Benefit Cha Cha Tint: Review, Swatch, FOTD

I can't tell you how excited I am to share this post with you - Benefit has done it again! The brand that is most famous for Benetint and Posietint has now come out with another kickass product - and this time it's none other than their new release, Cha Cha Tint!

Cha Cha Tint couldn't have arrived at a more opportune time - Benefit describes this as a "juicy mango" colour, but to me this is a coral with a hint of pink - perfect for summer!



Cha Cha Tint comes in a similar packaging to Benetint and Posietint. It comes in the same box with a feminine, cheeky vibe, and also comes in the same bottle with a brush that looks like a nail polish brush.



I've found that you do need to be careful with application for this, due to the packaging. There's always the risk of spillage, and the brush can be a little hard to work with. Still, the gorgeous stain is so worth it!



When I first saw the tint, I was scared of the neon coral colour of the tint. However, once it's blended, it actually sheers out to a very wearable coral, as you can see from the swatch below. I'm starting to think this might just be my favourite coral blush of the sesason!



Cha Cha Tint, like the rest of Benefit's tints, is meant to be used on the lips as well as the cheeks. So here's a swatch of Cha Cha Tint on my lips. I love how it looks - it really adds a gorgeous coral hue to my lips.



And because I love Cha Cha Tint so much, here's an FOTD featuring the tint! I'm wearing Cha Cha Tint on my lips and cheeks. As you can see, it really adds a very pretty coral tint to the lips, and despite the neon-ness of the colour in the bottle, it's actually very wearable.



Lasting power of the tint was excellent on the cheeks. At the end of the day, there was still colour left on my cheeks. However on the lips, the stain tended to fade when I ate or drank. However, as long as I didn't have to eat, the stain seemed to last.

I'm absolutely loving Cha Cha Tint right now, and if you're looking for a gorgeous coral tint, this is absolutely for you! Perhaps the only drawback to using such a tint is that your fingers get tinted coral as well, after you've blended it on your lips and cheeks!

Benefit Coralista v Bella Bamba: Comparison Swatches

Ever since I featured Bella Bamba on my blog, I've been meaning to swatch it next to Coralista, just to show the difference between the two. So finally, after much ado, here are comparison swatches!



Bella Bamba was released early this year, and Coralista was released quite a while back - possibly a year or more ago. Benefit seems to have cut down on the amount of product product they give in the blushes though. Coralista gives you 12g/0.42oz of product, Bella Bamba gives you 8g/0.28oz of product. That's like, cutting down the amount of stuff inside by a third!



Bella Bamba and Coralista look pretty different in the pan. Coralista is a lot more, well, coral with a side of pink, while Bella Bamba is pink but with just the slightest hint of warmth. Both of them have similar shimmer - small particles of shimmer that aren't too much or unwearable. I guess there isn't really a need to swatch them to show how different they are, but well, here are swatches anyway.



L - R: Coralista, Bella Bamba

Although Coralista looks like it would be brighter in the pan, Bella Bamba is actually the brighter, more pigmented colour on. It's a gorgeous warm pink that is beautiful, whereas Coralista is a bit more muted. I have and love both, and I think that both are pretty universally flattering on most skintones. If you had to choose just one, it probably boils down to whether you want a coral or a pink blush.

(Only Bella Bamba was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Products Used:
Benefit - Skinny jeans cream shadow

Bobbi Brown - Black Charcoal #78
MAC - Knight Devine eyeshadow
MAC - Blacktrack Fluidline Gel Liner
MAC - Carbon Black Eyeshadow
MAC - Forgery white shimmer eyeshadow
Urban Decay - "Zero" pencil eyeliner
brushes - MAC & Sigma

Benefit b.right! Radiant Skincare: A Quick Look

Benefit's maiden skincare offering, the b.right! Radiant Skincare range, is launching in Singapore next month (yes, I know, we're way behind the US girls. What can I say, life is unfair!), and I managed to get a sneak preview of what b.right will do for us! Here's what I've brought back from the event to show you guys!

b.right! is formulated with a few key qualities in mind, in order to distinguish Benefit's first skincare range from all the other skin products out there. The entire skincare line was formulated to be, in addition to a skincare line, also a primer for makeup, and meant to be wearable under any subsequent makeup applied to the skin. As a result, the texture of most of the products is also very light and water-y. Another focus of the products was hydration. The Benefit team wanted their products to moisturize, hence the emphasis on water, right down to the packaging. Almost all the products are scented, with a scent I'd describe as a light flowery-fresh type scent, with hints of cucumber paired with various florals.



