Shopping Spree: Benefit Cosmetics US Haul

Hands up if you missed out on Benefit's LE Christmas offering, the "Her Name Was Glowla" kit?

*hands up here*, even though I initially saw it in stock on the Boots website but stupidly refrained from buying it in favour of Christmas presents... clearly I'm all heart ;)

I have a tiny Benefit collection (although I wouldn't call myself a make-up collector at all), consisting of two Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liners (blooming LOVE these!) in My Date's My Brother and Sippin' & Dippin, the three pencils that came with Glamour magazine last summer, a bottle of Moon Beam and a bottle of Posietint that is almost empty. However Benefit is the one range that I have always wanted to "collect". I'm completely sucked in by the friendly, gimmicky marketing and packaging!

The more I saw "Glowla" advertised, I knew that I had to have it. And I don't get that with make-up too often. 

But surprise surprise, I had already been cursed with "youshouldhaveboughtitwhenyousawit" syndrome - something that affects me on a regular basis - and it was sold out everywhere I looked.

I accepted that this addition to my little stash of Benefit wasn't to be, and pretty much forgot about it. But look what popped up on my facebook Newsfeed at the end of January...

LAST CHANCE and LIMITED QUANTITIES??? I was on it like a shot! I hadn't visited the US site before, and it made the UK site look.... empty... for want of a better word! So many lovely products that I've never seen in the UK... sigh.          I'll be back, benefit.com!

My little box of Benefit took exactly two weeks to arrive. Impressed!

Love the packaging!

While I was online I couldn't help but pop a little bit of Bella Bamba in my basket too (especially after I converted the $ into £ !).

Her name was Glowla $36.00

(equivalent to £22.47 at time of purchase,

a saving of £7.03 on the UK RRP of £29.50)

Bella Bamba $28.00

(equivalent to £17.47 at time of purchase,
a saving of £6.03 on the UK RRP of £23.50)

A closer look at Glowla:

The message at the top of the protective film says

"keep your glow going... remove makeup tray for your collectible box"

Glowla also comes complete with a little make-up lesson booklet - uber cute!

Everything is pretty much self explanatory - eyeshadows named as above,

Coralista blush and a full-sized "Life on The A List" lipgloss

Bella Bamba:

Bella Bamba is marketed as a 3D powder, whatever that means!

It smells gorgeous - kind of like a melon-y apple-y scent.

Why on earth haven't I tried Benefit.com before?! The shipping cost was $9.97 (equivalent to £6.22) which I thought was reasonable considering that I saved a very impressive £13.06 on UK prices for those two items.

I also received a couple of little samples and a Spring 2011 catalogue.

I'll definitely be using the US site to buy my future Benefit goodies, and I'll let you know what I think of my purchases when I've had more time to play with it all! I'd love to know what you think of Glowla and Bella Bamba if you own them.

I'm not sure if the Glowla kit has sold out on the US site yet - apologies if it has and you've been lemming it!

I'm probably way behind everyone else on this, but do you shop on international sites to save money on make-up? If you do, which sites would you recommend ?

xx

**All photographs belong to me. All items bought with my own hard earned cash, 

and I have not been compensated for this blogpost, blah, blah, blah...**