2true Prime Perfect–A Benefit Porefessional Dupe?

Beloved by many, the Benefit Porefessional primer has been a hit since it's release. I'm not a huge primer fan for many reasons but I do like to try the new hot thang on the block, and enjoyed a couple of mini bottles of Porefessional well enough. When I heard that 2true, a somewhat ignored budget brand from Superdrug, had released a dupe, I had to check it out!



That is a LOT of claims on the bottle right there. Hydrating and brightening AND mattifying? Protects from what exactly? Oh, companies. Just quit it already!



If you're familiar with Porefessional, this looks exactly the same! The product has a tint to it, but I don't feel it provides any coverage, so there goes the 'evens skintone' claim. It definitely doesn't brighten either - like most silicone based primers, you'll get a more matte look.

 Again, like Porefessional, a little goes a long way and it works really well to smooth out your skin and reduce the appearance of your pores and fine lines without feeling too heavy. If you're really oily, it won't do much for you in way of oil control but for me, I find it does help to prolong the wear of my foundation and stop the shin peeping through on my t-zone. I like to use it with a BB cream for a fuss-free face for work when I want to look a little more polished.

If you like Porefessional but can't stomach the £24.50 price tag or brave the scary Benefit ladies, I'd really, really recommend hunting this down. It's a fiver, y'all. And to my eyes (and face!), it's exactly the same.

Soft purple glitter LOTD with Sugarpill and Madd Style Cosmetics

Happy New Year, everyone! I barely wore any makeup over the Christmas period, so when I got back from visiting the family I thought I’d go for a wee touch of sparkle. Just to sit in my PJ’s and finish off the Quality Street, mind you.

Eyes: Lid, Hi-Fi Cosmetics Between the Stars (now defunct company), Sugarpill 2am, matte vanilla from Barry M Natural Glow palette, warm matt brown from MUA Undress Me Too palette, Collection 24/7 Pen Eyeliner in Black and Madd Style Cosmetics Glitter in  Nymphette
Lips: Stained pink with Australis mint lipgloss on top.
Cheeks: Benefit Dallas, Barry M blush from the Natural Glow palette (soft, soft pastel pink)

I got a new camera for Christmas and have to work out how to use it, so if my photo quality is a bit wobbly over the next few weeks, I do apologise!  Continuing the ‘being useless’ theme, I’m still getting to grips with using the Lit Clearly Liquid base  – it seems a bit of a faff and I’m sure it’s down to me missing something. I’m going to review it soon as it’s a great budge-proof product for adhering glitter!

I love  a bit of glitter at this time of year, but didn't actually wear any on New Years Eve itself! Do you guys like glitter all the time or just for partying?

Quickie Review: Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Birthday Suit

Man, I haven’t bought a Benefit product for about five years until this one. When I got my first student loan I went nuts on Benefit, and then I realised that I was horrible at makeup and I think that put me off buying from them for a long time. I still think they have a fair few gimmicky items but a recent trip to their new store on Carnaby Street had me lusting after a few things. I picked up one of the Creaseless Cream Shadows to wear at work and I went for the blogger favourite Birthday Suit while my lovely shopping companion picked up another favourite, Skinny Jeans.

The packaging is absolutely beautiful. This is the newer packaging for these products and it kicks the arse of the old black screw-top ones. It’s like a modern Art Deco look and very reminiscent of a lot of Paul and Joe products and the box it comes in is just lovely – I don’t want to throw it away so I’ve been keeping my stud earrings in it on my bedside table (I don’t like to sleep in earrings.) There are a few other things with this packaging in – a little clunky on the lipsticks but I prefer it to much of Benefits other packaging. More of this please Benefit!