The skincare range is divided roughly into four areas of focus, each with its own set of products - moisture, cleanse, eye, and specialist. In keeping with Benefit's decision to place an emphasis on hydration in their line, a lot of the products have to do with inreasing the moisture in the skin.

Here is the moisture range. It consists of the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion with SPF 15, the Total Moisture Facial Cream, and a toner lotion meant to prepare the skin for either of the moisturizers, the Moisture Prep Toning Lotion.



Here is the cleanse mini-range. It consists of a cleanser, the Foamingly Clean Facial Wash, an exfoliator, the Refined Finish Facial Polish, as well as the requisite makeup remover, the Remove It Makeup Remover.



In the Eye and Specialist sections, there is only one product. The eye section boasts the It's Potent Eye Cream, the name making no bones about its claims.



The specialist section consists of a facial mist, that is supposed to be able to hydrate your skin, and can also be used as a makeup setting mist. I've no idea why this product is billed as "specialist", but then again, I'm not the founder of a makeup empire.



The star products out of the entire line (as defined by Benefit themselves) are the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion, the Total Moisture Facial Cream, the It's Potent Eye Cream, as well as Remove It, the makeup remover. So if you want to jump straight into their products, perhaps one of these four might be a good first start.

In addition to taking pretty bottle shots of the product, I've also taken shots of some of the individual products, so I can comment on the colour, texture, application, and feel of the product. Of course I won't be able to tell you if it clogs your pores or not, since this was just a cursory experimentation with the products, but I can tell you how it'll feel on your skin.

The one we were all curious to try was the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion. It's a white, gel-like cream. It has a very light feel to it, and is oil-free. It did absorb easily and sink into the skin without leaving any residue, so I imagine this would be good for warm weather.



Next, we all wanted to take a look at the Total Moisture Facial Cream. This one is also a white cream, but it has a thicker texture than the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion. It also doesn't absorb as easily. That said, this is still relatively easy to rub into the skin, and probably would be suitable for use under makeup.



The It's Potent! Eye Cream seems to be another popular seller, and this one is a beige-coloured cream. It also blends in without leaving any sticky residue, and I imagine this would be a popular one to use under your undereye concealer.



Next up, we have the Foamingly Clean Facial Wash. This one will be popular among girls who like that squeaky-clean feeling after washing their skin, as this one really leaves behind no residue. I imagine it would be popular among girls with oilier skins, but drier skins may have concerns about the facial wash being too harsh for ther skin.



Although the facial wash claims to be Foamingly Clean, it didn't really foam on my skin. It does work into a creamy lather that feels pleasant, but creamy lather doesn't quite spell foamy to me...when I think of foam, I think of bubbles, but here there aren't any. Just a creamy lather that washes off easily.



The Refined Finish Facial Polish looks quite similar to the Foamingly Clean Facial Wash. They both have the same pearly, iridiscent appearance, and both are white cream. However, the Refined Finish Facial Polish is thicker in texture, and, being an exfoliating product, has tiny exfoliating beads.



The exfoliating beads in the Refined Finish Facial Polish are really quite small, although you can definitely feel that they are there, and if you rub too hard, the exfoliator can feel a little abrasive. This isn't one of those gentle exfoliators, despite the small size exfoliating beads. If you have very sensitive skin, I'd advise you to use this with care.

As you can see in the photo below, I tried to get a shot of the exfoliating beads but I kind of failed. The beads are that small. We were also told that this could double up as a mask, if applied to the skin and left for a longer period of time. While this is unusual, it isn't new, and is similar to Neutrogena's 2-in-1 Wash/Mask and Dermalogica Dermal Clay Cleanser, which both also can be used as a wash or a mask.



My thoughts on the skincare? These look like good, if basic, items. The formulations for the most part are effective staples of skincare that have been around for awhile, although the ingredients don't boast anything new and shiny right out of an R&D lab. These will form a good set of basic skincare for everyday use. A great plus point for me is that al of the products are very wearable under makeup due to their light texture and the fact that they are easily absorbed.



