Benefit "That Gal" & Benefit "Girl Meets Pearl"

I really, really do love my "That Gal" face primer from Benefit. I think I've raved about this product so many times, but I'm doing it AGAIN because I want to compare it against "Girl Meets Pearl", which is another face primer from Benefit. :)

Reason why I love "That Gal"? Well, to be honest, the first thing that attracted me to the whole series was the packaging. :) I grew to love it because I love how all I need is some moisturiser, and then "That Gal" over it to make myself totally dewy & glowy and that's all I need for a day out. However, I do agree with those who have said that too much "glow" will end up making you look OILY. I suppose in Malaysian weather, that is totally prone to happening. I usually wear it only when I know I'm going to be in air-conditioned places most of the time. =p

During my last Benefit haul, I bought "Girl Meets Pearl" because I was curious about it. Since I loved "That Gal", how does "Girl Meets Pearl" improve upon it? What's the difference?

Personally for me, I use both over moisturiser and without any foundation over it. For me, both are excellent at giving glowy, dewy looks and smoothening over small face imperfections. The only difference is that "Girl Meets Pearl" gives me a sort of bronze, sun-kissed Goddess kinda look while "That Gal" is more of a daytime kind of look. The primer for "That Gal" is pinkish while "Girl Meets Pearl" is more flesh-toned, so I suppose that's why?

Here's my "Before & After" for "That Gal" (pls note, I didn't use that much "That Gal" because it was finishing! I'm really sad, but at the same time, looking forward to a new Benefit haul, muwhahaha!) :

You can see the "before", my skin is quite matte... nothing glowey about it. :)

Though you can't see too much "glow" (Cos the product is finishing! Sob!), you can see the overall skin tone is more evened out, and there is a sligghhhhhtttt dewy finish.

Before make-up look during another day. You can see the full look in a haul video that I'll be posting up later. :)

Full finished look. You can see I look more "tanned" than I do in the "That Gal" photo, right? I tell you, there was no foundation involved at all. Both times, I just used the moisturiser, and the face primer. :)

Well, I guess that's all I really wanna show you guys about the face primers from Benefit. You might think it's not necessary, and I would agree if I was wearing foundation. Some recommend to wear it under foundation, but I usually find this not necessary cos I use mineral foundation which sometimes have their own formulas for their own "glowing" look (check up Everyday Minerals). I just love the ease of using face primers and moisturisers alone. Your face doesn't feel clogged up, and it's just a breeze to get ready to go out. =)

In short, I'm definitely going to repurchase "That Gal". Online, it's only USD29, but it's selling for RM129 in Sephora and all Benefit counters in Malaysia. Bah humbug!

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Friends With Benefit [2]

In order to show you another two items from my Benefit haul collection, I decided to use the products while I was getting ready for cell group today!

First up, You Rebel (Lite) :
I was really reminded about how big of a mistake I made when I bought this! -___- First of all, it still is greasy like anything, even though I wear it alone on my face, with no base or anything else (after all, this is supposed to be all in one). The coverage is REALLY minimum, but what was the clincher was aside from the greasiness, I really felt like this was trapping heat on my skin. Within minutes of wearing this, I started to feel like my face was heating up! Weird!!

Oh, and then I got some in my eye and was in excruciating pain until I could wash it out. I couldn't bear a minute more and then washed off everything so that I could start my make-up again. Sigh... because of this, I didn't have any dinner before I went to cell. *cross*

Secondly, That Gal! :
If you can't see what it says - it's a brightening face primer. Hmm... how shall I describe it? I wear it over my moisturiser (sans foundation) when I want my dull skin to look more glowy. Unlike the You Rebel, it doesn't give a greasey / oily look in the end, but a rather shiny / glowing appearance. If you wear it under foundation, it looks even better, but I'm lazy and sometimes I just use this alone. Like today. :P

Before That Gal :

Skin is clean, but that's about it. :)

After using That Gal! :

You can see that the skin is more "glowy" right? And the pinkness to the cheeks? No blusher or slapping of self... pure That Gal!

Oh, and aside from the lovely glow I get on my skin, I quite like the cooling sensation I get when wearing That Gal! as opposed to the heating up, clogged feeling of having You Rebel on. :( And That Gal! smells quite nice too. Not an overwhelming sweet smell, but something fresh-fruit-ish.

Other products used for today's make-up...
(BTW! Sorry for the differing quality of photos on this blog. It's more convenient for me to use my webcam, but some "Before" & "after" stuff are so much more visible on my normal digital camera. But it's really annoying for me to use the camera, plus the results shown on the camera isn't 100% accurate anyway. Maybe it's the lighting... blehk.)

Not really make up, but I need it ... hence, the face.

One of my go-to eyeshadows. A light shimmery lilac color called "Spin Cycle" from Everyday Minerals. The effect is quite iridescent and subtle, but it gives a little sparkly, understated shine on your lids, and I love it!

This is what the Spin Cycle color looks like. It's very pretty!

The Ever Liner makes another appearance. Annoying... cos it was so hard to put on top of That Gal! and my eyeshadow. I never take so long to put on eyeliner!

Since the effect of the eyeliner was so dismal, I had to use something else to dramatise... I thought of using my Maybelline Great Lash, but it was all dried up and clumped together. -___- On to the next one...

This is actually my fave mascara... maybe because it's the only mascara I ever bought. The others were prize winnings or something that was given free with something else I got. Cos I don't usually wear mascara. I bought this when I had to wear a costume for annual dinner and I was taken in by the XXL length claims. It's quite good even if you don't use the "white" mascara (and I don't cos I'm lazy).

This is me with one side having mascara and the other side without. I think the difference is quite startling! Maybe I *should* start using mascara more often. *convinced*

My very first lip ice ever.... finally finishing. Its called "Sheer Color", but when you put it on, it's sheer, but it turns into a rather deep pink color. Smells synthetically of strawberries, but overall I like it because it really softens the lips and keeps my lips moist!

Completed look! :)

Don't leave home without smelling good. ;)

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