Benefit- Confessions of a Concealaholic Review

I was lucky enough to receive this little kit at Christmas from my boyfriend. Of course, I picked it, brought it home and wrapped it, so it wasn't a total surprise when I opened it Xmas morning, but it is the thought that counted :)

I love that Benefit have their little kits, as I feel it gives you the chance to try 4 or 5 high end products for the price you'd usually pay for one. At £28.50, this kit still isn't cheap, but at least there is a good chance to find at least one product you completely adore.

First of all, the packaging for this is amazing. Benefit have made it look like a diary which I love. There's a protective sleeve on the top, and when you remove it, you can open the box up like a book. Inside there is a mirror and a little booklet detailing exactly what each product does and where to apply it. Basically, if you've never applied makeup before, you couldn't fail. There's a quirky little diary entry which makes me smile everytime I read it too.

The first product that instantly stands out is the Bad Gal Primer. Now, I'm not a lover of primers, or at least, I haven't found one that I really love yet. This includes this one. I don't know whether this is because the sample is so small, I'm reluctant to give it a good go, but I'm not sure whether I'd buy this is full size. I have a brightening primer from Bourjois I have yet to use, and I'm desperate to try the Technic one as it's a dupe for Bad Gal (at least the packaging is anyway.) The primer is a pinky colour and smells absolutely divine. After I blending it onto my wrist, I couldn't stop sniffing it. The leaflet says this can be used under and over makeup to give a brighter complexion, so I may have to be brave and use it a few times to decide whether I like it.

The second product in it's own packaging is the Benefit Erase Paste. The shade is medium, and you can't change it, but I'm very pale and it suits me just fine. I'm not sure how it would suit darker complexions though. It's a very pink toned concealer, designed for under eye use. I feel this erases all dark circles and instantly brightens my eyes. Seriously, when I put it on, I look like an alien as there is no depth to my face as all shadows have gone. Of course this goes, once I apply eye makeup. But I really feel this is one of my Holy Grail products. I would say I would buy this in full size when I used it, however, I've been using it most days since Christmas and there is still half the pot left. Plus it's £20.50 for the full sized which is 4.4g. The mini is 3.2g, so not really that much different. I'll have to decide whether it would be worth purchasing the whole of this kit again or just the one product.

The Boi-Ing Concealer comes in shades 01 (light) and 02 (light/medium.) I honestly don't use these that often as I don't really get pimples. I know some people use it to cover dark circles, but I don't do that, as I have my Erase Paste, and I think the Boi-Ing is more yellow toned, so more suited to cover redness. The women at the Benefit counter said this had some antibacterial ingredients that help remove spots, however after researching this, half the reviews say it does and half say it doesn't. Also, it doesn't mention this on the Benefit site. This concealer is very creamy and it claims it doesn't crease. Like I said, I don't use it under eyes so I wouldn't know. I wouldn't purchase this full size, as it has lasted me for ages and I also have a back up that came in my Best of Benfit kit Boots released at Xmas.

The product underneath is Eye Bright. I don't know if you can see, but it's a very pale pink. I'm not going to lie; I have no idea what this is meant to do. I know it's supposed to brighten up the eyes when placed in the inner and outer corner, but once blended, my eyes look exactly the same. I honestly, don't even use this product at all and would never buy it full sized.

The last is Lemon Aid and I was really excited to use this when I first got it. The women at the Benefit counter put this on me, as well as Erase Paste and I loved it. It's supposed to be a colour correcting eye primer, but now I have it, I honestly don't see the point in it. They say you can wear it instead of eyeshadow, but it creases really quickly. As it's supposed to be an eye primer, this doesn't go down too well. As for the colour correcting bit - This does work and I do like the effect, but like I said, it creases easily, so I would use eyeshadow on top of it. Therefore it doesn't really matter if it corrects my skin or not. I'm a bit gutted this doesn't work for me but I'm going to keep at it - maybe use another eyeprimer before putting it on (ha, an eye primer for an eye primer.

Just to mention before I finish, the kit comes with 2 double ended brushes and they have labels on saying what they are for which I love.

Overall, I love this kit and I think it's a perfect gift for any concealer loving girl. Even though I would only buy one product full sized, I'm so glad I got to try out the others.