Yeah, I've never done this before.

Here are some of the things I loved using last month!

Benefit's Cresent Row Limited Edition set: This cute little thing was given to me by G for Christmas. It has four purse-friendly sized perfumes & they all smell amazing. I love Benefit cosmetics & now I love their perfumes too.

Collection 2000 Concealer: I bought this on eBay & I did a post about it in a haul. I said before I didn't like it but now I absolutely love it. It's soooo highly pigmented & it hides my dark under-eye circles like nothing else. Go buy it. Here's a link.

Benefit's The PORE-fessional: My mum bought this for me during her overseas travels & oh my goodness I'm glad she did. This primer is amazing & its so silky. It eliminates fine lines & it stops make up settling into them too. 

Too Faced A Few of my Favourite Things Palette: This palette has everything from an array of highly pigmented eye shadows, to bronzer, to blush, to instruction cards showing you how to create daytimes & night time looks. I got this in a set for my birthday & it came with mascara & a lip balm/tint from Mecca Maxima. Love it.

L'Oreal Nutri-lift Gold foundation: Ok, this foundation is literally everything. In my personal opinion its better than Mac's studio fix which is a huge claim. I get compliments all the time when I wear this because it makes my skin look so fresh & natural. I bought it from Priceline :)

Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion Skin Conditioner: I looooooooooooooooooooove this amazing thing! Oh my goodness it is the BEST shower invention EVER! Its pretty much a moisturiser that you use in the shower AFTER you wash your body. I specifically use this on my legs after I shave & it got the 'my husband noticed how smooth my legs were' test. I got mine from Priceline.

Those were some of the things I loved from last month. What did you love?

-C.

(｡•‿•) Get Ready With Me: Everyday Make Up Routine.

In this post I show you how I do my every day make-up. I've tried so many different types of brands & so far the ones featured are my favourites to use every day.

(｡◕‿◕｡)

I start off with a clean face, fresh out of the shower.

I moisturise using my favourite Milk & co Ultra Light Moisturiser & prime my face using Benefit's The Pore-fessional.

Once that settles into my skin, I move onto foundation & concealer. I'm loving Nutri Lift Gold by L'Oreal & I've finally warmed up to my Collection 2000 concealer. Both are in the lightest shades.

I blend that into my face using a blending sponge for a flawless finish.

I apply my concealer like two upside-down triangles under my eyes, down to my cheeks to highlight that entire area. This concealer is awesome for covering up everything.

Once everything is all blended, my face looks like this:

I use two products to set my base. They are the Maybelline Super Stay 24hr Powder & Covergirl Tru Blend both in the lightest shades possible.

I buff the Maybelline powder along the perimeter of my face using a flat top kabuki brush...

...aaaand I highlight the Maybelline powder using my Real Techniques contour brush.

Next I contour, blush & highlight my face using Benefit's Hoola bronzer, Benefit's Hervana blush & The Balm's May-Lou Manizer highlight.

I contour along my cheek bones.

I use blush on the apples of my cheeks & highlight the high points of my face.

Using 'Bunny Hop' by Benefit, I prime my eyelids as a base for the colours in the Lorac Pro palette.

I just use two colours which give me that natural looking eye. 

Next using Rimmel's Scandal Eyes waterproof Kohl in Nude & my favourite Sephora eyeliner, I line my water line & give myself a perfect wing.

Next I use Jordana's Best Lash mascara & Benefit's They're Real mascara, I accentuate my eyelashes.

One eye with & one eye without mascara.

For my eye brows, I've been filling them in using the darkest brown shadow in my Inglot freedom palette & an angled brush. I set it with my favourite brow setting gel from Essence.

I love my brows!

The final step is lips & lately I've been using this nude lip gloss from Napoleon Perdis.

...and that's it! 

I absolutely swear by this routine as it gives me a flawless looking face & it takes only about 15 minutes to put it all together.

-C.

