MsPaulaBeeXBenefitSA (Closed)

I’m back with a bang! Today I’ll be reviewing a few products from the well-known international brand, Benefit cosmetics.

The brand was founded by twin sisters, Jean and Jane Ford, who moved to San Francisco in the hopes of taking up an entirely new approach to the beauty industry. It’s actually quite funny when you find out how the sisters decided to open up a makeup shop – they FLIPPED A COIN! Heads would be to open up a casserole cafe, whereas tails would be to open up a makeup store! Talk about a total contrast? The twins opened up their first store in 1976, called The Face Place. Another fun fact? Benefit was acquired by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) in 1999, which means that they’re manufactured in the same vicinity as Dior and Louis Vuitton. Ooh lala!

I was able to check out a few of their well-known products that everyone always raves about and give you my honest opinion on each one of them (as you know I would do!).

Thoughts:

They’re Real! Lengthening Mascara

Hello false lashes! When people keep raving about this mascara, trust me, it’s for a valid reason. With this being the number one selling mascara in the world, it’s no secret that it lengthens your own lashes to make it seem as if they’re a good couple of mm longer, which is always a great thing in my books. I have naturally long eyelashes, so to have this bad boy lengthen and add volume to my lashes is perfect. The mascara goes for R295 at the Edgars and Red Square stores in Canal Walk.

They’re Real! Push-up Liner

The world’s first ever lash-hugging gel liner in pen form. This matte gel formula won’t smudge, budge or dry out, and the innovative soft AccuFlex™ Tip hugs your lashline from corner to corner. I picked up the matte black as well as the green shade for the warmer seasons coming up! You know spring is all about the floral and lighter colours. I swatched both liners and it wouldn’t budge for a solid night. I left it the black one on when I went to sleep (by accident) and it was still there the next morning! Now I understand why the company created an actual remover for the They’re Real! range (haha!).

The POREfessional Primer

Besides the adorable packaging that resembles the era of pin-up girls and twirling barbershop poles, the second thing I noticed about the Porefessional is the scent. It has a sort of candy like scent, but doesn’t leave your face feeling one bit sticky like a sweet would. Haha. It’s soft, velvet-like texture seeps into one’s pores to give way for a clear face when applying the foundation to the skin. I’ve noticed that after I’ve applied the primer to the T zone of my face, the foundation lasts longer and seems more seamless.

Gimme Brow

Oh, this little tube of goodness.
I like to fill in the little empty patches in my brows to make them appear fuller. I am not one to draw on the brow because I like natural looking brows. Once I’ve filled in the brow, I add a thin layer of the Gimme Brow to set them in place and fill in any gaps that I may have missed. What I like about this gel is that it is suited according to your brow colour, so it can be used on it’s own without you having to fill in your brows beforehand.

Girl Meets Pearl illuminator

I’ve heard many amazing things about this illuminator and I finally got the chance to try it out. When I was at the Benefit stand in Edgars, Canal Walk, the makeup artist assisting me put this product on the raised areas of my face, such as my cheek bones, brow bones, and the bridge of my nose (I like to add highlighter to the tip of my nose too though. It makes the nose look cute!). What I really really REALLY like about this illuminator is that it isn’t a pearl colour. Instead it has champagne/gold tones which works amazingly well with my skin tone. It is a liquid substance so it can be added to your foundation routine or even used on its own for those days when you’re not in the mood for any foundation or BB cream. The liquid contains chamomile and raspberry extracts, so it is doing more justice to the skin than just looking pretty ad dewy.

Hervana blush

The little box is made up of peach, pink, and nude shades to give the cheeks that tinkled pink look that it needs. At first, I was a tad confused by the various colours in the palette because I’m so used to using blushes that are made up of one fixed shade, but once I used it I noticed that it works really nicely together. The blush comes with a compact blush brush to apply to the cheekbones on-the-go.

What I truly like about the brand is that isn’t a case of “how many products can we create in various colours and ranges?”, but more “how many problem-solving products can we create?”. If you have an issue with a certain area of your face, be it visible pores for example, the brand has a solution for that problem – the Porefessional – and so on.

Competition

I’ve partnered up with Benefit SA to spoil one of my readers! I’ll be giving away a hamper to the value of R1350 which will include The Porefessional, They’re Real! Push-up liner in black, High Beam illuminator and High Brow glow Pencil. Who’s excited?
In order to stand a chance to win this awesome hamper, follow the below steps:

1. Follow Benefit South Africa and myself on Instagram.
2. Repost any one of the images below and tag both of us in the image.
3. Add the hashtag #MsPaulaBeeXBenefitSA.

That’s it! The competition is open to South African residents only and will run from Tuesday 15 September – Tuesday 22 September 2015.
PS: If you repost the image with a private account on Instagram, I won’t be able to view it and therefore your entree will not qualify for the competition. So in order to avoid that schlep, please change your settings to ‘public’.

Good luck beauties!

“Laughter is the best cosmetic.”