the Hello, Flawless mineral foundation which now comes in a variety of shades and even goes pale enough for my mug. Scary, right? Obviously, I handed my credit card over for both, as well as the Her Name Was Glowia kit because it had the RSVP lip gloss and Coralista powder in there. And because I am gullible and easily upsold. But there was so much more! The Girl Meets Pearl highlighter was beautiful, all the eyeshadows were soon-worthy and it reminded me just how much I love my Miss Priss gloss, Bad Gal liner and lash, my BeneTint and even my Maybe Baby.

So, I'm just saying... Christmas is on its way people/mother...
Lots of gift sets around. Looooots of gift sets.

Breast Cancer Awareness month - Boy Meets Girl

Not technically a beauty product this time but still something worth shouting about, Boy Meets Girl and Urban Outfitters have collaborated on this really rather purdy tote bag to raise funds for the Young Survival Coalition.


The bag is dedicated to Kristen Martinez, a member of the Urban Outfitters family who lost a five year battle to breast cancer at the age of 36. It's always scary to think about breast cancer affecting someone so young but please, please, please don't think you're immune just because you feel invincible. Always check yourself every month and never miss scheduled check ups with your nurse, same goes for cervical cancer while we're here, OK?

Learn more at www.youngsurvival.org or just suck it up and purchase the bag here.

Breast Cancer Awareness month - Elemis

As per, one of my favourite brands in the whole wide world, Elemis, has stepped up to raise awareness and cashola for Breast Cancer Care, pledging £10,000 to the charity. Amaze.

You can show your support by picking up the Sparkling Beauty Collection for just £50 (and it's £143 - woah) and get your mitts on a gorgeous pink vanity case packed with Pro-Collagen Lifting Treatment Neck and Bust, Pro-Collagen Marine Cream, Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss capsules, Visible Brilliance and the new Elemis eau de parfum. I believe I'm what's commonly referred to as a vocal supporter of Elemis (also known as a gobby cow) and when I'm out of Pro-Collagen Marine Cream, I know it. My skin just isn't the same. Sob.

So do your bit for Breast Cancer Care and bag some seriously cheapity cheap prods into the bargain.
Result.

Breast Cancer Awareness month - The Sanctuary

I have been unbelievably slack in promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Month this year which is absolutely unforgivable, so basically prepare yourself for a barrage of wonderful things to get involved in for a very, very good cause...

Starting with something I'll definitely be booking when I get back to the UK at the end of the month, The Sanctuary is offering a Pink Pamper Day throughout October to help raise awareness. For every £99 booking, £5 will be donated directly to Breast Cancer Care.

The Pink Pamper Day will include:
Full use of the spa facilities with day admission
A rejuvenating 25 minute treatment
Pink Prosecco and cupcake
Complimentary Pink Jessica nail polish worth £8.95

And you can upgrade your treatment to 50 minutes for £20 - amaze.
So you can fight stress and cancer all in one go, what are you waiting for*?



*Don't say payday, this is what credit cards were made for. No buyer's remorse, it's CHARITY.

MAC Venomous Villains

I don't have word for how jealous I am of Ms Keren for this one so I'm not going to try.
Wah. I love Disney and I love MAC... I've been dying to get my mitts on this collection for the longest time. I'm off to MAC in Soho tomorrow to grab whatever I can.
So do your worse Keren, DO YOUR WORST.

Mwah ha ha! This evil cackle is brought to you courtesy of the MAC Venomous Villains range. Beautylover is turning green with envy, because I got my Evil Queen talons on the fiendishly fabulous collection last night at MACs first blogger’s preview.

Venomous Villains is a collaboration with Disney and is based on 3 of Disney’s most infamous femme fatales; Cruella de Vil, Snow White’s Evil Queen, Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent, and also The Princess and the Frog’s Dr Facilier, those three ladies terrified me as a child, but also massively impressed me with their dark take on glamour. (I have to admit I haven’t seen The Princess and the Frog, yet.) I love the packaging, the illustrations really stand out against MAC's signature black. I am a children's book designer so I guess it's up my street, and I know Beautylover is a Disney lover too, but I can imagine it's a bit childish for some more grown-up 30 somethings (sorry Beautylover you are now part of the gang...)
Just so you all know, I hate her. SHE'S IN HER THIRTIES TOO - BL

At the preview there was a demo of the Cruella de Vil look... So I’ll start with that. (BTW I can't take credit for this photo, I only had my phone, so I asked MAC to send it!)

Cruella is known for her super arched eyebrows, chiselled cheekbones and red lipstick. I thought it was actually a completely wearable look, and there are plenty of products in the range that could be toned down for daytime. The make-up artist made it look super easy, I was amazed at how quickly she stuck on the eyelashes, there is no way a normal person could put them on that quickly, and also without sticking them to their finger instead of their eye!

One of the lovely MAC ladies from the High Street Kensington store, Tabby, helped me choose some items because I was suffering from major indecision, and also did me some Maleficent eyes which I did contemplate sleeping in, but thought the better of!

And in the end I went home with...

CRUELLA’S Wicked Ways Lipglass, well you never have too many lipglosses and this one is a lovely nude colourEVIL QUEEN’S Beauty Powder in Oh So FairMALEFICENT’S Mineralize Eye Shadow duo in My Dark Magic, Tabby used this on me - you like? Sorry for the dodgy self-portrait.
DR.FACILIER’S M·A·C Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light which I am the most curious to see how it looks. As I tried a bit on my hand and it was completely shimmery and smooth to touch.

I felt a bit of shoppers remorse for a few minutes, but when I got home and had another look I think these will be well loved and wished I'd bought more!

Available October 2010 at all M·A·C locations on 0870 034 2676 andwww.maccosmetics.co.uk
images courtesy of M.A.C cosmetics (except for my dodgy self-portrait)