This is a really interesting shade – it’s a taupey chrome sort of colour with warmer sparkle, so when you apply it sheerly, it’s a nice cool wash, and when you layer it, it becomes a little warmer. I don’t really know what drew me in to this colour but personally I think it’s very beautiful. I’ve been wearing it alone with a flick of liner for work and I’m really, really impressed with it’s longevity. The first time I wore this, I wore a sheer layer – I left for work at 6.30pm and when I got back around 7pm, I had just a tiny bit of creasing in the deepest part of the crease of my eye which I blended out with my finger, seeing me through until I went to bed. I wore a thicker layer the next day and noticed a little more creasing around 4pm, but nothing horrific. The colour itself is also one that doesn’t look horrific when it does crease, like a starker colour would. I only have a couple of MAC Paint Pots but I have a fair few Color Tattoos and I have to wear a primer with all of them if I want to wear them alone all day, and I’ve not felt the need to with this, so I’m very impressed! If the rest are this good, I would put them above the Color Tattoos easily.

Birthday Suit on the lid with a matte brown from MUA’s Undress Me Too palette in the crease.

I’m really pleased I bought this product and I’m pretty darn interested in getting some more. Skinny Jeans and No Pressure have got my name on them!

Creaseless Cream Shadows cost £15.50 and you can buy them from Benefit stores as well as the Debenhams and House of Fraser websites.

Where to go makeup shopping in London

One of my favourite things to do in London is, naturally, makeup shopping. I do this shopping walk over and over again and love it, and it covers most things you could ever want from a makeup shopping trip. Makeup can be had in any department store, shopping centre or area of London, but I stick to this little route a lot and it covers everything. I've also listed some other stores elsewhere in London that are worth a visit.

I'm super lucky to have met some wonderful bloggers from around the country and abroad and I always enjoy shopping with them. This weekend I met up with the lovely Sam from Kiss My Sparkle and our friend Jade and off we went!

Face charts at Illamasqua, prettiness at Benefit and pigments and glitter at Makeup Store.

Starting your stroll just off Carnaby Street, the Illamasqua store is an absolute must-stop for makeup lovers. The store is absolutely beautiful, and it's normally quieter than the stand at Selfridges so the MUAs there can give you their full attention. Jade and I spent a good time drooling over their beautiful face charts, the studio at the back of the store where they hold classes, the quirky Gothic furniture and of course, all the beautiful polishes and makeup, while Sam was matched for SkinBase by a lovely, friendly MUA.

Snippets of prettiness from the Benefit parlour.

Heading back onto Carnaby Street, the brand-new Benefit store is so girly and worth a stop by! Sam and I picked up some of the Creaseless Cream Shadows and I was actually pretty impressed by their new blush, Rockateur. Downstairs they have a full-on beauty salon for waxing, nails, spray tanning and blow-drys, complete with a champagne bar! It's definitely somewhere I'd take my sister or one of my besties for a pamper day and I can see it becoming a popular hen-do spot with it's cute decor and central location.

Continuing down Carnaby Street you'll see the Swedish brand Makeup Store on your left. I absolutely love the Makeup Store - the glitters and pigments are amazing, and they have a gorgeous home spa section as well. If you buy something, you get a discount on thier own magazine which I always pick up. It's absolutely stunning and as good as many editorial makeup books I've paid ten times the money for!

 

Treats at Choccywoccydoodah! Not makeup, but whatever.

Coming out of Makeup Store, head straight across down Fouberts Place to MAC Pro on the corner. As well as carrying all the usual MAC products, they carry lots of other fun things for professional use, like acrylic body paints and the Chromacakes. MAC Pro is conveniently right next door to Choccywoccydoodah! I stopped in here with the girls for the first time and ordered a white hot chocolate and a dipping pot with lots of little bite-sized version of their treats and left in a full-on sugar coma. This is a really nice, quirky place with lovely kitsch decor and fun music to stop off at and rest your feet, and the staff were absolutely lovely and made us feel very welcome.

 

Back off to Carnaby Street and off to Liberty! This is one of my favourite shops in London as it's so beautiful and easy to get lost in for a couple of hours. Head through the chocolate shop and you'll come out into the perfume department - I love it here as there are so many posh and unusual scents in a posh-Great-Grandma’s-house setting. There's lots of nooks and crannies to explore in the beauty department. - the Hourglass counter is worth a browse and if you head up a couple of floors, the bath and body section is always decked out beautifully. If you’re into candles, this is where you wanna be.

