Benefit Porefessional Dupe?

Left to right: MUA Undress Your Skin Primer, Benefit Porefessional Sample Size

I have been an avid promoter of Benefit's POREfessional ever since I first bought it a couple of years ago, this was around the time that I had my first Benefit Makeover, which you can read about here. Then when I worked for Benefit for a short while my love for the primer grew, mainly from having to wear it everyday! I was just so glad that I had something that not only made my skin look amazing, but that protected it from all the makeup that I was piling onto my face (unfortunately working on a counter does that to you). 

The other day I happened to be rummaging around in the bottom of my makeup case and I rediscovered my MUA Undress Your Skin Primer, and I decided to have a play around with it. To my surprise I found it had very similar effects to the POREfessional! It left my skin feeling silky smooth and helped to reduce the appearance of my pores... Now considering that there is a considerable price difference between the two, I thought I should compare them...

From left to right: Benefit's POREfessional, MUA Undress Your Skin Primer

As you can see from the above photo, side by side the primers look completely different. POREfessional has an fleshy colour, whilst the MUA primer is clear. 

So what really are the differences between the two?

• Packaging: Porefession comes in a tube and the packaging is bright and fun and easily recognisable (probably one of the reasons it does so well), whilst the MUA primer comes in a bottle with a pump, and honestly I wouldn't give the packaging a second look, it's pretty dull!
• Smell: POREfessional has a very lovely fruity kind of smell to it, whilst the MUA primer is odourless.
• Consistency: The MUA Primer is thicker than the POREfessional, but I honestly don't think that effects the way in which it performs, to me it simply means that I would need to use less product to get the same effect.
• Pore Visability: Both minimise your pores equally well in my opinion.
• Feeling on skin: The POREfessional sinks into the skin very quickly and makes your skin feel silky. The MUA primer feels a lot more 'slippy' on the skin to me, and takes slightly longer to sink into the skin, but once it does the feeling is similar to POREfessional.
• Price: A full sized tube of POREfessional contains 22ml of product and costs £24.50 whilst the MUA primer contains 15ml of product and costs £5... that's a considerable difference!

I'll be entirely honest, both of these products do exactly the same thing, and it's hard for me to se the difference once they are both applied. Considering you could buy almost 5 of the MUA primers for the cost of one POREfessional, it's really a no-brainer for me. 

Have you tried either of these primers, if so let me know what you think of them below...

Benefit Roller Lash Mascara First Thoughts

I like so many other bloggers couldn't resist giving this product a go when I found out that it came free with Elle Magazine. Now I myself don't. Or ally read Elle, but I love Benefit, so to me picking up the magazine was a no brainer. I actually ordered mine online to ensure that I definitely got a copy. Though I was disappointed when my copy arrived late as I was so desperate to get my hands on Roller Lash! 

When it did finally arrive, despite being annoyed at having to wait, I was so happy to finally have it in my hands. So what do I think of it?

Well I had previously tried Benefits 'They're Real' mascara and wasn't all that impressed with it, generally finding it difficult to apply. I'm pleased to say though that this mascara has fast become my new favourite. I have always been a fan of curved mascara wands, finding. That they not only coat my lashes better, but also help to curl the lashes. Which when you have pin straight lashes like me, is a god send. This wand is a plastic one, which I am also a fan of as it just feels more precise to me than bristle brushes. 

I am absolutely in love with this mascara! I can get my lashes liking perfect with one coat, and I don't even have to double dip the brush to be able to have aw ouch product to do both eyes! This has quickly become my go to every day mascara, and I will be purchasing q full sized, once my tester runs out. If you haven't given this mascara a go yet then I have to say you really should. The Elle magazine you get it free with is still out in stores so go out and grab it while you can! 

Let me know in the comments if you have tried this mascara, or what your favourite mascara is? 

Blogger Meetup and Benefit Makeover!

So yesterday I met up once more with the lovely Kerrie of Pish Posh and Polish, and we went and had our makeup done at the Benefit counter in Debenhams! I also brought my sister Tish along who writes Hello Old Friends.

 Tish looking beautiful with zero makeup!

 The lovely Kerrie!

 First off we had a sneaky McDonalds, and Kerrie gave me some beautiful nail polishes that she had cleared out of her collection (she has around 500 I think)! Then we headed off to Benefit to have our Makeover! I'm only going to include pics of my makeover, mainly because Tish and Kerrie will probably blog about their own over on their blogs!

