- sylviajast
A Wonderful Pick Me Up: Benefit Cosmetic’s ‘Cheek Stars Reunion Tour Palette’ 🥁🎷
How are you Beauties? With all the craziness in the world at the moment, I hope you are doing ok and looking after yourselves as well as others. I have to admit that I have just been all over the place the last week or so. As things begin to settle (I hope!) I did manage to pick up a few beauty related goodies during the week. One of those items was Benefit’s Cheek Stars Reunion Tour Palette 🌟
Benefit has always created wonderful face and blush palettes. They generally combine full size blush and face powder pans into one palette, at the fraction of the price of individual powders/blushes. However, because they usually include 5 to 6 pans of product (full sized pans) the price point of a palette might seem high at first. I’ve always wanted one but have somehow managed to not indulge myself… Until now! Meet Benefit’s newest ‘cheek palette, including everything you need to create healthy and bright complexion; bronzer (Hoola), highlighter (Cookie) and blush (*new* Georgia 🍑 Sugarbomb 🍭 and *new* Dallas 🐎).
Score a star-studded palette of Benefit blushes, bronzers & highlighters from past & present! This reunion tour cheek palette features bestselling Hoola matte bronzer, Cookie golden pearl highlighter, and NEW updated cult-favorite shades Georgia, Dallas and Sugarbomb. Comes complete with a full-size brush. Hit the high notes with different looks by following our Signature Tips & Tricks. Palette includes:
Hoola matte powder bronzer for face, full-size
Cookie golden pearl super-silky powder highlighter, full-size
NEW! Dallas rosy bronze blush, full-size
NEW! Georgia golden peach blush, full-size
NEW! Sugarbomb rosy pink blush, full-size
Powder brush
Benefit Cosmetics is an interesting brand in my books. I love their retro inspired and fun packaging. I do find a lot of their products to be quite gimmicky however – sometimes the promises and packaging takes centre stage rather than product itself (the products formula and results). However – I have always had a soft spot for benefits lip and cheek stains, as well as their box beauty powders. Everyone will probably know what I am talking about when I say ‘box beauty powders’ – the cute cardboard individual boxes that contain either a blush, bronzer or highlighter. There’s something I’ve always loved about the the texture of cardboard packaging. It reminds me of being a kid again… Even though cardboard isn’t the most durable material out there, I still like this style of packaging a lot 💕 And the powders within Benefit’s ‘Box ‘o Powders’ are generally great quality, hence their popularity. They are definitely one of Benefit’s ‘cult products’.
This face palette is called the ‘Reunion Palette’ because two of the blush shades are old classics, albeit updated. Both the colours and textures of Georgia and Dallas have changed. I would have loooooved for the old classics to have stayed the same alongside their ‘new cousins’, but alas. This doesn’t mean however, that they aren’t lovely shades and products in their own right 😉 It just really isn’t the ‘old classic’ and hence reunion if that makes sense…. but clearly I am thinking way too much about this LOL so let’s move on shall we!
Let’s first take a look at the three blushes in the ‘Cheek Stars’ palette;
I was really excited to see that Benefit had brung back Georgia, albeit in a new version (called Georgia Golden in it’s individual packaging) 🍑🌟 I loooooved the original Georgia blush powder. Georgia was one of Benefits first blushes (it was either first or came after Dandelion). Both Georgia and Dandelion could be used as a very subtle blush colour, or an all over (matte) finishing powder that gave the skin a hint of colour. It was a ‘pick me up’, bringing your complexion to life! And very unique on the market. Most brands including drugstore brands do satin and shimmery blushes well. A good matte blush however, is harder to do well. A translucent matte blush that can also be used as a finishing powder is something very different! I don’t know why, but a few years ago, Georgia was discontinued, which is a huge shame… it was the most beautiful light peach shade. Not too warm and translucent enough to make your skin glow and shine through. The *new* Georgia has some translucency to it also, but it’s warmer than the original and contains shimmer. This new Georgia is a blush colour through and through. It gives skin a beautiful radiance. The shimmer contained within the blush is fine and soft. I’d call it, an illuminating blush 💫 It’s a beautiful colour – but I do wish Benefit brought back Georgia in it’s original glory too….
Dallas is another Benefit classic. I’d describe Dallas as a ‘bronze rose’. Dallas looks amazing worn on the cheeks in summer! ☀️⛱ Has the original Dallas been renamed ‘Dallas Rosy’ I believe. This could get confusing lol! The new Dallas is lighter in colour but more of a nude brown, with only the tiniest hint of pink in its undertone. Despite the old Dallas looking darker and more like a bronzer, it actually applies and looks much more rosy on skin! The new Dallas will give skin a little more warmth and some ‘undetectable’ colour (if you have a fair to light/medium complexion). I’d call it a ‘nude toned’ blush.
The new Dallas does have some shimmer in it’s formula, but it’s more on the subtle side. Way more subtle than Georgia. It leaves a sophisticated satin sheen on cheeks. To compare the old and new Dallas blushes, take a look below;
Above: the ‘old’ version of Dallas is the single blush on the left. The ‘new’ Dallas is on the right. The pan colours look verrrry different and they do apply and look quite different to each other. The new Dallas is more of a bronzer now, however, it is very light toned and contains maybe the slightest amount of pink in it’s undertones. Both formulas contain shimmer.
