Benefit cosmetics – Bubbly Michelle

Current favourites

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014by Bubbly Michelle8 Comments

Hi Hi!

Todays post is all about products i’ve been enjoying lately. Random lifestyle and travel necessities kinda mix with a few beauty essentials thrown in as well.

I usually save posts like this for Instagram, but this time around I wanted to add some quick reviews too, so what better place to do a detailed post than right here, my outlet, my blog!!!

Let’s start out with the edit.

First up, some things I use when I travel.

My Benefit eye mask- A little treat from my visit to the San Francisco Benefit store on Fillmore street. I love how soft and silky this feels and is my inflight essential. I need this to get some shut eye while I patiently (Or impatiently rather) wait till we land.

Sleep sniff box- It’s a soothing mix of essential oils (Lavender, Cammomile & Neroli) that calms the mind and gets you into a nice relaxed state. I love to keep this in my carry on so I can take a whiff of this and go right to sleep.

Next, some mode essentials

Lace slippers – This is by far my most loved pair of shoes right now. Since i’m a jeans and tee kinda gal, they are super easy to mix and match and I always love how it shows off my pedicure too! It’s a very budget friendly find from Bershka and I really can’t get enough. Plus, they are virtually weightless! I can walk miles in them… Glad I packed these for my holiday.

Red Valentino bag – Just big enough to hold my phone, mirror, lipstick and maybe a perfume. But is oh so light and I love how the bright red instantly lifts any outfit. Plus these shoulder bags are always great when going sightseeing cos you can be ‘hands free’ to have your camera ready while making memories! I am glad I am finally putting this to good use, it’s been neglected for far too long.

Some beauty!

Clarins samples – Always a favourite for when I travel. There are quite a few that I use on a daily basis so I am glad I have them in a convenient travel size as well. The products I enjoy the most are their Defining eye lift serum, Hydra Quench moisture mask, Hydra Quench cream gel and the Instant eye makeup remover.

So a quick review on these.

Defining eye lift –

I am someone who wakes up with majorly puffy eye lids. Although they slowly ‘depuff’ by the time I get around to doing my makeup. I still like to use this to tighten my eye area. It’s a serum that can be applied before your regular eye cream and just a tiny amount will do. I apply it on my eye lid and smooth it out towards the brow in a patting motion so that it stimulates circulation and drains any water retention that causes the puffiness. If you are looking to add one more step to your eye routine, this could be a worthy contender!

Hydra Quench cream mask –

This is a Clarins product that I LOVE. It’s not expensive and works just as effectively as some of the more pricier moisture masks i’ve tried. I also love the nice fresh scent of this particular line by Clarins. I use the gel moisturiser of this same line for morning hydration and have talked about it before.

Instant eye makeup remover –

Just a good speedy eye makeup remover with no irritation. I love how this dissolves mascara without having to ‘rub’ too much. And I am glad I have this in a travel size. Clarins really are soo generous with samples. Kinda addicting in a way..

Back to the post,

Hand creams – I’ve been loving two actually. I use the thicker, more nourishing La Mer one as a night time treatment and this Diptyque Eau Rose as a day time hand cream since it’s smaller and I find is very easy to take around in my bag. Personally I wish La Mer would do a more travel friendly size of their hand cream. Have you seen how heavy the cap is??? It’s insane. I feel like I need a separate bag to carry this in!

Now onto some makeup bag essentials..

Hakuhodo retractable brush – Fits perfectly in my little makeup bag and great to use with any powder I might be carrying. I love how it is encased in this holder so the bristles don’t mingle with the other contents of my bag. So hygienic.

VDL Blotting powder – I love this stuff. I remember how I tried this the very first day at the counter and all dewiness, GONE right in front of my eyes. It’s lightweight and doesn’t leave a white cast cos it’s translucent, so even if you have darker skin, this works perfect for you too.

Diptyque Do Son – This is my favourite Diptyque perfume. It’s a heady scent of Tuberose, something feminine and floral but is still a bit creamy and smooth. I’ve had this for over a year now and I still can’t stop using it. I like to keep a sample in my bag so I don’t have to carry my bottle around when I travel. Works out perfectly for me. But I think I may need to restock my samples next time I visit a Diptyque store..

O.P.I Avoplex cuticle oil to go – Something I can’t live without! You really REALLY need to try this. It’s a little tube with a brush tip applicator which instantly hydrates dry cuticles. Normally for me hand creams alone aren’t enough, and I always rely on this baby to keep my hands looking well groomed and hydrated.

