Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation Review

Yes Mixbagers, that's right, I'm blogging about Benefit... again! You can officially start calling me Bene-dict (Geddit?!) from now onwards! The latest Bene-product to woo me over this time is the 'Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow' foundation and it's fast become one of my favourites for my everyday make-up! 

I'd heard about the Oxygen Wow through a few of the gals and bloggers who highly recommended it and decided it was time to branch out from my usual everyday fave, Colour Adapt by Maxfactor, and try it out. I bought the brightening foundation in the 'I'm so money HONEY' shade after testing it at my local counter and I've fallen a bit in love. It blends so nicely with my skin tone, whether au natural or with a bit of a fake tan on my face and always has great, even coverage! I have quite oily skin and can happily say it doesn't clog up my pores but feels nice and light after application! After blending just 2 pumps on my skin I really feel like it helps nourish and brighten up my complexion too so I'm hoping this bottle will keep me going for a while!

 I've been applying it with my real techniques stippling brush and using the Triple Performing tester I got given as a primer which helps it last throughout the working day!

At £25.50 it's a bit of a step up in terms of price for me for an everyday foundation (I usually spend around £15 and then bit more on an 'occasions' foundation) but at the same time I can really tell the difference and it has 25 SPF protection as well! I know there's a Hello Flawless setting powder too which I'm tempted to try, but I'm holding back till pay day for that one!

What do you all think of the Oxygen Wow? Have any of you tried it? 

 

FAB in Cheltenham 2013 - Magazine

Hi Guys! I have some exciting news to share with you all! A little while back you may have read on my blog that I was working on a little collaboration with FAB 2013 which is an annual big old fashion and beauty fest in my home town Cheltenham! I was very luckily contacted by the lovely Elaine who edits the magazine for FAB and was invited to blog for the week's events and have an interview for the magazine! Eek! I also ended up creating a moodboard to feature alongside the interview (you all know how much I love my moodboards) which I styled on one of my favourite trends for the SS'13 season, Neon! The magazine was excitingly released around Cheltenham town yesterday, I have to say it was a very new sight and all felt a bit surreal seeing a zoom in of my face and my name in print! I feel like it's one of those things I will keep and look back on for years. My Mum has also already decided to send copies of it up and down the country to family.. I think she'd distribute it around the world if she could haha!

For those of you who have not heard of FAB I will fill you in! The FAB events are due to kick off next week, running from April 15th - April 21st around Cheltenham and will include a host of fabulous occasions such as multiple Fashion Shows, Ladies lunches, Clothes Swaps, Champagne High Teas, Beauty Events and Shopping afternoons! Which in any girl's book all sounds pretty amazing! If any of you fancy going along to any of the lovely events you can buy tickets and find out more information here. I will be posting regular blogs on here on all the happenings so stay tuned and follow me on Twitter @Justine_Gibbins to keep updated! Also if any of you are going along to the events leave a little comment and I'll come find you and say hi :)

Lots of love as always,

Benefit Fake Up Concealer Review & Bloggers Event!

Last Thursday I went to the Benefit Fake Up bloggers event in Bristol! (I feel like I partly live in Bristol these days haha!) I had read a few event/product reviews of the new concealer on other blogs so was super excited to see they were having an event in the South West! There was only a small group of us beauty bloggers that went including my gal Vicki, so it was lovely to meet a few other bloggers like Georgia Poppy Male (who has a fab outfit instagram account, check her out @poppylovesfashion.)  I have always been a fan of Benefit products, I remember the Hollywood Glo, Dandelion Blush and High Beam being my personal faves from my teenage years! I mean the Benefit packaging is amaazzzinngg as it is so it's hard to say no when you visit the counter!

When we got there the two lovely Benebabes who hosted the event had prepared a table of goodies for us all with Benefit products dotted about, yummy party rings, wafers and cupcakes which or course are always welcome in my eyes! After telling us a bit about Fake Up they demonstrated the new concealer which is a pretty clever little product! As a hydrating concealer it gets rid of dark circles and adds a beautiful glow to the skin so it can easily be used as a great little contouring product too. The ladies were applying it not only below the eye but above the eyebrow too to add more definition to the eyebrows. After trailing it I can personally say I really loved it as because of the waxy outerlayer which hugs the concealer colour inside, its so easily applied with a smooth finish and has great coverage!

We also had a bit of a play around with the new primer 'Porefessional' which I have previously trailed with a tester from my local counter. We added the pore minimising primer to half a lemon to see the effects it would have on that and you could see a noticeable difference! The lemon surface was smoother, softer and had a more even appearance! So ladies if a lemon can feel the benefit you can imagine how it works on your skin! I've found if I'm in a rush I can wack a bit of it on and go foundation-less as it zaps such a fab glow to your skin! Win!

After a few fun games including a Bene-product test and a bit of hide and seek with a few of the products, we had a chance to have some brow mapping done by the lovely hosts. I currently use the MUA Brown Definer, but was really interested to see how 'Brow Zings' would work on my eyebrows. Bearing in mind my eyebrows are very much in need of a threading session I loved the look of them after they had been done! I don't think my eyebrows had ever looked so defined!

Vicki having her eyebrows mapped!

I had such a fab eve so a big thank you to the lovely Benefit Bristol ladies!!