21 March, 2011

Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer review (plus Fab Lane set)

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Hey guys!

I bought Benefit's That Gal Brightening Face Primer at the end of last year as a part of the Fab Lane set. I didn't really need any of the stuff in the set, but Myer was selling the set for half price (~$57 AUD) and I was in a splurging mood lol. Of course, who can resist the cute packaging!

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Anyway, my reviews on the other products in the set will be coming later. Now for That Gal...

Price & Quantity

The tube has 11ml of product and according to Beauty Heaven, costs $53 AUD alone.

Packaging

It looks very much like a glue stick and is about the same size as one. The dispenser part is very unique. You twist the bottom and the product comes out of little square holes on the top. I haven't had any problems with this, but it is definitely very gimmicky. A simple squeeze tube would have been sufficient.

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Colour & Quality

From the above picture, you can see that the primer is a light, kind of milky pink colour. It is very creamy. When I apply it, it doesn't show up as pink and applies virtually colourless. If you looked really really really closely though, you might see the slightest pink tinge. There are no shimmers or glitters in this product.

The product gives your face a dewy finish. It doesn't do much else aside from that. I don't find that it makes my skin smoother nor help my foundation stay fresh longer.

Overall

Personally, I think as a primer, That Gal fails as it doesn't help to improve the appearance of your skin nor the wear of your foundation. But if you are looking for more of a brightener, highlighter, illuminiser or dewy kind of product, this may be for you. This product would be good for those that like a dewy finish to their face. You could apply this under or on top of foundation that you might feel is too matte. I'm not really into the dewy face look mainly because my face gets SO oily during the day. It could also be applied on some areas as a very subtle highlight or brightener, emphasis on "subtle." This is what I've been using it for. As I like having a very matte face, sometimes it can look very flat and blah, despite me not liking a dewy finish to my whole face, I do sometimes enjoy having a little bit on my cheekbones, and getting a slightly glowy and illuminised effect. That being said, I think there are better and cheaper products out there for this purpose.
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07 March, 2011

Smashbox - Skin Tint - Bella

I recently bought Smashbox Skin Tint in Bella from All Cosmetics Wholesale for only $10.99 USD. In stores in the US I believe they are about $28 USD. Mine was unboxed (so had a few tiny scratches on the outside) which made it cheaper and I'm not 100% sure but I think this colour is no longer be available in stores. I only use this product on my cheeks and not on my lips. I have tried it on my lips and the colour doesn't work for me so this review is focused on using this as a cheek colour.

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Packaging

The tube is just over 10cm long and over 2cm in diameter. It has matte black packaging and feels pretty sturdy. Net Wt. is .25oz or 7.2g.

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Colour & Finish

Bella is a bold corally pink with no shimmers or sparkles at all. That being said, it doesn't appear that bold on your cheeks. After blending it out it just gives your face a nice bit of colour.

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Quality

This product is nicely pigmented. You don't need much at all. I've tried it with a bit of translucent setting powder over the top and I find it does last a long time but does fade and lose a bit of intensity towards the end of the day like many blushes.

Usage

I find that this is a little hard to blend, but by no way is it impossible. I find swiping some on at the beginning then trying to blend is a little difficult so what I like to do is kind of dab the blush on my face, applying just a very small amount, and then blend it out with my fingers. If I want more intensity I just keep repeating this process. Sometimes I get some product on my finger then dab and blend from there. That way, blending is easier.

Overall

I'm not a massive fan of the formula as it does require me to be gentle and take my time to blend. The fact that I'm mainly a powder blush user probably doesn't help lol. Sometimes I feel as you blend, you do kind of rub at the foundation you've already applied which is particularly annoying when you've packed on foundation/concealer on your cheek to hide a blemish lol. The pigmentation is great so 1 tube will last you forever and I absolutely love the colour. I will continue to use this.

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Update 07/03/11

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Hey guys!

I haven't posted much at all for the past couple of weeks so I thought I would give you a quick update.

I'm back at uni now. Semester started last week. I feel like this is the first time I've felt somewhat motivated about sitting down and doing some study in my entire uni life, so I'm going to try to hold onto it and see how long that lasts lol.
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I've also got a new laptop now, the Toshiba Satellite Pro T130 in red. I'm pretty happy with it so far, only downer is that images appear differently on this compared to my old laptop. I guess the contrast and saturation is different, but I haven't been able to change it. So my blog layout and the pictures in general appear much more washed out on this screen, therefore this is a pretty big concern for me when it comes to editing photos and stuff. Although this did make me wonder how my blog appears on your screens...like is what you see more like my old laptop or new one? lol Anyway, so if you notice my photos and swatches appearing a little different from now, you'll know why lol.

That's pretty much all.
Enjoy your week!
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