Benefit the POREfessional; My First Dabble in Benefit

EDIT: The score for this review has be adjusted to AVOID as it has been brought to my attention that Benefit test on animals. Please see the PETA archives here. The original review, unedited, is below.

I finally decided that it was high time to dip my toes into the Benefit pool. Yep. I managed to make it to 23 years without even trying this brand. I totally get why folk be crazy for it. Its branding is just so on point. The playful product names, the witty tag statements, the just gorgeous imagery, the super luxurious packaging, the irresistible colour palettes. Let alone the content of these products, Benefit have got their branding down.

Not really knowing where to start, I figured the Benefit Best of You Kit would be a fantastic introduction. For £66.00 you get to choose one complexion, cheek and eye product from a set selection, followed by a free eyeshadow or lip product and absolutely darling make-up bag. 

For my selection I chose (the lack of correct capitalisation here is going to kill me) the POREfessional face primer (£24.50 / 22ML), dandelion a brightening face powder (£23.50 / 7G), roller lash super-curling & lifting mascara (£19.50 / 8.5G) and new! ultra plush lip gloss in shade: A-lister bubblegum pink (£14.50 / 15ML). With the free lip gloss, make-up bag and 2 additional samples, I couldn't be merrier. 

Benefit the POREfessional is a super lovely luxury primer. It's a velvety little number that is extremely lightweight and versatile. It definitely helps to blur pores, but controlling oil is where it unfortunately falls short.

As per usual, I use a primer to help control oil throughout the day. As I don't wear any base make-up, I don't use this in the traditional prime-your-face-for-make-up sense. For oil control, it lack stability. Occasionally I can hit 6-8 hours without needing any touch-ups, other days it falls way short at only 2-4. The crucial note being, I always need to touch-up when wearing this product. That means blotting.

The consistency of this product is just luxurious. I generally apply with my fingertips, as it's so light and spreadable, tools hardly need to come into play. It feels like silk to touch then transforms into this divine velvet-like finish. It's incredibly light to wear, so my skin can't feel it, meaning I feel very fresh and free, ideal for everyday wear.

The primer is of a light beige/brownish colour, but this doesn't transfer to skin, in fact, it goes on perfectly translucent, that is to say, with my fair skin tone. In terms of blending, this product is just a dream. Due to its translucency, there's little-to-no blending needed. I delicately glide the primer onto my skin, and it blends in seamlessly. Its pore blurring effects are minor, but present all the same. It very subtly disguises my pores without clogging.

A minor pitfall for me, is using this product in conjunction with oils. As I have an unwavering love with oils, they have absolutely replaced moisturisers for me. Application of the POREfessional struggles here, as the oils make the surface slippy, meaning the primer can't get much purchase. It's far more effective when applied to dry skin. 

This is a perfect product when I need fast, easy oil control to cover me over shorter periods of time. It is super lightweight and super comfortable. As a luxury product, the cost does factor in. I would buy this again, Effective, repurchase.

Benefit the POREfessional can be purchased from Benefit for £24.50 / 22ML. The larger value size can be purchased from Benefit for £29.50 / 44ML.

TONY MOLY Egg Pore Tightening Cooling Pack + Silky Smooth Balm (we're ignoring the Blackhead Steam Balm for good reason)

The first contenders to enter the ring from my Korean Beauty Haul: BeautynetKorea is the TONY MOLY Egg Pore Collection. WARNING: please, please note that the Egg Pore Blackhead Steam Balm CONTAINS MICROBEADS. I had to throw this product away after first realising. To read more about the environmental hazards of microbeads, please click here.

This trio's philosophy is to exfoliate, tighten the skin's elasticity, and prime. Essentially, remove blackheads, clear pores and reduce excess sebum, They are packaged as three adorable little eggs that are simply twisted open to reveal their contents. As cute as it is, the packaging is utterly redundant, making it a fairly wasteful product. While TONY MOLY do adopt a Green Philosophy, in that these products are made from recycled materials, the lid is nearly twice the size of its contents! It's impracticable, unnecessary and highly wasteful. Quirky egg design should be no way to market these products.

Blackhead Steam Balm

As mentioned, we're ignoring the Blackhead Steam Balm for good reason, because WARNING: IT CONTAINS MICROBEADS. While the principle of exfoliating the skin before applying a face mask is something I subscribe to, I wanted to instead provide two far less dangerous alternatives that offer the exact same results.

