Benefit Blush Bar is a Cheek Palette containing 4 blushes and one bronzer, all full size. There is a small brush included and a mirror inside the lid. The lid closes shut with a magnet. It retails for $58 and is available to purchase from Benefit, Sephora and Ulta.

Individual boxed powders retail for $29 whereas, in this palette, you are getting them for just under $12 each. The included brush has enough stiffness to blend shades out well. It’s not incredibly soft but it’s still comfortable against the skin.

I usually don’t order palettes like these because I am skeptical that I am getting the same exact products as the original, full sized ones. I grabbed what I could to compare to out of my collection. I have full sizes of Dandelion and Rockateur, and mini sizes of Galifornia and Hoola. See the comparison swatches below:

The two that I have full sizes of are pretty darn close to the ones in the palette. Dandelion in the palette is a tiny bit brighter in color and more powdery than the original. Rockateur is nearly identical though the palette one is a smidge more powdery and less pigmented. Galifornia in the palette is a different color and finish than the mini size I have. Hoola in the palette is much more pigmented and very easy to over apply.

If anything I think the quality of the powders in the palette is better than the two minis I have, but slightly less quality than the original full sizes.

Galifornia

Galifornia has a cool-toned medium pink base with a warm-toned peachy sheen. It is bright but not too pigmented so a brush picks up just the right amount of color. It applied evenly and blended well. There is a noticeable sheen when it is swatched but applied on the cheek, it imparts a barely-there satin glow that mostly looks like the natural finish of skin. It wasn’t powdery or dusty in the pan. It started fading after 5 hours of wear and was barely visible at 8 hours.

Gold Rush

Gold Rush is a warm-toned, pale, muted peach with a very subtle golden sheen. It was very sheer. I had to really load up my blush brush and apply a few layers to get it to show up on me. It applied evenly and blended out easily. This was a little bit powdery in the pan. I noticed light fading after 7 hours.

Dandelion

Dandelion is a cool-toned, pale pink with a subtle golden sheen. This is supposed to be a brightening face powder but I use it as a blush. It’s a bit too dark for my complexion to use as a face powder. A brush picks up more product than Galifornia and Gold Rush but because the shade is pretty pale, it’s not an issue. The color applies evenly and blends out easily. This was somewhat powdery, more so than the original Dandelion I have in my collection. This started fading after 7 hours.

Hoola

Hoola is a very warm-toned medium-deep bronzer. It is also very pigmented and somewhat loosely pressed. My brush picks up a lot of product so I need to tap it on the back of my hand first to avoid over-applying. I have to work carefully with this one but it does apply evenly and blend out well. This is the most noticeably powdery shade in the palette. It lasted for 8 hours with very minimal fading.

Rockateur

Rockateur is a peachy pink with a bluish-pink sheen and warm undertones. The base color of this looks very similar to Gold Rush but the sheen is different. It has semi-sheer pigmentation but it builds up easily. It applies evenly and blends out well. This faded after 8 hours.

Bronzilla is part of the blush collection Revlon released late 2013. It is a sheer, mostly-matte medium brown with a subtle skin-like sheen when buffed with a brush. Revlon Powder Blushes cost around $10 and contain 5g / 0.17 oz. of product. The blushes were easier to find than this bronzer was but I have seen it carried at Bed Bath and Beyond.

The Good:

1. It has pretty good color payoff. It’s not crazy pigmented but it certainly has enough pigmentation to easily apply the color to fair skin tones. I can apply one layer and get a sheer wash of color. Applying 2 or 3 layers will intensify the color. Here’s what one swipe across the powder looks like:



2. The texture is pretty nice. It is soft, smooth, not too powdery. Sweeping a brush over the product doesn’t kick up very much powder – just a tiny bit and nothing too bothersome. It blends out easily and sits nicely on the skin without making cheeks look powdery or sticking to peach fuzz.
3. The texture doesn’t make the skin look dry or powdery, or emphasize large pores. It appears matte at first but it takes on a subtle skin-like sheen when you buff over it with a brush.
4. I wore it for 8 hours and experienced no fading.