Sensai Lip treatment sample – So I have never owned this in a full size and it is my second sample pot (I got three!). But I am completely in love with this conveniently packaged coin size pot of lip treatment. It’s my nightly lip balm and I also keep it in my makeup bag to use as and when needed. The texture of this is not waxy or oily like normal lip balms, but a lightweight formula that feels like a light moisturiser. It keeps my lips in good condition, so I like to have this around.

Armani Flash Lacquer 520 – This is my go-to lipgloss these days. It’s a medium pink with a slight warm tone. Perfect to mimic youthful healthy lips. I also love that this can be layered over lipstick to make them more pinky and flushed. I believe it’s a fail safe colour for most skin tones.

concluding with some lifestyle products…

Penhaligons Endymion candle – Where do I even begin…. It’s an addictive creamy scent with a very sexy warm profile. I keep this in my living area and light it whenever I need to feel pampered and relaxed. I love love love this!

Breath luxury phone portable charger by M.Craftsman – Can’t count how many times this has been my saviour when my phone died. This portable charger can store up to 2.5 times your iPhone battery and is great for when you are on vacay so you can charge on the go if you are out all day. I actually have two. And how sleek is the packaging with the leather and suede mix? VERY!!!

Last but not least –

Some Fashion/Art in the form of Manolo drawings. Who doesn’t like shoes? And I think Manolo makes some of the most creative and exotic ones. I love to brows through this little book and dream of all the gorgeous shoes that I would just love to try on some day. These are more like works of art. Truly admire Mr Manolo.

So there you have it, a ramble about my current loves. Hope I didn’t bore you too much 🙂

In any case I plan to do more lifestyle type posts like this in future to break up the monotony of just beauty and skincare reviews.

Wishing you a great weekend!

Michelle.

Makeup

Benefit brow mapping and eye look! |Tips by Benefit Cosmetics spokesperson Mr. Jared Bailey

July 6, 2014July 10, 2014by Bubbly Michelle30 Comments

Hello hello!

So a couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting a VIB (very influential brow!) , .. the lovely Jared Bailey, international spokesperson for Benefit Cosmetics services. He is the final say when it comes to perfectly groomed brows!
Jared is just so jovial and full of life, and made me feel completely at ease discussing you know, normal tea time conversation topics… like brows!

Now if you’ve been paying close attention to my Instagram, you’d know I am a complete brow freak!
And I was thrilled at the opportunity to pick up some great brow advice from him to share with you!

So here’s Jareds words of advice!

*Thou shall only pluck one hair at a time – no ‘speed plucking’! (Believe me, I wish I had listened; now I have a random bald spot at the beginning of my brow! which i’m soooo annoyed about it)
*Respect thy mirrors personal space – stand at a reasonable distance, as you need to view your brows as a pair… concentrating on just one, is a recipe for an over plucked disaster. Every so often step back and look at your progress and check symmetry.
*When in doubt, put your tweezers down and get thyself to a brow bar. There are professionals who can sort them out! Head to your nearest Benefit Boutique!

So that was the short version of the story… Let’s dive deeper into some brow shaping tips, also called brow mapping! This basically is a guide to shape your brows (by plucking them) into a perfect arch that suits your face. Following this simple guideline will give you fab brows without much effort! All thanks to Jared!

First things first. You need to find the ideal starting point for your brows.
If you take a quick glance at the pictorial guide below, I used a brow spooly brush to align the point. Just rest the spooly on the dimple of your nose running vertically till it reaches your brow line. Your brow should ideally start here. According to Jared, if you start your brows closer, you can slightly sharpen your look, and on the flipside, starting a bit further off the center would soften your appearance. It’s all an illusion 😉

Next, we locate the highest point of the arch. This can easily be done by placing the spooly again from the dimple of your nose running straight past your iris to the point where it intersects your brow. Keep in mind that the higher you draw your arch, the sharper and more youthful it looks, of course overdoing it is not ideal… Just slight exaggeration is advised.

Now onto the most important part! The final point that brings your brows balance. The end of your brows.
Simply take that spooly, place it at the side of your nose, and align it to run past the corner of your eye to the point where is meets the end of your brow. If your brow falls short, just use a pencil to lightly extend it to that point when you do your makeup.

So there you go! A perfect arch to suit your face!

Next, I’ll show you how I take my freshly groomed brows and fill them out for a simple day look. It’s basically my favourite part of my makeup routine, and I am excited to share it with you.