Origins Modern Friction This exfoliator mimics the effects of microdermabrasion treatments but with the considerably less abrasive rice starch. It's quite a soft, plump exfoliator which offers the same warming effects. But this product can be very harsh. I found my skin to become a little irritated when using, possibly because the ingredients list features SLS and lemon oil. £32.00 / 125ML

Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub This product is a fantastic alternative, and the one I found myself using most often. It uses small apricot kernels to exfoliate, and its rich and creamy texture makes it very soft and kind to skin. It contains 100% natural ingredients and is sulphate-free, making it extremely gentle on my sensitive skin. £10.99 / 110G

Any of the above two exfoliators are a better alternative. As matters of ethics, morales and principle, I cannot use cosmetics containing microbeads. 

Tightening Cooling Pack

The Tightening Cooling Pack is possibly the gentlest face mask I've ever used. Assuming this is where the product's name comes from (beside the packaging), its texture is just like scrambled eggs! Oddly, it is actually very cool to touch, and remains cool on the skin. While the cooling qualities are supposedly to help 'close' the pores, that's just nonsense. It does, however, very effectively de-gunk my pores.

Simply scoop out a small piece of the gelatinous mask, and begin to spread it onto the skin. It's not a great spreader, it does tend to be a little too on the sticky side, so I often found myself laying it on quite thick. The most interesting thing about this mask, is it doesn't dry on the skin, it manages to retain its moisture, making it incredibly soft, gentle and barely feel-able and all the while, staying lovely and cooling. 

It has an inoffensive sweet scent to it which I can't actually smell while wearing the mask. However, as it's feather-light, gentle and odourless it is completely easy to forget this product is even on your skin. 

While it may not dry on the skin, it does like to grip the skin, making it fairly tricky to remove so you will need to grab the muslin cloth. Afterwards, I'm left with slightly red and irritated skin, possibly due to the difficult removal. However, this is amazing for de-gunking pores. My skin is far more clearer after every use, turning my pores into a more greyish colour, making them increasingly less and less visible. 

Silky Smooth Balm

The Silky Smooth Balm is actually a primer, and does not offer any skin benefits. Its aim is to reduce excess sebum production and control oil. You can apply this product alone, after your usual skincare routine, or just before make-up. I like to wear it alone, as I don't tend to wear any make-up products.

As the name suggests, this is a super silky smooth customer. Scoop a little piece onto the end of your finger and begin to spread it onto the skin. Do not massage it in. Just glide your fingertips over your skin, outwards from the nose. It's far more effective when you let it rest upon your skin as a barrier against oil. 

Your skin may feel like its wearing a barrier, but I find it in no way uncomfortable and it's very soft to touch. You will notice that the balm instantly eliminates any shine, leaving you with a flawless matte finish. It is very, very effective, keeping me oil-free for the entire working day. Yup. Its effects are astounding. 

It smells absolutely delicious, a really sweet and pleasant scent. Everything about this product is a real catch, the smells, the texture, and most importantly, the effects. It is definitely a favourite of mine for oil control.

While we're always told not to put all our eggs in one basket, the Blackhead Steam Balm is definitely one egg that I will be avoiding in all of future shopping baskets. The Tightening Cooling Pack was effective sure, but I won't be repurchasing this product as it's difficult to remove and contains a very small helping. However, the Silky Smooth Balm is a dream come true. I've loved how successful this product is, and have categorised it as an absolute essential. 

The Tightening Cooling Pack can be purchased from BeautynetKorea for $10.99 / 30G. The Silky Smooth Balm can be purchased from BeautynetKorea for $13.22 / 20G. 

Korean Beauty Haul: BeautynetKorea

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Obligatory Korean Beauty Haul? I think so. While this might be fashionable in current times, that's not without good reason. Korean, and by extension, Asian beauty products, are powerful, adorable, targeted and reputable. While it might be a little confusing at first, there are a lot of cute infographics to mill through, complimented by confusing English, these products can be both entertaining and powerful.  

As this is completely new territory - where do you even begin? It's important to shop from reliable sources, and, during an introductory phase, focus on the wider, more popular brands. I shopped with BeautynetKorea. They stock a tonne of beauty, make-up, skincare, body and perfume products for both men and women. Their prices are reasonable (usually discounted), they offer free worldwide shipping on orders over $50.00, not to mention the wedge of customised samples I received with my order.

This is just an introduction, not a review. I wanted to show you what I picked up and why. There is a big focus here on blackhead removal, lots of scrubs, exfoliators and masks. 

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TONY MOLY Egg Pore Blackhead Steam Balm 30G + Tightening Cooling Pack 30G + Silky Smooth Balm 20G ($35.27 USD) This little set was just too adorable not to pick up. I know, that's no way to shop, but I kept seeing these products mentioned time and time again, success story after success story. This Egg Pore 3 Pack Collection contains a Blackhead Steam Balm, to be used first to 'open up' the pores. This facial exfoliator warms up as it is massaged into the skin, preparing you to follow it up with the Tightening Cooling Pack, a cooling face mask used to tighten pores and improve the skins condition. Finally, the Silky Smooth Balm is more of a primer (make-up), offering no real skincare benefits. This is to be applied on its own, or under make-up, to keep you matte and blur them pores. 