First off here are some horrific pictures of me with NO makeup! FYI I am pulling a horrible face in these pics because I was facing into the sun:

I know what you are thinking. 'DAMN she looks bad without makeup', and my reply is... I know! So I was super excited for my makeover, and in particular to try out the 'Fake Up' under eye concealer! Let's just say I wasn't disappointed! Here are some pictures of my transformation:

 She did one half of my face first to show me the difference then did the other side!

 She was teaching me how to do my eyebrows!

 I wasn't too sure about the eyebrows to be honest..

 This is me blending out the brows!

So here are the final pictures of my transformation! FYI I think the eyebrows are TOTALLY wrong for me, but at least now I know how to do them, and I bought myself a blonde eyebrow pencil so they'll look more natural!

Here's a list of everything she used on my face (obviously they are all Benefit Products):

Triple Performing Facial Emulsion

It's Potent Eye Cream

The POREfessional

Hello Flawless Foundation in Ivory

Browzings in Light

They're Real Mascara

Dandelion Blusher

Fake up in Light

Neutrals Eye Pallete in Easiest Nudes

Us with the lovely ladies that did our makeup!

So I know you are all dying to know what I actually bought! I wish I could say my purse came away unscathed, but it did not. I bought a Fake Up concealer in Light, and a Primping with the Stars kit! I have the foundation in my sights, the POREfessional is definitely up there, and there was a lip product that both me and my sister loved that I'm also hoping to snatch up before it is discontinued!

All in all it was an awesome day, and it was actually the first time I had worn Benefit products! It was lovely to see Kerrie and I hope that we can meet up a lot more now I have moved back to Berkshire! Also I'm hoping to attend a few more blogger meetups now I am available!

Ultimate Benefit Wishlist!

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I am enjoying writing wishlist posts far too much right now... someone stop me! God help my bank account when my loan comes in... Seriously...

Anyway, I was having a sneaky look at the Benefit counter yesterday when I went into town to meet Kerrie, and I could stare at all these beautiful products for hours. The packaging, the colours, I literally want EVERYTHING! When I move back in May I am planning to book myself in for a free Benefit makeover, and then I will simply HAVE to take the plunge and buy a Benefit product. I did actually own They're Real Mascara, but I bought it off of an Ebay seller and had a bad reaction to it, so had to send it back. Still not sure whether it was a fake or not... This is also the reason that Bad Gal Lash is in my wishlist rather than They're Real, as I don't fancy having another allergic reaction anytime soon!

I'm not going to mention all the products in my wishlist as some are pretty self explanatory... but here are the products that are top on my hitlist:

• Something About Sofia Fragrance - I absolutely LOVE the packaging of these fragrances, the mini cocktail shaker idea was genius. I had a good sniff of all of the fragrances whilst stood at the counter yesterday and this was hands down my favourite. Here is how Benefit describes the scent, 'oriental floral - a dream of oriental blossoms, mango & vanilla an intriguing & mysterious scent with a free spirit.'. Trust me when I say this fragrance is super yummy!
• Fine-One-One - When I first saw this product recently on a blog I thought to myself, 'Who in their right mind would wear that!'. To me it looked far too orange and bright, and I thought it looked horrible. At the counter though curiosity got the better of me and I swatched it on the back of my hand. After some careful blending I achieved a colour I can only describe as amazing, and now I want it.
• Feeling Dandy Gift Box - I fell in love with the cute, simple colours in this cheek and lip tint gift box. It comes with: Posietint, High Beam, Dandelion Face Powder, and Ultra Plush Dandelion Lip Gloss. I'm not massively confident with either cheek or lip colours but I thought this box looked like the perfect starter kit for someone wanting to wear more makeup! This is actually #1 product I desperately want!
• How To Look The Best At Everything (Light) - This is the perfect starter face kit from Benefit and would give me a good test of a few of the products in this wishlist! It comes with: The POREfessional, Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation, Boi-ing concealer (1&2), and Hello Flawless Custom Powder Cover-up. This is definitely a close second to the Feeling Dandy Gift Box!

So there you have it! There is ANOTHER what I am lusting after list. I will stop making these I promise...