Benefit Hoola Bronzer and Watts Up Highlight

If you follow me on Instagram, one of my last posts was about the gels they put in the lights in my office and how it makes any pictures I take look like the lenses of the camera have been wiped down in gold toned vaseline.  Its pretty funny.  It also made good use of the highlight I had on that day which was Yellow Diamond Illuminator from Ulta.

I love a good highlight.  As I mentioned previously, I'm turning into a magpie more and more as I age, so anything shiny is drawing my attention.  I'm a fan of strobing, which is where you add highlight with no blush or contour underneath, just for maximum shine.  My goal is that when I turn to the side, you will be blinded by my cheekbones.

The makeup gods smiled on me that very same day, and I was gifted with a bronzer and highlight set from Benefit.  Lucky me!  The bronzer I was given, Hoola, is the best selling bronzer in this country right now, so I was definitely excited to try it!  The highlighter I was given is travel size, but you can buy the full size version of Watts Up here.

First, lets talk about the bronzer.  The idea, I'm sure is to make it feel sort of Hawaiian or Tahitian, and the packaging definitely works to that end with the cute little wooden handled brush.  Also, can I just say, that this is the softest brush I have ever felt in my life!  I wish it were angled, which would make it easier to apply the product correctly, and in fact, I may abandon use of the brush all together, but it is really cute and very soft, so there's that.  I may give it to my daughter for her play makeup collection.

The product is totally matte, which I prefer.  Sometimes bronzer has some sparkle to it, but I kind of feel like that defeats the purpose.  There's no makeup police so if you prefer a sparkly bronzer, I say light it up, but this one isn't the one.  

Contour and bronzer are always kind of hard for me because I am so, so pale.  Its hard for the color to not look really stark and muddy against my skin, and I am not totally sure that this is quite the right color for me.  I have to blend it a LOT.  Benefit also makes Hoola Lite for people like me that have not been given the benefit of melanin, and I think that the Lite color would actually be a better one.  i may have to retire this color until we are into summer and I have a bit more warmth to my skin.  

Having said that, the powder does feel very light and blendable, and if you were darker than me (which should include basically everyone) this would be a great color.

As for the highlighter, I have never used a cream before so that was a new experience compared to a powder highlighter.  It feels and looks like lipstick, but doesn't feel sticky on the skin.  Its sold as a cream to powder and I agree completely with that description.  I don't like cream blushes because they feel sticky on my face, but this doesn't feel that way at all.  It also blends nicely and gives quite a bit of shine.

Here I am with the right side of my face wearing the bronzer and highlighter, and the left side without any.  I worked the bronzer up onto my forehead and into my hairline.  I have really large forehead (and a big head in general) so the bronzer across the top of the forehead makes it look smaller.  

Here is just the right side:

Hello Sunshine!  The highlighter is BRIGHT which is just the way I like it!!

I would not give either of these products though, high marks for staying power.  Here I am getting home from work at the end of the day:

Do I look either bronzed or highlighted to you? Nope, me neither.  And trust me when I say that I left the house with a good amount of both on.  In fairness, I did not put on any finishing spray yesterday, but I don't know how much that would have helped really.  Both of these products would probably require a mid-day reapply, which is a little bit disappointing since they are into the prestige price point.  Its not something that would stop me from using either one, just something that I wish had a little bit more staying power for the money.  

I would recommend heading to your local Ulta and giving them a try before you commit to buying them, especially the Hoola.  Its the best selling bronzer for a reason, Im sure,  but I'd still tell you to try before you buy, and if your skin color is the in shade range of "ghost" to "toilet paper" like mine it, I would encourage you to steer toward the Hoola Lite.