July Favourites | clarissaxplainsitall

As July is coming to a close (where has the year gone?!) I thought I'd do a July favourites because I've never done one of these posts before.

Nothing beats classic SNL to adequately describe your

feelings. 

Below is a collection of everything I have loved this month and have been reaching for more frequently.

1. Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara: I can't get enough of this product. If you're looking for a mascara that gives you length and volume then you've come to the right place. This is more of a ~high end~ product so it will make a hole in your wallet, but if you want to spoil yourself on a mascara that could replace all of the other 123249822 mascaras in your collection, then give it a go.

Price: Retails at $38 on the Myer website.

2. Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream: This has replaced my foundations this month. I bought both the medium shade to contour and the fair shade to highlight and I haven't looked back. This lightweight product stays true to its word by leaving your skin feeling lightweight and flawless with its oil-free formula. It's also available for those who battle with a more oily complexion.

Price: Retails at $15.95 on the Priceline website.

3. Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman Base/Flawless, Core Collection Brushes: I believe in having quality make-up brushes above all else in your make-up collection, and this month I've loved using these brushes to apply my make up. They're give you absolute control and they clean easily.

Price: Retails at $17.99 on the iHerb website.

4. Sea Spray by Lush: I'm a pretty low maintenance kind of girl when it comes to my hair. I cut my hair really short once and I vowed never, ever to do it again because of how much maintenance went into keeping it looking cute. For my long hair, I love to just wash it, let it hair dray and spray a couple of pumps of Sea Spray by Lush to make it look like i've put hours of effort into it. It leaves it looking like I have just been to Bondi beach when really I haven't left my room.

Price: Retails at $12.50 on the Lush website.

5. Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette: Ok, you're crazy if you haven't heard of Urban Decay's Naked palettes. They're pretty much the bee's knees. I've been reaching for Naked 2 this month because the colours allow you to create any smokey or neutral eye look with its highly pigmented shades.

Price: Naked (the original palette) Retails at $59.60 on beautybay.com
Note: Naked 2 is currently out of stock.

6. Clinique 3-Step System: I was fortunate enough to score a 10-day trial of the 3-step system from my local Clinique counter and I think I'm going to buy the full sized system once I get some money. My skin feels refreshed and lovely after following the steps. Definitely worth the extra 3 minutes of my skin care routine.

Price: Retails at $29.00 for the introductory kit from the Clinique website.

Let me know what your July favourites are. I want to know!

-C.

Benetint by Benefit Cosmetics | My Favourite Lip Stain

I was never much a fan of lip stains until I tried Benetint by Benefit.

This product is AMAZING and it's one of the first products ever introduced by Benefit Cosmetics.

Originally, the product was requested by an exotic dancer who required her areolas to be more... pigmented. The girls at Benefit, then 'The Face Shop', conjured up this amazing cheek and lip stain which has become their best selling product with over 10 million bottles sold!

I love using this product as it can be used alone, layered or underneath my favourite red lipstick to make it last even longer.

Usually I just add 1-2 coats to give my lips that 'just bitten' colour and look, which is my favourite. It is a cheek stain as well, and I use it sometimes, but I predominately use it for my lips.

The product retails at $55 on the Myer website and in store.

Just a subtle hint of colour.

I wore Benetint under my favourite MAC lipstick, Rubywoo.

-C.

Benefit Cosmetics Australia & Butterfliielilian Meet-up & Competition! ☂

Do you know those days where you just want to tell everybody how awesome it was?

Well today is one of those days.

A YouTuber who I watch, Butterfliielilian, and my favourite make-up brand, Benefit Cosmetics, pitched a competition where 4 lucky winners would get the chance to spend the morning being pampered with and educated on the wonderful uses of Benefit Cosmetics.

I, being the person that I am, entered & didn't really think I'd be chosen to win because I'm so unlucky! I've never won anything in my life!

Anyways,

...yesterday I received an email detailing that I had in fact won! I was SO excited. Seriously.