Myself (I'm sure you know me, I'm that ugly girl with the glasses that always gets shunted right to the edge in photographs - in this case the right edge) and some of the other bloggers, including makeupstash, rougedeluxe, and sugarcrumb.

I hope this summary of b.right! first impressions was useful to all of you, complete with photos of myself smearing skincare product on my hands and arms (so glam, I know)! Just to show you how focused I was on bringing my thoughts to all of my dear readers, here's a shot of the food provided at the event that I DIDN'T get to eat because I was to busy jotting down my thoughts and photographing the products! :P

Benefit Finding Mr Bright Swatches and Quick Peek!

Benefit has released Finding Mr Bright, a boxed set comprising of some of the brand's bestselling products, including highlighters, a liquid cheek/lip stain, and a concealer. You know I have a thing for sets, and I was pretty darn excited to get my grubby little hands on this baby!

The product comes in the cutest little paper box ever, complete with girly flourescent orange and pink print. This would make a really great gift, because it's just so cute, pretty, and presentable!



Opening up the package and taking a peek got me all excited. It really did feel like opening a treasure trove of cute little mini items, all delightfully packed.



Inside, you have a 7.5ml tube of Girl Meets Pearl, a 4.0ml mini bottle of Posietint, a 2.5ml mini bottle of High Beam, and a 3.2g jar of Erase Paste, in No. 2 Medium.



I'll eventually be reviewing some of the products individually, but for now, I thought I'd give a quick look into the set by swatching the individual items.

First up, the two highlighters, Girl Meets Pearl, and High Beam.


L-R: High Beam (applied heavily and lightly), Girl Meets Pearl (applied heavily and lightly)

It might seem a bit redundant that Benefit included two highlighters in the set, but after playing around with these, I can see why. Girl Meets Pearl is meant more as a brightening primer, and the highlighting effect in this product is very subtle. In fact, if you blend it in, you'll barely get any shimmer at all. It's also a bit more skin-coloured, as opposed to High Beam's pale-pink shade.

High Beam, on the other hand, can definitely be a reflective highlighter, suitable for selective highlighting on areas you want to bring out, as opposed to all over the face. In fact, I wouldn't recommend you use High Beam all over the face, unless you blend it into moisturizer or foundation or some similar base, as indiscrete usage could make you look like a discoball!

Next up, we have the ever-popular Posie Tint. I have to say, although Posie Tint has been on the market for awhile, I was never drawn to it, until I tried it:



When Posietint first came out, my thoughts were, "Meh, pale pink? I don't do pale pinks on my cheeks or lips." But what do you know, this is one pretty darn gorgeous shade. While it's a pale pink, to be sure, it wasn't the sickly, pastel pale pink I envision. This shade is actually quite bright, and can be blended in for that barely-there flush, or used more intensely for a brighter effect. I'd call it a sheer pop of bright pink. I really like it. Very Spring/Summer.

And lastly, we have Erase Paste, one of Benefit's better-selling items.



Unfortunately, No. 2 Medium isn't quite my shade (I'm NC20 in MAC). This shade is a fair bit darker and pinker. I'd guesstimate the shade to be around NW25 or NW30-ish. The coverage is definitely impressive, which is why it sells so well, but the texture is that of a thick, tacky paste, which could be either good or bad, depending on user preferences. Personally, I do feel like it's a bit too tacky for my liking, but this product gets fantastic reviews everywhere, so it could just be me.

So, would I recommend this set? Well, assuming the Erase Paste shade is a decent match for your skin, why not? You do get a good range of products, and all of them are worth trying. In particular, if you love highlighters and brightening products, or products for the face and cheeks, this set will really appeal to you. And lastly, it's also a pretty good set to give away, because it just looks so cute.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Benefit Lunch Event: A Quick Update

Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson are the daughters of Jean Ford, were in Singapore yesterday, and I had the opportunity to meet them in person! Now, we all know who Jean Ford is, of course - along with Jane Ford, her sister, she was one of the founders of Benefit, and the creators of some of the world's most famous beauty products, such as Benetint, and Boi-ing.

