L is for LOIS: BEAUTY-HOW TO WEAR// BENI DURRER LOOK PALETTE HELENA

Lois Opoku BENI DURRER beauty look lisforlois

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I've done a beauty post and I want to change things up a little here. I've had plans all year, but life forced me to put them on hold. Now I'm ready to continue. From now on I will be filling my beauty section, but I've divided it into parts. I will have "How To Wear" posts in which I highlight new collections/limited editions, full seasonal drops by a brand in a make up look. "Get The Look" will feature random products from PR Samples/gifts I've gotten I've thrown together into a look, "My Beauty Problems" will cover tackling my beauty problems (post hyperpigmentation, pimple outbreaks, dry skin etc.) and in "Beauty5" I will show you my fav beauty products from a special category I'd like to highlight.
That being said, here is my first "How To Wear" post featuring summer 2016 product range by Beni Durrer! Hope you enjoy it.

L-R: Organza, Engel, Haute Couture, Tausendschön

Beni Durrer is a brand created by the swiss makeup artist Beni Durrer himself. He has a makeup school and his brand is popular amongst artist. However as a girl of black skin, due to its rich pigmentation and the fact that he carters to women of all color (YASSS for that!) I too have become a huge fan of the brand. Beni Durrer releases Look Palettes every now and then, that consist of 4 rich shades with a booklet and a step-by-step tutorial to recreate the look he has designed. His latest look is Disco Diva, but today I want to show you the Helena Palette. Actually mine isn't really the Helena Palette as Eric from Beni Durrer choose "Engel" and "Organza" instead of "Elfenbein" and "Bronze" as they suit my skin tone better.
You can combine the colors as you wish and this is the look I came up with. The eyeshadows are highly pigmented and thanks to their versatility can be used as either eyeshadow, highlighter or blush as you please. I used "Organza" for the inner eye corner, "Tausendschön" on the lid, a little "Haute Couture" in the crease and "Engel" kind of as eyeliner on the bottom of my eye.
His look palettes usually cost about 60€. But don't forget you have a eyeshadow palette, highlighter palette, bronzer palette and/or blush palette depending on the shades you choose. You can also individually create your own palettes.

THE BASE / THE FACE

FOUNDATION
Laura Mercier Silk Creme Oil Free Photo Finish Foundation (the name couldn't be any longer.. really?!) I got for 14,99€ instead of a whopping 49€ at the Karstadt counter closing (thank you Madame Tamtam for letting me know!). This product is highend and therefore comes with a price tag, but it's worth every penny and I would buy it full price without hesititation ones my stock is finished. For a person that doesn't wear makeup it the perfect foundation. It blends so well with my skin without being heavy and making me feel caked up. It gives me a smooth glow and finish and I really just use one finger tip for my entire face.
I am so happy I bought two, but one is missing. I should have gone all in and bought all 5 remaining ones. But I didn't know then I would be embracing foundation that much thanks to this wonder product.

CONCEALER
Iman Earth Stick in number 4 is what I used for concealing. All these years I thought it was a beauty product by Sleek that had been discontinued (the labeling on the stick itself had come off, plus it was a gift I got 2-3 years ago) and after some serious investigation I found it it was by the brand Iman and is still part of their product range. Now I've gotten to know a new beauty brand, who's product I've been loving so much lately. Iman is a brand dedicated to all skin tones and girls of all ethnicities. So happy I found them! The Earth Stick originally was meant as a foundation stick, but the shade Earth 4 is perfect for concealing my eyes. I'm not a huge fan of concealer. I rarely use it, and if so only when I'm trying to go all in or yet another insomniac night is written all over my face. The reason I'm not such a huge fan is because it feels very dolled up to me. The flawlessness that comes with concealer feels so unnatural to me, especially because my natural wrinkles under my eyes are evened out, it feels like a part of me goes missing.
But if I do, it's the Iman Earth Stick no 4 I go for.

CONTOUR
The NYX concealer palette (the darkest shade) and the contouring palette (the the last two shades on the bottom right) is what I used for my attempt to highlight and contour.

HIGHLIGHTER
Mari Lou Luminzer by theBalm. Fave new thing. Enough said! Because the glow is real!

THE EYELINER

Grafik Liner - Again this is a product by Beni Durrer, the brand on which the look is centered around. This, my friends, is my holy grail eyeliner! The matte finish and the super fine line tip make it hard even for me to mess up my eyeliner wing. Next to Beni Durrer's eyeshadows in generell I think this has to be my favorite product by him. His lipsticks too are highly pigmented and smell so pleasantly like MAC lipsticks. This eyeliner though is life!

MASCARA

I've been on and on about this on my blog over and over again: my fav mascaras are Benefit They're Real and YSL baby doll. But I own a bunch of mascaras that have been gifted to me from PRs or goodie bags and events, so I have quite the collection. Since I hardly ever use mascara I've never really been through my collection to be fully honest. So to my surprise I was really happy with the Lash Architect 4D mascara by L'Oreal Paris! It was a random pick really. But I really appreciate the brush on this and it's waterproof too! (not that I like waterproof mascaras. Mascaras in general are the death of my natural lashes, because I suck at make up removal! haha)

THE LIPS

For the lips I used Beni Durrer lip liner in Rosenholz. I also used it to fill them out before applying a coat of Kiko smart lipstick in 924 Almond. It's a little light for a nude tone on my dark skin, but I do like it though.