Palette of The Week: Benefit’s Cheek Parade…

I know conventionally this series has been all about the eyes, but I thought it would be fun to switch things up… or maybe I was just desperate to share my thoughts on this and realised I’ve been using it every single day anyways. 

I had to do it, guys. If you follow me on social media, you’ll have seen my raving on and on and on about ow badly I wanted to get my hands on this palette. As obsessed as I am with makeup, I rarely play around with cheek products. I have my holy grail couple of bronzers and blushes and I rarely play around with others. For some reason, sometimes I just lust after products. I can’t quite explain or understand why I love them, but a part of me just knows that buying them will bring me joy; this was one of those. So, I bit the bullet and went for it.

The excitement never died down. As I tore it open, my jaw dropped. It was so beautiful. Much more beautiful than it had seemed in the millions of photos and swatches I searched. I tried it out instantly.

I should begin my mentioning a crazy fact; I’ve never used any Benefit cheek products. I know. I’ve always found the little boxes to be so cute, but as I said – I rarely try out new cheek products (aside from highlighters obviously). I’d heard amazing things about the brush that comes with Benefit products so I decided to go in with it- bad call. I’m not sure if it was the powders themselves or the brush, but one of them was way-way too pigmented. So I went back to my brush, I don’t like to pack on cheek products.

Once that was all sorted- I was in love. I started with Hoola Lite- expecting it to be too light and to have to reach for Hoola, but this was honestly the perfect shade for me. It gave me a completely undetectable contour and bronze- I don’t know how to explain it. You couldn’t tell I had product on, it really looked natural and just like a natural shadow. I absolutely love how this looks on, and on some days I do like to pack on some Hoola if I’m going for a more bronze-y look. But I’m super happy because I was concerned that I wouldn’t get any use out of Hoola Lite.

Now let’s all address the elephant in the room, or the star of the show as I like to call her; Galifornia. When Benefit released this beauty a while ago we were all obsessed, and I think its presence in this palette was a big part of its appeal. Unfortunately I already dug into it repeatedly, so you can no longer see the gorgeous gold film it came with- but for those of you that were concerned, you’ll be pleased to know the gold glitter is just a top layer that brushes off instantly. The colour itself is the richest most beautiful coral I have ever seen. I generally love peach blushes, and this one is a beauty. It looks so buttery and juicy on the cheeks- haha sorry that’s the only way I can put it. I’m obsessed with this and can’t wait for it to be my summer blush!

I had to show Dandelion a lot of love too, after all, I’m mostly wearing light baby pink blushes on a day to day basis so I reached for this a lot. It is just that, the perfect baby pink blush. It is also really barely detectable on the cheeks and just gives me a flush of colour. Now, Rockateur is an OG blush I’ve wanted to try for ages and ages- and it did not disappoint. I worried it might be too glittery or shimmery, but it isn’t at all! It just gives a beautiful clean sheen to the cheeks that catches the light beautifully. I love the deep mauve/pink colour to it- gorgeous!

The formula overall of these blushes and bronzers was insane. I was worried they might be a bit powdery, but I’ve never honestly used a cheek product that blended as beautifully as these. They really do just melt into your skin and blend so easily. I was so impressed with this- and if I’m honest I’m pretty sure it’s all I’m going to use for my cheeks until I hit pan! I’ve had it for almost a month now and it is all I use- I haven’t felt the need to reach for anything else, not once!