Being a member of a beauty website called makeupalley.com, I have written over 400 reviews for various beauty products from cosmetics to fragrance to skincare. I will occasionally be writing reviews for whatever product I am trying out here. Today, I am going to write a review of a new product from the company Benefit called powderflage.
The name powderflage is a take on the word camouflage. This product is billed as a light diffusing powder concealer for under eyes and face. It comes in a small cardboard canister that is emblazoned with a green camouflage motif. Inside is the correcting powder in a small globe shaped vessel that resembles a grenade. Cute idea. It also comes with a teeny tiny fan brush that is meant to be used to apply the powder where you desire. This is called the "flager".
I ordered this product because I am a total sucker for this companies products. I am also always looking for something to make me look better than I do and lately I have a slight problem with dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep and general stress. With names like Bad Gal mascara, Dear John face cream, Touch Me Then Try to Leave body cream, lemon-ade and boi-ing concealer, how could I not fall for some of this stuff? I love the packaging ,I love the names and I actually use a few things from this line on a daily basis.
This product is eerily similar to Laura Merciers' secret brightening powder. Laura Mercier gives you 4 grams of powder for $22 and Benefit gives you 3.2 for $28 so if you are really into this type of product you are getting a better deal with the Laura Mercier product. In my observation, the only difference seems to be that the Laura Mercier product is white and benefit powder is a very pale pink. I know full well that I cannot put powder under my eyes but something made me order this anyway, just in case it was different and I would have missed out on something great.
I tried it under my eyes and it was disastrous. It migrated into every little fine line that I never even knew was there. The exact same thing happened with the Laura Mercier product. You would think I would have learned the first time. *slaps self*. The only powder concealer I have ever remotely liked was a mineral makeup one and even that was not something that flattered me as well as cream or liquid. This might be great if you are young and have NO lines under your eyes and your issue is just darkness. I am in my early 40's and this aged me and made my skin look crepey and dry. I really do not understand how this is supposed to disguise fine lines when it seeps into them and actually accentuates them. To be honest, I am not sure what I'm going to do with this. I'm going to give it a shot for a week and if I can't manage to make it work back it goes.
This is really my fault, not that of the product. I knew it probably wouldn't be for me but I took a chance. If you like the Laura Mercier product you would probably really like this as well. It would definitely work well for layering over a liquid or cream concealer if you are VERY sheer with it or if you have minimal lines. The very first ingredient is talc so if you are sensitive to that stay away from this. Also high on the ingredient list are mica, silica, dimethicone and titanium dioxide.
I also want to mention that the little "flager" mini fan brush was absolutely useless for me as well. I needed to use a regular concealer brush. I also tried it with a fluffy eye brush and that was nice too and gave sheerer coverage. The regular concealer brush made more of a difference in lightening my under eye area. The flager did not pick up enough product to make a difference and it deposited it unevenly as well. It was sort of the equivalent of those cheap blush brushes that come with a blush that you end up throwing out because you have better ones of your own.
My closing thoughts on this are that if you are young-ish and do not have fine lines this would probably do a very nice job of brightening your under eye area. I also must add though that Laura Merciers product is exactly the same and a better buy. If you are a die hard benefit lover, you will probably like this. For me it was overpriced instant ager in a box.
4 comments:
I also succumbed to the cuteness-temptation of the PowderFlage, Miss Fuss. I was eager to try because it is pinkish, and has a teeny bit of shimmer, which might be a bit more light-diffusing than the Mercier Secret Brightening Powder. I used that for a year and never even made a dent in that jar! But of course, here comes the new PowderFlage and I am sure that if I don't try it, I will be missing something fabulous, so I also ordered it. And like you, I am hugely disappointed. Can it be that I see BAGS under my eyes with this product on? I don't even HAVE bags under my eyes! And the tiny lines look like the Grand Canyon! You'd think I would learn my lesson and wait to get to a Sephora and test these things out before I order. What I really want more than glowy, smooth undereye areas is the resolve to stop ordering things that I can't test out first. Thanks for the fabulous review, Miss Fuss!
I almost fell for the cuteness factor on this one, too. I did cruise by the Benefit counter today and bought Eye Bright. I'm not expecting miracles, but I sure hope it does something positive.
Abby, I hope my waste of $30 has saved you from a mistake, LOL. I havn't tried eyebright but I do love 3 custom colors light clarifier pencil for using to brighten my eyes. I usually run it along my inner rims and it is the exact same color as my skin. It takes all that red out. do report back on the eye bright though, I almost bought that one several times!
Patty, yes, this stuff makes me look.......not so good and I'll leave it at that. I feel a rare return coming on.I am not ever going to even attempt powder concealer ever ever again! I know better!
Miss Fuss, just wait til you "start the return process" with the Benefit company!! Don't do it on a day when you feel grumpy already, because this could put you in an even worse mood. You have to CALL them and obtain (slowly, slowly) a return authorization number! And go look in your original packaging for a return label and tell me if you even received one! I didn't. I have a feeling that this return process is going to take months. On your return form, you're asked to choose a reason for the return, and there are 8 to choose from. None of them say "I did not like this product."
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