Maggie and Annie are gorgeous. Let me repeat - really gorgeous. Tall, statuesque, slim, with chiseled features, the girls look every bit like the illustrated Benefit girls that adorn the brand's packaging. And they have perfect makeup to boot, but I'm sure you could've guessed. Myself, along with some other bloggers, had lunch with them, and it was good, although I felt quite sorry for them at one point - we were all so excitedly bombarding them with questions that they probably didn't get to eat very much!



The questions they answered were wide-ranging and varied - they answered everything from how they came up with the name of the products, to what their hectic work schedules were like. It was all very informative, and very fascinating - it was like having a sneek peek into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, only for makeup! And we learned that there's a new tint called Cha Cha Tint that's going to be out sometime soon! I can't wait to see it in person!

One of the things that struck me about the brand was that their top 10 bestsellers were more or less consistent from country to country. This I found interesting, because having lived in the USA, Europe, and Asia, my experience with makeup has been that cosmetic preferences vary widely with regions, and brands often cater to this by releasing geographically-specific products. So in essence, a product by a brand would be released only in the USA for the American market, while another product by the same brand would be released only in Asia for the Asian market.

However, Benefit didn't play that way. What they release in the USA is also released in Europe and Asia, which I really respected. It meant that they really strove to create colours that were universal and wearable in nature, and to formulate products that people would like. I really liked that. It meant that a lot of the gimmickery that often goes into targeting the local market (e.g. hiring local celebrities, tweaking advertisements to different regions, re-naming products for different countries) is done away with. So what sells is not the gimmicky stuff, but the actual product at the end of the day, which I thought was pretty cool.



And the top 10 bestsellers? I couldn't remember all of them, but they include Porefessional, Bad Gal, That Gal, Some Kinda Gorgeous, as well as the powder blushes (here there are regional differences - Dandelion is more popular in Asia, following the light-blush trend, while in the West, with bronzing a popular trend, Dallas and Coralist are preferred). Well, I remembered 5 out of 10. Not too bad, right? Please don't kill me for not remembering the other 5! *Ducks angry Benefit fans*

Another thing I liked about the brand was that unlike your typical big-name cosmetics brand, they were actually very lean when it comes to advertising. In fact, Maggie and Annie claimed that most of their sales come through word-of-mouth! That would be ABSOLUTELY the first time I've heard any major brand say that. Count me impressed!



And yes, that's all of us together with the Benefit beauties! As you can see, they were towering above us! When I said tall and statuesque, I really wasn't kidding. These girls could be models, really. I feel honoured to have met them, and I hope those little titbits I garnered from lunch were useful to you! You can bet I'll be watching out for Cha Cha Tint to hit the stores, hopefully soon!

Benefit Ultra Shine Lipgloss Swatch/Review/FOTD

Benefit recently released their Ultra Shine Lip Gloss this year, and you know that I can't resist a lipgloss, right? So of course when I heard all the raves for this one, I just had to try it out!



The glosses are billed as being the ultimate shiny gloss, and I think they might just be right. These really are pretty shiny! They come in the usual Benefit black-and-white designed box, and come in small but chubby tubes with a brush applicator.

The two glosses I tried were Who Are You Wearing? and the hilariously-named Patootie. Benefit's definitely got a sense of humour!



Here are swatches of the glosses. As you can see from the swatches, both of them are heavy on shine, but are slightly sheer in terms of pigmentation. Although Who Are You Wearing? looks like it could be quite a bright pink in the tube, it's actually more wearable than it looks, since it lets the natural lip colour show through.



L-R: Patootie, Who Are You Wearing?

Patootie is a very pearly, almost bordering on frosty, nude pink. I'd call it oyster pink or shell pink. Very pretty if you like that kind of shade.

Who Are You Wearing? is a midtone purple-pink with sparse, very tiny glitter bits. You can't really see the glitter once it's on.

Here are lip glosses swatched on my lips. First up, here's Patootie:



Like I mentioned earlier, it's more of a nude kind of shade - perfect for pairing with smokey eyes! It's also not as sheer as it looks - if you used a bit more of this one, you would actually blank out some of your natural lip colour.

And here's Who Are You Wearing?, which is my favourite out of the two. I love this colour because it adds a bit of pop to your lip, without being too unwearable. I think this is one of those "go with anything" lip colours, because it's just so versatile!



