I went shopping with my mum yesterday :) We weren't going for anything in particular but I managed to come home with half of the Benefit products from Boots!
As we were browsing, a Benefit girl walked passed us and turned to me & asked if I'd heard about their new BB Cream 'Big Easy'. I had seen it but didn't know much about it. She asked if I had a few minutes for her to tell me more about it and show me. Usually I'd run a mile, refusing to go with them a hundred times until they got the message. I'm very conscious about my skin and majorly anxious around people. For some reason she put me right at ease and I knew my mum had always wanted me to have my make up done by one of the counter girls. So I said yes.. that word is just about banned from my vocab lol.
& I'm so glad I did! Very surprising I actually enjoyed it and it made my shopping trip.
Anyway - the girl who did my make up was called Natalie. She asked what type of skin I thought I had, I replied with combination (oily and dry). She gaved me the mirror and asked where I thought the problem areas were. I said 'oily on my forehead and cheeks but dry around my nose'.
I was asked what my skin care routine was at the moment and what foundation I currently used. Oh and of course, what Benefit products I have used before (if any). Truth is that I only used 2 (They're Real of course and Porefessional). That was probably quite good for her to hear though as she could use anything and they'd be a chance that I'd buy into their range.
So the big plug was their new product Big Easy. When she said it was a BB cream I thought 'no chance - from a girl who suffers with bad acne, it's not even going to cover it a little bit!'
However, she proved me wrong! She said it is 'more than a BB cream' and they'd named it BB Cream, then tested it and it came back with better results than they'd hoped for.
It says on the box:
'Bigger than BB! Our multi-balancing complexion perfecter contains ingredients known to help balance moisture and control oil... soothing, comforting and fighting free radicals. The cushiony liquid to powder formula self adjusts to your exact shade. It melts in like a cream, yet finishes like a powder to even out skin tone and conceal imperfections. One and done...BIG EASY saves the day!'
She said the key is less is more and you don't need a powder as it's 'cream to powder finish' - yeah right?! No... seriously! Weird!
I was dreading her showing me the mirror to be honest, totally convinced it wouldn't even touch my face. But - I was so shocked to see that it had actually covered my skin!
Along with the other products and excluding my eyes, she re-did one half of my face so I could really see the difference. It self adjusts to your exact shade.
Natalie said everyone wants coverage but they don't want to feel like they have make up on. That's so true and oddly I didn't even feel like I had any make up on! Although she had shown me the mirror and I could see how well it covered and how nice and fresh my skin looked - when I looked away from the mirror I felt bare faced! That took a little getting used to!
The other products Natalie used were:
Refined Finish Facial Polish £18.50
Erase Paste £20.50
Sugarbomb £23.50
Triple Performing Facial Emulsion (moisturiser) £21.50
Benefit prices are reasonable I think. It just seems worse as I bought them all together. If you buy them from Boots at the moment, you get a free little Benefit moisturiser when you buy 3 or more selected Benefit products. If you do that, you'll probably get the free delivery they have on Benefit at the mo too.
To take my make up off, she used a No7 Beautiful Skin Cleanser for Normal - Oily Skin - Oops :) She ran out of a benefit one so had to run over to No7 to get one. It was lovely - I plan on getting it very soon. It didn't take her much effort to get my caked on make up off.
Before applying Big Easy, she used the Benefit Refined Finish Facial Polish. She applied a bit to a mini sponge and wrapped it in a tissue & then sprayed it with water. She scrubbed it around my nose (where I said my skin was dry) and seriously - If you get that, you need this product. My skin felt so soft and smooth! You use it once - twice a week. I'd definitely love to use it more because it's so nice - but if you want things to work, you can't over use them. It also smells lovely!
She then put a little moisturiser on (while I thought to myself 'that's not nearly enough - but of course, it was).
Second was the Stay Flawless Primer - it looks like it's a light shade but it goes on translucent. You apply one or two 'swoops' across your forehead, into a 3 (cheek bones and back around to your chin) into an e and down your nose quite quick. It's basically magnetic so it keeps everything in place. One thing you have to remember - DON'T RUB IT IN. You don't need to rub it in at all. MAGIC!
