Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
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I am totally that girl who opens every compartment in an advent calendar in one feel swoop.
Perhaps it’s my impatient curious nature. 🙂
It’s not even December yet, but I couldn’t wait to unlock the hidden treasures in this one from Benefit, the Candy-Coated Countdown Advent Calendar ($99).
You’re “supposed” to open one compartment at a time, one per day, beginning on December first for 24 days.
“Supposed” to.
Tucked within each compartment resides a different beauty treasure…
Two, four, six, eight, what do we appreciate!?
Easy blush! Easy blush! Yaaaaay, Benefit! [INSERT HIGH KICKS HERE]
OK…I was never a cheerleader (more of a band geek), but I’m cheering for Benefit’s new Majorette Booster Blush. It’s fun and easy to use, has a cream-to-powder formula, feels super silky, and the packaging is shaped like a cute little drum.
The silky formula almost feels kind of slippery on my fingertips, and it’s easy to zhuzh out the edges when I pat it on bare cheeks or on top of foundation, which I appreciate when I’m movin’ and shakin’.
I like that it doesn’t settle into my pores and that it lasts 5-6 hours on my combo oily/dry skin before I feel like I need a touchup.
Oh, and it does have a faint fragrance.
Really faint, though. I have to get my nose up in the pan to detect it, but I think it smells like peach gummy candies.
Yes, boom. Those are awesome. 🙂
The look is matte and natural, which should be a great option for gals and guys heading back to the classroom.
Which reminds me, I wish I’d had a better appreciation for minimal makeup when I was in my tweens, teens and early 20s. When you’re that age, it’s easy to get away with very little makeup (that flush of youth and all). This is a great blush to accentuate a youthful glow without going full-on makeup crazy.
Granted, there’s not a dramatic, in-your-face difference among the four shades in Benefit’s new collection of Tinted Lip Balms ($18 each) when I wear them on my lips, but ooh! — they just look so darn cute chillin’ in my makeup bag.
And every. Single. Time. I’ve taken out Chachabalm, Lollibalm, Posiebalm or Benebalm for a touch-up (which I have to do about every hour or so when I wear them) within sight of a gal, I’ve been asked something along the lines of, “Where did ya get that?! It’s adorable!”
So, yeah, fellow packaging suckers, that’s the sign of an eye-catching product. 🙂
Benefit introduced these hydrating lip balms earlier this spring in colors to match their liquid blushes in Cha Cha Tint, Lollitint, Posie Tint and Benetint.
They feel a lot like the Revlon Lip Butters and Dior’s Addict Lip Balms to me — smooth, non-sticky, and firmly on the thicker formula side, as far as lip balms go. My nose and taste buds also detect a mild violet hard candy flavor and scent.
Thumbs up for mega moisture, too, as these are loaded with the stuff, and my dry, flaky lips lap it up.
Well. Now I know what eyeliner I’ll be wearing when I find out that Ryan Gosling has finally gotten hitched and consequently start sobbing into my Cheetos — tears of pain, clearly, but I’ll try to pass them off as tears of joy (“I’m just so happy for him!”).
Benefit’s new They’re Real Push-Up Liner ($24) will be able to handle the waterworks, fo’ sho’.
The new waterproof matte black gel liner heads to the Benefit permanent line this July, and it has an interesting twist (literally).
Instead of coming in a pot, it comes in a pen. Think YSL Touche Eclat (which I talk about in this video), but with a flexible calligraphy-like nib instead of a brush. Twist the bottom, and the gel emits from the nib.
It’s the first ever lash-hugging gel liner pen! The custom AccuFlex tip hugs your lash line for bigger-looking eyes in seconds. The closer the liner, the bigger the eye!
—From the back of the box of Benefit’s new They’re Real Push-Up Liner
Listen, I’m probably the furthest thing in this zip code from rock ‘n’ roll. All of the presets on the radio in my car are to easy listening stations (“KOIT… Light rock, less talk”), and if I ever actually tried to head-bang, I would probably pull a muscle in my neck.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, because you do not have to be a rock ‘n’ roller to like Benefit’s new $16 Rockateur Ultra Plush Lip Gloss, the latest addition to the Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss fam.
Smooth, sheer, non-sticky and unfathomably comfortable (wear time is about 2-3 hours), the Ultra Plushes are part of Benefit’s permanent line.
Not only are they all that and a bag of Cheetos, they also have corresponding blushes — you know, in case you want to get all matchy-matchy on that @ss.
A fairly sheer rose gold, Rockateur is one of those glosses I think of when I think of weekend glosses.
