Benefit's How to Look the Best at Everything kit in medium - review

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As you may know, I've already reviewed each item individually from both this kit and Benefit's Go Tropicoral kit.

It's taken me a while to get to doing the overall reviews of each kit because the thought of writing a longer post is all a bit much for me at the moment - I'm in the last month of my pregnancy and am feeling rather tired!


Anyhoo, I finally sat down to at least write this one today. Note that I'll include links to the full reviews of each product in this post, and I'll keep my comments on each item shorter for this and instead focus on giving an overall review of the entire kit.


It's a nice-looking little kit and I'm keeping the box to store things in and display. It's definitely handy for travel in the sense that it includes everything you need for your base, although you'd probably want to remove each item from the box because the box itself is bulky and not travel-friendly (although unfortunately you can't remove the powder without bringing a whole lot of the cardboard insert with it).


Benefit's The POREfessional

First up is this fabled primer. Full review here. In short, I was disappointed by this product: while it feels nice on in theory (quite velvety), I don't think it lives up to its claims in terms of pore minimising and reducing fine lines, plus I feel like my foundation 'slips' off it.

I also think this is a better primer for those who use powder foundation, rather than liquid/cream. This is because these kinds of thicker, pore plugging products can 'pill' (like wool), or at least they do on me.

The product fares better on top of makeup, rather than underneath it, but that means it loses one of its functions and doesn't help my makeup last longer.

Probably another reason I'm not a huge fan of the product is that it's a mattifying primer and I'm all for the dewy glow.


See above unblended swatch and blended one below.

As you can see it's a translucent, neutral-toned product. I'm hoping you can see the slight mattifying/line-blurring effect in the shot below.


I can see why some lasses love this product - it's just not for me.


Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow in Honey

Full review here. This product fared much better than the primer, it's just that my skin is unfortunately too dark for it at the moment (but it won't be in a few months).

It's a really good foundation, and for such a runny product, it goes on quite thickly and provides a decent amount of coverage. It's buildable, applies nicely and wears well throughout the day. I love the finish - it's dewy without being greasy - and it's lightweight but still hydrating.

Another plus is the high sun protection, although you'd want to be applying quite a bit of it to get the full benefit of that, so you should use additional sun protection if you're only applying a thin layer.


See above wrist swatch, unblended and blended a little. Below I've blended it completely.

You can see it gives a natural, dewy finish. You can also see that this colour pulls pretty yellow and unfortunately isn't spot on for my skintone. I bought this kit in winter and the foundation was a better match then, so I'm reserving the rest of the bottle for the cooler months when I'm less tanned.


A good product, although I won't be going out and buying it in a hurry due to the Oz pricetag: cheaper products are available that are just as good.

If you're desperate for this, however, I'd recommend buying it from the US website and avoiding the rubbish AUD mark ups.


Benefit's Boi-ing Industrial Strength Concealer in 02 and 03

To me, this is definitely the best item in the kit. Full review here. As I mention in that review, Boi-ing is almost perfect and, when I first used it, I had one of those HG moments:

Errmaahhgawd, my concealer search is over. 


FOREVER.

Never before had I found a product that conceals so well and stays put. For the most part. It became clear pretty quickly that this product does crease, so you need to run a finger over it a few times a day to smooth it out again and move it from your fine lines. No big deal, in the scheme of things, but that's the only reason why this product hasn't gone straight to the HG list.

It's the best concealer I've used to date and it covers circles and blemishes well. It doesn't fade and I like the thick texture: it's probably the reason why it works so well in the coverage department. It's just the creasing issue that's a bit of a hassle. 

See below wrist swatch - 02 below and 03 above.


I suggest warming it with your fingers before application or you might use too much.

Big ticks from me. 


Benefit Hello Flawless Custom Powder Cover up in 'I'm cute as a bunny' Honey

Full review here. This is a decent product, I just wouldn't pay Oz prices for it when there are plenty of other decent powders available for less (whereas I might for Boi-ing because it's a stand-out). Plus nothing compares to Bodyography powders, so I've been spoiled in that department and can't imagine ever finding better products.

It's a decent powder that's finely milled, applies and blends well, and does a good job of covering up imperfections. Unfortunately it's a little grainy however, and in decent light you can certainly tell I've powdered my face (wheras you can't with Bodyography products).

I should also note that I'm not a powder foundation person: my skin leans towards dryness and most powders dry my skin out and make me look more wrinkly than I am. The only powders I've tried that don't do that come from Bodyography and Hourglass, plus Revlon's Nearly Naked pressed powder is a cheaper option that's also less drying than most.

Benefit's Hello Flawless Custom Powder isn't the most drying powder I've used, but it definitely dries me out a bit and means I need to moisturise throughout the day if I don't want my wrinkles to look pronounced.


As you can see it's a nice medium brown that pulls a little yellow (it does on me, anyway). It was a better colour match than the liquid foundation, so I was able to use it in summer.

A good product, and one that lasts well throughout the day with no need for touch-ups. 

Overall verdict

Here I am below with all four products applied. My skin looks nice and not too overdone, the colour's just wrong.


To sum up the above, the true stand-out product in this kit is definitely the Boi-ing concealer. As mentioned, it's almost perfect and it's the only one I'd consider purchasing in full size. The liquid foundation and powder I can take or leave, although I'd probably be more excited about them if I didn't have to pay Australian prices. The POREfessional is a product I won't be using again.

Overall it's a nice, handy little kit and a great way to try these products without committing to full-sizes. I also like the packaging and the kit makes a pretty display item, so it's one I'll hang on to.

In terms of functionality as a travel kit, Benefit did well with everything but the powder - all the other products are stand-alone items that can be removed. You can remove the powder but you'll take out a chunk of cardboard casing with it and then be left with nothing to cover it with (so you'd have to chuck it in a plastic bag or some such). I guess you could depot it if you really wanted to.

That's all from me on this kit! Have you used it? If so, what did you think? I'm glad I've tried Benefit products now - having heard so much about them - but I haven't been as thrilled by them as I'd hoped. Hoh well. Much better to be thrilled by less expensive products, anyway!


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