A Product Review a Day Keeps the Ugliness Away

If you only knew how bad I have been lately, you would probably ask me to seek professional help. I have bought a PILE of make-up lately. A PILE. I'm not really sure why--I'm going to blame it on the marketing folks who shove "Back to School Shopping" down our throats--but for some reason, I have just wanted new make-up lately. So I've gotten it. A lot of it. That means that in order to justify my purchases (journalistic integrity! a desire to inform the uninformed!), I'm going to be on here a lot talking about the things I've bought. So expect it, my little mini quiches! Nothing but the best for my 3.5 readers!

Today I'm talking about "That Gal" Brightening Face Primer, which was actually the first thing I bought a couple of weeks ago. I bought That Gal after my mom came out to visit, and showed me how awesome it is. She had bought some, and found that it made her "mature" skin (her word, not mine--when I think mature skin, I think of skin that is now allowed to watch NC-17 movies) look better both while wearing make-up and not wearing it. When I first tried hers, I wasn't sure that I thought it was that great, but she kept commenting me on my skin, so I assumed it must look nice. But I think they put meth in this stuff or something, because it is rather addictive (and it made my teeth fall out!--just kidding). After trying it that one day, I took my time layering it on the next, and notice that even without a veil of Bare Minerals, my skin looked nice. Kind of bright, and well, young. I decided to go without make-up that day, and while I ordinarily go next to nowhere without make-up, I looked nice that day. So I ordered my own tube.

Now, ordering from Benefit is absolutely awesome. First off, their packaging is so cute and cheeky that I love leaving the products out on my vanity for all to admire (and by "all", I mean "Matt"). Their website is just that cute. Plus, when you sign up for their email alerts, you get all of these cute emails that start of with a greeting of "Hello Gorgeous!" or something equally as cute. Now, I know I'm gullible and totally taken with this stuff, but you try to tell me that getting an email with "Hello Gorgeous!" written on the top on a Monday morning when you're dealing with wealthy, overindulged parents and their catatonic offspring is not a little awesome/uplifting. Finally, when Benefit gives promotions, they give PROMOTIONS. This month in Lucky (yes, I read Lucky. Shut up.), there was a coupon for them and if you ordered anything, you got a free Bluff Dust (review pending). Full size. Free. I got a bottle of High Beam this way, so I was on this crap. I ordered my That Gal, and prepared for gorgeousness.

And, I can't complain. It does give your skin a nice, youthful glow, and despite the fact that the stuff is pink (like Calamine lotion) it does not make your face look red or gross or anything. I have been wearing it sans make-up, as it has been hot here, and I can't imagine putting on another layer of anything, even Bare Minerals, but when I have worn it with make-up, I've noticed that it does keep your make-up around longer.

My only complaint is the way it is packaged. It's in this twist-up tube, like some sort of cosmetic push up. You roll the bottom wheel, and a little bit of lotion pops up at the top. You wipe it off the top, and then slather it on. That's all fine, but being the dumb ass that I am, I totally roll it the wrong way everytime. And then it goes down even farther in the tube, which means I have to roll it the right way for a hella long time to get the product back up. That's kind of blow-y.

But all in all, this stuff rocks. I actually like it better than Smashbox Primer, which admittedly, I've only used 4-5 times (when I've gotten it as a free sample from Sephora). This stuff is good, even without make-up, and I never noticed that with the Smashbox (which again, may relate to my not using it that much). I'm also very partial to Benefit cosmetics, so that probably plays into it too.

Ok, this is the first of many, so prepare yourself. It's a Cosmetics-apalooza at the Cult!