Benefit

Two Ways to Win the New Benefit Fine-One-One Cheek and Lip Trio

November 23rd, 2012 by Karen 220 Comments

WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Mykeshia! Congratulations, Mykeshia! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

You know what would go really well with that second piece of pumpkin pie…?

A new Benefit Fine-One-One Cheek and Lip Trio. 🙂

Silly rabbit, it’s not for eating (although when I see it I think, “cupcake frosting”). This cream brightening stick trio is for illuminating lips and cheeks, and for imparting a glow that rivals the one I had after yesterday’s Thanksgiving meal.

I hope you’re ready to glow, because today’s giveaway start in

Enter now (it only takes a comment and/or tweet)!

One lucky lady or gent will win a new Benefit Fine-One-One Cheek and Lip Trio ($30 value), a push-up stick trio of brightening pink champagne, sheer watermelon and soft coral creams that blend together beautifully on cheeks and lips.

benefit fine one one swatches — Swatches from the left: Fine-One-One directly applied with the stick (see the stripes?), all of the colors blended together, and all of the colors blended together and buffed out with a blush brush

There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all, like, what are your favorite Thanksgiving (or other holiday) side dishes? Best Benefit products of all time? Which do you prefer, powder blushes or creams? Have you ever been caught rocking out in your car? What’s your all-time favorite face powder? — you get the idea.
Second, you can enter by following me on Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win the New Benefit Fine-One-One Cheek and Lip Trio! http://bit.ly/QeP66K

The deadline to enter is Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 11:59PM (PT).
Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
Contest is open to individuals of the United States and internationally who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
Void where prohibited by law.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Mykeshia! Congratulations, Mykeshia! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

Unsung Heroes: Benefit Skinny Jeans Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner

November 5th, 2012 by Karen 39 Comments

Aaand this is how much I love Benefit’s $19 Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Skinny Jeans…

Yeah, THAT much.

I just picked up my umpteenth pot and figured it was high time I publically professed my love for this shimmery cream eyeshadow.

Why? Because these Skinny Jeans are astronomical! — in that they also moonlight as an eyeliner and an eyeshadow base.

Benefit describes the color as a “pretty pewter,” but I think Skinny Jeans is more complex than that. On my NC42 skin, it’s like an alchemist’s brew, an enchanting blend of khaki, gray and taupe.

So pretty!

Question: how are real skinny jeans like zombies? Answer: they keep coming back from the dead! Seriously, what’s up with that? Just when I think skinny jeans have gone out of style forever, they come back! Which reminds me…OMG! Last night’s The Walking Dead!!

I happen to love these skinny jeans, because unlike the tapered Guess acid-washed pair (with the zippers on the ankles) I wore in eighth grade, these always fit. 🙂

You know how a black blazer can really dress up a pair of jeans and a white tee? Well, that’s what I think Skinny Jeans does for my eyes.

If I’m wearing something basic and simple — like maybe a sheer lip balm, a dash of cream blush and a couple coats of mascara — Skinny Jeans on my lids and lower lash lines adds some polish to the look and turns things up a notch.

I’ll happily wear this Creaseless Cream/Liner any time of year, but because it has some smokiness to it, my favorite times to wear it are fall and winter.

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What Is the Nature of Your Beauty Emergency? Dial Fine-One-One for Benefit’s Latest Cheek and Lip Trio

October 29th, 2012 by Karen 39 Comments

benefit fine one one review, swatches and photos — Wearing the new Benefit Fine-One-One on my cheeks and lips

This is Benefit Fine-One-One. What is the nature of your beauty emergency?

(Mumbling) Uh…

Hello? Miss, you’re gonna have to speak up.

(Whispering) I can’t. My guy is sound asleep in the other room, and I don’t want to wake him.

Okay…what is the emergency?

Well, I’m kinda sorta panicking because it’s the morning after our first sleepover, and I forgot my makeup bag.

Seriously?

Yeah, he hasn’t seen me without my war paint on yet, and I’d like to maintain the illusion that I just wake up with great hair and makeup, ya know?

…

OHMIGOSH! I think I’m hyperventilating!!

Alright, first of all, I need you to remain calm. Can you do that for me?

Yes…okay. I think so.

Good. Now I’m going to dispatch our Emergency Glam Squad to your location and a stick of Benefit’s new Fine-One-One.

Ooh, what’s that?! I’ve never heard of it before.

It’s a new brightening cheek and lip stick — a trio of creams perfect for situations like these. They can be used separately, or together, whenever you need a sheer flush in a flash.

How do I use it? What do I do when it arrives?

First, remove the cap, and twist the dial at the bottom. The stick, which has a shimmery pink champagne color, a matter watermelon and a matte coral, pops up like a tube of deodorant.

Swipe it directly on your cheeks…

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In a Beauty Emergency, Dial Fine-One-One

October 26th, 2012 by Karen 27 Comments

I keep wanting to say “FOINE-one-one” instead of Fine-one-one.

Am wondering if I’m alone in this…

Look for this brightening $30 multitasking cream stick at Benefit counters, stores and benefitcosmetics.com this December.

This Year’s Benefit Crescent Row Limited Edition Fragrance Set Is Like Having Four Fragrant Friends Over for the Holidays

October 5th, 2012 by Karen 8 Comments

Benefit Crescent Row Limited Edition Set Holiday 2012 — The new Benefit Crescent Row Limited Edition Set for Holiday 2012

Over the holidays this year, love, and your favorite Benefit Eau de Toilettes, will be in the air.

