How to get 20% Off EVERYTHING At Benefit in Menary's & Tempest.

For readers outside Northern Ireland, I'm sorry this post can't help you.  Menary's is your Mum's age group's department store and Tempest curates brands like Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Phase Eight and fashion brands for teenage girls up. My local Menary's/Tempest is in my home town of Bangor and I've been in it quite often recently with Michael as our favourite new coffee chain Bob & Bert's have taken over the cafe concession upstairs.

The small beauty hall in Menary's has a decent sized Benefit counter, and I noticed last week they still had one lone bottle of one of Crescent Row's original trio of scents, 'Something about Sofia'. It's a perfume I've owned before, back when they were new, and a friend Clare told me it had notes of Parma Violets about it. I've tried several violet scent recommended perfumes since, and Sofia still comes closest. As you know I'm rekindling my search for beauty products to make myself into a big Parma Violet, so I wanted a new bottle of this. When I saw it was £29.95, I did what every Internet-savvy lady does, I went home an searched for a cheaper price. eBay had none, the main websites were all sold out, Amazon had a bottle for £100! So I was back down to the only place I saw my one last bottle this week to get my mitts on it.

Menary's always is worth checking for a discount, so I asked one of the beauty hall girls was there a voucher or deal I could us to make this purchase. She helped me right out. Currently if you make ANY purchase you get given a voucher to use throughout this month as often as you wish, on two brands of your choice. There is no minimum spend, but you do have to buy something to get the voucher- as they need a till number etc. before they can issue you one. The beauty girl kindly told me even if I bought a £1 lip balm I could get my hands on this voucher to then get 20% off my Benefit purchases, so I bought a £1.29 Yankee Votive Candle and I was all set. 

The voucher can be used on as many purchases as you want until 4th October, and you pick which two brands you want to use it with. So my bottle of Sofia was just under £24. 

I also asked the Benefit girl for a good sized sample of Porefessional. I had tried a little same I got at the House of Fraser event last week, and was impressed, but I want to try a decent sample of it before I would shell out £24, or whatever it will cost with my voucher. It seems to work well to minimise my open pores around my nose, so it's tentatively on my shopping list. 

Anyway, this face below is the face of a child who has just been told, "okay, you may use my 100 colour eyeshadow palette to paint my face". He used the neon pink eyeshadow on me, and my lipstick looked like Miranda Sings. 

Lighting was bad but I'll maybe make a video next time to show you his skills. Mine are just a little bit better, I shouldn't laugh!

Benefit Air Patrol, Is It Worth Taking To The Skies?

This week I will be filling you in on some of the products we were clued up on at the House of Fraser 'Beauty Confidential' blogger event last Thursday.

The girl from Benefit told us the history of the brand, and schooled us on their newest product, Air Patrol. 

It's a BB cream and eyelid primer all in one, with a SPF of 20. She told us it's major plus is that it will intensify any eye shadow you use over it. We got to try it on our hand during the chat & you can see the pigment is stronger where I used Air Patrol on the right. 

On the night we were all given a gift card to buy something we usually wouldn't buy, but would like to try. I had already spent mine on a Laura Mercier finishing powder, but my friend Sera from  The Style Guide Blog hadn't seen anything that took her fancy, and was rushing off to get home to Ballymoney, so she very kindly gave her card to me!

I do love Benefit products, the packaging always appealed to me and I even made several purchases of products even before I went makeup mad this year. 

So I picked up Air Patrol as I was so impressed by the hand test with the eye shadows. Benefit are known for their innovative products and Air Patrol has a feature that's brand new 'makeup technology' I suppose you could call it. 

The applicator is a super soft cushion calm tip that claims to be more gentle than your little finger. If you go to your local Benefit counter they'll have a large size of the material used for you to poke and test out. Another cool feature is that you can twist the base to dispense, but also to suck the product back in if too much comes out. Money saving makeup! But is it worth its £21.50 price tag?

So this morning before I put on any makeup, I tried doing my eye products with one lid bare and the other with Air Patrol as a primer. 

Left bare : Right using Air Patrol

It's easy to put on and 'dries' quickly. Excuse my novice eyeshadow application, but you get the idea. The pigment definitely has an edge on the eyelid on the right, which is the Air Patrol primed one.

So yes, Air Patrol works, so it's worth investing in if you want to up your eye makeup game. You can buy online where you can get two free samples of your choice with your order, or buy instore at your local Benefit counter, which always seem to have a sample or two for you when you make a purchase.

Air Patrol comes with super cute, pencil case type makeup bag at the moment as its their newest product. Because it was a blogging event they were incredibly generous with the samples!

They also have sweet little luggage tags, to tie in with the air travel theme of Air Patrol. 

Puff Off! Is a product which works to minimise eye bags. It feels nice and soaks into the skin quickly without feeling greasy.

Instant Comeback is a luxurious serum, even the sample bottle is gorgeous. It's a clear serum and sinks in quickly and again without feeling greasy.

The It's Potent! eye cream is just that! I tried it last night when I took my makeup off and found it too greasy for my skin. I guess that's because it's not a product aimed at someone like me, it's best for those with dry skin. 

The last sample I've tried so far is the Lollitint liquid blusher. I naturally have rosy cheeks, very rosy at times, so blusher is a product I've never dreamt of even buying. However, now that I wear more foundation, they are hidden somewhat, so I've been wondering should I use a blusher now. 

So when Rachel at the Laura Mercier concession was doing my full makeup, I asked her if I WAS to use blusher, whereabouts on my cheeks do I put it? So now I know I tried out this blusher sample with a bit more confidence. I think a powder type blush would be more for me. I worry if putting a light liquid like Lollitint on top of foundation would ruin the finish? I think it's a great product for girls who can get away with no foundation. Just a little bit on each cheek would give you a healthy glow. 

More from the House of Fraser Beauty Confidential during next week. The event sees lots of different beauty and makeup brands offer one of their top products with £10 off. The product Benefit and chosen for the promotion is another fairly new one, Rollerlash. Again it's a primer product which lengthens and curls the lash before you apply mascara. The reviews on the Benefit site are great and with the Beauty Confidential event, if you buy it in House of Fraser it's just £9.50