Review: Benefit's Stay Flawless Primer

I previously mentioned that I had attended Benefit's 'Stay Flawless' event in Bristol, and you can read the original post here.

Luckily for me and M, we share the same foundation colour even though were opposite in hair colour and MUA's often think I will be much darker on account of my almost black hair.
So basically my point is over the past few weeks we have both tested it out in various situations and have come up with the following review, hope you enjoy!



At the event I was lucky enough to be given not only the Stay Flawless Primer but also their infamous Hello Flawless foundation and their foundation brush, which was so exciting!



The brush is really light and your typical 'foundation' brush shape which I don't actually own at the moment. The brush was pretty good and easy to clean, it applied foundation quite easily but I did find it left a few brush marks on my face. I'm more used to using bigger brushes like RT's Buffing Brush, which probably just means I need to change my technique more than anything else!



So..onto the star of the show!



I loooooooooooooooooove the packaging of the primer and the foundation.

The primer, shown below, has beeeeeeeautiful monochrome polka dot packaging with silver and pink accents. With writing almost like a handwriting scrawl I'm in love and couldn't have designed it better myself. Fun but simple and very chic!



The primer is in a stick like product. I love this.

I like feeling like a 3 year old again stealing my mums lipstick and drawing on my face with it, which is basically what this feels like!

The instructions state that you draw all over your face in circular motions, then apply Hello Flawless as quickly as you can. This worried me initially as I wasn't sure what 'quickly' meant, but basically as long as you apply it straight after the primer you're fine and nothing crazy happens!



The primer is obviously easy to use and feels exactly like applying a balm or hydrating lipstick onto your face, if you get what I mean! It feels a little tacky but not too bad.

The shade that I was given was 'Believe in Me' Ivory. I think that giving shades names like this makes them so much more interesting and memorable, I've not forgotten the shade that I use after being colour matched for it!



Here's the blurb:



Lots of promises for a foundation!

After applying this over the primer I can agree that it is hydrating, luminous and brightening. You barely need anything from the bottle to apply to your entire face and I felt like it really did cover all of my flaws.

I also like that the foundation has SPF 25 so helps to protect against environmental effects.

You can see my pictures below where I only have the primer and foundation on. It applies pretty flawlessly and I think my skin looks brightened.

You can see in the pictures that the pores on my nose are only just visible, the bags under my eyes are covered and although I have scars on my face from acne you can't see them when this is applied.
As the foundation is so thin (runny if you like!) it blends without caking into your hairline and being blotchy.








This was all looking so promising for me and I was so impressed. Unfortunately for me however, after a few hours of wearing this the make up tended to slide and clump together on my face regardless of what i did. I always set my face with powder after and even used the Hello Flawless powder but this problem hasn't gone away.

I was full of hope when I wore it out to my first day at work but unfortunately I did have to sort my face out at lunch time where it had slid and I had to rebuff and repowder my base back to flawlessness. I think this is a lot to do with how my skin has changed and not necessarily just the primer/foundation combination.
When I wore it to the gym one day and did a body pump class, the make up actually fared pretty well, which just goes to show it can and does work! My make up honestly looked as fresh as it did when I applied it a few hours before and I was impressed as normally i come out looking like a sweaty tomato.

Having used it for a week before giving it to M to test, now I've got it back I plan on trying it out with different foundation and primer combos to see if it's just because of my skin (which is a constant issue for me anyway!) I feel that for my skin type I need a heavy duty absorbing primer for the foundation to stay for longer, and a drier foundation such as ColorStay for the primer to be at its best.

Fingers crossed this will solve my problems!

Have you tried Stay Flawless or Hello Flawless?? What did you think?


L xxx

The Hello Flawless foundation was one I'd wanted to try for a while. It seemed to boast everything you'd want from a foundation. SPF, oil free and brightening. When L told me she was lucky to get this at the event I was so disappointed my exams had meant I couldn't go.

She lent me the products to try for a couple of days to see how I got on with it. The foundation was a perfect match to my skin and blended in flawlessly. It has a really light texture and is quite a runny foundation, that provided a light natural coverage leaving my skin looking so healthy.