Each of the four tiny 0.34-ounce bottles in the new $36 Benefit Crescent Row fragrance set is small enough to bring in a carry-on bag on your next flight (TSA rules limit liquids to 3.4 ounces or less).

Choose from Laugh With Me Lee Lee (a woody floral), My Place or Yours Gina (a woody oriental), Ring My Bella (a fruity floral) and See & Be Seen Sasha (a captivating floral).

I like my cats big and my perfumes tiny, so every year when Benefit rolls out their little fragrance kits I get really excited! — and then I pop open one of their caps…

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Like a Great Deal on Airfare, the Six Ultra Plush Lip Glosses Aboard Benefit’s High Flyin’ Glosses Kit Are Sheer a Good Price

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 10 Comments

Forget Red Bull. Benefit’s latest high-flying lip kit will give you wings! 🙂

Why risk losing that borderline big bottle of liquid foundation in your carry-on to the TSA when you can fly the friendly skies without ever stepping foot on a plane?

Air Benefit’s latest route flies aboard the brand-new $26 High Flyin’ Glosses kit, and it makes the trip from WHEREVER YOU ARE to THE LAND WHERE MINI-LIP GLOSS RULES in however long it takes you to get to your closest Benefit counter.

This adorable limited edition kit contains tiny versions of six of Benefit’s Ultra Plush Glosses — sheer coral Coralista, dusty rose Dallas, bright watermelon Bella Bamba, shimmering nude Hoola, pinkish nude Sugarbomb and soft, pearly pink Dandelion.

The sheer colors should flatter a wide range of skin tones, and considering the regular price of Benefit’s full-size 0.5-ounce Ultra Plushes ($16), $26 for a set of six of them (even though they’re smaller at 0.22 ounces each) seems like a pretty good deal.

benefit high flyin glosses — With a full-size Dandelion gloss for comparison

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Now Boarding Rows Light, Medium and Dark: Jet-Setters of All Skin Tones Might Like Benefit’s New She’s So Jetset Holiday Makeup Kit

October 3rd, 2012 by Karen 12 Comments

Paris, London, New York, Novato…

Oh, that last one? Yeah, Novato, population 49,000, give or take. It’s quickly becoming one of the top destinations for beauty jet-setters.

No kidding, it’s a HUGE draw. Some people still don’t know this about Novato, but it has a Target, a Costco, a Bath & Body Works and even a Sephora, all in the same strip mall.

It’s really quite impressive to behold. 🙂

All kidding aside, even if your home base is out in the sticks like mine, you can still live the life of a jet-setter with the new $36 Benefit She’s So Jetset holiday kit.

Up here in my office, surrounded by 200-year-old oak trees and roving gangs of big-@ss turkeys, I feel like a first-class passenger on my way to a stylish beauty destination when I put on the pieces in this limited edition, travel-friendly kit.

Benefit filled it with neutral colors to suit a wide range of skin tones. It comes with four shimmery shadows, a satiny peach First-Class Face powder, a sample-sized tube of They’re Real mascara (a pretty good lash thickener) and a creamy nude-ish pink Life on the A List gloss.

In more detail…

The Eyeshadow Palette: I like all four of these shimmery, shiny shades, although they’re on the borderline between just right and a little too frosty for me (just something to think about if you’re worried about fine lines). I like that Benefit included colors here that could work well for skin tones from light to medium and dark, and even though I detect a small amount of fallout with these, it’s not enough to get on my nerves.
First-Class Face Powder and Brush: Okay, so the brush is kinda silly; it hardly picks up any product at all, but I like the powder, which gives my skin a soft, peachy glow…that smells really good! Like roses!
They’re Real Mascara: As long as I only apply one layer, I’m a big fan of They’re Real. If I apply any more than that, my lashes start getting clumpy and crunchy.
Life on the A-List Gloss: This super sheer, non-sticky milky pink looks kinda light on my pigmented lips, but I still think it’s great. You can’t go wrong with a lightly tinted, easy-to-wear nude gloss.

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I’ll Take Two Tickets to Valueville: Jet-Setters Will Love the Travel-Friendly Benefit Holiday 2012 Sets and Kits

September 26th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

Hello, this is your captain speaking. Thank you for flying with us today on MBB Air. Please remain seated during takeoff, make sure your seat back and tray table are in the upright positions, buckle your safety belt, and keep your makeup handy.

Our destination on this beauty joyride? — Benefit holiday 2012!

Here on MBB Air, as we fly the glossy skies to Beauty Valueville, enjoy our first-class treatment with a touch-up before touch down with one of Benefit’s three new affordable limited edition kits and sets. 🙂

When we reach our cruising altitude, feel free to spritz, swipe, pat and blend your way about the cabin with the High Flyin’ Glosses kit ($26), and the She’s So Jetset ($36) and Crescent Row Limited Edition ($36) sets.

The She’s So…Jetset! Set ($36)

Travel to neutral territory (as in neutral colors) with this nine-piece set for eyes, cheeks and lips. The brightly colored orange, pink and yellow box (so cute!) houses a mini POREfessional primer, four powder eyeshadows, a First-Class Face Powder, a miniature Life on the A List lipgloss, a tiny tube of They’re Real Mascara, a dual-ended applicator and a small cheek brush.

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