My first Benefit experience: Mascara Review

I've never had/bought anything from Benefit before; I've never had the money to buy anything of theirs! For my birthday, my mum decided to give me a Benefit mascara and I was just so excited to try it, and my god I can finally see why everyone loves Benefit! This stuff is amazing! It really does what it says on the packet! My eyelashes look so much longer and fuller and just generally amazing! (I think so anyway) The mascara has a thin wand, made from silicone (I think) with thin bristles, which defines every lash, it even has a ball of bristles at the end to separate and curl your lashes. It comes out quite thin which is useful for when you only want a thin layer of mascara in the day time, then you can just layer it up for evening looks, I personally like quite thick lashes through the day as well, so I apply two layers in the morning rather than just one. To anyone who really loves thick full lashes and who maybe wears fake lashes through the day, I would definitely recommend ditching the falseies to give this mascara ago! Works wonders and really makes your eyes stand out! 10/10! Will definitely be trying more Benefit products! Love.

Before (only eyeliner applied)

One layer (eyelashes curled before application)

Two layers.

Eyeliner: Avon Super Shock gel liner

The Professional Beauty Show 2012

This post is waaaaay over due but I've just been so busy recently! Apologies for the lack of posts, I am going to try my hardest this week to keep on top of it! I've got lots of reviews to do this week so hopefully they will get done!

Anyway.. I went to The Professional Beauty Show last weekend (4th of March) at the ExCeL centre in London. Now, it’s meant to be trade only, but my mum works in the industry so me and my friend managed to get some cheeky passes! (Thanks mum!) It was so interesting looking at all the different ranges of products that are available! I had no idea there were so many different types of nail varnish companies! And so many do gel nail varnishes which need LED/UV lights to cure, I just thought it was CND that did that (Shellac) apparently not! Also got some free goodies: a gift bag from Clarins which is shown below, as well as a bottle of spray tan from Crazy Angle (also where I met Joey Essex!) A free pot of strip wax fromWaxxxpress and a free Bazaar magazine. Overall had a lovely day with one of my best friends and bought myself some lovely goodies at trade prices. Awesome! Would definitely recommend to anyway who is interested in the beauty industry or wanting to widen their range of beauty products!.. Bring on The Vitality Show! :)

(Reviews of some products below on there way soon)

Joey Essex! (His teeth are unreal)

Birthday Fun

So it was my birthday at the weekend and I turned 20! No longer a teenager any more, scary stuff! I celebrated with my family and friends. I went out with my friends on the Friday up at uni and some of my best friends from back home came up to party with me and it made the night perfect! I then had my grandparents come round for dinner on the Saturday (my actual birthday) and it was lovely! My dad is such an amazing cook and made some beautiful dishes for us. We started with fried chorizo with homemade croutons, haloumi and a rocket salad, it was delicious! Then we had monk fish for a main, cooked in a beautiful lemon and orange sauce, served with potatoes, amazing! Then obviously a cheese board for my granddads benefit, as he is a traditionalist, then birthday cake for pudding! Beaut.

Now on to the important stuff.. PRESENTS! I thought I would share with you the goodies I received from my family and friends, each with a small review. Some of the products will have their own separate reviews later on in the week as some of them look interesting and are products I have never seen before, but I haven’t had time to try them all out properly yet. There are a few gifts I received that aren't here as I'm writing this in my uni room, and I've left some presents at home but here it goes :)

This was a present from my dad. Such a thoughtful present. These are the worry people of Guatemala. Basically, the people of Guatemala told their worries to the worry people before going to bed, then left them under their pillows, and when they awoke their worries had gone. Now, my dad knows that I worry about every stupid little thing you can think of so this, to me, is an amazingly thoughtful present! And, I’m not going to lie, I tried this the night I got them, and, not kidding, I swear the worry Ii told them had just disappeared from my mind. I mean, it was still there, but I wasn’t worrying about it. So strange. Maybe it’s a psychological thing if you believe they work, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it worked! I will be trying it again soon, and I will be taking them to my cheer competition!

Of course chocolate is a must have for any birthday! These will not be around by next week!

 

The nail varnishes were from someone I lived with last year, and the transfers from some girls on my cheer squad. I’m looking forward to trying the transfers as I've had the minx ones before and they were beautiful! The glittery nail varnish I have on my nails at the moment over a pale pink and I love it! So beautiful.. It will have its own separate review later this week!

