Benefit GALifornia Love | Gift Set Review

I received this as a gift a while ago, I know so cute, and I don't usually buy myself Benefit products but I love using them. This gift set GALifornia Love contains three full sized benefit products, with a few that I've been dying to try for a while. It contains a full sized Roller Lash, a Galifornia blush and a Gimme Brow eyebrow gel. I love the quality and packaging of Benefit products and I've been loving using these over the past few months.

   

The gift set comes in what I'd describe as a globe shape container, and the products have a stand at the bottom where you can display them after opening the lid. I find that Benefit gift sets have very awkward packaging, although they're very cute they're not very practical. This package is very large and I'm not too sure whether to reuse it, and how and where to display it. I think it does make a wonderful gift though, and it's not too pricey for the amount of full sized products that you get.

The first product in this set is the Roller Lash mascara. I love Benefit's They're Real mascara and use it a lot so I've been wanting to try another one of their mascaras. I love the feel of the packaging and it makes it very easy to grip and apply on your lashes. I love the length of the applicator and brush and it makes it so easy to blend it all over your lashes and make sure that there is no clumps. They give a really natural and long vibe to your lashes but you can easily add more layers if needed. 

The next product is the Galifornia Blush, which I had not seen before. I don't love most of the blushers that I already have from Benefit because they're way too peachy toned for my liking. This one is very cute and is an oranged toned pink and I think it would look really cute in the summer, but I haven't had much wear out of it yet. I do like the quality and the packaging of this blush but I never like the applicator brush that comes with it as it's too long and narrow for blending. After looking at some of the images online for some of these blushes I've noticed that there is a different design on other ones that isn't on mine so I think there might be a few variations of it.

The last product is the Gimme Brow eyebrow gel. I normally use eyebrow gel to fill in my eyebrows and this gel is perfect for setting them and brushing them out. The consistency is very light and easy to spread and brush through your eyebrows. I use this more to set than fill in my eyebrows. If you were having a minimal makeup day, a quick brush through your eyebrows with this would look really nice with little effort. I really like it and I'd love to try more of their brow products.

Has anyone tried these products before? What do you think of them?

Spring 5 Product Face

The '5 Product Face' challenge was one I first saw when starting a blog and I've always wanted to try it as it seems fun and I get to be inventive and think about which products I really need. I'm really into these blog tag challenges, hint if anyone wants to tag me in any or suggest some for me to do feel free because I'm up for the challenge.

   

   

The products I used were Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation, Rimmel Brow This Way, Bourjois Bronzing Powder (not sure the exact name), Benefit's They're Real and Benetint. 

I used the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation on my face for coverage as it's one of the darkest and strongest foundations I own and could cover my entire face without any other product over it alright. Staying with Rimmel products, Brow This Way was used to fill in my eye brows and give them definition and also gives them a natural look, what this look aims to achieve. I used the Bourjois Bronzing Powder for contouring my cheekbones and also used it on my eyelids. I'm really surprised how nice the colour was on my face, the picture doesn't do it justice. It added a really nice pop of colour to my face and I really like using it as an eyeshadow. My eyelashes were coated with my favourite lengthening mascara, Benefits They're Real. The last product used was Benetint which I have talked about on my blog previously. It's a really pale pink on my lips and looks very pretty along with the Bourjois bronzer shade. The finished look is pictured below. 

The finished look was very subtle and natural and I really liked it. I would easily wear this if I needed something simple to put on or had very little time to do my makeup. Perfect for spring and the oncoming summer days too.

What do you think of this look? I would love if other people did this and let me see their 5 product choices! 

Benefit 'Life of the Party' | Review

I received this Benefit make up set for Christmas and completely forgot I owned it. I've revived it now and am going to do a review of the contents within the set. It's the 'Life of the Party'/'Beauty Blowout' set and it contains Porefessional, Dandelion blush, Rockateur bronzer, eyeshadows in 'Call my bluff', 'Nude Swings' and 'Taupe it Off', They're Real mascara, and Benetint. Although it's called 'Life of the Party' I think it's a more of a neutral faced set.

Dandelion Blush

Dandelion is one of the benefit products I always thought looked super cute and always wanted to try. It's meant to brighten your face as a finishing powder and meant to leave a soft pink glow. I do think the product is a cute coral pink but because it's so light it doesn't really come out on me. It does leave a little glow on my face to make it feel more awake looking but other than that I don't think it does that much to my skin which is disappointing.

Rockateur Bronzer

On Benefits website it's called a blush and bronzer but I'd more likely say it was a bronzer over a blush. It definitely leaves more of a mark and pigment than Dandelion but again I don't think it was pigmented enough and literally didn't come out on my skin. Plus the small one doesn't look as good as the bigger one with packaging. I think it's just the fact they're not full sized which limits their quality, which sucks.

Eye Shadows; 'Call My Bluff', 'Nude Swings' and 'Taupe it Off'

I never see anyone posting about Benefit's eyeshadows so I'm not sure what to make of them. Again like Dandelion and Rockateur they are very opaque and not very visible on at all which is a shame. In the swatches below they actually look darker than they do on my eyelids, they're almost unnoticeable on it. I really do like the colours though if they were more visible. 

(Swatches are left picture; Eyeshadows 'Call My Bluff', 'Nude Swings', and 'Taupe it Off'. Right picture 'Dandelion' and 'Rockateur'.)

They're Real Mascara

This product is the Holy Grail of the set and the reason I like the set. This mascara is a life saver and probably my new top mascara. It made my lashes look super long in one coat and in literally one brush stroke. It leaves them really nicely separated too. I know it's only a mini version but the brush is so long and just fits around my eye perfectly. I really want to buy the full size version now because I don't want it to run out.

Benetint

To be honest I had no idea what to do with this product at the start, It comes with a brush inside almost like a paintbrush and I didn't know how to use it. I applied it on my lips and cheeks to try out as it's a lips and cheek stain and I think I'd rather use it on my cheeks. It really irritated my lips to put on with the brush and also made them really dry. The colour was a nice pale red-pink but it wasn't worth the weird feeling it gave me. I applied it on my cheeks then and it worked much better and nicer. It gave my cheeks a nice subtle glow.

Porefessional

I was so excited to try this product. I've heard so much about it and really wanted to give it a go. At first I was super impressed with it, it minimalised my pores and left my skin smooth and very clear looking. I do think it works really well. After a few uses it seems that the product has separated in the tube and a lot of water comes out instead of the actual product and I can't seem to mix them back together which was really disappointing. I'm not sure if this has happened anyone else? If there's anyway to fix it please let me know. 

Overall, I feel like the products would be much better as full size versions but I did enjoy testing them out and I will use them. I just expected them to be higher quality but it could also just be my set that has a problem since the products are super hyped anyway. I am obsessed with the They're Real mascara though and would definitely recommend it along with Porefessional!

Has anyone else tried these products before?