The Not So Good:

1. It is sheer and depending on your preference and skin tone this could be either good or bad. I think this shade would work best for those with fair and light complexions with warm undertones. It may work okay for light-medium and medium skin tones but would likely need to be built up. The color is definitely looks warm against my natural skin tone and if I build it up, it looks sort of orange on me. In the picture below, I was able to make this work by using a yellow-based foundation, a warm lipstick color, and making sure not to over apply it.
2. This shade is packed a little more tightly in the pan.
3. For some reason this shade seemed to develop a “film” over the surface when I was swatching it.
4. I feel like it is pricey for what it is – though I am seeing A LOT of drugstore makeup going up in price.

Worth Buying?

If you like very subtle bronzers and you find that most of them are too intense, then this one would be a good fit for you. If you have a medium to dark skin or prefer bronzers with more pigmentation then this isn’t likely to work for you. I wouldn’t say it’s a fantastic bronzer for cooler skin tones but it can be made to work because the color is light and sheer.

Lorac Pro to Go is a compact, travel-friendly palette containing 6 eyeshadows, 2 blushes, a bronzer, an eyeshadow brush, and an eyeliner brush. The eyeshadows remain in the neutral family and the cheek colors are nice natural shades, neither too bright nor too unnatural in texture. The palette costs $38, contains a total of .8 oz / 23 grams of product, and is available exclusively at Sephora.

Colors/Finishes

Eyeshadows:

• Pearl – Shimmery light beige with silver sparkles.
• Chai – High-shimmer copper bronze, a little darker and slightly less shimmery/frosted than Urban Decay Chopper.
• Mink – Plum-toned dark brown with pink and gold sparkles.
• Shell – True satin light nude. Lorac describes this as matte but it isn’t really. It has a sheen that is neither sparkly nor frosty.
• Cafe – Warm terra cotta brown, matte base with tiny sparkles. The sparkles are not really noticeable on the eyes.
• Black – Matte black, not the blackest black but certainly dark enough to use as an eyeliner or to deepen the crease.

Blushes/Bronzer:

• Coral – Peachy pink with very fine golden sparkles. Coral’s satin finish gives a nice glow to the cheeks without being glittery or frosty looking.
• Pink – Matte medium pink. A basic pink that will suit most complexions – similar to Mac’s Pink Swoon or Smashbox’s Radiance.
• Bronze – Matte medium brown. Not far off in color from Nars Laguna but does appear slightly warmer.

Performance/Experience

The eyeshadows, blushes, and bronzer all had a soft, smooth texture. I wouldn’t describe them as buttery because they have a somewhat drier feel to them but were not gritty at all. They had good color payoff, didn’t stain the skin, and blended easily. There is no fragrance in the product but it does have a light powdery smell to it.

I found all the colors to be very wearable and they all complement each other nicely. I am not one to normally go for copper bronze colors like Chai but in this case it adds a nice extra pop to the look because it is so complementary to the other shades. Cafe was just tad warmer than I prefer but not so much that I couldn’t make it work.

This palette folds up in a unique way. When I saw it on Sephora’s website I thought it was just a standard bi-fold palette but it’s actually a quad-fold palette. I admit I found it strange at first but it’s actually quite handy and becomes nice and compact. It is made of the same material as the Lorac Pro Palette and has a large mirror on each side of the quad-fold (one for the blushes, and one for the eyeshadows). The two brushes are soft and have a good density but they are really tiny.

I wore the eyeshadows for 6 hours with no primer before they started to crease. Worn over primer they lasted 8 hours without creasing. The blushes and bronzer lasted all day without becoming faded or splotchy.

Overall Opinion

[rating=5]

All in all, this is a good palette and not exorbitantly expensive for what you get. The quality of the eyeshadows and cheek products are great and all the shades work well together.