The Benefit of a Birthday

In my last blog, I talked about the Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette that I bought from Ulta for my birthday.  I also bought the Benefit Cosmetics Frisky Six makeup set as an additional gift to myself.  I like buying the trial sizes of more expensive products so I can use them and decide if it would be worth buying the full size.  Most of Benefit’s full size items are $20 and up, so I really don’t want to waste my money if I don’t like the product as much as I thought I would.

Ulta has several gift sets that include some of Benefit’s most popular items.  This set came with 6 minis of Benefit products that I had never tried before.

They're Real! Mascara; Full Size $23, mini $10 on Ulta – This mascara is supposed to give lashes the added oomph of false lashes.  Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say my lashes looked as thick as fake lashes, I did notice more volume and length than I get with my Maybelline Cat Eyes.  I also tried this as a second coat on top of my Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara which seemed to work really well.

Lollitint Mini; Full Size $30, mini $9.36 – This is a lip and cheek stain that has a purple-pinky tint.  I haven’t used it on my cheeks because I don’t know if I’ll be able to blend it evenly.  It takes a while to dry so I’m guessing it wouldn’t be difficult but I’ve just been too afraid to try.  I have tried it on my lips but the color isn’t that different from my normal lip color, so I don’t notice much of a difference.

Lollibalm Mini; Full Size $18, mini $1.80 – The most disappointing thing about this is how small the “mini” is.  The first time I used it I tried to twist it up and realized that it was already all the way twisted up, there was that little of it.  I’ve used this a couple times over my Lollitint but there is no way I would pay $18 for this when I can achieve the same look with Babylips for less than $5.

Sun Beam; Full Size $26, mini $7.54 – This is a liquid bronzer/highlighter with an application brush.  I use this on the top of my cheek bones as a highlighter.  I have to be honest that I really don’t notice that it makes a difference when I wear this.

Sugarbomb; Full Size $28, mini $10 – This powder really confused me.  I think that it’s a blush, but I’m not really sure about that.  It’s got rosey peach tones in it that work OK as a blush, but it’s still a little lighter than I normally go for blush.  It has a bit of a shimmery quality to it that I really like, and the sample size is pretty decent.

Ooh La Lift; Full Size $22, mini $7.04 – This is probably my favorite thing from this set.  It’s an under eye brightener and it works really well!  I just put a couple dots of this under each eye and rub it in.  I am not a morning person at all so this helps give the illusion that I’m wide awake!

The total value of the products I received was $45.74 and I paid $27 ($4.50/product).  I’m really glad that I bought this set and was able to try all of these products.  Half the fun of makeup is trying new things!  I think of all the products, I would be most likely to buy the Ooh La Lift in the full size!

I also got a free Benefit make-up bag and sample of the Porefessional with my purchase from Ulta.  The bag is really nice quality and I can always use more 

primer!

Thanks for Reading!!

~Sarah