Koni

My hair stylist recommended these products to me when I started getting Keratin treatment last December.  The recommendation was based on the state of my hair and what I wanted to achieve with my hair care regime.   I have had my hair chemically straightened, dyed (highlighted,  balayage) and to top it off - regular use of hair straigteners so it's fair to say that my hair was frizzled, frazzled and nearing it's time. 

I really enjoy the way it leaves my hair feeling soft, manageable and healthy. I feel that it doesn't strip the life (or what little of it I have left) in my hair.  It's easier for me to run my hands through my hair and I can easily put it up without having to deal with this mop of a mess that I had prior to last year.  When I straighten my hair I notice that there is more of a healthy soft shine. No hair care has ever felt as nourishing as these two products.

I wash my hair twice a week and my bottles have lasted me almost 8 months because I've stuck to my hairstylist's advice. Shampoo hair twice, first shampoo use a 50c size amount to get rid of the days' worth of product build-up and oil (you may not see any lather during this time). Second shampoo in a 20c size amount to actually "wash" your hair (you should see a nice lather of goodness). Lastly my favorite part the conditioner - ahhhhhhh massage in a 20c size amount but I prefer the 50c size (oh yes I'm living on the edge)!

The only issues I have with this is that it leaves my hair "fluffy" sometimes and the price. When the Keratin starts to wear off I notice my hair is "fluffier" than usual but it's nothing to cry about. I bought my products from my salon; Style Counsel (Epsom, Auckland) and if I remember correctly it was roughly $50-$60 for both - well worth it if you stick to the "coin" amounts because at the end of the day that's all you really need.

I love this night cream! I received it in the BBBE Cruelty Free edition (seriously that particular beauty box is just full of goodness!) and going on 2 months of use with probably 40ml left (of the 75ml – yes I’m a tad too generous with the product).

Now admittedly I wasn’t a huge fan of the semi-sweet natural (almost cheap) scent but I figure because it doesn’t have the usual nice smelling chemicals that I would just have to make do and now it smells pleasant. I wish it came with a flip-top as I hate having to screw on lids but once you see how it performs all these minor things are just pedantic.

It has a fluid consistency that you need to work into the skin but its lightweight. I love to apply a lot where my face feels sticky but give it a minute or two and it’ll dry down nicely and I feel like I’m left with a nice lightweight mask.

I generally roll my eyes when companies name their products with words like “regenerative” but I kid you not this cream is working hard at night. It has given me a smoother complexion (it’s not flawless but it’s noticeably different) and my skin tone has gone up a notch.

As much as I love to give all the credit to this product, I do use a combination of skincare products but I have really started to see the difference with the addition of this night cream.

I had no clue this product was pricey (I probably would have not applied so much!) but it's worth every penny. I recall using a sample sachet 2 years ago and that’s really not enough to make a call on whether this is good or not. If you’re able to get hold of a couple of sachets I’m pretty sure you may find a gem.

I’m not a suitable candidate for microblading and this product is the next best thing for me. I’ve been using it for 4 months and I absolutely love it. My sister bought me the Dark Brown shade from Australia for $AUD25 which I thought was utterly ridiculous for 5ml but aside from a few clumps of product here and there it’s still going strong.

What I love about this product is that I have 3-4 days of freedom from filling my brows and that my brows actually look good! Of course they look nothing like microbladed brows but they look natural, nicely shaped and is a fraction of the cost of the treatment.

When I first used the product I used a brown eyeliner to lightly outline the shape of my brows. The colour of the product looks black and in certain lighting you can see the brown but just be mindful it does come off as more of a darker brown/black which is perfect for me.

The consistency reminds me of semi-thick PVA glue and just like the glue it’s easy to wipe off if you make a mistake. Don't allow it to sit too long or you’ll end up with the tint in an area you don’t want. The applicator is a small synthetic brush which is saturated with product so ensure to wipe off the excess.

When applying the product for the first couple of times it felt awkward not using an angled brush to shape my brows but follow the natural way your brows grow so that the brush is not going against them. Ideally you want to be “glueing” (while shaping) your brows down.

I start applying the product in the centre (mainly out of habit) because I want most of the pigment in that area before moving to the other areas. You need to have enough product on your brows so that you can ideally peel it off in one go. I then wait for 15-20 minutes and then peel the product off starting from the end of my brows and c’est voilà beautifully shaped brows for the next 3 days.

The tint is darkest on Day 1 and each time you wash your face you'll notice the pigment lift. My brows fade evenly so it's not like anyone is going to notice that you have brows one day and the next they're gone. By the 4th or 5th day I can either fill my brows in or reapply the product.

