Mini Benefit Baby Haul

Oh what's this? Both "mini" and "baby" in the title? Well, it's accurate. I wanted so badly to try out the Benefit They're Real mascara, because although I've heard a mix of both good and bad, you have to really try it out for yourself to give an opinion. And I also heard it was a really wet mascara, so yeah. I like wet mascaras. After seeing that Sephora's Beauty Insider program was giving a mini They're Real mascara and a mini Watt's Up! cream highlighter as a gift for member's birthdays, off to eBay I went as, clearly, they don't have Sephora in Australia. It turned out brilliantly for me, as not only did I find a seller that was auctioning off their Beauty Insider birthday pressie for about twenty bucks (hey, it's a good deal considering Aussie prices), but they were also including three other Benefit freebies which included a deluxe sample size of High Beam, and a sample of Stay Don't Stray and Garden of Good and Eva.

They're Real mascara

Ah the reason for the whole purchase, I don't really see this mascara as being as super wet as I've heard, but I'll guess I'll see when I actually apply it. The only thing I can say is that, daaang, that brush is spiky with longer bristles. It might be a tad painful if I try putting it too close to my eyes as I've found with other plastic brushes. 

Watt's Up! cream highlighter

A champagne cream highlighter. Have also heard good things about this, and, surprisingly considering my skin tone, I've never had a champagne highlighter, so this should be a good step. It blends really easily as I found when swatching it.

High Beam liquid highlighter

I have actually had this before, I think in the Benefit Finding Mr Bright kit. They call it "model in a bottle" and I was so tempted to shell out for the full size, but this deluxe sample should tide me over for a while. It's a pink pearl liquid highlighter, but, again, blends so easily into the skin and just makes you really look lit up and, not too sparkly, but just enough shimmer on the cheekbones. 

Stay Don't Stray eye primer

I've never had a huge amount of eye primers, but I really should use them more. Obviously, my eye make up has held up a lot better when using primers, so hopefully this will be what turns me around to consistent use.

Garden of Good and Eva eau de toilette

I have never tried any scents by Benefit, so I really didn't know what to expect. Unfortunately, this sample was almost empty when I got it, but it smelled pretty good. A tiny bit floral, a tiny bit herbal, but that kind of "water" scent I like. Water doesn't even have a scent, does it? But that seems to be the description of scents I like. I will admit though that when I first sprayed it on my wrists, it was definitely a bit stronger and I wasn't a fan. But it wears away to a really wearable scent.

left to right, without flash: Watt's Up! swatch, Watt's Up! blended, High Beam swatch, High Beam blended

With Flash

Natural Sunlight

Overall, I feel this was a pretty decent find on eBay, considering what I ended up with. I'm liking the highlighters, and the mascara looks promising. I'm even interested in the eye primer, knowing how good the primers from Benefit are. And the size of these mini's are just so cute too! Makes for easy travelling, sadly though, will probably entice me to eventually buy full sizes. 

Elderflower and Trees of Tea

I popped into The Body Shop on my lunch break today, on the intention of having a look at their new line of lipsticks that I've been reading about on certain blogs. Well, it turns out those UK blogs I've been reading have clearly blogged about UK releases and so I was too early for those precious lip products, but it had been so long since I last went into The Body Shop, there were a number of things catching my eye. Alas, as the time for my lunch break is limited, I only played with a few things, and what I humbly settled on was the Elderflower Unperfumed Eye Gel and the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner. Had I more time to browse, I would have picked up a body oil and probably some skincare for the hubby, as they had quite the range of male skincare products what with father's day nearing and all.

I've never actually had a lot of products from The Body Shop, be it skincare or bodycare or makeup. But I have had a couple of products from each section, and while they all did their job pretty damn adequately, they never super-wowed me or maybe it was due to my younger self not realizing that these products were actually decent considering the prices for them. I don't know what really enticed me to pick up these two products, but I guess I needed a new eye cream and I always love toner. 

This Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner is interesting, in that you have to "shake to activate". I chose the tea tree toner out of all their others, simply because tea tree has done wonders for my skin in clearing up any acne and it's an anti-bacterial too. I used this sucker tonight, and oh boy, it cleaned up my face like nothing before. It was really gentle on the skin though, with a very lotion-y scent of course with a hint of tea tree, but that cotton pad had so much dirt (embarrassingly) after I swiped it all over my face. So I swiped another pad with the toner on it all over again, and it was still very nice; my skin didn't feel stripped, but it was clean and toned and just nice.

The eye cream, or should I say gel was a pretty easy pick. I saw it on the shelf, with the nice clear jar and the nice black lid and I love simple packaging. It's unperfumed and practically odourless (besides a faint smell of elderflower, which is faint in itself) and so ridiculously lightweight, I'm guessing most of the weight comes from the jar itself rather the product. A very smooth gel, I swatched this on my hand in the store and it absorbed in really, really nicely, a tad sticky that went away, and my skin felt smooth where I applied it and, again, just nice. It really feels like the perfect gel.

I will clearly be popping back into The Body Shop sometime soon. I mean, I must have missed so much stuff since the last time I was there. And if the rest of their range, especially the tea tree range, is as promising as what I tried out tonight, then I will definitely be going back to pick up some other skincare essentials such as cleanser and moisturizer. Probably pick up some goodies for the boyfie too!