Empties: May 1, 2015

This was a good month for me as far as makeup usage went and it was even more exciting because I used up two higher end samples, something that is very hard for me to do. I have a hard time with using up high end anything because replacing it is not generally an option, so being able to get myself to use something, even a sample, enough to use it up is kind of a big deal to me and will also make my husband happy because it lets him know that I might actually use some of the higher end makeup he paid for.

Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation sample in "Cheers to me" Champagne

When I was given this sample a while ago I was not sure what to do with it because it is several shades darker than I am. At first I tried using it as something of a contour around the perimeter of my face the way I saw some people on YouTube using their foundations that where darker than their current skin tone. Then I started mixing it into my foundation that was the right shade for me, just not very good at sticking around on the skin. This seemed to work better for me and allowed me to use more of it at once.

I do have a bottle of this in the correct shade, although now it seems it might be a little dark for me, but still, close enough that I think if I blend it down the neck enough no one would notice. This foundation doesn't really cover much, though when used with the matching primer it would cover a good bit more as the primer makes even the weakest of pigmented foundations look at least medium coverage, if not full coverage. But used by itself, the redness of my cheeks always shows through. One of these days I will try the foundation with the matching powder and see if that makes a difference. One other strike against this foundation for me is how quickly it sets. Because of my joint and muscle pain I am not always able to work quickly with the foundation and sometimes working with the foundation causes the joint and muscle pain and this foundation is one of those foundations that sets almost as soon as it touches the skin and so you have to work very quickly with it and in small sections of the face so that you do not end up with splotchy looking foundation.

Benefit Stay Don't Stay Sample in light/medium

I am not sure if this started not working for me because it was drying out or because my eye lids were too oily those days, but it did not hold the eye shadow as long as I expected it to the last couple times I used it as an eye shadow primer, so I end up just using it as an under eye primer for my concealer, because my concealer needs all the help it can get. As an under eye primer it did seem to help the concealer last longer and it also helped cover up some of the darkness of my under eye area.