Review - Benefit Girl Meets Pearl

I have a love-hate relationship with Benefit.  When the products are good (and very many of them are), they're very good, but when they're bad, they're dreadful.  Add in the hard sell at the counter, the freaky makeovers you get, and then look at the frankly rather limited range of foundation shades, they can be difficult to love at times .... also, please don't get me started on the cheap and rather undurable cardboard packaging that drives me nuts ... but hey.

But, when they get things right, they tend to get things really right.  Their Creaseless Cream eyeshadows are a work of genius and I never miss an opportunity to recommend them, and I've been using You Rebel ever since it was called "I am Rebel" (even if these days, I do prefer the "lite" version, I don't enjoy being orange now!).

They're bringing out some new products at the moment (and I hear exciting things about a possible skin-care launch in the near future too), and I've had a chance to try them.  I'll talk more about Porefessional soon,  but Girl Meets Pearl launches in the next couple of weeks and it's really very pretty indeed.

A cool pink with gold pearl, this is a cooling liquid highlighter that you can use to "spotlight" individual areas of your face, or use all over your face (under your foundation) to give your skin a sheeny glow. It's not a shimmer, or a glitter - thank goodness - but it just lights your skin up a little in a delightfully natural fashion.

Here you can see it on my skin, it's largely translucent, but it blends remarkably well, and gives you a buildable effect, you can apply it lightly for a light sheen, or apply more for a more glow-y effect.

Here you can see it catching the light whilst I was blending it in.  It dries a lot more matte though:

Can you see the difference?  I like to use this on my cheekbones (over a tinted moisturiser, and under a powder foundation), and I love the very subtle effect.

But, there is one dreadful thing about this product - the scent.  It's like smearing Hubba Bubba on your cheeks.  Not nice, and, to make things worse, the smell lingers a long time.  Your mileage on the scent may vary, of course!  I do find Benefit products a little over-perfumed at times, and I have to admit that this isn't nearly as bad as the smell of Dr Feelgood (which always smells like curry to me), but I thought you should know!

How do you get along with Benefit?

The Fine Print: I was visited on my sickbed by a very lovely Benefit PR recently, and she left me a sample of this.  PRs are people too, people! 

Nude Eyeliners

 Up until a couple of months ago, I didn't own a single "nude" eyeliner.  Having been tortured throughout the '80s by white eyeliner that was supposed to make you look more "awake" (but in reality just kind of made people look like they had been attacking their eyes with Tipp-Ex), I didn't really think there was anything you could realisitically use these pencils for.  I'd been reading a lot of love on blogs for Stila's Topaz, and when it came up on ModestyBrown's blog sale I bought it.

And now I own seven. <sigh> I'm not sure if it's a problem or not, to be honest.  I now have Une's Skin Glow, GOSH Go Bananas, Stila Topaz, Chanel Clair, Mally's double ended pencil, Laura Geller's I-Care pencil in Bone, and Guerlain's Secret Glow.

Did someone mention swatches?  Here you go:

Thoughts on each:

Une Skin Glow: This is actually meant to be a concealer, but I find it works marvellously well on the waterline, it's light and creamy, and lasts pretty well.  As it's meant to work on your skin to cover up blemishes, it works remarkably well on the waterline to disguise any redness.  A winner.

GOSH Go Bananas: This is actually a shimmering yellow.  Not actually that great as a nude liner, it's a little too yellow for that.  That said, this lasts astonishingly well, and won't actually disappear until you use a remover to take it off.  Great for highlighting around the tearduct rather than using on the waterline, if you ask me.

Stila Topaz:  Although this was the one that started off my collection, I have to say that it's very much not my favourite.  In fact, it's probably the worst liner on this list.  Why?  Well, it's very soft and creamy.  FAR too soft and creamy, in fact.  It's exceptionally easy to overapply (making it look like, well, ta bit like: Your eyes are leaking!! Leaking onto your face!!!  which isn't a great look outside of Halloween), and it can get onto your eyelashes a bit which just looks wrong, really.  Also, it's a little on the peach side, which means it's not a great match for most people's skin tone.

Chanel Clair:  Probably the hardest pencil on this list, it's very subtle, and all the better for it.  The firmness means you don't get the "ooziness" of the Stila, and the colour is very good too.

Mally: The second palest on this list, this gives a very similar effect to a while pencil.  If you're very, very pale, this might be a great choice for you.  It's a double ended pencil though, so means you don't get very much in there.  I'll be talking about the other half of this pencil next week ...

Laura Geller: Another hard pencil, this time in a shimmering ivory shade.  Possibly the prettiest pencil in the collection (and has a great built-in sharpener), alas, I can't get this one to show up on my waterline at all.  Such a shame!

Guerlain Secret Glow: A shimmering vanilla shade, this is glorious (and works well as a browbone highlighter too), being a powder, it's easy to overapply, and make yourself look a little odd, but I do love this one quite unreasonably.

Overall, the ones I'd buy again (and I did buy most of these myself) would be the Chanel and the Une.  What do you think?

The Story Behind All For Eve ...

I don't normally link to the Daily Mail from here, but there's an amazing, heartbreaking story on there today on the story behind the creation of the All for Eve brand that I've been a big supporter of this year.  It's an amazingly intimate interview with the inspiring Nemri Hammer, telling the story of her sister, Nadia, and her battle with cancer. It's well worth a read if you, or anyone you love has ever had their life affected by gynaecological cancer. 

