Hi there I am Stevie and I am reviewing some BENEFIT products. BENEFIT has been around a bit , started by twin sisters who were tired of finding the same old boring products. They wanted cosmetics and make up to be fun. Well they have fun all right and I have a slew of products to play with.!!

BAD GAL is a new black chubby pencil for making smouldering, sexy eyes. I love it and would buy one. I did find that I did have to keep sharpening it to get the tight point I want. I want sexy eyes but I don’t need raccoon eyes either. But it is smooth and easily smudged and really cool on. This baby lasts really wellólike all day!! This retails for 14 dollars and lasts a long time. Just donít let any kids get near it. They think it is a crayon I snatched mine from my kid before she hit it.

RATING:

BAD GAL

PERFORMANCE- 4 STARS

Smoothness-- 4 1/2 STARS

BENEFIT is known for some great cream shadows. I usually never wear them because they crease so much. I was able to try two different colors from BENEFIT and they are terrific cream shadows without a crease. HOLLYWOOD ROLL is a purple softened with a touch of glimmer . . It is a great smokey shadow that works well on the lids and as a crease color. I liked this one a lot and it lasted ALL DAY. Also I was able to try the TRAFFIC SCHOOL and it is a soft taupey brown with a plum hint that is universally great on almost everyone. I cannot see anyone going wrong with the TRAFFIC SCHOOL color while the other one might give someone a ìblack eyeî look. They smoothed on easily: lasted all day, blended into other colors well. They were not sticky or greasy or creasey. What more do you want from a cream to powder shadow? I want to try the lighter colors too. I think VIXEN is definitely worth a try and ditto to FANTASY TRIP as well as NAUGHTY FEATHER and NINAíS NUGGET. At 13 dollars a pot, they are reasonably priced and would last a long, long time.

RATINGS:

CREAM SHADOWS

COLORS--41/2 STARS

PERFORMANCE--5 STARS

TEXTURE-- 4 1/2 STARS

BENEFIT is known for their nifty pencils and I already had GILDED pencil which they describe as a tequila gold. Think warm peachy gold shimmer; really pretty and very wearable for all skin colors. I use it as a highlighter and as a base color over the entire lid. It works quite well for me and I found it lasted very well. It didnít last as long as the crËme shadows, but it showed up nicely through most of the day. This is nice color for summer and think about using it as a highlighter on the face and lips. This would be killer for those with fair skin and lighter hair especially blondes and redheads. Really a versatile pencil here, it is a nice chubby pencil and will last a long time for the 14 dollars you are plunking down.

RATINGS

GILDED PENCIL

PERFORMANCE--4 STARS

COLOR--4 STARS

BENEFIT has a new type of lipstick, PROTECTINTS that has an SPF 15 rating to it. It is a slick stick with VITAMIN E and feels luscious on the lips. The color I got to try is called HUSH and is quite similar to the NARS Sunset Strip and at a price point of 14 dollars is a lot more versatile. It can be worn by itself since it is not too slick and shiny. It can be worn over other colors since it offers a nice shine and twist on the gloss. The soft, peachy orangeish color is really much lighter than on the page of the catalog and in the tube. It goes on sheerly, but still delivers color punch. This is a very nice product. I personally would good with the pink or the violet shades for my personal use. While it does not have a long last finish, this small silver bullet is great to stash in a pocket and use as needed. You almost donít need a mirror. It is that easy of a color and that slick a finish.

RATINGS

PROTECTINTS

COLOR--3 1/2 STARS

PERFORMANCE--4 STARS

LONGLASTING--3 STARS

LIGHTENING lotion is a silky white lotion with golden hightlights. It is 4 big oz for 18 dollars and this bottle will go a long way. Use it on the body, face, lips, and anywhere else. It would even work on some hair strands, if carefully placed. Mix it with perfume and then put it on. Wowee zowee!! What a great idea: golden fragrant shimmer. LIGHTENING feels good and spread nicely. It is a nice gold shimmer lightly done with just enough to be subtle and sexy and not screaming gold shimmer. It is a reasonable price and lasts a long time. The fragrance is pretty decent too, so it is not overwhelming.

