Benefit | Let's make lovely!

I actually bought this quite a few weeks ago, I think it was when the Benefit Christmas sets had only just hit the shelves. I was in the mood to treat myself and as soon as I saw the big display of all the Benefit sets, which by the way are all gorgeous, I had to pick one up. I decided on this one as it's one of the smaller and less expensive ones and I really need to be saving right now, but also it has 3 of the products I've most wanted to try.

The Hoola bronzer has been on my wishlist ever since I saw it about the blogging world. It's a matte bronzer and so perfect for contouring which I am a bit addicted to. Considering I'm as pale as casper the ghost now I've stopped wearing fake tan in an attempt to embrace my natural colour (and because I can't be bothered to fake tan when it's cold), this is a little gem for me as the colour is not too dark or harsh and works really well with my skin tone. I've been using this every day since I got it which must be at least a month and as you can see, the 'HOOLA' is still embossed in there so I'm amazed at how long it's lasting me. This is only 3g so I'll definitely be buying the full size 11g when this runs out.

To be honest, I'm not all that impressed with Porefessional. Don't get me wrong, it does it's job at smoothing out the skin to give a nicer base for applying make up but I don't agree with all the hype surrounding this product. Maybe that's why I'm not so impressed, maybe I was expecting too much but I won't be purchasing this again. As I said, it does smooth out the skin and make it feel super soft but it doesn't sort out those pesky pores and it doesn't help my make up to stay on any longer than it already does. I have given it a good go and finished the whole tube but i'm still not impressed, so I'll be continuing to use my LOOK beauty primer which I personally find does a better job for a lot less pennies.

When I said at the beginning I'd been wanting to try 3 of these products, this is the one I wasn't too bothered about. To be honest I've never heard much about this before, if anything at all. Never the less I of course still gave it a go, but again I wasn't all that impressed. It made my eyes feel moisturised and refreshed but I couldn't see a difference at all. They didn't look any brighter or awake and whilst they felt nicer, I still looked like a zombie. I'll be sticking to my trusty Clarins eye gel from now on.

My favourite part of this set, the They're Real mascara. This stuff is absolutely amazing. I'm so upset this has run out but I can definitely say I will be purchasing the full size version as soon as I can. This makes my lashes look super long, spreads them out and gives them volume with no clumping what so ever. A few people have asked me if I'm wearing false lashes when I've been wearing this so I think that speaks for itself and definitely proves the name right! You can see a picture on my Instagram of me wearing just one coat of this mascara if you want to see how it looks.

So a 50/50 outcome with this set, two products I'm not so impressed with and two I really love. I'm glad I tried this set as it's let me sample a few of my most wanted products and shown me which ones I want to purchase full size before wasting my money! As for the individual products I recommend both the Hoola bronzer and the They're Real mascara to everyone as I think they can work on anyone and look amazing. I can't wait to buy the full size versions!

What's your favourite Benefit product? Have you purchased any of the gift sets?

Emily xxx