Beneficial Benefit?

Benefit Cosmetics has long captured the hearts and paychecks of women around the world with its cult status products and whimsical packaging. The make-up comes in cute boxes and bottles and its skin-care offerings have their long list of devout followers from the average woman on the street to the celebrities gracing red carpet events.

Amidst raves of Benefit cosmetics, there is an excited buzz within the local beauty industry that Benefit is coming to our sunny shores of Singapore. I think some women who have heard of this news are waiting with bated breath to be one of the first to snap up the products once they cleared the Customs.

I had the opportunity of buying some Benefit products from Melbourne during a short trip there. I will provide a personal review of the products I have personally tried today.

Top Seller List : dr. feelgood
An invisible balm for matte skin

Company’s Description: This is a new idea for smooth, silky, matte skin. It's dr. feelgood - our complexion miracle worker! This colorless, weightless balm goes on bare skin or glides over makeup to reduce the appearance of fine lines and pores while soaking up excess oil. Enriched with Vitamins A, C and E, dr. feelgood is just what the doctor ordered for beautiful, healthy skin!
Tips and tricks: Using the sponge provided, pat and smooth dr. feelgood on your face, giving special attention to any areas with fine lines or enlarged pores. Continue to use throughout the day for quick and flawless touch ups!

Product details
· 24 g net wt 0.85 oz
· $26 USD

My Review: The very popular Dr. Feel Good ‘miracle balm’ is a tad too heavy for our climate and for people with combination skin. It claims to keep skin matte and flawless, but I feel it makes my skin oiler. So, I conclude that it is best applied by ladies working in a constant air-conditioned environment.

Personal Favourite: Lipscription
exfoliating beads and a silky balm duo

Company's Description: Before you even contemplate kissing, make sure your lips are soft, smooth and sensual with dr. feelgood's lipscription. One tube exfoliates, and the other smoothes and moisturizes. It's the sure-fire set to smooth your pucker!

Product details
· 32 g total net wt 1.1 oz
· More info: AHA and jojoba scrub away dry lips and lines; the balm is loaded with Vitamin E and chamomile!
· $30 USD

Personal Review: I actually like this lip exfoliator at lot! It’s gentle on the lips but strong enough to scruff away the peeling skin around my lips. Makes them smooth and prep them for any gloss application. That way, my lips don’t look like the walls of old paint. I put a little of it on a cotton bud before ‘scrubbing’ it on. After everything, I then wipe off the remnants with a tissue.
The silky balm is great too. It gives a nice soft sheen and gives my puckers the texture of a budding rose. =P
Still, I wonder what possessed me to splurge on this item. Body Shop and other cosmetics brands also have their own version of lip exfoliator and they are comparatively cheaper. Oh well…

Celebrity Endorsed Product: Boo Boo Zap
Zaparella's clear daytime blemish blaster

Company's Description: This potent blend of salicylic acid and camphor helps fight blemishes with lightning speed. Dab this quick drying zapper onto blemishes several times a day to help take the red out... even through makeup. It also works great on in-grown hairs!

Product details
· Voted best blemish fixer by Elle magazine
· 6.0 ml / 0.20 oz US fl oz
· More info: salicylic acid is anti-bacterial, it helps to treat existing and prevent new blemishes from forming. 2% salicylic acid is the most effective percentage to use on the complexion.
· $18 USD

Personal Review: Apparently, celebrities swear by this pimple buster. I have tried 2 bottles of this famed Boo Boo Zap and it doesn’t work. I tend to give products some time–instead of expecting an immediate result. And so, I can safely declare that Boo Boo Zap doesn’t work WELL. Perhaps it has something to do with the nature of our skin, which is different from Western skin condition. Doesn’t dry out my pimples and definitely didn’t make them diminish in size nor disappear. A personal disappointment.

All Rounder: Benetint
gives lips and cheeks a rosy glow

Company's Description: It's the original and still the best rose-colored cheek and lip tint. Kiss-proof and water-proof, this indelibly sheer tint gives you an innocent, yet provocative glow that will keep everyone guessing "what has she been up to?"

Tips and tricks: Draw three small stripes across the apple of your cheek. Blend in a circular motion with fingertips. Apply benetint to lips with a clean q-tip... even after your lipstick wears off you'll still have a rosy glow!

Product details
· 12.5 ml / 0.40 US fl oz
· $28 USD

Personal Review: Benetint is a multi-purpose product, so it’s really value for money. It doubles up as blusher, lip stain and even eye shadow! But apply sparingly and pile it on slowly. Moreover, blend well, lest one looks like a cute cartoon geisha. I like the product after trying it on at the Beauty Counter in Myers, but it’s really a tad too expensive and I have depleted much of my monetary reserves.

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Summary on the products in general:

It carries nothing that our little tropical island cannot do without. M.A.C. has a very comprehensive range of cosmetic products that’s just as good if not better. Pretty packaging can be found on Anna Sui’s and Stila’s cosmetics.

Sorry to be such a wet blanket. Maybe that’s because I have yet to work for a beauty/fashion magazine (that relies greatly on its advertisers) and so, this is my truthful opinion.
I give Benefit Cosmetics a “THUMBS UP” for whimsical packaging and catchy/witty product names. Still, I feel, it’s overrated, because of all the celebrity endorsements and beauty columns raves to catapult it into cult status.

P/S Latest update: There’s a delay for its arrival in Singapore. Magazine sources only state that it’s making its way over next year, 2007.