ETUDE HOUSE Blackhead Final Kit Double-Up Blackhead Romving Toner-X 60ML + Black Head Smooth Cream 15ML ($17.49 USD) While the first item in this kit is referred to as a toner, it is not a toner in the traditional Western sense. In fact, you soak a cotton wool pad, or a cloth, in the toner then press it onto your face and leave it there for 10-15 minutes, after which, you wash/clean away. Follow this up with the cream, used to sooth the skin and control excess sebum. 

INNISFREE Jeju Vocanic Blackhead Out Balm 30G ($6.99 USD) Innisfree is an admirably green Asian beauty brand. Their ingredients are pure and naturally sourced. The Blackhead Out Balm (fun name, right?) melts blackheads away. It is a solid balm, which when massaged into the skin, melts into an oil, which then dissolves blackheads and absorbs sebum. 

Holika Holika Pig Nose Clean Blackhead Cleansing Sugar Scrub 30 ML ($7.78 USD) Pig Nose is for the removal of sebaceous filaments (white and horny clogged pores). The sugar scrub effectively removes these filaments, alongside blackheads by massaging the product softly into skin. Once massaged, leave the product on the skin, converting it into a mask, to allow the pink clay to absorb the excess sebum.

SKIN FOOD Black Sugar Mask Wash Off 100G (10.49 USD) While mask is in the title, this is actually just a face scrub. Gently massage this sugary product into the skin for a few minutes, then wash it away. As the name implies, this brand uses food within their products as part of their key ingredients, believing that good food products make you healthy inside and out. 

Here are the collection of samples I received with my order, all TONY MOLY, probably one of the more prominent Korean brands. While some of them are dupes, samples often go a long way in my books. The samples include: Magic Good Banana Hand Milk, Panda's Dream White Hand Cream, Panda's Dream Eye Patch, I'm Real Avocado Rich Cream and Floria Whitening Capsule Essence.

Are you tempted to splurge on a Korean Beauty Haul? What items are you interested in picking up?

The Body Shop: All-in-One™ Instablur™ Universal

For make-up wearers, primers have become an essential part to face/base application. Understandably. Primers can prep the face for easier application, hold make-up for longer, blur pores and, what I would consider most important of all, control oil. The Body Shop: All-in-One™ Instablur™ Universal is a dream come true for oil control. It is not, however, a dream come true in any other department.

This is a product you will need to learn to use, persevere with, fail with, get frustrated with and then and only then, finally have mattified skin which honestly does match that 12 hour promise. You read right. 12 hours. This product controls my oil production for an entire half day cycle - maybe longer, but who can ever try? 

When you first squeeze this product out of the tube, you will be greeted by a somewhat sticky, yet fairly crumbly, translucent balm. It will fall out into your palm or your sponge in 'chunks', with a consistency that isn't quite strong enough to hold together. However you apply this product, with your fingertips or with a tool, it will fall off. It's just completely unmanageable. I use my fingertips. I take a very small piece between my index finger and thumb and begin to massage it onto my skin, moving outwards from the nose. Using my other hand, I cup this underneath my face to catch any product that falls off, and their will be product that falls off. I then repeat this process until my entire face is covered by the balm. 

If you think the horrors stop there, think again...

During the first hour after application, if you touch or move your face in any way and disturb the product, it will become unsettled on your face, returning to its original balmy form. It almost makes you appear as though you have dry, flaky skin. I do, however, have a solution for this (though that doesn't make me any happy with this product's performance). After about 20 minutes of having this product on my face, I simply brush my fingertips very quickly over my skin. I'm talking seriously light here. It seems to take away any of that excess or build-up and prevent it from clumping on your face.

So why do I even rate this? Well, it's the results. Its ability to keep me shine-free is unmatched. It lasts all day long so I don't need to worry about my face, not once. I've become far more confident and relaxed. It's a really light balm that you won't feel it on your face, nor see on your face, and one tube lasts an absolute age. You really only need 1-2 pea sized amounts of this product to cover your entire face and you'll be laughing. 

I've been through tubes and tubes of this stuff and I won't be stopping any time soon, as it is absolutely an essential.

The Body Shop: All-in-One™ Instablur™ Universal can be purchased from The Body Shop for £14.00 / 25ML. For first time The Body Shop users, make sure to check online for any discounts/offers they are currently running as they are always, always running.