I've gone pretty Benefit crazy lately and I've quite a few products to show you in an upcoming haul but in the meantime I thought I'd show you a kit, that I got for Christmas, it's the How To Look The Best At Everything Flawless Complexion Makeup Kit.
Boxed and packaged in one their book style boxes, this kit is basically a complete complexion and base kit. Benefit do a lot of these mini kits and I have to say I love them. Not only are they ideal for holidays or when you're on the go but there also a great way to try several products from the brand without having to shell out for the full sizes.
The How To Look The Best At Everything kit comes in 3 different variants depending on your skin tone. Light, Medium, and Dark. The one that Mummy Lou bought me was the Light one and even though we're just coming out of summer this is still the best one for my English rose complexion.
The kit basically contains everything that you will need to create the perfect base for the rest of your make up - a primer, a face powder, a mini foundation, and two shades of concealer. It also contains a small powder brush and the box also contains a mirror and full instructions.
The Porefessional - 7.5ml
I've already mentioned this in a couple of posts and it's basically it's a primer that you wear underneath your foundation to make it last longer. It's almost looks like a concealer on the skin but when you blend it out, it goes completely transparent no matter what your skin tone.. It has a velvety, silicone type feel, and it leave a matte finish on the skin. I have a love / hate relationship with primers and although I'm not a fan of the slick silicone feel this one certainly makes your base last longer.
Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Make Up - Champagne - Cheers To Me - 7ml
Houston we have a problem! Well we don't really but I've spent the last hour being a bit confused. Before I started writing this post like with any other post that I write, I did a little bit of research and I've discovered that this kit has changed slightly since December when I got mine. The kit contains exactly the same things but the foundation and powder colours are now different. The Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation in my kit is in the colour Champagne - Cheers To Me, where as the foundation in the new version is in Ivory - I'm Pure 4 Sure. Confusing, yes but hopefully, by the end of this post you'll be able to see why I think they've made this change.
Before we concentrate on the colour though lets talk about the foundation itself, with at least an SPF 25, it's also oil free and it's described as a brightening foundation with light diffusing properties. A little goes a long way and it has a light to medium coverage but it is possible to build it up to a heavier coverage without it feeling too mask like. If you have oily skin or if you prefer a matte finish this foundation probably isn't for you - it gives a healthy, radiant, moisturised finish but it does have a tendency to exacerbate shine.
Right on to the colour, according to the colour chart on the Benefit website Cheers To Me is the third lightest colour that they do, and to be honest as you can probably see it's way too warm, and dare I say it too yellow for my skin tone -in fact in some brands I've seen shades like this describe as medium . I was actually matched for this foundation on a Benefit counter and unsurprisingly I was matched with either the shade in the new version of this kit - I'm Pure 4 Sure or the palest shade Believe In Me. Maybe this was why they changed it, maybe it just wasn't light enough - who knows? The picture below was taken mid application and despite the fact that I had to blend it in really well, it didn't look as bad as I thought it would, it seemed to warm my complexion up a bit and I didn't look too much like an oompa loompa after all x You can see the full look later on x
Boi-ing Industrial Strength Concealer - 1 and 2 - 2 x 1.5g
Boi-ing concealer is by far one of Benefit's most popular products and it's easy to see why. This is a smooth, blendable concealer that you can use for spots, blemishes and imperfections and dark circles. It feels nice and creamy but at the same it doesn't feel oily or greasy.
This kit comes with a removable compact which contains two shades of Boi-ing - Shade 1 and Shade 2.
Shade 1 is pretty much a perfect match for my skin tone and I've mainly been using it as a spot cover up. It blends easily into the skin and it stays put. Shade 2 is probably a bit too dark for me at the moment but if I had a tan then I would probably be able to get some more use out of it.
I've used Boi-ing before and I have to say it's one of my favourite all round concealers. I love it's versatility and the fact that you can use both as spot coverage and very lightly under the eyes. It's smooth, non greasy and blendable, and it lasts well without fading or cracking.
Hello Flawless Custom Powder Cover-Up With SPF 15 - Me Vain? - Champagne - 4g
Another product and more confusion, like the foundation the colour of the face powder has also changed in the new release. My kit contains Me Vain? - Champagne, and the version of the kit contains I Love Me - Ivory. There isn't a huge difference this time round as there is just one shade difference but again I was matched on counter with one the paler shades.
With an SPF of 15 this powder feels silky soft to the touch, it feels very smooth on the skin and it blends into the skin perfectly without leaving it feeling dry and chalky. I believe you can actually wear this one it own but I've been applying it with the brush provided over the top of the Hello Flawless foundation to take down the shine and the glow. Whilst it's a little bit warmer and yellow toned, than the powder that I was matched with, this one is still light enough and blendable enough for me to wear on a daily basis. The one negative here is that this is the only product that's actually fixed into the kit so it isn't as portable as the other items
So what does the kit look like when it's on - well first of all here's a few before pictures so you can see what were dealing with. - Not exactly Casper like but there isn't a lot of warmth there bar some patches of redness, spots and high colour.
Now for the afters - I have to be honest and say these pictures aren't the best the lighting was off so my skin does look a little warmer in real life. In these pics there also appears to be a patch on my forehead with no make up on, I think there was something on the lens, honestly I'm not that bad at make up application!
As you can see the colour is way off but I hope this gives you some idea of the finish that you can achieve with this kit. My stand out product by far is Boi-ing, I really rate this concealer and it's deinitely something I'm going to be using on a regular basis now. Because of the colour issues it's hard to make a firm judgement on both the foundation and the powder, but I think that the Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow foundation is definitely more suitable for drier skins so I might consider trying the correct shade in the Winter months when my skin isn't as oily.
Despite the fact that the new version of this kit contains different shades I still think that this kit was worth reviewing as all of these products are still availble in the full size. Maybe on the fence experiences like mine, made Benefit realise that this kit wasn't designed for those of us with that ultra fair complexion and maybe that was what lead to the change. That said I don't think that you will can please everyone when you release kits like this, they are currently 9 shades of Hello Flawless foundation in the Benefit line and only 3 kits, so I guess someone is always going to be disappointed. If you can find a match though I think that these kits are a great way for you to try some of Benefits core base products without splashing out on the full size, but I would recommend that you swatch the shades in person before you buy to avoid disappointment. Benefit How To Look The Best At Everything Flawless Complexion Makeup Kit comes in Light, Medium and Dark and retails at around £25.50 from various retailers including the Benefit Cosmetics website, Debenhams, John Lewis and Boots. If you have any questions please let me know x Thanks for reading x
