I recently picked up this adorable little Benefit Cosmetics Parisian Pin-up Chic & Effortless Makeup Kit – mainly because I had a few Sephora gift vouchers left from over from birthdays and claimed with points that I racked up by taking way too many taxi rides. I didn’t have quite enough to purchase larger items, but just enough to pick up something smaller like this to cheer up my day. This costs S$56, but I only had to top up a few dollars.
I love the small rose gold pouch that everything came in. It’s really pretty – it’s small, but big enough to hold a good amount of makeup for a touch-up. This kit claims to “give[s] you full-volume lashes and brows, a supermondel glow and golden nectar cheeks”.
As you would expect after reading the claims, this kit contains a blush, a brow item, a mascara and a highlighter – a mini 2.5g Gold Rush blush, 1g of Ka-Brow! in shade 3, a 3g Badgal Bang! mascara, and 4ml of High Beam. I’ve already tried and own Badgal Bang! and High Beam, so the mini sizes are going to my family members and won’t be opened.
Gold Rush is a beautiful warm golden coral blush; I used to not like coral blushes because I find them to be unnatural as nobody blushes a coral shade naturally, but with my tan I’m finding coral blushes to be very flattering. I also find that Gold Rush has a slight sheen, which makes my skin look like it’s glowing. While I love collecting mini size of makeup, I find that in this case, the mini box looks really cute but gets in the way because I have to use a smaller brush to reach within the very small width of the box.
Ka-Brow! in Shade 3 is actually the perfect shade of brown for my brows; this is my favourite item in the set. I’ve hated most coloured gel product for the brows that I’ve tried because they always look so unnatural and drawn on, so I didn’t have high expectations for this, but I really loved it. This went on so naturally, and it’s so convenient because the brush is attached and is the perfect shape for shading in the brows.
High Beam is a liquid satin pink highlighter, although only the pearly sheen shows up when spread out on the face. I find that this only looks good when my skin is in very good condition, because it accentuates all flaws and bumpy textures. But the formula is really nice – very lightweight, not oily at all, and applies and spreads out very easily. Badgal Bang! is a decent mascara but in my books it doesn’t really do that much for my lashes.
The set comes with a small pamphlet of tips and tricks which I thought was quite useful for makeup beginners even if you don’t own this set.
Tip 1: Ka-Brow!
Fill sculpt and define brows. For a natural look, apply a thin amount onto brows using light quick strokes. Layer on more to build boldness and drama
Tip 2: Badgal Bang!
For massive volume with gravity defying lift, gently wiggle mascara wand from base of lashes to tip. Repeat for even bigger badder lashes!
Tip 3: Gold Rush
For a stroke of luxe, brush onto the apples of your cheeks then blend upwards.
Tip 4: High Beam
Dot and blend onto cheek and brow bones. Dot and blend along the bridge of your nose.
I don’t own a lot of Benefit Cosmetics’ products, so this was a nice little set to try out more items. I liked most of the items in this set, especially Ka-Brow! – which I think I will picking up a full size of once I’ve used it up. I really like this set, and I’m really glad to have picked it up; I also think it would make a lovely gift for someone who either travels a lot as everything is in travel size, or is new to makeup. I really do recommend this lovely little set and I will be picking up a few more sets of this to give away as Christmas gifts for my younger cousins.
The Good Life Bunny 