Stocking Up On Old Favourites - Benefit Cosmetics

DBCxTJ Tote

There is a temptation, when trying to summarise a period of time, to use all matter of banalities. "Oh, what a few weeks it has been" I find myself thinking, and indeed it has been a crazy few weeks. Its been a crazy few months! I have gone from being settled in a, fairly comfortable, long term job to switching careers in to a completely different industry on a temporary contract with no security, no back up, and no real idea of what I would do if it all went tits up. I was balancing this by taking on extra work with the blog, attending an uptake in hospital appointments and undergoing extra, ongoing, tests; becoming a god mum for the second time, becoming a kitty re-homer, and a tonne of other things which I can't even put in to words. 

And then right at the end I found out that I was being made permanent; my risk had paid off. My new employers were ecstatically happy with how I was settling in and the stars aligned when a position opened up and I could cross over to secured employment. Of course that meant I had to go through another  stressful round of onboarding and security checks resulting in a 4 day trip to London with only 2 days notice. Oh, what a few weeks it has been.

But it all brings me to the point where I'm standing in the departures lounge of Gatwick Airport World Duty Free feeling a medley of tired, proud, sore, and giddy whilst I'm about to spend a tenner on giant toblerones and stock up on my favourite Benefit Cosmetics products because, as fate would have it, I ran out that morning just in time to make use of airport prices. This brings me to the real nature of this post: A good old fashioned haul/review. I haven't talked properly about make up in so long - having been on a severe skin care kick recently and feeling rather uninspired by the glittery sparkly makeup trends out there - that I'm easing in to it with some old favourites. 

Precisely My Brow has become my 'go to' brow product after years of not doing anything at all. I like a soft but shapely brow, I'm quite lucky in that I have a good shape naturally so I don't have do much in the way of maintenance bar the odd pluck and trim. I do, however, have random patches of fair/barely there hair, and giant thick white ones too, so I use Precisely My Brow to fill in the gaps where I need to without giving me that overly fake, curated "insta brow" we are seeing everywhere.

Roller Lash is my ultimate mascara and I'm just going to say it here: I'm done trying to find alternatives. I've tried the cheaper dupes (they weren't dupes), I've tried other brands, formulas, price points, and spools but I have yet to find a mascara that I love wearing as much as roller lash. I know everyone is talking about Bad Gal Bang at the minute and bless the sales girl at the airport for trying to up-sell it to me at the tills but its taken years to realise that I am happy with every thing about this product, how it works, how it ages - yes mascara ages once the air starts getting to it and the products dries gradually and IMO improves it further - and even the price.

Cha Cha Balm is the newbie in my list of purchases. I've always loved the summer seasons when the magazine freebies came out with of all my faves including Cha Cha Tint, so that I could stock up. I don't know why I wait for the magazines when it would clearly be cheaper just to buy full size but I think my obsession with miniatures has a lot to do with it; and the fact that I've never managed to finish one of the very generous novelty sized bottles before it expires never mind a full size one! Peach is my favourite colour and I'm really in to finding all of the peachy tinted balms since the amazing Pamela Smyth - make up artist to Gillian Anderson in The Fall - told me that they were perfect for my complexion so Cha Cha Balm had to be purchased. I love it. Cha cha gives off a really subtle peachy sheen - ohh theres a punny lipstick name if I ever decide to start a line - and feels really slick on application. The 'barely there' tint melts in to the skin which is what I look for in any cleansing or makeup balm, the meltiness, so I really feel it is giving a deep moisture. Did I mention that I love it?

Lashes, Brows, Lips and a dab of Benefit Airbrush concealer. Done. No other makeup used for this 'look'.