Read it here.

I'll be talking about one of the All for Eve products later this week, in the meantime, you can find out more about The Eve Appeal here.

Blog Birthday Continued ...

PLEASE NOTE: The rules to this competition have changed, owing to a situation with A N Other website. A lot of entries have been disqualified as a result.  Sorry, but GENUINE followers only please.

So, this week is the anniversary of my blog, and, because I love you all SO much, I thought you might like a chance to win one of what I think is the greatest products I've discovered this year.  Which is, of course ...

A Clarisonic!

This is a full Clarisonic kit - as seen here and the prize in total is worth £150.  Oh, and it's pink ;) To be in with your chance to win, all you need to do is: 

Be a follower of this blog, then, finish the following sentence in 25 words or less (I'm an accountant, remember, and I will be counting): "My birthday wish for Get Lippie would be ..." and EMAIL your answer, alongside your name and address to birthdaycomp@getlippie.com.  

The Rules - (ignore at your peril):

Apologies for this list of rules, but owing to the value of the prize, I'm having to make the rules a little more stringent than usual, please read them carefully, and please play by the rules!

Entries made in the comments of this post will not be counted, and will be disregarded entirely. This is an EMAIL ONLY competition.

Similarly, entries received without a valid postal address will be disregarded. Also, only one entry per postal address, please.  

Please note that if you have found this giveaway as a result of posts on forums like MoneySavingExpert et al, then your entry will not be counted. There are ways I can check how you found this post!

This competition is open to UK residents only (many apologies to my international readers, I'll do a giveaway open to you guys soon, I promise!), 

You do need to be a follower to enter this competition, please ensure you tell me your follower-name in your entry. 

The judges decision is final.  I may use Random.org to find the winner, if need be.

 This competition will close at 12 noon (GMT) on Monday 20th September, and the Clarisonic will be despatched the same week.  Entries received after this date will be disregarded.

If the standard of entries is particularly high, I reserve the right to add in further prizes (not guaranteed) at my own discretion.

Good luck, I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

It's my Blog Birthday!

Time just flies, doesn't it?  I seriously cannot believe that an entire year has passed since I started blogging regularly!  I started this because a couple of friends had been nagging me too, and I'd always resisted because a) I didn't think I had anything to actually say, and b) didn't think anyone would want to read it anyway!  Well, an entire year of posting, and almost 150,000 page views later, I think it's fairly safe to say that I was wrong, on both counts ...

Blogging has brought me many things, including experiences from the sublime to the ridiculous (more about those later on this week), and I've met -  and made friends with - men and women I could never have met under other circumstances. Get Lippie has made a huge difference to my life, and as a result, I owe a massive debt of thanks to several people for all manner of reasons, and if you'll forgive my self indulgence (which I shall apologise for in advance), I'd like to mention some of them now.  Please get your sickbags ready:

To Seona, Sarah and Genna, thank you so much for encouraging me to start this in the first place, you guys have supported this from the very beginning and you have always had great ideas and feedback, even when I've found it difficult at times.  This blog probably wouldn't exist without you three, so, from the heart of my bottom I thank you very much.

For bloggers who I'm very grateful to, then I simply have to mention LondonMakeupGirl , MizzWorthy and Lipglossiping  who were my inspiration at the beginning (and remain so!) and I'm grateful to them for all the support they provided for me when I was but a struggling (and very annoying - some things never change) newbie to the blogging world.   BeautyJunkieLondon and HelenNiceThings need a mention for all the help they've given me since - you guys know what I'm talking about! Then there is, of course, BritishBeautyBlogger, who is a great cheerleader, and takes my ribbing her about sausages at every available opportunity with great aplomb. .And, lastly, but certainly not leastly (mainly because she's in a category all of her very own labelled "Mouthy Scousers"), there is Caroline over at BeautyMouth, whom I'd like to say I look up to, but I'm afraid she'll take it literally and start referring to me as a hobbit again.

I've made so many friends through Twitter, through the comments that arrive (always to my astonishment and delight) daily on this blog, and through emails and DMs and not to mention the blogging events that I never even thought I'd be invited to any of, that there are too many more of you to mention without it turning into some sort of sub-Gwyneth Paltrow-style Oscar speech.  And I think I've just embarrassed myself enough for one day.  Possibly even the week!

Suffice it to say, that if you've ever taken the time to read my tiny corner of the internet, or if you've ever spoken to me on Twitter, or if you've ever left a comment here, or written me an email asking for advice, then I'm grateful for it, and I'd like to say a massive thank you to YOU, too.  You're great you are.  And, might I add, how lovely you look today?

I'll be back a little later in the week with details of an amazing birthday competition.  Well, I think it's amazing, anyhow, I hope you guys will, too! In the meantime, if you have any suggestions of things you'd like to see on Get Lippie, then feel free to let me know in the comments!


The Fine Print:  Normal (sarcastic) service will be resumed tomorrow.  I did warn you that you'd need a sickbag.  I never joke about vomit.

A tiny note to MrLippie:  Thank you.  For everything. Now, PLEASE stop making me look socially inept when I drag you to events, thank you!