Above: The old Dallas in on the left and the ‘new Dallas’ is on the right. Quite a difference!
Sugarbomb I have to admit is the blush and powder product I was least excited about in this palette. It contains a combination of four different shades that you swirl together (using your blush brush) to combine. The end result is a warm toned (medium) rosy pink. I do like this shade more than I thought I would. It is however, probably the least ‘unique’ shade in Benefit’s ‘blush line’. That’s a totally subjective opinion of course 😉😅 Again, it contains shimmer and leaves cheeks with a satin finish.
Bronzer;
The bronzer contained within the palette is Benefit’s famous matte bronzer, Hoola! Benefit now makes four different bronzer shades for a variety of skin tones, but Hoola is the original in the line. A medium toned, warm brown, Hoola is matte and very natural looking on the skin. After years of shimmery bronzers, I believe this is why Hoola became so popular. Matte bronzers look more sophisticated on the skin. It’s not a dry and lifeless matte bronzer like some on the market. Hoola is easy to blend and silky, however, it is pigmented, so easy does it when you pick up product with your bronzing brush (or you may apply too much and find blending the colour out difficult). It isn’t a flat bronzer. The warmth of the bronzer gives it more life and ‘pop’ on the skin. I’d say it’s for light to medium skin tones. Very fair and pales skin may struggle with the warmth (and it may look orange on some fair ladies).
Highlighter;
A relatively new powder highlighter in Benefit’s line, Cookie has certainly made a name for itself! Cookies is an aaaamazing highlighter and certainly is not subtle lol! She is blinding in her pearlescent shine – however… because the highlighter so buttery and finely milled, she blends like a dream… meaning that you can apply less for a more subtle glow or a lot, for some serious bling! If you accidently apply too much, use my blending trick to tone down the highlighter and make it blend seamlessly with the other products applied to your cheeks.
The colour is a pearl, light gold. It’s SOOOO beautiful 🤩🤩🤩 It’s honestly what Hollywood dreams are made of I think LOL and it’s worth every penny, because it’ll make you look like a million dollars 🌜💫
Swatches from left to right; (new) Dallas, Sugarbomb, (new) Georgia, Hoola and Cookie
In the palette where the 6th powder pan would normally be, this time you get a brush. Another feature of the box o’ powders/blushes, is that they each come with a little brush that fits into the box (it fits snug as a bug on top of the pan). I actually don’t mind these ‘blush’ or powder brushes. Are they the best in the world? No. But they also aren’t the worst. They are soft (they’re are synthetic brushes naturally) and just big enough to apply powder on top of your cheeks nicely. Or highlighter! I wouldn’t use the brush to apply bronzer however – I think it would apply product too much in certain areas, and while is soft, it’s not soft enough to blend larger areas on the face comfortably and the bristles are far too short. Softer brushes not only feel nicer for this purpose, but the bristles are longer which mean the bend and give way more easily, ‘buffing’ out (or diffusing) the product and powder.
The one thing that doesn’t make sense is one brush for 5 face powders… hence why you get one brush per box o’ powder usually. I would have rather paid for another pan of product (like Dandelion, because it’s a blush or finishing powder!). That would have made way more sense.
Georgia contains 8 grams of product, Dallas 9 grams, Sugarbomb 7 grams and Cookie 8 grams. Why the differences? Who knows lol They are full sized pans (so you get the same amounts as you would in the individual boxes).
The Box o’ Powder cost usually between $51 and $54 AUD. The retail price for this palette is $99 AUD. That equals about $20 per pan. That’s pretty bloody good right?!
The one thing I was worried about when purchasing this palette was that the powders in the pans wouldn’t be very soft. I have heard opinions previously, that suggested that the powders contained within larger palettes can be drier than what you would find in the individual pans/boxes. I haven’t found this to be the case with this palette. You can easily pick up product from each pan with a brush and all the powders a very soft and pigmented. I think the quality of these powders is wonderful. The variety of products within the palette gives you so many options, as well as covers you for the ‘basics’ as long as the colours work with your skin tone. I really love this palette and I’m glad I picked it up!
The Cheek Stars Reunion Palette also smells delicious. I think each pan/product smells differently, but when smell the palette as a whole (as bizarre as that sounds lol!) it just smells sweet and good 😊🤤🤤🍑🍭 I am very glad that the scents of the powders isn’t overpowering – I don’t think powders for the face (or makeup in general) should smell so strongly of artificial scents. You are putting the products on your face after all. I think Benefit has created a happy medium with this palette and it’s sweetness 🧁🍰🍬
You can pick up the palette at all Benefit counters (Myer), via the official Australian Benefit Cosmetics website or via the Adore Beauty Website (which is where I purchased mine!).
This palette really was a pick me up for surviving this strange and horrible week! Tell me Beauties, do you like Benefit blushes and face palettes? Which have you tried and which are your favs? Let me know if you’d pick this one up ☺️✌️
Catch ya next time,
Beauty Bee~
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