So, this morning I got up super early (7:00am is super early for me) and got ready to experience a morning of pampering & meeting Lilian!

It was so lovely & the Benefit Make-Up artists are SO amazing. Not to mention the other winners & Lilian were lovely too!

We feasted on cupcakes & learnt a lot about the products they have at Benefit. I volunteered to be the model for the day & I got my make-up done infront of everyone. The products that Benefit produces are just so high quality and each have multiple uses. I've religiously used They're Real mascara, Boi-ing Concealer, Hula Brozer, Hervana Blush and more. I've consistently been so amazed by their products, so being able to spend the day with the Benefit team while using their products and learning more about them was such a pleasure. I would recommend Benefit to anyone who wants to achieve the best makeup looks with the highest quality products.

Before the modelling, we all got our brows tinted and waxed. I've never wanted to show off my eyebrows as much as I do now. THEY. ARE. PERFECT.

We chatted about life, YouTube, our blogs, fashion, our pets, Instagram, Twitter & just everything! It was truly an amazing morning & I'm so grateful & thankful that I was part of it.

 In the end we all got a goodie bag & in true Benefit fashion, the packaging was to die for.

I want to thank the Benefit Make-Up Artists at the Benefit Boutique in Paddington & Lilian from Butterfliielinian for hosting this wonderful morning.


Photos:

Hello gorgeous!

Benefit cupcakes! So yummy, mmm. 

Lilian from Butterfliielilian :) her blog can be found

here

So many lovely frames and pictures.

The generous goodie bag we were each given! 

End result of my trimmed, waxed & tinted eyebrows. Amazing!

The other girls that attended were:

Nella @ Beauté Gazette 

Elise @ yELLE Styling

It was so lovely to meet you all!

-C.

Review | CoverGirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation

I like make up. I'm a girl who likes to wear make up.

Shock horror.

Not really, but I looooove everything make up. I love wearing make up, watching videos on youtube about make up, make up tutorials, inspiration EVERYTHING. Gideon even lets me put make up on him with the condition that he gets to watch a manly movie or video about the army or guns, you know, to make sure he doesn't lose any testosterone.

Don't tell him I told you.

In keeping with the make up theme, I thought I'd do a review on one of my favourite foundations I've recently purchased:

CoverGirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation

It looks like this:

Its a medium coverage foundation which takes the place of three of my own make up products. Its a primer, foundation and concealer! AWESOME! I paid $20 for it at Priceline at Castle Towers & it was so worth it!

I've started to use it in my everyday make up routine and the results are amazing! Its not oily or anything & it dries relatively quickly into this powder-like consistency over your face. It brightens dark circles and covers those not so lovely imperfections (which I have a lot of on my face!)

This is what my face looks like with NO make up on:

This is what it looks like with the rest of my everyday make up:

If you're interested, here are the other products I use in my everyday make up routine BUT to be honest, since using the CoverGirl foundation, I've been using less and less concealer and powder because it pretty much does all the work for me.

As you can see in the photos, it makes my skin tone look even and gives me a great base for the rest of my make up.

Other products:

Top row: MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC15, Essence Lash & brow gel, MAC Studio Fix in NC15

Middle row: Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium, Essence Long Lasting Eye pencil, Maybelline Master Precise liquid liner, The Balm lip gloss, The Balm 'What's your Type?' mascara, Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation (for contour), CoverGirl Outlast Stay fabulous foundation, Physicians Formula Super BB Powder. 

Bottom row: Essence I love Stage eyelid primer, Secret Beam highlighter from Etude House in Korea, Benefit Hula and Sugarbomb boxed powders and Urban Decay Naked Palette.

Brushes: Bubbi Brushes in Flat Buffer Brush and Blending Brush, and Real Techniques Contour Brush, Pointed Foundation Brush, and Buffing Brush.

All in all, I'd give this product:

• 4.5 unicorns

Stay classy.

-C.