How to Get A Job at Benefit Cosmetics | The Interview Process

I thought that for today's post, I would let you know what goes on during the Benefit Cosmetics interview process to become a BeneBabe or Beauty Advisor. Whether you are just curious or you are planning on getting a job there, it's handy to know the different steps of the process, from when you hand in a CV/Resume to when you are offered a job. I've been through this process twice, one time where I didn't get the job and another where I did. (I will be focusing more on the second time around because it is most recent but I will also be comparing differences between the two experiences as I go along.) So here are the steps I went through:

Benefit Roller Lash Review

When I went to The Professional Beauty Ireland Event in Dublin last year, I made use of the 10% off all Benefit makeup and got myself a Benefit Roller Lash mascara. I was pretty excited about this mascara because their They're Real mascara is my absolute favourite. 

I have to say I was disappointed by this mascara.When I first used it, I hated it. I couldn't understand how so many people liked it. I found it made my eyelashes so clumpy, and not very long or voluminous. I was originally using the brush with the sort of raised part facing up (like in the picture below) but once I changed to using it with the flatter part facing up, I found the mascara much easier to work with. 

Once I had got the hang of using it, Roller Lash was pretty okay but it was never my first choice when reaching for mascara. It retails at around €26 which is really expensive for mascara so I was expecting it to be a little bit better. To me, it was not much better than an average drugstore mascara and I still find it kind of clumpy even when I use the brush with the flat side facing up.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Because this mascara is so expensive, I don't think I will repurchase it. If I have any spare money for mascara I think I will just get They're Real again (I've never found a mascara quite as good). Although I don't really like this mascara, I've heard that there have been a lot of mixed reviews about it. It seems to be either a love it or hate it sort of product. So let me know if you loved it or hated it in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you think. Talk to you soon. 

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Huge Savings on Benefit Cosmetics, OPI and More |Professional Beauty Ireland Haul

Last month I went to an event called Professional Beauty Ireland where hundreds of beauty professionals gathered in Dublin to get amazing discounts on beauty products and services. About a month before it, I received an email from Professional Beauty Ireland to attend a champagne blogger reception during the event. My friend Aoife said she would come with me so we headed to Dublin for the day to get some great deals.   

 I had to try to restrain myself from spending all my money because there were some amazing savings to be had, but I did get a few things including some Christmas presents from Benefit where there was 10% off everything.

The first few things that I got were Benefit's Rolller Lash, an OPI nail lacquer and a Gosh eye pencil. Both Aoife and I got an eye pencil free when we attended the Gosh booth but I accidentally got a murky green instead of brown so I don't know if I will be using it as much as I thought. It was completely free though once we gave our emails to enter some draw or something.

I got 10% of the Roller Lash which was great because I'd being dying to try it out for a while (look out for a review soon). I also got an OPI nail lacquer in the colour "Get Cherried Away" for only €6 or something which is almost half price. This is where my great restraint came in because there was a deal that you could buy any 6 OPI colours plus a set of 3 nail polishes including a base coat and top coat for only €40. They are typically about €11 per nail lacquer whenever I have seen them in shops so this was a really good deal. I really only wanted two colours so I decided not to get the deal and ended up making a further compromise of only buying the one. I had great envy for some of the other girls who where piling dozens of colours into their baskets though.

While I was at Benefit, I decided to take advantage of the 10 percent off discount and bought some Christmas presents, and because I because I bought more than two things there they gave me a gorgeous free tote bag. The two Christmas sets I bought allowed me to save quite a lot, over 32% on one and 58% on the other, and that was even before the 10% off everything was applied. One of the sets called Life of the Party included sort of mini/travel sized versions of a lot of Benefit products that combined would do most of your face for makeup. 

The other set, called Get Your Party On, contained 4 full sized products which included their Hoola bronzer, a They're Real mascara, a High Beam and a Gimme Brow fiber gel. 

One of my favourite things that I got was the tote bag that I got for free at Benefit. It's large enough to carry quite a lot of stuff and I really like it's urban design. It was such a great free gift. I wasn't even expecting a free sample let alone a free tote bag. 

Another thing I got were some Sleep In Rollers for just €10. The set has something like 20 rollers in it and a free backcombing brush. Here is a link to their website if you would like to get some although I think the €10 offer was only available on the day of the event. 

Last but not least was this Tan Organic and Skin Logic goody bag that I got at their lovely champagne reception. It included three sample products; some of their self-tan lotion, their multi-use dry oil and a 24 K Gold under eye face mask (which I am really excited to try out). I will be reviewing each of these products once I get a chance to try them out properly so much sure to look out for a blog post on each of them. 

So that is everything. I know it seems like a lot but there was so much more I could have bought including a deal on 24 professional makeup brushes for just €100 which almost caused me physical pain to leave behind haha!