 

A long line of pretty at the YSl counter in Selfridges

Leaving Liberty and heading back onto Regent Street and then Oxford Street, turn left and keep going until you reach Selfridges! You will pass a (newly refurbished but Art Deco-less) Debenhams  and a John Lewis, but Selfridges beauty hall kicks their butt. I freaking love Selfridges beauty hall. Hooooooooo mama! As well as favourites like MAC, NARS and Bobbi Brown, I love going to the Shu Uemura and Armani counters, and I always stop off to drool at the crazy expensive Tom Ford products! I noticed the new Charlotte Tilbury stand was super popular too!I took some advice from the lovely guys at Kiehl’s about some male skin care while the girls drooled over the Suquu range. Heading to the back of the beauty section you'll find all the polishes and less high-end brands like OCC and Bourjouis, as well as quirky brands like Paul and Joe.

If you're a real hard-core shopper, you can go to Carnaby Street via Regent Street, and stop off at Penhaligons, an absolutely beautiful per fumier, and LUSH for all your favourites. Then go through all the shops above, but instead of continuing down Oxford Street from Liberty, nip into Topshop to check out their own range of makeup and the huge Barry M stand. Before heading into Selfridges, there's a large Boots on Oxford Street - skip all the counters as you'll see these in Selfridges, but it's a good chance to pick up UK brands you can't get elsewhere, and a Body Shop or two as well. Similarly, take a right as you leave Selfridges and there's a huge Superdrug for even more UK high street goodies like Sleek and MUA!

That's usually quite enough for one day, but there are a few other gems dotted about London as well. If you're in Westfield White City, the OPI store and Models Own Bottleshop are great for polishes. KIKO (also at Westfield Stratford) is fast becoming one of my favourite makeup stores and have they amazing products for great prices, as well as great sales. The only Inglot store in the UK is in Westfield White City as well and I could go on and on about how much I love this brand! If you're in either Westfield, the large Boots have a great range of French pharmacie skin-care brands, too. If you’re shopping at the White City Westfield, PAM is a short walk away and has an amazing range of professional and colour brands such as Makeup Forever and Illamasqua, as well SFX goodies galore and amazing brushes from brands like bDellium Tools and London Brush Co.

Central London-wise, if you're in Covent Garden a stop at Charles Fox on Tavistock Street is an absolute must – lots of amazing special effects goodies (buckets of vomit, anyone? Fake beards?) and wonderful colour products from Kryolan, Ben Nye, Illamasqua et al to play with. There's also a SpaceNK a short walk away in Seven Dials along with a MAC, Bare Minerals, Benefit and Shu Uemura.

My modest haul for the day! Thank you, Boots BOGOF!

If you have any London-based shopping questions, please just let me know and I'll do my best to answer! Where do you like to shop for makeup?

May Favourites and Not-So-Favourites

Favourites

MAC Girl Next Door

Anyone who knows me will probably be scratching their head at this entry on my list, but I've been reaching for this a lot! It's a (dupeable) blue based pink, but I've been layering it with just about everything! I've bought tons of pink and purple lip liners recently and I've been using this over them. Also, every man and his dog loves the cute Archie’s Girls packaging! Thanks to Priscilla for sending this to me :)

MAC Nightmoth

I love this. I just love it. It is fucking rad.

MAC Magenta

Last MAC item for this month, I’ve been wearing this pretty much non-stop since I’ve got it. It’s simply gorgeous and doesn’t budge. 

MUA Undress Me Too Palette

This is kind of an odd one to shout about for me as when I look at the palette, it doesn't make me excited, but I find myself reaching for it pretty much every day. For four quid, you can't beat the quality and useabilty and I won't go away without it now.

Boots Botanics Super Balm

I've basically really liked everything I've ever tried from Boots Botanics and I think they generally do fab skincare for bugger all money, which is something I can't argue with! This is a multi-purpose balm that claims to 'soften, soothe and calm skin in need'. I've not been using it on my skin but I have to say it's the best lip balm I've tried for a long, long time. For a few quid, you get tons as well.

Soap and Glory The Fab Pore

I love me a clay mask from time to time but often find they're really drying on my skin which outweighs any other benefits. This one doesn't dry my skin out at all, and I'm giving it full credit for cleaning up the most hideous spot on my chin ever.