*Normally I’d fill in my brows after I have done my eye makeup and foundation. But to make sure you see my brow routine clearly without getting distracted by heavily made up eyes, this is me filling them up after just applying my base.

Firstly, I draw a rather precise line to outline the edge of my brow. All filling has to be done above this margin. I used my trusty Kate brow pencil to do this.

Next, I fill in any bald spots and sparse areas, to make them look uniform.

Usually brow powders don’t stick to bare skin well, so this helps with the brow powder filling that usually follows. In this tutorial though, I skipped filling the entire brow with brow powder and only used my brow pencil to fill my brows and brushed it out with the spooly for a very natural but groomed brow look. See?

However I did go over it using my Benefit Gimme Brow that helped comb all my brow hairs into place and keep them neat, the gimme brow also thickens the lashes by coating the finer hair, giving a more plush look.

Lastly I used a tiny bit of brow powder just at the start of my brows for a softened look and I did this last after doing all my makeup. (Hence the strange little unfilled part at the beginning of my brow! haha) Just scroll down to the closeups to see the finished brow!

So groomed brows like these would be wasted without some pretty eye makeup right? so I used some Benefit products to create a soft eye makeup look to go with them!

As you can see, the start of my brows are now softly filled in and the Benefit Gimme brow has thickened my brow hairs and brushed them into place.

P.S- I kinda went for a tousled hair look to go with the flirty makeup and summery cotton halter top 😉

Products used

Eyeshadow- Benefit World Famous Neutrals eye kit. Was pleasantly surprised how perfectly curated the eyeshadows were.. And the silver is great for glamourizing the neutrals for a night time look! I used the eyeshadows over the two cream bases that came with the kit.. it helps the eyeshadow stay put and gives depth to the makeup.

Mascara- They’re Real Mascara.

Brows- Benefit Gimme Brow, Guerlain universal eyebrow kit and Kate cosmetics eyebrow pencil

Cheeks- Benefit Lollitint

Lips- Benefit Kiss You lipgloss (a very pretty lilac shade which is going right into my makeup bag after this;-) Wish I’d used it more before!)

Complexion products- Chantecaille Future skin foundation, Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, Cle de Peau concealer stick.

Eyeliner- Eyeko

False lashes- Star Lash

*from the above list of products, the Benefit Gimme brow, World Famous Neutrals eyeshadow kit and They’re Real mascara were sent to me by Benefit Cosmetics, everything else were purchased by me 🙂

A Special thanks to Benefit Cosmetics Singapore for the opportunity to meet Jared and for the collaboration!

GIVEAWAY!!!

So for those who are residents of Singapore, Benefit SG has very generously put together a gift or gifts rather to three lucky readers! There’s a grand prize and two other consolation prizes up for grabs!

The winner of the grand prize receives a goodie bag over $300, which includes

A complimentary wax and brow tint, a complete set of They’re Real franchise which includes mascara, Push up liner and remover, Posie balm, High Brow, cream and powder eyeshadow and much more!

The consolation prizes include a wax and tint session to groom your brows, They’re Real franchise in deluxe size and a powder eyeshadow. All which totals up to $100 each

So leave a comment over here along with your e-mail address if you want to win!

P.S- To double your chances of winning, post a selfie of your daily eye makeup or a complete #fotd pic (your choice) on Instagram and tag #BMxBENEFIT and #reallinersg (Don’t forget to make your account public so I see your entries!)

I’ll pick a winner next Sunday (20th July) So you have plenty of time to practice your #fotd selfie looks 😉

Thank you for reading and wishing you a fabulous week ahead!

BubblyMichelle.

Makeup

Benefit, The POREfessional : Agent Zero Shine |review, photos and swatches

January 18, 2014by Bubbly Michelle12 Comments

Hello there! Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far 🙂

Today’s post is about a new product that Benefit cosmetics is set to release in Singapore this February. (The U.S as always has it in stores already, POUT) Luckily I was given a sample to test it out way back in November and I had plenty of time to use it and make notes so I can share a nice fat review with you 😉

What it promises to achieve-

Take out shine without a trace!

The POREfessional: agent zero shine is your undercover shine fighter! Our NEW invisible shine-control powder instantly minimizes shine and helps smooth the look of pores. It joins the POREfesshional pore minimizer in your top secret mission for smoother-than-smooth skin. Pores and shine don’t stand a chance!

The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this was how incredibly travel friendly it is! I packed this for my trip to India (I mean where better to try a mattifying product right?) and I can honestly say it saved space, was spill proof and was great for mid day touch ups.