Are you as much of a shopaholic as me?? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Benefit's Some Kind-a Gorgeous Review

Hey guys, today I am reviewing Benefit's Some Kind-a Gorgeous Foundation Faker. The is a pretty expensive product and retails at about €30-€35. You basically apply it like a foundation with a brush or the sponge provided. It has a lovely silky sort of feeling when it is being applied but with my skin type I feel that it sort of highlights the dry areas and looks a bit flaky. A friend of mine who has more of an oily skin type tried it and loved it but I'm not crazy about it on my skin. I feel it doesn't last very long, only a few hours and because it is a foundation faker, the coverage isn't great, it's just something to throw on in the mornings to even out your skin tone.

I really love the packaging, and think it is so cute! Benefit always has really great packaging and I love the idea of making it look like a vinyl record. It's pretty handy that it has quite a big mirror for a compact and I sometimes use it when applying my makeup on the go. One thing that is a bit misleading about it is that there is very little product in it although it gives the impression that it would fill the whole area of the packaging. As you can see in the picture, it hits the pan quite early and doesn't hold half as much product as it appears to. The bottom of the packaging contains a compartment that holds the foundation sponge.

As I said already, I'm not crazy about this product and I mostly used it because I was trying to get my money's worth as it's fairly expensive after all. I definitely wouldn't repurchase it because it is just way too expensive for what you get. I also think that if you are going to pay €30 or more for a product that you might as well get a full foundation with better coverage than a foundation faker to doesn't do everything a foundation does. What do you think? Have you ever tried out the product? Did you like it, and if so what skin type do you have? Let me know in the comments below and i'll talk to you soon.

First Impression | Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner

Hey guys, so the other day, I got to try out the They're Real Push-Up Liner for the first time because my friend Aoife had a sample that she let me try. I was a bit disappointed by it though. I found it annoying to push up and a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. One thing that was good about it is that it it was jet black and didn't look grey like some other black eyeliners do. When I was applying it, I found that it was quite difficult, and I had to forcefully drag it across my eyelid. I also found that the product that came out was quite dry which is probably why it was so hard to apply. All the dragging and pulling to the eyelid that this product does would probably lead to wrinkles.

I wore it for a couple hours before I thought of doing a first impression blog post on it and took the picture below. It had worn a bit off by then and you can see that it looks quite dry and cakey. I found it easy the remove though which I wasn't expecting. The full version is very expensive at €25 euros so I would really want to love it and hear great things about it for that price.

Overall, I don't really like this liner and I don't think I'm going to buy it. My friend Aoife likes it but I just wasn't that impressed by it. This is just my first impression of the product because I just tried it out for a couple of minutes so if I had more time with it, I might grow to like it more. I'm sure it would get a little bit easier to apply with practice but that wouldn't stop it from being dry or the rubber applicator dragging across my eyelid with great difficultly. Have you tried this product before? What did you think of it? Am I completely wrong, or do you think that this product is overrated too? Leave a comment below :)

Benefit Coralista Blush Review

Hey guys, today I'm doing a review of the Coralista blush by Benefit. This is one of the Benefit Box O'Powders and I think this blush is a perfect colour for summer. I love wearing coral in summer, whether it be in a blush, a lipstick or a nail polish. I just think it is such a pretty colour. One thing I really love about this blush is its packaging, I just love the design with the coral leopard print on it. When you buy this blush you also get a small mirror that is attached to the box, and you get a small brush to apply it with too (but I prefer to use a better blush brush like a Sigma or Real Techniques one).

Benefit are known for their quality so I always know that I can count on the quality of their products. The only thing about that is that is that I find that blush doesn't really need to be an amazing quality. It's rare that you would find a really bad quality blush because that probably means that it just isn't that pigmented but usually you can still build up the colour if you keep applying it. The reason I'm telling you this is because this Coralista blush is €34. I don't know about you, but to me, that is one expensive blush. Don't get me wrong, it is a gorgeous colour and is really pigmented, but I'm not sure I would pay €34 again to repurchase it. Another thing, besides the price, that I don't like about this blush is that it is fairly shimmery and I prefer more matte blushes.

Me wearing Coralista

The good news is that I have found a much cheaper alternative to this blush that just so happens to be matte. The alternative is No 7's blush in the colour Coral Flush. This is a gorgeous matte coral blush that is less than a third of the price of Coralista at only €10.50. It is also really pigmented. I would definitely recommend getting this blush if you want to try some corals for summer and Coralista is a bit out of your price range.

I'm not dissing the Benefit Box O'Powders though, they are great if you want to treat yourself and I absolutely love Sugarbomb. My main reason for not wanting to repurchase Coralista again is that I just don't think it is that special a colour, and you can get similar blushes to it for a lot less money. If you would still like to treat yourself and buy Coralista, you can buy it here on the Benefit website or if you would prefer a cheaper alternative, you can buy No 7's Coral Flush in any Boots store.

I hope you like this post. Give it a like on Bloglovin or a +1 on Google Plus if you would like me to do more reviews like this one. Also, you can leave a comment below if there is any product that you would like me to review for you.

