Review: Benefit Fine One One

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch of Benefit's newest product, Fine One One, at the Hard Rock Cafe in Edinburgh. This was super exciting as not only were we getting to try out a brilliant new product but we were also getting to do it before anywhere else in the country - even London! We're often forgotten about up here in Scotland, so I think it's great that Benefit recognise not all bloggers live in London, and this has made me love them ten times more than I already did. Thank you so much to all the Benefit girls and the Hard Rock staff for putting on a great event, here's hoping it's the first of many! Have a look over on my Facebook page for a few photos from the night. We were treated to lots of cocktails and mini-versions of Hard Rock's burgers (yum!) and got to see a demonstration of Benefit's brow bar techniques, plus of course trying out Fine One One.

Now, on to the review itself. Fine One One* (a play on 911 for emergencies - at first I didn't know why it was called Fine One One but now it all makes sense!) is a sheer brightening colour for cheeks and lips. It's a great multi-tasker and is able to highlight, add colour and definition all in one go. It comes in an easy to use stick, and I love the sleek packaging which is perfect for putting in your makeup bag - nice and sturdy but not too big. Fine One One will be great if I'm travelling or in a rush as the one product works as a highlighter, blusher and lip colour so there's no need to cart about loads of different products.

There are several ways you can apply this product, but my favourite way that I've tried so far is just a simple sweep from the apples of the cheeks up to the temples. Making sure the pink champagne highlighting colour is facing upwards, with the sheer watermelon in the middle and the soft coral at the bottom, just glide the product along your cheeks in an upwards motion. Don't be alarmed if you end up with a bright pink streak along your face - just blend it out with your fingers and the three colours will mix together to form a gorgeous peachy-pink glow. For daytime makeup, this is enough for me, but if you have a darker skintone, or are doing makeup for a night out, then you can easily build up more of the product to create a brighter pop of colour. If you want a bit of extra highlighting, just dab a bit of the pink champagne on your finger and add it where it's needed.

Fine One One can also be used as a lip colour, and sweeping the product across bare lips gives a really pretty and subtle flush of colour. You can also use the highlighter to accentuate the cupid's bow and make your lips look nice and full. I love that Fine One One looks like a slightly different shade on the lips than on the cheeks, so your makeup tones nicely but doesn't end up looking too matchy-matchy.

As Fine One One has a cream-to-powder formula, it's best applied on top of your foundation and then you can finish with a light dusting of powder on top to keep everything in place. This is my first full day of wearing the product so I can't comment on exactly how long it will stay put for, but I applied it first thing this morning and it's now lunchtime and there are no signs of it fading from my cheeks - so things are looking good! It will probably need to be reapplied on your lips a few times throughout the day, but as it gives a sheer colour and has almost like a lip balm consistency I wouldn't have been expecting it to last all day anyway!

Overall, I absolutely love Fine One One and I definitely think I'll be getting a lot of use out of it. As someone with naturally very pink cheeks, I'm often a bit scared of blusher in case I apply too much, but with this product application is so easy and it gives such a lovely natural result that even I couldn't mess it up! Fine One One will be launched nationwide on the 26th of January, so keep an eye on your local counter or the Benefit website and snap one up soon. Definitely one to put on your wishlists, I think!

Will you be trying out Fine One One?

Gillian x