RATING:

LIGHTENING

PERFORMANCE--4 STARS

SHIMMER- 4 STARS

FRAGRANCE- 5 STARS (not overly fragranced which is very good)

LIP PLUMP is one of those unusual products. It is a nude lip primer that fills in the lines and builds up the contour of the lips. It does take a bit of time -- a couple of minutes- to set up, but it does work well. It is applied with a wand and I found a lip brush just as effective in applying this product. I like that it filled in the lines and helped make the lipstick go on smoother. What I did not like was the color. It is much too beige /nude since my lips are naturally dark. It totally blotted out the color of my lips and thus changed the look of the lipstick. I had to re-do the lip color entirely since it no longer worked. Do not wear a sheer lipstick with this product. It does not show as well since the nude color blots out the inherent lip color. I wish they made one with a pinker tint. This would not do well with darker skin tones either. So don’t be fooled here, ladies of darker skin tone. This is a supposed one color fits all and it doesn’t. A pity too, since it works really well at filling in the lines. I did find a way to use it more successfully. An application with a lip brush made the color lighter. Though the fill-in is was less, it made the color of the lipstick more true to what I am used to seeing. At 15 dollars a tube, this is a hard choice to make when there are other product out there that do similar things.

RATING:

LIP PLUMP

EFFECTIVENESS- 4 STARS

COLOR--2 STARS

EASE OF APPLICATION-- 3 STARS

SHOW OFFS are a line of colored shimmer powders from BENEFIT. WOW!! Cool little tubes that are 13 dollars a pop (that will keep you from buying the entire line), but they pack such punch in the colors . They are sheer shines of iridescent powders that can be used on eyes, lip and cheeks as well as buffed into nails or mixed into lotion for a shimmer of outstanding color and iridescence. Here are the colors that I tried. CANDI is a white powder with blue iridescence. ICING is silver with silver iridescent. METALIKA is a real silver, almost gunmetal gray, with a lovely shine. COOKIis a blue with a purple shimmer and JACKI is pink with a gold shimmer. PISTACHIO is a yellow gold with a green shimmer. These are killer!!! There are a couple of colors I don’t have : LOLA which is pink, SUGA which is brown tone, MERINGUE is a silvery lavender , and BAMBIwhich is apricot colored. All can be mixed with lotion or made sheer for subtle color or denser application will create a great pizazz look. Fun to look at fun to play with and the tiny bottles are .24 ounces. So these slim babies fit easily into a purse for carrying around. They are dynamite as a sheer application over the lips for some highlight and sparkle . Also they are neat used carefully on the hair. You don’t want to lose the entire tube on your head. This is a great line extension. Fun, fun, fun! They hold up quite well as shadow; good with lotion too. They don’t last as long with lipstick, if you plan on eating. (skip eating or kissing, you look too good with this product). You do need to work with this a bit, since they don’t come with brushes and the contents can spill out easily. So use a brush and dip carefully!! Also try them wet for something really different!!

RATINGS:

SHOW OFFS

PERFORMANCE--4 STARS

COLORS--5 STARS

EASE OF USE-- 2 STARS

FUN FACTOR--5 STARS

I also was able to try a cake eyeliner from BENEFIT in a color called SOPHIA which, of course. is black. It is smooth and when used with a tiny bit of water, it comes across as quite intense. It lasts well and is easy to apply providing you are adept with an eye liner brush. For me it is a snap, but for those who need practice get the eye pens that work just as well and last as long. I like it and would buy it again especially if it came in more daring colors like burgundy or bronze.

RATING

CAKE LINER SOPHIA

COLOR--3 STARS

PERFORMANCE--4 STARS

ARUBA IN A TUBA is BENEFIT’s self tanner in a nice sized tube. It goes on smoothly and does not irritate. It does not stain hands, if washed off promptly. I used a fair amount on the inside of my thigh as a swatch test and spread it over and let it dry. I did it as a side by side with another self tanner on the opposite leg to see a comparison of texture and color. Guess what?? It will take a lot more of the ARUBA IN A TUBA to give me the color I want than what I thought was reasonable. It does go on smoothly and you don’t have to worry about going orange. The concern here is that you would have to apply a lot of product here to get a suitable tan. Now perhaps it is due to my skin-tone, but this is not very dark or noticeable from my own skin tone. Just a tiny bit darker and for the amount I used, I expected a distinct difference for the small amount of skin covered. The worst part about the product is the smell. It is icky. I did not like the chemical smell at all. This is certainly not worth the money or the effort.

RATINGS:

ARUBA IN A TUBA

EASE OF APPLICATION 4 STARS

COLOR- 3 STARS ( it is not orange)

PERFORMANCE--2 STARS