If I’m not happy with my attempt then I can always fill it in with powder until it fades but I’ve only had to do that once over the 4 months. I no longer need to outline my brows and it takes me less than 2 minutes to apply. I would highly recommend this product for those who enjoy having some freedom from filling in their brows for a few days.

I was so excited to trial this thank you BR. Any help with the wrinkles is appreciated ;-)

It comes in a 30ml pump bottle. It's quite fancy. The consistency is a semi thick off white serum.

I have been trialing this product for almost three weeks. Morning and evening, I gently massage two pumps of serum in a small circular motion all over my face and neck.

It absorbs easily into my skin. Doesn't leave any sticky feeling which is great. I have definitely noticed a difference in my skin. Especially around my eyes where I had lots of sagging skin. It has visibly lifted it and my skin looks tighter too. I think I'm in love!

I would highly recommend and plan on purchasing this along with the Dragons Blood moisturiser too.

Even though I've always admired this product I was never interested in buying it because I just find cream highlighters a bit too high maintenance for me. The ones I've used in the past tended to move during the day/night, had patchy application or emphasised the texture on my skin. I decided to try them again after I read BR member, TheBeautyContext's great review.

Now when I sampled it on my hand at Smith & Caughey's I wasn't entirely convinced with the almost non-existent golden highlight but BR members don't play when it comes to highlighters, I remembered the BR reviews I had read and bravely said goodbye to $57. Out of all of Benefit's packaging, this metallic mirrored lilac tube is by far my favourite! It has a round sponge tip at one end, used to soften and blend out the product and the other end we have the retractable highlight.

On my skin tone it's more of a soft golden peach hue which gives me a healthy radiant lit-from-within glow. It's not overly luminous but the more product you layer on the more intense the sheen on your face becomes and the more evident the fine shimmer. I love that I can layer this on top of my moisturiser and foundation without any pilling - even if I apply the highlight layers between doing other things. The cream-to-powder finish means it lasts longer on my oily skin than I would have expected had it just been a full cream highlighter - so a good 7 hours for me.

My only issue is that even though it's sheer and buildable you have to ensure you blend it out properly because if you're part of the chocolate club like myself it could potentially look ashy when in fact it's just a matter of taking a beauty blender or flat top brush to it. This is officially my favourite cream highlighter! I love to apply this onto my cheeks (yes like blush), then take it up to the high points and then follow up with blush and contour.

With the recent vault this was one of my priority, must have items. Luckily I got it and when it arrived I sqweeeed with joy. Fiji Spice Queen have taken an already awesome thing and turned it into something even better, something I love to use every day.

The smell is nice, not something I'd usually go for. The mandarin citrussy smell is there, but then I'm guessing the ylang ylang is what's throwing me off. Both smells are quite subtle and not overpowering in anyway - once rubbed into the skin I barely notice it, and when it's in my hair its subtly perfumed but otherwise I don't notice it. I do notice the mandarin smell more, but it's still not in your face.

I've used this 3 ways so far, as a body oil, as a hair oil and as a hair mask. I love all three ways. It absorbs really quickly as a body oil, with no greasy residue or filmy feeling left on my skin. I can almost put my jeans on straight away as well, which, if you have a terrible moisturizer you know that this is a struggle! The oiled skin is left soft and hydrated and I quite like it more than my regular moisturizer.

As a hair oil I use it just in the tips and sometimes the left over oil on my hands tames the fly away hairs, which I like a lot better than hairspray. As a hair mask I left it overnight and shampooed it out the next day - my hair was gloriously soft, softer than usual, and slightly more tame.

For an oil I get that it's in a pump bottle, and over summer this will be super handy as the oil will pump out normally, but as it's still cold the oil is still solid and stays solid unless you melt it - for that reason I'd love this in a tub, so I don't have to melt it every time I want it! But otherwise this product is amazing and I'll definitely be repurchasing it.

I have a love/hate relationship with these glosses which I've been using for a year and I regret buying the collection. I made sure to read several reviews on beauty blogs and Youtube before buying so was surprised when I wasn't that impressed.

The packaging is bulky but the clear tube allows you to see the colours which is true to colour. The pigmentation is amazingly vibrant to the point that they're a bit too over the top to wear to the office for me (except maybe 2). I was hoping to soften the vibrancy by picking up minimal product and lightly layering it but then you look like you haven't finished your lips.

The texture is buttery and light weight, I love how they feel on my lips however they can be drying. I find that these are not glosses you can just walk out the door with a plain face because it'll look like you forgot the rest of your makeup.

I find it's too much work to apply this product so that it doesn't bleed or move. Lipliners can only contain this product for so long so I find I have to check the mirror more often when I'm wearing this so I don't look like I've taken lessons from the Joker.

