Friends with Benefit

For years I stuck to the same brands of makeup, and skincare, (mostly Origins) and for the most part the same products.  What fun is that?  It's hard to say what your favorite is when you've only tried one thing.  Awhile back though, I found Benefit.  One of the best things about it?  Most of their products come in trial size!  You know when you're standing in the checkout line at Ulta, and they have those stands with tons of travel size products?  They always seem to call to me.  I think in the last year or so they've really upgraded the products they put on them.  Instead of some Freeman face masks, now they have Urban Decay, Pureology, and of course, Benefit.  I was shopping for some travel size products to take on vacation, and came across the Cabana Glama kit.

Some kind-a gorgeous foundation faker, Hoola bronzing powder, posietint lip and cheek stain, and a neutral eyeshadow palette.  This was perfect, as I didn't need much more and the colors work great with sunkissed skin.  I see a full size Hoola in my future, and the Some kind-a gorgeous goes on really smooth and feels like a powder.  $36 to try 4 products isn't bad either.

While standing in the checkout, I came across Girl Meets Pearl liquid luminizer.

This is seriously one of my new favorite products.  It gives a great highlight to cheeks without making you look shiny.  Even though I purchased the travel size, I'll be snatching up the full size soon.

Now, I didn't really need a new mascara.  I've been using Full Story from Origins for years and had no desire to switch.  It's gel based, and never gets hard or flaky.  However, a friend of mine told me about They're Real and since they had a trial size for $10, I figured it couldn't hurt.

When I was checking out, the sales girl told me I should just skip the trial size and get the full size since I was going to love it that much.  I'm happy I decided not to do that.  The verdict?  I'll be going back to my Origins when this tube is empty.  It doesn't do anything for me that I wasn't already getting with Full Story, and it doesn't come off easily.  I wash my face in the shower, and then have to use an eye makeup remover on top of that to get it off.  While I guess that says it has some great staying power, at $22, it comes in $7 more than my Origins.





Benefit always has great little value sets like Cabana Glama.  It's a great way to try out products at a fraction of the price of the full size.  Maybe you'll find something you can't live without that way. 

Oh, and right now if you spend $25 on Benefit at Ulta, you get a free trial size Badgal mascara, Cha cha tint, and pore fessional!