Unfortunately for me it just didn't last too well on my skin. I think me skin is too oily for this foundation even though it's oil free. I can see anyone with normal or dry skin absolutely loving the formula and finish of this. It left my skin with such a gorgeous healthy glow (without being glittery or shiny) I'm gutted it didn't last all day on me.

If any of you have found products to make this foundation last better on a oily complexion I'd love to know as I loved the finish.

Love M

xxx

Benefit's Stay Flawless Event

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited to the latest Benefit event for the launch of their new Stay Flawless primer.

Unfortunately M's last exam was the day after the event so I had to go it alone, but there were lots of lovely girls who I'd met before and had the pleasure of meeting lots of new bloggers!

The event took place in The Living Room in Bristol, right next to the Imax theatre on the harbourside.

As soon as I walked in I loved it; the place had high ceilings, lots of lighting and a wall full of wine bottles, who wouldn't like that?!

It was also full of men in suits which was a little intimidating seeing as I turned up in jeans and converse but I soon got over that when the rest of the girls were dressed the same as me.

After having a quick catch up we were called over to the area and offered champagne and juices before taking a seat.



The reason for the event was to launch their new primer 'Stay Flawless'
It allegedly keeps your make up looking flawless for up to 15 hours.

Lisa PD was there for the launch again and gave us her demonstration using the lovely Rachel as her model:



The primer is applied to the skin in circle type motions before Hello Flawless is applied as quick as possible on top.
The Stay Flawless primer is in a stick form, I love stick things. I feel like a child when I was younger and applying lipstick to my entire face. It's similar to their Fake Up concealers in that it's so easy to apply and you really can't make a mistake.

The theory behind the primer is that it acts as a Make Up Magnet....and they had these amazing items to show us how it works:



So here we have your face (on the right), and your two products: Hello Flawless and Stay Flawless.

When you use Hello Flawless straight onto your skin....


The two things just don't stick well enough to each other, and coincidentally one slides straight off the other:



However, when Stay Flawless primer is used, the foundation sticks to the primer which sticks to your skin and therefore gives a long lasting, flawless face for the day!
It truly acts as a 'Make up Magnet'.



Lisa has tested out the primer herself and put her photos on Instagram to prove the make up stayed on.
After 12 hours her face was still flawless but after that the make up did start to show some shine coming through, which is why the primer only states up to 15 hours wear.
I like that they've been honest and stated that it could be UP TO 15 hours, not for definite.
As Lisa says, a primer that lasts 12 hours is nothing short of a miracle and I would be so happy if my make up stayed on my face for 12 hours perfectly!



What i particularly love about Benefit events is how lovely and friendly all of the Benebabes are. Not only are they really helpful for make up advice but they're also really nice to chat to and its lovely to have a rummage in their make up desk which conveniently seems to be near me at each event!

I also love that they have their own decorations for each event, like the cushions. The Stay Flawless ones were perfect for this time of year and so cute with their cross stitching pattern!



Luckily for us we got to leave with a goodie bag with not only a Stay Flawless primer to test out, but the Benefit foundation brush and also a bottle of Hello Flawless foundation which we were colour matched for at the event.
I was so excited when I found this out as I've always wanted to try the Hello Flawless foundation due to it's hydrating complex, the fact it's oil free and contains SPF25 AS WELL as being brightening. Phew! No wonder it's been on my wishlist for so long.



There were also plenty of nibbles at the event, and we were all cooing over these amazing chocolate covered strawberries and mini amaretto biscuits.





I was also lucky enough to win a competition whilst there for a Bronze of Champions kit which I cannot wait to use over the next few weeks!

I'll be back with a full review of the primer and foundation to see if it lives up to expectations....and trust me when I say I'll be doing an extensive review of it's lasting capabilities!


What's your favourite primer? Have you tried Hello Flawless foundation?

Thanks again to the Benefit girls (particularly Rachel, Jo, Lisa and Alyson) for another fun event, they're always a pleasure to attend and I always look forward to the next one!

L xxx

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