Brand Focus - Benefit

Benefit is by far the brand I have most of in my makeup drawer! I absolutely love love love the packaging and even though their products are expensive, you get a lot of product and they are pretty much all user friendly and good for everyday makeup.

The good:

Box o' powders - these are amazing! All of them (except georgia) are pigmented and look great on most skin tones. Georgia is more like an all over face powder than a blush for the pale skin girls that is, other than that it could work as a base eyeshadow or a blending shade. Dandelion is also for the pale skin girls, it shows up well on my complexion but I've heard plenty of other girls complain that they can't see it at all on their skin tone. Hervana is a cool toned pink or orchid color (which is on trend this year) a very flattering color for a lot of skin tones from pale to tan. Rockateur is a gorgeous rose gold color and one of my most used blushes. I would say it suits all skin tones very well.

Powder- time Lover is as far as I know a holiday edition, with sample size Box o' Powders inside. They came out with a few different boxes but I chose this one because it had two shades I didn't have in my collection. This box came with Dandelion, Coralista and Dallas. I think Coralista is probably one of the most well loved blushes from Benefit and I see why. A beautiful coral color with shimmer - a perfect spring/ summer blush! Dallas is a rosy brown color. It looks boring in the pan but surprisingly it looks great on the cheeks if you want to either play up the eyes or lips and have a more neutral cheek color.   

Lip gloss - I adore these! By far the best lip glosses I've ever tried. They are non sticky and have good color pay off and they match the Box o' powders! I thought it was such a great idea that they made these since matching blush and lip color was and still is on trend. I've recently discovered they just released a Rockateur lip gloss and I'm dying to get my hands on it. Now I just wish they would make a Hervana lip gloss - that would be perfect!


Dream Screen - A light weight sunscreen with SPF 45. I recently made a separate blog post about this here.


The OK:

They're Real Mascara - I loved the wand on this mascara, but I find the formula to be too wet for my liking. If I layer it over a waterproof mascara I like it a lot better than on it's own. My hope is that the formula will get dryer over time and I'll like it better, but even if it doesn't I'm keeping the wand!

Gimme brow - I have the shade light/medium and it matches my brows pretty well unless I use too much of it. The size of the wand is perfect and it doesn't leave your brows crispy. My only complaint is that you don't get much product for the price you pay. 

The bad:

Dr. Feelgood - When I bought this I had very oily skin and was looking for something to make my skin look matte and I turned my attention to this. Big mistake. Supposedly you use the sponge to smooth the balm over you makeup but every time I tried my makeup ended up looking cakey and uneven. I tried it under makeup but my foundation didn't sit well on this balm and the balm didn't even keep me matte either. Very disappointed.

I probably have more Benefit stuff hidden away in drawers or bags but this will do for now.

~Kira

OOTD - Casual Wedding

Last weekend my cousin got married and they had an "informal" wedding and requested that the guests dressed more casual than for a traditional wedding.

Since the weather was nice this was the perfect opportunity to bust out a summer dress and show some legs.

I simply love everything about this dress! The color, the print, the cut out in the back and the fact that it's not too tight fitting - it's just perfect!

As for makeup I kept it super simple and went with my everyday routine and added some of Cliniques chubby stick in "Lot's o' latte" and I was good to go.

Dress: Mina UK (bought on Asos)

Necklace: Glitter

Shoes: Zara

~Kira 

Benefit - Dream Screen

Since summer has been going on full force here, I wanted to use a good sunscreen on my face because I burn very easily. I've heard good things about Benefits new sunscreen and I decided to give it a go.

When this bottle arrived I was very surprised at how small it was. The bottle contains 45 ml which I know isn't that much but somehow I still imagined the bottle to be bigger since the price tag on this bad boy is pretty high.

The bottle has to be shaken before you squeeze out the product, though not much squeezing is necessary since the formula is very runny. The sunscreen feels light on the skin and isn't greasy at all. It leaves a matte to natural finish on the skin and layers well under makeup. So far I haven't had any breakouts with this which I'm very happy about.   

I have one concern with this product though. Since the formula is runny and spreads over the skin easily, meaning you use less product, my concern is that you don't get the SPF 45 the bottle says, since it takes a certain amount of product to provide you with that amount of sun protection.