The Ultra Shines also have a very nice, light, and non-sticky texture, and a smell that is vaguely fruity. In fact, the texture and the smell reminds me a lot of the YSL Gloss Pur range, which I've featured in this post before. The nice, light-but-not-too-fluid texture and the smell are actually pretty similar! The difference is that the YSL Gloss Pur is more strongly scented, and also more pigmented. But when it comes to texture, they're remarkably similar.

Here's a FOTD with my new favourite gloss, Who Are You Wearing? As you can probably tell, I'm really loving this gloss. It goes so well with two of my other staples - taupe eyeshadow and plummy-pinky blush!



These are definitely one of the highlights of Benefit's recent releases (other than Bella Bamba, which I also love). The quality is good, and the shade range is also excellent - there aren't any colours in there that I feel are unwearable, and most of these shades look like they would go with almost anything. If you're on the market for a non-sticky lipgloss with decent staying power and medium pigmentation, these are worth checking out!

Benefit Bella Bamba: Swatch, Review, FOTD

One of Benefit's cult products are their boxed powders, so when Benefit released their latest boxed powder offering, Bella Bamba, I just had to give it a whirl! Most of Benefit's boxed powders have been blushes, and Bella Bamba isn't that much of an exception - it's a blush, but this time, it's 3D!

Yes, you heard me right. Benefit calls this blush a "3D brightening pink" - the idea is that the gold shimmer is supposed to impart a multidimensional look to your cheeks that's not flat.

Going along with the whole 3D, multidimensional concept, the blush packaging also features some cool holographic-ish effect. I don't think my camera captured it too well, but you can tell there's some cool visual effect going on:



Visuals aside, the blush packaging has also changed in substance this time - instead of a totally removable top as with previous boxed powders, the lid on this one is hinged, and there is a mirror inside too! Not bad at all. I consider it an improvement over the previous design.



As with Benefit's other boxed blushes and bronzers, Bella Bamba also comes with a brush. I'm not too keen on the brush myself, and I personally prefer to use my own blush brushes, but in a pinch (say if you're travelling), this is quite adequate.



The colour of the blush itself is actually very pretty, and one of my favourites to date. Bella Bamba is a very pretty colour, with gold shimmer, and Benefit was right in describing it as "watermelon" - I do think this is watermelon pink, with a hint of coral. I love it!



The colour is remiscent of NARS Orgasm and all its dupes, but to me they aren't quite the same. I had NARS Orgasm awhile back, and didn't really like it - it came out too peachy and quite "meh" on me, but I really love this colour. I think the key difference is that Bella Bamba is pinker, and less peachy than Orgasm, which helps make it a little bit more universal. Unlike Orgasm, which didn't look good on me (I absolutely detest those ads that proclaim Orgasm as the "ultimate universal blush colour"), I can imagine most people being able to wear Bella Bamba. It's pink, but the coral tinge and gold shimmer help to ensure that it's a pink that would be wearable even for girls who don't normally like to wear pink.

Here's a swatch. On my skin, it's pretty obvious that Bella Bamba isn't an Orgasm. Oh no, it's way better.



The texture of Bella Bamba is pretty good, and also quite comparable to Benefit's other boxed powders. Benefit pulls no surprises with regards to quality on this one - if you've liked their previous blushes, you'll like this too. Another thing I liked about Bella Bamba is it's buildability. You can wear this colour sheered out as a barely-there blush, or you could build it up for a pop of colour on the cheeks. It's actually pretty versatile that way, and I do appreciate that.

Here's a FOTD (Face of the Day) with Bella Bamba. This one features a light-to-moderate application of the blush colour.



I thought the glitter would show up too much in the photo, but it isn't that obvious once applied, which is a plus. The amount of gold shimmer is nicely balanced - there is enough to ensure that it does add some dimension to the colour (so they weren't totally lying about the 3D claims), but at the same time not so much that the blush becomes a glitterbomb. Still totally wearable for work, in my book.

So do you need Bella Bamba? Well, I thinnk you do! For one, it's a great colour I could imagine most girls wearing. For another, it's got a great texture, and nicely buildable pigmentation. And it comes in a cool-looking holographic box! What's not too like? If you've been eyeing Bella Bamba, it's definitely worth checking out.