These I knew I was getting; they are a pair of trackie bottoms with my cheerleading squads name written down the bottom of the left leg. Will definitely be wearing these to competition!

These were given to me by my beautiful flat rep from last year. The heart is a solid form of perfume and smells amazing! Perfect hand bag size, and the body lotion smells beautiful too but I have yet to use it properly.. Review coming!

These were given to me by my best friend, the phone case is amazing and so me as I am a photography student! Love it! And the snap shot magnetic photo frames are also perfect for all my photos! (And I have a lot!).. And, well, who doesn’t love candy nipple tassels? Haha obviously a joke present, but tastes good anyway! Love her for these x

This was from my family, I'm yet to try this but I think it sounds cool and if it works will look amazing! Review will probably be on its way soonish!

Perfumes, again from my family, smell amazing, and I actually had the Gucci one before (the gold bottle) however I think this maybe a different version of it, as instead of clear glass on the sides, this has frosted black sides, maybe they brought out a night time version? And the Vera Wang perfume (left) smells beautiful, and the bottle is stunning!  

These, also from the fam, I have yet to try. The New Kid i-gel sounds awesome and, again, will probably have a separate review. I've previously had Avon eyeliner and love it (Christmas present from my work friend/Avon rep) and the stila lip gloss and NARS eyeliner I just haven’t had time to even try out yet

These were from my friend from work. Beautiful present! Love the earrings and the lip gloss smells and tastes looovely!

Everyone knows I love my St.Tropez, so giving this to me as a present gives you a 10 out of 10! Again from the 'rents, and the GHD heat spray is also perfect for me as, well, my hair is my favourite feature and I'm constantly messing with it, so hopefully, this should protect it from my styling!

Now, this nail varnish is just plain awesome! It has a light on it so you can paint your nails in the dark! Now that's just cool, also love painting my nails, so these beauties were just perfect!

Socks, always a necessary present and these are cute and pink! Not a massive fan of pink, but vibrant pink I love! Perfect

PERFECT PRESENT! My housemates know me too well! I'm in love with The Biebs and when I opened this I freaked out massively. It actually smells beautiful, you may not believe me, but it does. And the fact that it's from this beautiful man (and he is 18 now so I can say man!) just makes it 10x better. LOVE.

Notorious blues

So I thought it was about time I did a post dedicated to nail varnish as I am forever painting my nails! This one is specifically dedicated to Leighton Denny, one of my favourite makes of nail varnish. The name of this blog came from one of my favourite colours of theres 'Notorious' which is a beautiful pastaly blue colour, perfect for spring! I think there product is amazing, comes out smoothly on the nail and doesnt take too long to dry. I usually paint my nails at the beginning of watching an hour long programme so I have a full hour to make sure they are completely dry. The pictures below are of some of my favourite colours from Leighton Denny (and the only ones I have up at uni with me!) I would definitely recommend this brand for anyone who loves a good polish on the tips of there fingers! It may be pricey, buts its worth it!

                                                                               "Notorious"

Good hair day

So after looking at my hair a few weeks ago and thinking it looked an absolute state I decided I was going to do something about it! So I got it cut and invested in some products to sort it out. Now, normally I don't buy things I see advertised as it usually doesn't do what the advert says, but in this case I had seen a new product range from tresemme called 'split remedy' and this sounded like the perfect product I was searching for.. So I bought the tresemme split remedy serum. And omg I'm glad I did! I've used it once and my hair feels amazing! Now this could be because I let my hair dry naturally instead of using a hair dryer or it could be the work of this new product, whatever it was my hair certainly feels better. I'll give it a few more goes and keep you updated but so far so good! If it turns out to be the work of the product, I may have to invest in the whole range!

Who can resist a freebie?

So the other day my friend invites me to go to the Bourjois Boutique in Shoreditch, and after thinking that it was a bad idea as I had so much work to do, I caved and decided I would go (obviously, who would choose work over a pamper day with a friend?!) And I am so glad I did!! I had such a good day and it was much needed. I hadn't seen my friend since new year and I missed her. It was so good just to spend the day together wandering around London. Not to mention the free goodies we got from the Bourjois boutique! I'm glad I went :) (I plan on trying out the cleanser as my skin is awful at the moment so I'll let you know how I get on) Also, everyone check out my friends blog! It's much better than mine!!! www.missjessicarachel.blogspot.com