This morning I woke up feeling like this…
…because of this.
Yup, just call me TBK (Two Beer Karen), LOL!
We took that out-of-town friend of El Hub’s who stayed with us last night to a local brewery here in Novato called Moylan’s, where I “sampled” some of their Pomegranate Wheat, and since I hardly ever drink, I did not feel exceptional this morning.
I intended to do a full face o’ warpaint today, but when I sat down in front of my makeup mirror, my arms felt like lead weights… My body was like, “Oh, hell naw, hookah. We’re doing minimalist makeup today.”
So, out came my tube of Big Easy, a new BB cream from Benefit.
Dude! This stuff is boss. I’m not usually a big BB cream fan, either, mostly because I rarely feel like they provide enough coverage for me.
But Big Easy evens out my skin tone and blurs my pores without leaving my skin looking overly “done,” if you know what I mean, and the natural-looking, velvety matte finish is my favorite thing about it.
More quick and dirrrrty deets…
It has an interesting texture — kind of slippery like many face primers (it does contain silicones), and it glides across my skin easily, buffing and blending with very little resistance.
The matte finish looks very flat on my combination dry/oily skin — no shine whatsoever — and I can even skip setting it with a powder, which is nice. It stays matte, too, as the day wears on, and controls oil like a champ.
I do find that Big Easy will settle into my pores and get a little streaky on my drier spots (like my cheeks) if I don’t moisturize immediately beforehand, almost like the product skips a bit on those dry patches. Benefit suggests applying it after moisturizer, and I can see why. It glides across my skin more smoothly when it’s thoroughly moisturized.
Welcome to The Fab 5, a new video series I’m starting where I’ll be rounding up (like wildcats!) various lists of five fab products in different categories and from different brands (think best o’ the beauty best).
In this first video, I share five of my favorite products from one of my all-time favorite brands — Benefit Cosmetics.
Thank you for watching, and have a great night (we’re gonna just stay in and rent a movie). Happy new year! Be safe out there if you brave the crowds. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I’ve been wearing Benefit’s cheek and lip stains off and on for the better part of, oh, the past 13 years (give or take).
In my early 20s, Benetint was TOTALLY my jam, and I wore it all the time. In fact, I traveled the country spreading the gospel of its wonders to the makeup masses!
OK, not really. 🙂 But I do remember driving across Washington state with my ex-boyfriend and his two teenage nieces in 1999 to see a concert at The Gorge.
It was the first time I saw Beyonce in concert (*tears*), and as I was putting on my makeup in the car, one of the girls asked me about the bottle of Benetint in my makeup bag. I was thrilled by her interest and did two impromptu makeovers right there.
Part of me wishes I’d taken that as a sign to pursue a job in beauty, but alas, it was a hint I totally ignored at the time. I mean, when you feel compelled to help two teens discover the wonders of lip and cheek stains in a cramped Subaru, it’s gotta be a sign.
Anywho, even though we all had vastly different skin tones, Benetint looked great on all of us, and I think that’s one of the reasons Benefit’s tints are so appealing — the colors seem to work well on everyone!
I’m hoping (and betting) that’ll also be the case with Lollitint, the newest member of the Benefit tint family.
Worn sheer on me, Lollitint looks like a very sweet lavender pink, but build it up with multiple layers, and you get a brighter, intensely purple-pink fuchsia.
Very cool.
Now, I know that the thought of wearing violet on your face might seem a little scary at first, especially if you’ve always stuck to traditional pinks and peaches, but please give it a chance. This one’s surprisingly wearable — shockingly so on cheeks.
Like Benefit’s other tints, Lollitint works best on me when I apply it on bare skin. For some reason, the liquid formula lasts longer when there aren’t a lot of other face products up in the mix. If it’s just Lollitint on top of bare cheeks, I get a good 8-9 hours of wear.
That said, Lollitint does do pretty well on top of BB creams and tinted moisturizes, as long as I only use very little. Too much of either, and Lollitint starts acting difficult, refusing to absorb as evenly as it does when I wear it by itself.
How about wearing it with liquid foundations? Well, I think I’ve found a way…
If I swipe a few strokes of Lollitint on the back of my hand first, and then take a dense synthetic foundation brush (I’m using one from last year’s Sephora Collection IZAK Brush Set), press and swirl the brush head into the liquid to help the bristles pick up as much of the product as possible, and then press the brush on the apples of my cheeks using a tapping motion and a moderate amount of pressure, it works well! — and I get the blush on there nice and even without messing up the foundation underneath.