A-Derma Sensifluid Lait Demaquillant

I picked this up in Boots - I can't lie here - because I really liked the bottle. If you like milky, lotion-y makeup removers, or you have sensitive skin, this one is a bloody good bet. I don't like using this type of consitency on my eyes, but it removes face makeup like a dream. Sadly it's not online at Boots, so I don't remember the price, but it was less than £10 for sure.

Hates

MUA Undress Your Skin Foundation in Ivory

Hate might be a bit of a strong term but this literally didn’t sit well with me. On inital application it looked nice – better coverage than I was expecting and a nice dewy finish. But it separated horribly on my and for my dry skin that’s kind of weird. I hate to wear skin primers and for the money this cost I really can’t be bothered to find a solution for it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

I hate this. I hate it. It would be an okay mascara – it seperates pretty nicely actually – but it WON’T COME THE FUCK OFF. It’s not billed as a waterproof mascara and I don’t expect to have to reach for an oily remover to get it off. It has that kind of goopy, gummy texture when you go to remove it and it’s such a pain in the ass. It was a freebie and thank god for that.

 

What are you loving and leaving this month?

Rounded Cut Crease and Glitter Tutorial

First of all, sorry for the terrible photo quality! I did this on a very dark, rainy Sunday afternoon and… well, with this English weather at the moment you kinda have to take what you can get photo-wise or you’d never blog at all! Anyway, not really sure what inspired me to do this look, but I really like this rounded cut-crease shape. It’s a little fiddly to do on my lids which are full of creases, but where my eyes are ever so slightly hooded, I find this shape much easier to do than a traditional cut crease look as I find it easier to make it look good on the outside corners  of my eyes, and keep the look cohesive. If you’ve got creasy lids or struggle with blending eyeshadow in cut crease looks, this might be worth a try as you only  need to blend the eyeshadow on the outside of your eye – there’s not really any belnding on the lid at all.

Here’s the look we’re trying to achieve:

1: Get your base down! I’m using Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pink Gold, as I’ll be adding a pink-ish glitter later. Choose a base that’s the same colour as your glitter, but keep it relatively light.

2: Take a dark matte brown eyeshadow – I’m using one from Sleek Storm - and softly define your crease, keeping it quite high. It doesn’t have to be super neat as this is really serving as a guideline for the cut crease, and it will aid the blending of the black eyeshadow we’ll be using later on,

3: Start to line your lid, and go about 3/4 of the way across. I’m using a pen liner from Collection2000 as I find I can do detail much better with a pen! If not, use the thinnest brush you have. I recommend trying a loose eyeshadow mixed with something like Duraline as you can get a really fluid consistency which will make it much easier.

4: To make your curve, extend the line up toward your brow slightly, as if you were beginning drawing a very thick winged liner. Then draw a curve from the top of this line, and extend it across your lid, tapering down slightly on the inside. This is the hardest part as the line can’t be thick at the end of the curve. You can see where it curve doesn’t go above the brown eyeshadow at all.

5: Now your curve is done, colour outwards slightly from the line. Don’t take it past the end of your eye socket, or too far above the top curve as we’re going to need to blend it out.

6: Ok, so now it’s time to make it look smoky! Blend some black shadow all around where you drew your liner – the brown shade you added earlier will help you blend the black out. You can see here that you’ll be able to tell where your liner has stopped. When you’ve finished blending it out and you’re happy with that, take your blackest black on a small paddle brush, make it so the ‘c’ shape on the brush matches up with the corner of your eye and sweep the black in toward the liner and the join should disappear.

7: Glitter! Easy peasy, take your adhesive and apply it to the non-black half of your eye. I used a small fine flat brush to make sure I got around the curves of the liner and then simply patted the glitter on. I used Darling Girl Stardust glitter in Prometheus.
I then took a little of the brown shadow again and just ran it along my lower lid.

Well, you’re pretty much done! I filled in my brows, added highlights (MAC Gesso, MUS Stardust) and lashes (Perfect 10’s) and a quick swoosh of cream liner on the waterline to finish the look.

