I keep my promises...sometimes

Since I made reference to Benefit's Realness of Concealness kit the other day (and gave it a verdict of no) and promised to expand, here is the full-blown review of this kit:

So the idea behind this kit is that you have everything you need to create your face on the go in one handy kit. And it is handy. I've seen ladies pulling it out on the subway and fixing their whole face in about 5 minutes. But needless to say, these were not DDD's as this is not for them.

Sidebar: I don't think the ladies of Benefit realize that there are many many many skin tones in this world. They seem to really enjoy making products that only come in 3 colours, (beige, light beige, and dark beige) or even worse just one colour and then claiming they suit all skin tones. This is exactly what I was referring to in my chat with Toya at Life of a Ladybug. It just drives me apesh*t and I actually think it's racist, but that's another story.


Anyway, back to Realness of Concealness. The cute little kit (One thing about Benefit is that they make kickass packaging) contains the following:

Lemon Aid primer (top right)

Boi-ing concealer (bottom right)

Lip Plump (left)

High Beam highlighter (middle)

Ooh La Lift (right)

Most of these products I guess are race-neutral but my real complaint with this is the concealer which is literally the colour of band aids. And I have always been of the belief that band aids come in that stupid colour so that no one would ever possibly think that they were supposed to match anyone's skin tone in order to avoid being accused of racism, but again that's another story. Also I don't think that anyone can make the argument that their product will give you a "flawless" or "polished" look if it doesn't contain a concealer, and this mess just doesn't cut it.

The Lemon Aid primer is pretty good; it's what I used before I discovered the fabulousness that is UDPP (if you don't know you better ask someBODY!). It helps eyeshadow go on smoothly but isn't as great at controlling oil as other primers. It also leaves a definite white cast over the eye if you have dark skin.

The Lip Plump isn't worth spending more than a sentence on. It doesn't plump and it turns your lips a weird beige-ish colour that shows through your lip colour. I have no idea what this mess is about.

High beam is a great highlighter though, it's a pinky liquid with silvery shimmer and it gives you a great glow. I very much prefer it to Moon Beam which is more of a lavendar with gold shimmer. And Ooh La Lift we've already talked about. Great if you need some tightening under the eyes.

All in all, you can skip this. The wiwfm verdict is....no