It also makes packing a brush in your makeup bag redundant, as this comes with a built in brush cleverly hidden at the bottom of the container. Hygienic and compact. I’d say the brush is pretty soft, not scratchy and good quality for something that comes free with a powder.

Here’s a look at the opening, which shuts close when you twist the top. No Spilling!

Anyways now onto the important stuff!

Agent Zero shine is available in just one shade. Though it looked a little too light when I dusted some on the back of my hand, it pretty much disappears once you blend it out, it works somewhat like a translucent powder would in that sense.

I believe it should be ok for light to medium skin tones but I am not sure how this would look on the ladies with deep complexions.

As Benefit promises it does keep shine at bay. I tested this out with my usual foundation Lancome’s Teint Visionnaire and dusted the Agent Zero Shine on the right side of my face and my regular powder on the left side. The powder pretty much disappeared onto the skin and didn’t leave a powdery finish, just a fresh and matte look.

It stayed a good 3 hours completely shine free. And towards the 4th my t-zone started getting slightly oily, but my cheeks were still in the slick free zone which I am very thankful for! The powder itself is pretty finely milled and I managed to re-apply it around the 5th hour without blotting my face, and it didn’t cake up my makeup or disturb it as a compact powder would. My face was right back at the fresh matte look I started out with.

*I see this very useful for career women who want to take their makeup from day to night without having to reapply foundation and start from scratch.

Other observations were-

Excellent for travel, as I myself hate lugging a giant jar of loose powder when I pack for vacations.

Mess free application. All you have to do is dust a bit into the cap or the palm of your hand and dip the powder brush in.. the lockable jar top is perfect to keep it from spilling while you do all this. Although I wouldn’t advise you using this while at a red light driving to work!

Pricing-

This is said to retail at around the same price as the Porefessional, that’s around SGD 49 and comes with 7.0g Net wt 0.24 oz of product

You can purchase yours at Tangs or at any Sephora in Singapore around the first week of February when it’s said to release.

Lifestyle, Makeup

The art of stocking stuffing

December 16, 2013December 16, 2013by Bubbly Michelle6 Comments

If you are like me and start off real early buying Christmas gifts and then are scrambling around mere days before ‘the day’ looking for stocking stuffers, this post is for you!

Here’s a little guide,

a. Stocking stuffers should ideally be exactly what they sound like – small enough to go into a stocking!

b. No need to go all extravagant (unless that’s your thing of course!) as they are just the little extras.

*Talking bout extravagant stocking stuffers I heard that there is stocking stuffer sized YSL Youth liberator serum that had come out specially for Christmas! Lmfao

c. The more the merrier! Don’t skimp, it’s the holidays! I personally love receiving a tonne of little gifts!

d. Try to take advantage of sales and other year end deals that most stores offer. Since you’ll be buying so many gifts, overall you do save a substantial sum if you shop smart.

Now on to a few stocking stuffers I managed to get my hands on, mostly from the Sephora 20% sale in Singapore.

Stila- Colour me Glossy lip glaze set

This Stila lip gloss set was made for stocking stuffing, it contains three individually packed gloss sets. There’s even a label to write recipient names! Now that’s smart marketing.

Shu Uemura S Curler, Lip & Cheek Fun-tasy

Adore this cute lash curler and lip/cheek tint from the Shu Uemura 6 Heart Princess holiday release, it’s a fun little addition to any gift pile. And it’s always a plus when the packaging is cute, or even better, Christmassy! This collections packaging is decorated with a Christmas tree of hearts!

Benefit Double the Real mascara duo set

I always feel that gifts such as lipsticks can be tricky if you don’t really know a persons taste in makeup, but things like mascaras you really cant go wrong with, they only come in a very few shades and everyone is usually happy with black!

This set is extra special cos it comes with a mini mascara too, and it’s free! Perfect for anyones makeup bag.

Benefit Crescent Row Eau de Toilette miniatures set

Lastly this very cute perfume set, a Christmas gift sent by the very kind folk at Benefit, I had never seen it before, I believe it’s part of the holiday sets they had come out with this year. But it’s truly another awesome idea for stocking stuffers! It consists of 4 mini eau de toilette bottles and matching little boxes, the packaging is to die for and let’s not even get started on the names of these perfumes cos they are ridiculously cute! I think ‘Ring my Bella’ is my favourite, and it’s going straight into my makeup bag 😛

So that’s my little list of finds, hope is was of some help and eased your holiday gift shopping trauma at least a bit.

Wishing you a great week ahead,

xx, Michelle.