On my cheeks I’m wearing a touch of Benefit Dallas and Make Up Store High Tech Lighter in Stardust, with MUA Juicy and Jordana ASAP on my lips.

Hope you enjoyed and that my step-by-steps are making sense!

Party Sunset LOTD with 120 palette

I wanted to do a sunset-themed look after seeing Susan, the owner of Darling Girl post a pretty one in a Facebook group, but I think it turned out more tropical looking! All the eyeshadows in this look are using the 120 palette, which I haven’t actually pulled out for a while. Having had the palette for nearly three years now, it’s done me very well and I forgot how pretty some of the colours are!

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Beige, 120 eyeshadow palette (matte red, several matte oranges, two matte yellows, cream shimmer, matte pink, shimmery purple, matte navy), Darling Girl Pixie Sprinkles in Golden Child
Cheeks: Benefit Dallas, Make Up Store Stardust.
Lips: 66 lip palette.

I decided to go the whole hog with the cheapness and used a 66 lip palette from eBay as well. The textures aren’t exactly varied or particularly beautiful, but the colour choice and pigmentation is certainly there so if you like playing with really bright or unusual colours I’d definitely recommend checking it out. I also tried to use a cheap eBay cheek palette, but it was too awful and I gave up – there’ll be a bigger rant on this product in an upcoming video – and switched back to higher end cheek products. Dallas is actually my oldest makeup product (I won’t say how long!)

 

Have you all been wearing brights lately?

Disney Collaboration with Fierce Nerditude: Sleeping Beauty (and bonus OOTD)

Sleeping Beauty is an awesome film – Malificent, yo – but Aurora herself? Bit dull. Even when she’s not asleep, all she does is sing and cock-tease an owl. Nonetheless, her peasant outfit is adorable, so that’s what I went with for this look. I had a great idea for the ‘Make it pink! Make it blue!’ part, but I just didn’t have time. I want to come back to that, though.

You’re not getting shit, owl.

Eyes: Lid, Mac Gesso, Inglot Matte 349 . Lower lashline, . Highlight/highlight under the liner, Inglot Matte 351 . Waterline. Benefit It Stick. Liner, Collection2000 Extreme 24/7 liner in black.
Lips: NYX Chandelier.
Cheeks: MUA Blusher in Shade 2.

I couldn’t decide what false lashes to use with this look – I really haven’t found any that look Disney enough for me. You know, with not too many lashes, but so that I don’t actually look like they’ve been drawn on. Oh, woe! We kept with the Princess theme this week and I gave Vijaya the slightly more well-rounded Giselle from Enchanted, which I love! So plz to be checking that out.

And just for a bonus, here’s what I wore today:

Dress, random knock-off shop. Tights, cardi, Primark. Necklace, Claires. Boots, Migato. Belt, New Look.

Black and White

Another look from the Never Too Much Sparkle’s (Wendi’s facebook group) weekly challenge. I haven’t done a black smoky eye for a very long time – to be honest, they scare me and even though I (think) I know what I’m doing most of the time I’m very wary of looking like Jordan/I’ve been punched in the eye. Anyway, I gave it a stab and tried to make the look more fun with some rhinestones and funky lips.

Not too shabby, huh? My top tip for black smoky eyes is to always blend the edges out with a purple or a navy as it stops it looking so harsh. I really liked this look on me – it’s not normally a placement or shaped I do, but I liked it a lot! The lips, however…

..Did not photograph so well. I don’t have the top lip for this look!

And nor did the white ones. I guess I’ll leave that to Jessie J. I also was playing around with foundations that day, which is why I look a bit darker/orange than usual. The hair dye on my head is down to stupidity.

Eyes: Sleek black, cream and purple from Bohemian palette, Hi Fi Phantom Stranger. MAc Reflects Black glitter. Maybelline gel liner. Rhinestones from eBay, lashes from local beauty supply.
Lips: For black/white: Barry M white Kohl, Sleek Pout Paint in Cloud 9/Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero and Inglot Sleeks Cream in 99. For the white, Barry M white Kohl, Sleek Pout Paint/
Cheeks: Benefit Hoola, NYX Mosaic Powder in Highlight.