Benefit - Stay Put Kit

Hola! Como estas?

If you didn’t know, I’m trying to learn Spanish…so if I get start speaking or writing Spanglish, please forgive me. Anyway, have you heard of Benefit cosmetics? I’m sure you have. But have you tried it? I just recently have and I know the exact reason why I never did before…because their dolls/mannequins in their ads scare me. If you do not know, I AM EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY afraid of dolls, mannequins, clowns, etc. Uggh…I shudder just thinking about them. Childhood trauma…okay, moving onto my original point…have you ever tried Benefit? I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised with their products. One of my favorite things to purchase especially when trying out a new high end brand is to buy some of their trial sizes or “introductory” kits. I see ones from Smashbox, Benefit, Tarte, and many many more at Sephora and Ulta all the time. Well, one day a couple months ago, I was at Sephora checking out and right on their counter, I spotted this for $10.

(Sorry it's so dark, took this with my cell phone)

$10!!! I had to get it just to try it out. If I didn’t like it, okay great! I didn’t lose too much money on it, and if I did like it, hooray! I’m going to go and get a full size one!

The Benefit To Go: “Stay Put” set I got came with Stay, Don’t Stray Eyeshadow Primer, Benefit’s Erase Paste, and one of their cream shadow/liner in R.S.V.P. I will admit, after I got home and opened up the package and took out the products, I didn’t know what to do. I knew these were “primer”-ish products, but it didn’t come with any instructions or the purpose of the products, which I was surprised at. I had to call Sephora back and ask them what the intent of each product was. After a couple weeks of toying with it, I have to say, hmm….I’m surprised.

The cream eyeshadow/liner didn’t excite me much because, well, it’s just a cream liner/eyeshadow. So let’s start with the Stay Don’t Stray review…UHHH-MMMAAAZZZZIIINNNGGG!!! The product itself was so thick and not thin and runny like other mini eyeshadow primers (lookin’ at you UD mini primer potion!). It was very creamy, thick, and satiny and smooth! I could go on and on…and you know what? It works! It works just as well as UD’s Primer Potion (in full size), in fact, it’s a lot creamier than theirs. It dries super fast so you can apply eyeshadow right away and it really really stays. It’s also safe enough to lightly dab under your bottom lower lashline to avoid runny eyeliner. I LOVE this product!

Next, the erase paste…I’m a little mixed about this one. At first, I thought it was just a concealer, I mean, the name sort of implies that it is a concealer right? Erase paste. Well, my friend, it is a concealer, but it is more than that. In fact, this is Sephora’s description on their website:

Erase Paste

What it is:

A brightening camouflage for the eyes and face.

What it does:

Benefit Erase Paste is a concentrated, creamy, blendable concealer that instantly brightens and camouflages all-in-one. It has an innovative formula which makes sure signs of stress and fatigue are a thing of the past. These three brightening neutral shades give every gal correction perfection.

As much as I wanted to like this product, I really couldn’t take it that far. Does it do what the cosmetic companies say it’s going to do, yes, but when it comes to makeup, it has to be what works for each individual. Although I like the idea of it’s goal and purpose, it didn’t work for me. I naturally have oily skin already, so when I used this as a concealer, it didn’t bode well for my already, naturally shiny face. First, the “brightening” of it “brightened” my face in a way that made me look oilier and it didn’t really camoflauge anything. I’m not sure if it’s because the shade didn’t match me (you don’t get to pick the shade, it automatically comes in a medium, which is usually my shade too) or if it was its texture versus my skin texture. Also, the actual product isn’t very creamy to me. It was difficult for me to blend and to use it with my foundation to make my skin look clearer. I don’t think I will be purchasing this product again, but I’m glad I’m able to try it at least. 

So in conclusion, for ten bucks…yeah it was worth it. I got to try out three new products I’ve never used before and I am going to go back for one out of three. Maybe I’ll head back to the Benefit counter and ask for help on using the Erase Paste, afterall, I’m sure they’d be willing to show me the exact purpose. I’m not perfect, maybe I just used it wrong…