My Benefit Haul

I’ve blogged about Benefit Cosmetics a few times, and about how much I want to try their products, so a mass order was only a matter of time. If you’re in NZ, it’s way cheaper to spend $125 online and get the free shipping than it is to buy everything from Smith and Caughey’s/wherever your stockist is. I managed to bag a free shipping for orders over $100 voucher which was nice because my cheap ass didn’t want to spend the extra $25.

My biggest gripe about the whole thing is that they don’t offer tracking on international orders. So I spent 3 weeks impatiently waiting for it to arrive. It was a very long 3 weeks.

My order:

http://instagram.com/p/rGbYkVJWG1/?modal=true

L-R: They’re Real Push Up Liner, Bad Gal Lash, It’s Potent Eye Cream, Porefessional Primer, Fake Up Concealer, High Beam Highlighter

When you order, you can choose two testers; I chose Fake Up Concealer in 02 Medium and It’s Potent Eye Cream. The concealer was too dark, so this is a useless review. I really enjoyed the eye cream – it’s the middle of the election and I’m the only person left on my team at work and it’s only 4 months until adventure so stress dreams are like woah and I’m not really sleeping, which means I have permanent dark circles under my eyes. The cream claims to fade dark circles and smooth fine lines – I don’t know if it did shit for my fine lines, because I don’t obsess over them, but it definitely helped with the dark circles. I would actually consider buying this, which is huge because usually I think eye creams are full of shit.

Porefessional Primer: I’ve read such rave reviews of this products that I really couldn’t go past it. I’d tried to porefessional powder a few times and like the results, but I have powders which I’m equally as happy with. This primer though. I first tested it on my hand and it filled in the tiny lines and helped balance the skin tone to the point where I forced people to admire the patch. It makes my foundation look perfect and smooth and like everything you want your foundation to look, and it feels so silky smooth when you put it on.

The catch? I break out the next day, no matter how well I remove my makeup. The primer delivers such a smooth canvas, though, that a bit of a break out is totally worth it for special occasions when I want my skin to be flawless.

You can see (just) that the right side is less wrinkly and a more even colour than the left.

High Beam Highlighter: I’ve been using the same Napoleon highlighter despite it having expired about a year ago, so thought it was time I upgraded. I had pretty high expectations of this because of how much I love Benetint, and I have not been let down. I originally thought I’d use this only for special occasion make up but there’s so much product and it makes your skin look dewy as fuck. I put a small smear of it on after Benetint, then smooth it round my cheekbones and spend the rest of the day looking ethereal. If you don’t have this already, go and buy it. Now. Go in with friends so you can all get one and get free shipping.

Bad Gal Lash: The most amazing mascara I’ve ever used, GOSH Show Me Volume Mascara, gave up the ghost and isn’t readily available in NZ, so I figured I’d try this out. It makes my lashes look bomb as hell – full of volume, not clumpy, not super spindly. It also migrates down my face throughout the day. Unfortunate. I don’t know if it’s different with the waterproof version, but I don’t think it’s particularly out there to expect your mascara stay in place over the course of a work day, waterproof or not.

Also, the only makeup remover that I’ve found to remove every last trace of it is the Maybelline Clean Express Total Clean eye makeup remover ($10, found at most Supermarkets/The Warehouse/Kmart). I’m sure there are others and from what I’ve read online, oil based is the way to go.

They’re Real Push Up Liner: Ok, I really didn’t know what to expect with this. I hate gel liners and swore them off after a few bad experiences with a couple of different brands. But my memory is short and susceptible to marketing, so OF COURSE I had to get only the most hyped eyeliner on the market.

They’re Real Push Up Liner and High Beam – my blush isn’t this gaudy in real life, the photo was just pre-powder. By the end of this day, I had black lines in my eyelid crease and smudges under my eye. I was so annoyed that I took it off before I could get a photo. Also pre-brows. Dammit Dunham, sort your photos out. 

The instructions say that before use, wipe the tip, then click the bottom (once is enough for both eyes!). Hold the soft tip on an angle at the outer edge of your eye and draw a line. Ok, I’ve simplified these, but you get the point. My experience has taught me that yes, wipe the tip because it oozes product while you aren’t using it. You’ll need more than one click – more like 3 clicks per eye. This liner does give me a fantastic cat’s eye that is super easy once you get used to the soft tip and the angle you need to hold it on. The product ends up in my eyelid creases and the flick wears off easily, but the rest of the product on my eyelid won’t budge without an oil based remover. So there’s potential. But it definitely didn’t live up to the hype, and I prefer my old liner.

I’m left with so many conflicted feelings – I really wanted to become a Benefit convert, with at least a face worth of holy grail products. I don’t know why I had such high expectations, to be honest. That being said, I use Benetint and High Beam every day, and I love Gimme Brow (I just wish there was more of it in a tube!). And I’m not adverse to trying Bad Gal Waterproof. So it wasn’t a total failure. And the packaging is so beautiful.

I’m not that upset though – word on the blogger circuit is that Benefit seem to think there’s only a certain type of person who can wear their products. So they can eat a dick with their mostly mediocre products, and I’ll stick to Maybelline and the like.

What’s your favourite Benefit product? Tell me about your experiences with their products!