Review: Benefit Primed for Takeoff!

I bought this set for myself for Christmas. I originally wanted to get Porefessional for my Mum, and seeing as this set contained a full size porefessional I thought it would be worth spending a little extra money so I could get myself some goodies. Unfortunately this set is no longer available, but you can get each product individually off the Benefit website, which is much cheaper than the Australian RRP.
This set contained a full size Porefessional, Hervana blush and BadGal Mascara, and a deluxe sample of High Beam. They all came in a cute cardboard case that looks like a travel bag, which I guess could be used again to store/carry makeup in.

Porefessional
I got a sample size of this with my online order. I'm still a bit skeptical about primers, and I usually skip them if I'm using anything other than a powder foundation. I also don't have large pores, so the main point of this product (reducing pore size) is lost on me. However, I found this to be a good primer. It kind of mattified my skin when I applied it, leaving a nice base for my foundation. My foundation was still there when I took it off at night, but I never really find that it wears off.

Hervana
I had been lusting over Hervana for a while, after seeing it on Myteefine and it was the main reason I decided to purchase this particular set. The colours swirl together to produce a really nice pink colour. It's a bit darker and stands out more than the Sugarbomb blush so it's great to use when I want the colour on my cheeks to show. Like Sugarbomb it has a nice light floral/vanilla scent. The colour can easily be built up with this blush, applied lightly for a softer look, or heavily to really stand out. It is a little powdery, leaving loose powder in the pan after use. The brush is nice and soft, and is what I always use to apply it.

l-r: The 4 colours in the pan from lightest to darkest, heavily swatched together, and blended together.

Badgal Lash Mascara

I've been using my Covergirl LashBlast Volume mascara for the last few months and for some reason thought I'd never be able to get a mascara as good. I finally decided to open this after trying to leave it as long as I could so I could still take it to the UK with me, and first used it a few days ago and I'm seriously impressed. The wand has thick bristles which I haven't used in a while as I've been buying rubber wants lately but still think it's great. I don't think I need that much help with my lashes as they're already quite long, but I love the look of them with this. It's long lasting, doesn't clump or flake and isn't too hard to take off at the end of the day. It is a bit wet and I find that I get a fair bit of black on my eyelid close to my lashline when I apply it (maybe because I'm clumsy).

eyelashes without mascara

With BadGal

With BadGal

High Beam

High beam is a nice pearly coloured highlighter. I only have a few highlighers and so far I can't say that this works any better than others. I don't use them that often so this sample size is probably going to last a while. This one is easy to blend, even onto powder foundation.

This order (see the other part of the order here) has really made me fall in love with benefit products, especially their box o' powders. I'd love to try Coralista blush, ChaCha tint, That Gal primer and their new Fine-one-one.

Have you tried any products from Benefit? What's your favourite?

If not, what would you love to try?

Australis High Lights

I haven't really ever used highlighters. I'm still not really sure how they're supposed to work or where to put them. I only own 2, this one and Nude by Natures' flawless liquid lustre, and I haven't used either much.

This is one of Australis' 2 new High Lights Mineral Face highlighters. I won this from a Priceline competition on twitter. I got in the colour gold. I probably would have preferred their other shade, pearl, but I guess the world is set on me trying new things. It was free so I am not complaining. I like that it's a pump pack which makes it a lot easier to get only a little out (unlike my other which is in a tube and squirts wayyyyy too much out).

I've been using this on my cheeks over coral coloured blush. The colour is quite nice, and would be great for summer. It has a fine shimmer to it, and it is fairly long lasting considering I rarely use a primer. I'm sure I'll be able to get some good use out of it, but I'm more of a pink cheeks kinda gal. I will probably end up buying this in pearl though.

Heavily swatched (l) and blended (r).