By Chrissy Iley
I’ve done it before and it was painful and now I’ve done it again. Why do I never learn? I left my make up bag on the plane. OK it wasn’t my credit card or a significant piece of jewellery but make up bags are really personal and essential.
I wasn’t even applying make up. I was looking for tissues, took the bag out and forgot to put it back in again. I spent hours calling Virgin America who thought I was quite mad to be so upset.
I’d lost forever some lovely Marc Jacobs lips and a velvety thick Marc Jacobs mascara and a whole load of Benefit. The Gimme Brow and my go to tinted lip balm. I made friends with this lip balm when I had a black eye. Wearing any kind of make up was useless but I felt slovenly without something. This tinted balm was just the perfect hint of a tint and delivers a fulsome moisture experience.
How excited was I to see a Benefit store in Greenwich, Connecticut. Benefit stores are THE place for brows and a whole brow wardrobe. Interestingly in Greenwich, Connecticut they got for a subtle brow, whereas in LA and London they go for dominance, darkness and rock n roll. But that didn’t matter. You can buy the same products. I also found the tinted lip balm. The corally apricot shade is my favourite. It manages to be both subtle and dramatic because it delivers such plumped upness.
More than that I love the smell of it. The Posie Balm (£14.50) smells like spring time in a meadow. It smells like a bridesmaids bouquet, delicious. I was also urged to try Benefit’s eye cream which is top rated at £22.50. It’s a quarter of the price of other best sellers. It’s particularly good at fading dark circles which after sleepless travel I badly needed. You can also use it as an eye mask. It’s super refreshing and feels silky on the skin. It contains a peptide complex, known to help restore elasticity and firmness. It smells botanical and it’s super hydrating. The people at Benefit always seem generous with their free gifts so it came with something I particularly needed – a new make up bag, almost exactly the same size as the one I lost. Maybe I don’t need to learn from my mistakes.