Friday 21 December 2012

Realness of Concealness


Hello :)

As a member of the troubled skin gang, I'm all about concealing! So when I saw Benefit's realness of concealness mini "fake-it" kit last year I was immediately interested. However the price tag, currently £23.50 from the likes of Boots, did make me question whether I'd get enough use out of it.

Ironically though, I found that the Benefit store, at the Clothes Show Live 2011 (@Birmingham NEC arena), were doing a deal whereby if you spent over a certain amount you got one of these kits free! I can't remember how much you had to spend but it certainly wasn't an obscene amount as I spent it.

I was really chuffed to get my hands on one these, containing Ooh la lift, high beam, lip plump, lemon aid and boi-ing concealer. It even has a little mirror :)

Now, last Christmas I asked for a lot of makeup and I guess this got a little bit neglected. However, recently it's made it into my daily makeup bag and I've been really enjoying using it!


I am a massive fan of Benefit's boi-ing concealer with a very creamy and blendable consistency, that provides great coverage. This kit contains shade 02 (medium) which may be too dark for some skin tones. Up until summer (when I got slightly tanned) I couldn't use it without mixing it with a lighter concealer, so you might need to bare this in mind if you are a fellow pale dale! :)

I think lemon aid, which aims to correct any discolouration around the eyes, is a lovely little product! I'm not one to suffer with major redness but popping a little of this under my eyes and on the lids instantly brightens them up. I also feel it works a treat as an eye shadow base, helping to avoid creasing. It's especially effective when applying those loose pigment eye shadows as it seems to grab the shadow and hold it in place...great for reducing any fallout! I would highly recommend this product to anyone, but in particular to those of you wanting to correct eye discolouration...I imagine it works amazingly well!


Onto the mini tube products... First up, and perhaps my least favourite item of the bunch, the Lip Plump. My first issue with this is in the name. Why would you include the word plump when in fact no plumping of the lips takes place? When I first heard about this product I thought it would be another 'bee sting' lip gloss along the lines of Soap & Glory's Sexy Mother Pucker range or something... Wrong. In actual fact what it is, is a lip primer ready for lipstick. Lip prime? Lip ready?  Surely it could have been called something less deceiving...but anyway once you realise what it actually is for, it's a pretty decent product. It is nude in colour, as you can see on the picture, and this makes it especially effective for prepping the lips for nude lipstick. However, be prepared to have to use a lip scrub and moisturiser e.g. Vaseline etc before using this, as it does tend to take a shining to the dry areas on your lips and cling to them!

High beam. Quite stupidly I actually purchased this product in full size whilst at the Clothes Show, forgetting that this came in the free kit I would be receiving! Nevermind. In actual fact I really like this product. It's a highlighter that does as its intended to. It has a fine shimmer that gives a nice glow to your applied areas. With a combination/oily skin type I can still wear this without feeling like my skin is too shiny and a little bit goes a long way. The mini tube is lasting me ages so I've not even dipped into my full sized pot yet!

And lastly, Ooh La Lift. This claims to de-puff and firm up your under eye area. The texture is very light and it blends in extremely well. Again, unless I have a heavy night, I don't suffer with baggy eyes (YET!) but I love how this helps to open up my eyes. You can definitely see a difference with a dab of this applied. Again, a little goes a long way.

Overall, and as you can probably tell, I am really impressed with the Realness of Concealness kit. I would have no reservations about paying the price tag on this thing, now knowing how much use I get out of it.

I like how instead of buying the product's full versions, you can try them out first in this kit and decide which ones you would re-buy. I think it would made a lovely Christmas gift if you still have any shopping left to do or alternatively a nice treat for yourself.

Well done Benefit!

No comments:

Post a Comment