All in all I do really like this product, I probably will try other high protection SPF's just to see if anything will give me a similar result for a lower price. But for now I'm very happy to have and use this product, and I would recommend it to people who have tried and not liked other sunscreens for the face. Otherwise I would suggest people to have a look around for a cheaper alternative. But if you're willing to spend the extra money I highly recommend this sunscreen!

~Kira 

OOTD - Lazy day

It was pretty warm outside, and in all honesty I didn't need the leggings none the less I wore them. Since I was just going to town to get something to eat and then straight home and devour it I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.
I didn't include my shoes in this picture since I was wearing my Kitty cat flats and they have alread been included in a couple previous OOTD's.

To spice the outfit up a bit I wore a bright necklace, which I adore but sadly wear too little. So today was the day to dust this bad-boy off and show it off. 

Dress: VILA

Belt: Asos

Necklace: Accessorize

~Kira

Emma Hardie - Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm

I've been using this balm on and off for a few months now. It smells amazing and luxurious and the texture is creamy and smooth. The reason why I don't use it everyday is simply because it's somewhat expensive so when I use this, it's because I want to treat myself to a pamper cleanse.

I've heard the balm can melt and the oils will start to spill out if your not careful, I never had any problems with this, until now where the weather as heated up and my bathroom is really hot and humid all day and night. But if you have it standing on a plain surface it shouldn't be a problem.

The packaging has been changed a bit because the clear plastic would break and fall off, but since I have the new packaging I haven't had any malfunctions - other than a crack on the lid because I dropped it on the floor, but the plastic stayed on so I'm a happy bunny!

This cleanser would suit any skin type, but if you hate cleansers with a citrus scent then stay clear of this. There is quite the hype over this cleanser and I do see why - it's amazing! However since you really don't have it on your skin for more than a few minutes it's not going to be the thing that changes your skin dramatically, at least in my experience. But if your looking for a nourishing and gentle cleanser that doesn't strip the skin then give it a try.  

With all that said I would buy this again - just because it's such a treat to use!

~Kira

French Pharmacy

I love skincare and french skincare brands are among my favorites, however they can be hard to come by and often they are overpriced which result in the brands being marketed as "high end" brands when in truth they are actually french drugstore brands.

Not long ago I came across the site cocooncenter.co.uk the site offers all the best french brands at the french drugstore prices! They ship internationally for a decent price - but compared to what you save on the products the shipping isn't blowing your budget. 

Some of my favorite brands from the site are: Bioderma, Nuxe, Caudalie and La Roche Posay

However they do carry tons of other brands so have a look and see if you can get some of your favorite brands for cheaper.

I still find the site a bit hard to navigate, so when I'm on the site I will have to know exactly what I'm looking for or what brand I'm interested in trying to browse the brands products.

My recent order contained a lot of kits and gift set since I'm still new to these brands and want to try as many things as possible.

I haven't tried everything from the sets yet, but I will write up a post if I come across some skincare gems from these sets. But I can already reveal that the Caudalie shower gel and the Nuxe dry oil and perfume smell absolutely amazing and if I could I would bathe in them!

I hope this was helpful!

~Kira

OOTD - monochrome

I've been loving the monochrome look lately, which is so unlike me because I always love wearing bright colors. It took a while to get used to the top since it is a bit shorter than normal (I'm trying to ease my way in to crop tops) but I was covered up as long as I didn't raise my arms too high.

Top:
Primark (bought on eBay)

Skirt:
H&M

Shoes:
eBay

Necklace:
Whistles (bought on asos)

The makeup look I wore with this is in the post below.

~Kira

FOTD - BBQ with friends

Since it was going to be an outdoor BBQ I kept my makeup as simple and light as possible to prevent it from caking and melting off my face. Because the sun was out, I made sure to wear a base with high SPF to prevent my skin getting burnt (my skin never tans which explains my ghostly white complexion).

Base:
Missha perfect cover BB cream - shade 21
Bobbi Brown corrector - Light Bisque
Maybelline fit me concealer - Fair 15
Hourglass Ambient lighting powder - Diffused light

Cheeks:
Bourjois cream blush - 01

Brows:
Hourglass Brow Sculpting pencil - Blonde

Eyes:
Maybelline the Rocket - black waterproof

Lips:
L'Oreal color crease shine stain - Rose on and on

For perfume I wanted something light and I went with my new favorite fragrance - Clean Skin, this perfume smells absolutely amazing, and is just very pleasant! I've heard a lot of people say it disappears quickly but it lasts all day on me (I usually spray twice on my chest and once at the top of my head).

~Kira