Benefit minis

Benefit is one of those brands I always find myself going back to, it seems like no matter what I go for I'm never left disappointed and I love their quirky packaging.

For Christmas my brother ( I have a feeling this involved some serious prompting from my mother) gave me a Best of Benefit set containing little miniatures of some of their number one make up products. I'd tried them all before and it was lovely to be reunited with some old favourites.

They're Real mascara has been a firm favourite of mine for a while. It gives seriously long, dark lashes with minimal effort and it always manages to make even my terrible stumps look amazing. I tend to reserve this for 'special occasions' rather than every day use as I find it tends to dry out quite quickly and it takes some serious effort to remove. Speaking of eyes, Erase Paste is probably my favourite under eye concealer ever. A quick dab of this leaves me looking like I've had a good 8 hours sleep and like I've never heard of dark circles. I'd previously been using Seventeen's Phwoarr Paint before rediscovering this ( quite similar texture-wise but less pink) and although great for it's money Erase Paste just pips it to the post. I also have a big soft spot for their Boi-ing concealer . It can be used as an under eye concealer, but I personally like to use it to cover up any pesky blemishes. I find it to be really creamy, easy to blend and it stays put all day.

I've mentioned my gigantic pores on here a gazillion times and I've found the best way to disguise 'em is a good swipe of Porefessional. It's a translucent, light weight balm that magically smoothes everything over and makes an amazing make up base. I'm not sure it particularly helps the longevity of my make up but for it's smoothing properties alone it's a winner for me. Dullness is another skin issue I'm plagued by, boo hoo. I like to fake a little bit of glow using High Beam which is the most gorgeous pinky highlighter. It gives a really nice, healthy luminous glow, plus the full sized versions last forever.

Back in the day Hoola bronzer was a staple in my make up bag for a long, long time. Eventually I deserted it in favour of Nars' Laguna but I'd actually really missed using it. It's one of those bronzers that never looks bad. It's never orange or muddy and with me being quite pale a quick swipe across my forehead and cheeks does a great job of warming up my face.

Lastly in the set there was a mini version of good old Bene-tint. I actually prefer Posietint but this is still a pretty colour. I don't really use it as a cheek colour but a quick dab on the lips leaves a really nice 'my lips but better ' stain and it's a great product for when you can't really be bothered with a lip product.