Shop My Stash

Hey guys, lately I've been trying not to spend as much money because I'm still trying to find a part-time job after returning from France and am rapidly going through my savings, so I thought this was a great time to do a shop my stash post. If you don't know already, shop my stash is when you go through all of your makeup and beauty products and pick out things that you have either forgot about or just haven't used in a long time, so basically its kind of like doing a haul of stuff you already have which is great if you are trying to save money! So here is what I picked:

The first thing I picked was this Powder Trip palette by Soap and Glory that I got for Christmas which I love but completely forgot that I had it because of the way I had stored it in my makeup collection. I already mentioned this in a blog post before which you can read here. I can't wait to start using this again, I can't believe that I forgot that I had it.

The next thing I picked is another Soap and Glory product, their Peaches and Clean cleansing milk. I love this cleansing milk and wrote a review about it which you can read here. When I went to France, I didn't have room in my suitcase to pack it and then I forgot about it when I cam home four months later. I really love using this to remove my makeup and it always leaves my skin feeling so soft so I'm glad that I remembered that I had it.

The next thing I chose is this Essie nail polish in the colour Mind Your Mittens. I love this colour and bought it in France right before I came home. I'd say I only wore it once or twice in France, and once I came home and unpacked I kind of forgot about it because have been mostly only wearing the same wine-y colour on my nails recently.

The next thing I chose is Benefit's The Porefessional. Lately I've been skipping the primer in my makeup routine because I'm always in a hurry whenever I'm doing my makeup. I do love how this primer gives my skin a flawless finish though so I'm gonna start using it again.

The next two items I chose is a No 7 lipstick in the colour Gay Geranium and a Kiko lip liner to match. Together these two products create a bright orange-y toned lip. I really like the idea of a bright lip but sometimes I feel like I mightn't be able to pull it off or that I might look like a bit of a clown so I've been avoiding using them. I really want to wear it sometime soon to at least try it out and see what everyone thinks of it. I might do a FOTD with it on my blog soon so you can let me know what you think.

The last thing I chose is another Soap and Glory product. Clean On Me is my favourite shower gel but like a couple of other items in this post, I forgot about it when I came back from France. My mom had organised all my room and my bathroom for me before I came home so when Clean On Me wasn't in my shower, I just used whatever was there, but now that I've found it again, it's going straight back in my shower.

So that was my Shop my Stash blog post, I hope you liked it. If you did, give it a like on Bloglovin or a +1 on Google Plus. If you have done a Shop my Stash blog post before or have been inspired to by this one, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below because I would love to see them.

International Giveaway: Benefit's They're Real Mascara (CLOSED)

Hey guys, so my electricity is back and today I wanted to do an international giveaway to celebrate getting to 300 followers on Bloglovin. Thank you to everyone who continues to follow and support my blog by leaving lots of lovely comments, liking posts on Bloglovin and giving +1's on Google plus, and even if you just check back and read a blog post or two every so often, thank you so much, it means a lot to me. So on to the giveaway.

Today's giveaway is International and the prize is a Benefit's They're Real mascara. This is my absolute favourite mascara. It makes your lashes look amazing. I already wrote a full review of this mascara which you can read here. This mascara usually retails at €26 so it would be really great to win it for free. This is not a sponsored giveaway. I have bought the prize with my own money to thank my followers.

Here are pictures of the before and after of using this mascara from my They're Real mascara review. There is such a difference in the pictures because this mascara really makes your eyelashes look so much longer and fuller.

Before:

After:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All entries will be verified to keep the giveaway fair. The giveaway will be open for three weeks having already started at midnight on the 16th of February 2014 and ending midnight on the 3rd of March 2014.

The winner will be notified by email within 48 hours of the giveaway’s closing, and I will also do an update blog post to let you all know who the winner is. Good luck to everyone :)

Benefit Countdown to Love Advent Calendar

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know about Benefit's new advent calendar in case ye didn't know already. Basically, Benefit's new product the "countdown to love" advent calendar is just like a regular advent calender except each day you open one of the little doors you get a mini Benefit makeup product instead of chocolate. I was so excited when I heard about this, I just think that it is so cool to have an advent calendar but with makeup instead. It is pretty expensive and is retailed at around €75 in Ireland. It contains 21 small benefit makeup products, a horseshoe charm bracelet, a star charm necklace and a ribbon bow barrette. This is such a large amount of money to pay for a lot of mini product but it is a fantastic way to try out lots of the different Benefit products if you don't know what Benefit products to go for or haven't tried anything from Benefit before. 

This is very special limited edition advent calendar and I think they are already sold out in Ireland but I'm not sure about other countries. There are no more in stock on the Benefit website but I just wanted to let you all know about it because I just think that the idea of it is so cool and I'm glad that I found out that products like this existed around Christmas time. Benefit did one of these last year and I'm sure they will do more next year so if you want to get your hands on one of these products but they are already sold out in your country, you can go to your local Benefit counter in late October or early November next year and I hear that they take names for who is going to get a limited edition advent calendar because they don't make that many so you need so order them in advance. Sorry this post might be too late to help some people get a Benefit advent calendar this year but I still think that it's good to know they exist now so that at least you can order one next year if it comes to it.

Click here for full details of what products are in this calendar which is shown on Benefit's website.