If I'm lucky I can get 2.5 hours without having to reapply/fix (without eating/drinking). But I guess that's typical of a gloss. I bought mine directly off of their website without any shipping issues.

Below are the shades and what they look like on me. I recommend these glosses to those who love vibrant colours and aren't about that natural lip.

Reds 1.Burning Love* - Vibrant red

Purples 2.Toxic* - Vampy purple 3.Purple Fusion - Blue based violet Pinks 4. Wild Child* - Fuschia 5. Attitude - Barbie pink (almost neon) 6. Cotton Candy - Bubble gum pink 7. Petals - White based pink

Other 8. Undressed* - Nude beige 9. Sunshine Kisses - Warm apricot (reminds me of Lime Crime's Cosmo Pop)

*My favourites

We all know YSL packaging is stunning but when it’s pricey you really want the product to be just as fantastic. For me, this isn’t worth the investment however I can’t say that I have found a dupe that is close to this in terms of the natural brightness it brings to the areas of my face. I have the shade 4.5 Luminous Sand which complements my MAC NC42-44 skintone nicely.

I like that it comes in pen form but sometimes I have an issue when my fingers are slippery from moisturiser/concealer/foundation. It can be tricky when trying to put the lid back on. Like any pen form product it’ll take a number of clicks until the product comes out for the first use but once it does it will only take a click or two going forward.

What I love about the product is that it’s lightweight, blendable and brightens the areas where I apply it. The first few times I wore this, I received compliments that I looked refreshed and this was the only thing that was different. It’s a bit on the average side of coverage because I can still see my dark circles coming through and it’s no match for my oily lids because the product is pretty much gone by lunch time even when set with powder.

I like wearing this with minimal makeup (i.e. no foundation) mainly under my eyes, bridge of my nose, forehead and chin because it looks as if I almost have a natural even skintone. I like this product however not enough to say that I would repurchase it. I’m positive I can find something that is more affordable with more product rather than just 2.5ml.

I've always wanted to try Karen Murrell's lipsticks but I wasn't aware of where I could swatch them before deciding on a shade so I was over the moon to receive this in the BBBE this year. Now for me, fuchsia is an intense rich blend of pink magenta so when I saw the colour in the tube I was surprised that it was 100 shades lighter than I expected. It came across with little shock and looked more wearable than one would expect with a name like Fuchsia Shock.

I adore the effort put into the packaging of the lipsticks from the recyclable materials used to the coloured boxes that apparently reflect the shades hidden inside. The tube on the other hand is a little dull to be honest, it's a light weight matte black where the top half of the inside is a shiny black. I kind of wish they went with shiny right the way through because it could possibly have more appeal for those walking past the testers.

This lipstick goes on waxy and translates into a semi glossy finish. It smells like cinnamon and reminds me of a lighter version of Big Red chewing gum (delish!). The pigmentation is average - it's buildable but you need several swipes to achieve decent coverage. I believe this lipstick is good for those who are wanting to try bolder and brighter shades but are still not on board with full opacity.

I love that it's moisturising, it doesn't feather too much and there's little slip but the lasting power is below average with 2 hours wear and that's if I don't eat or drink. I can't see myself repurchasing any other shades from this brand.

Full price at Farmers this mirror costs $79.99, but quite often they have a 50% off sale. I got this mirror during one of those sales so it was only $39.99. I honestly couldn't live without this mirror (okay maybe not haha). But it is seriously amazing and it has significantly improved how I do my makeup since I've owned it.

This mirror has two sides, one with normal magnification and one with 7x magnification. You just spin the mirrors around to switch to the other side. Both mirrors are very clear. The first time I looked in the side with 7x magnification, I got quite a shock! I could literally see every individual hair and pore on my face. I now pluck my own brows because of how easy it is to do with this mirror, so it has saved me a good amount of money.

This mirror is battery operated. There was another similar mirror at Farmers that required you to plug it into the wall to turn the lights on, but I wanted one that was easy to move around. I've owned this mirror for over a year now and I use it pretty much everyday. I've only needed to replace the batteries once. The lights are bright enough to illuminate your face well, but not too bright that they hurt your eyes. The lights can either be on high, low, or off. I generally keep it on high because I find that the low setting is too dim. But it's good that they give you the option.

I take this mirror with me whenever I travel. I find it so difficult to do my makeup with a normal mirror now. The side with 7x magnification makes it really easy to do my eyeshadow, eyebrows, eyeliner, and lipstick. It helps me to ensure that my makeup looks flawless. I would recommend this mirror to anyone. If you don't own a mirror like this, you should buy this one. It makes it so much easier to apply makeup and it also makes it look even better!