Then, she applied the Big Easy. She hardly used any product as a little goes a long way and less is more. She put it on with her fingers and it blended in so nice. The shade Natalie used was '03 Light/Medium' which was perfect for me. I'm usually light/Ivory/porcelain etc.
She didn't need to blend it down into my jaw/neck because it was a true colour match. That was also weird.
I rubbed the cream into the top half of the picture ^^ The right/bottom side of my hand is a shadow!
She then used Erase Paste on a cotton bud, again not using much but applying it to blemishes, around my nose and under my eyes. She was going to use Boi-ing concealer, but she wanted to brighten my skin too :) which is why she used Erase Paste. It matched my skin really nicely.
Then, all of a sudden she said 'I'm just going to fetch a blusher to give you some colour back'. She said my skin tone needed warming up a little, so she grabbed Sugarbomb Blusher/Bronzer and applied it on the apples of my cheeks and along my cheek bones and I think, a little on my temples. This is how I apply blusher anyway - I just normally stick to using pink tones. I wanted to find something to give me more of a glow but didn't think bronzer would suit me. This is perfect as it has 4 shades: pink, a reddy pink, an orangey colour and brown. It's just right to lift your face.
& she was done! As I said, I felt like I had no make up on at all. I felt like she'd missed steps because I'm used to primers, slapping concealer on, spending ages caking my foundation on, blusher, lots more moisturiser than Natalie used and powder covering every bit of my face.
She then thankfully made up the other half of my face - she couldn't leave me like that now could she. She made me feel so comfortable I hardly noticed I was basically sitting in the 'corridor' in the middle of a big Boots store with no make up on!!
At the end, I did think 'oh lord - she's going to push a load of products on to me, asking if I wanted to buy any of them' but surprised me again when she didn't! She asked if I had any questions so I asked her to write everything down that she used.
I can't wait to get stuck in - I just hope I can do it as nice as Natalie did. I'm sure if I stick to her tips then it will be fine. I'm looking forward to using a bulk of one brand as well. There's something I find funny about mixing brands, kind of like it doesn't feel complete.
Me & mum then went for lunch so I could figure out whether I wanted to buy anything and how much it would cost. Also so I could glance in every mirror I passed in shock :)
Usually I can't look in mirrors for more than a milli-second but I was like 'Ooooh look at my faccce'!
I took a quick picture when I got home - roughly 5 hours later. I used my phone for this so it's not the clearest but hopefully you can see the coverage.
The foundation isn't pixely - It's my phone! Sorry I only have this pic!
It didn't look like I was wearing as much foundation as it looks in the picture! I just didn't want to not show you the finished result. It also doesn't look as dark as the picture does :( I'm annoyed I didn't take a proper one. Hopefully the picture doesn't put you off :)
Having gone for lunch and mooching around the shops for a fair few hours it was a good test to see how long it would last before it went oily and melted off. Well - it didn't melt off or look oily at all! & it got quite hot shopping around but it didn't budge.
The best bit - I bought the Big Easy which is £27.50 with my Ad Card points! :D Yay! This meant I could buy everything else without feeling so guilty :/
Yes, I bought it all. I was pricing it up and I thought well, why would I buy it all at different times just so stretch my money out if it all works so well together. So I went for it. I also got a little moisturiser sample :) The moisturiser and exfoliator smell so fresh! It's a good size sample as well (8.9ml) in a cute little bottle!
I hope I didn't bore you and you took something from my ramble. I would really urge you to go and get your make up done at a Benefit counter. Natalie worked at the Victoria Centre at Boots in Nottingham and would definitely recommend her if you can request someone. She seemed like she genuinely cared about sorting my skin out and finding the right products.
The odd thing was, the only thing I really wanted to go shopping for was the Benefit Lee Lee perfume! I decided to skip that as I spent so much on the rest of the products which guts me but my mum said she'd buy it for my birthday! :D
Originally I dismissed Big Easy because I thought I needed the coverage but it turns out it gives coverage just fine, so please go and try it out :) It will be perfect in summer when I don't want to feel like I'm wearing make up.
At the end, they also tell you go to back for a free 'Eyes' lesson just like the one I had for my face which sounds quite good...
Have you tried it yet?
Hollie xx
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