Benefit Hello Happy Soft Blur Foundation Has Potent Pore-Pleasing Power

Things that make me happy:

1. Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake
2. Lifting heavy weights
3. Cats (obvs)
4. Sleeping in
5. Hearing Connor say her name for the first time (“Cah-nah”)
6. The happy heart eyes on these Benefit Hello Happy Soft Blur Foundation bottles

Benefit Hello Happy Soft Blur Foundation ($29, 12 shades)

I like this lightweight matte liquid foundation primarily for its pore-blurring prowess and SPF 15, and as long as I only blend the tiniest amount on my combo dry/oily skin — literally, just a few drops! If I use any more than two or three drops on each cheek, and yes, YOU KNOW I COUNTED THEM, it looks pretty obvious.

“Hello YOU! This lightweight foundation evens out skintone and blurs imperfections with soft-focus optical blurring spheres. With a natural-matte finish and light-to-medium coverage, it looks like skin and feels like nothing at all. Happy looks good on you!”

— benefitcosmetics.com

Use a few drops, a few gentle taps with your fingers or a damp beautyblender (don’t rub, lest it pill up), and poof! — homegirl be like WHAT PORES? Of course, my pores aren’t completely vanquished, because this is light-medium coverage makeup, not magic (although, one could make the case that makeup IS a form of magic, but that’s another discussion for another time), but still, the difference is significant enough to make me go DAYUM! — I see you Benefit. I see you. 😉

Ingredients:
AQUA (WATER), PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, ALCOHOL DENAT., DIMETHICONE, ISODODECANE, ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE, SILICA, BUTYLENE GLYCOL, PEG-10 DIMETHICONE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, METHYL METHACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, POLYMETHYLSILSESQUIOXANE, MICA, SODIUM CHLORIDE, DIMETHICONE/PEG-10/15 CROSSPOLYMER, ISOHEXADECANE, SQUALANE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, SODIUM DEHYDROACETATE, DISODIUM STEAROYL GLUTAMATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, ISOPROPYL TITANIUM TRIISOSTEARATE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA) SEEDCAKE EXTRACT, SODIUM CITRATE, TOCOPHEROL. [+/-: CI 77163 (BISMUTH OXYCHLORIDE), CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXIDE)]. N°12835/A

You might be looking at the shade selection (there are 12) and thinking, “There’s no way,” but hold up. The medium tan shade I wear, 6, is neither too warm nor cool, and it’s a surprisingly good match for my skin, considering the limited number of choices.

I get the overall sense from the shades that most are pretty neutral, so there aren’t any dominant peach, pink, orange or gold tones, which means that even with the limited shade selection, you still may find a match for your skin tone.

Many lines now have similarly runny, lightweight, sheer-coverage, silicon-slippery serum foundations like this one — Dior, Shiseido and MAC come to mind — but all of the others I can think of have an obvious undertone, which makes Happy stand out from the rest.

If you’re a teen or 20-something with oily skin, I think you could live happily ever after with Happy, because the matte finish locks down the shine situation (you might even be able to skip the powder).

I, on the other hand, would be happier with Happy if it didn’t settle into the dry areas around my mouth and my smile lines. 🙁 Because of that, I think I’d probably stick to Too Faced Peach Perfect Comfort Matte Foundation, which is similarly sheer, and it also has potent pore-blurring power, when I want to use something like this… It’s also easier to blend.

❤️❤️❤️ 3 out of 5 hearts.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen