Benefit Powderflage Review & Dupe

Monday 5 April 2010

Hey Ladies,

I've been meaning to do this post for ages either on here or my YouTube & since i'm really not in the mood to record a video I thought i'd write it instead (It'll probably be more focused on here than YouTube & less swearing for certain)
I thought I'd give you my opinion of Benefit's Powderflage & then share a dupe i've found for it which does pretty much the same job for a hell of a lot less money. It's a bit long I do apologise :)

Benefit's Powderflage

Image totally stolen from the benefit website!

So as most of you will be aware Powderflage is described as 'a light diffusing powder concealer for the eyes & face', first of all if you can get away with just using this as a concealer then, I hate you because this only reflects light, I don't find that it conceals in any way.

Most of us will end up using this as a setting powder for our concealer & I have to say it works a dream, I seriously adore this product. It does exactly what its meant to do, its a lightly textured powder that diffuses light & sets concealer without settling into fine lines, great!

This product is not without fault however & for this reason I hate Powderflage & Benefit in general really. First things first:

The packaging

This product as always with Benefit is packaged lovely, it has the aaah factor when you look at it, but it is a downfall of the product, this is how it comes packaged;

It comes a great big can made of cardboard stuffed with shredded cardboard for this tiny little round pot, it's such a waste & adds to the product cost, personally i'd welcome maybe a little bit off the price & this be presented in a nice looking box like the creaseless cream shadows are in as it would be practical.
As for the packaging of the actual product, it is, for lack of a better word shite, so unpractical & faulty as far as i'm concerned. To house a loose powdered product in a pot which is round is just asking for trouble, although it has a flat base it doesn't make it stable in anyway. As for the faultiness this is my case & point proved below!


This was taken before I jetted off to Spain, basically the lid unscrews itself even when I had secured it on after applying & it comes off spilling about £15 worth of Powderflage all over the rest of my makeup, to say I wasn't happy would be an understatement, there was much effing & jeffing done. So a big fat fail on Benefits behalf, I actually was so angry I wanted to write to them to complain!

The Brush
When I bought the product & ripped open the packaging (as we do) I actually laughed at how small the brush was, it's pathetic. However I thought 'ok i'll give it a go why would they provide a brush if it didn't do its job' So I gave it a go & it was ok, bit scratchy but it applied the product on to the skin adequately, however where the hair of the brush attaches to the handle there is a metal bit that sticks out & I poked myself a few times in the eye with it, It hurts .... quite a lot! So just threw it away & stuck with a eye blending brush to apply it (much softer & easier)

The Cost
This stuff is seriously expensive, £19.50 (on the benefit site or you can get it for £11 here)

For £19.50 you get 3.2g so basically £6.10 per gram, a little comparison with a setting powder you could alternatively use (not a dupe but nice setting powder without the light diffusing) Makeup forever HD powder is £21.28 here for 10g therefore £2.13 per gram!

Personally I think Benefit are taking the piss for lack of a better word for selling what is essentially silica powder with a bit of shimmer & so i'd refuse to buy it again as i think its cheeky asking for that much. If they gave me more product for the price i'd be happy to pay as it is a great product.


So on to the dupe

Ben Nye Pretty Pink Powder


Simply its a pink setting powder precisely like the Benefit one except there's no shimmer. This means its not only good under the eye its also great as an overall setting powder for the face, I have very yellow based skin & so using a pink setting powder really brightens & neutralises the face so a great thing to do if you're feeling particularly yellowish one day!

It does the exact same job as powderflage, it isn't as light in texture but I don't find that it settles into any fine lines.

The packaging is not ideal for carrying it round but there's that much of the stuff, some can easily be depotted into a smaller jar for your makeup bag!

Side by side you cant tell the difference I think


So there's no point finding something that does the same job as the thing you love & it cost the same or just a little bit less, so lets get to business. The Ben Nye powder cost £7.34 for 85g here including VAT.

Lets do the maths
Benefit Powderflage is £6.10 per gram
Ben Nye Pink Powder is 9 pence per gram

So Benefit is £6.01 per gram more expensive!

Is it worth it, is it hell as like!

So there you go! Are you sick of companies taking the mick when it comes to product price, personally I am. I really don't mind paying a lot of money for a product if it is worth it or unique, for example Mac Ripe Peach blush cost more than a regular Mac blush, but you got a bigger pan than a regular blush & so the price they charged I thought was justified. Benefit products I don't think are worth the price! So I refuse to buy another full priced Benefit product hopefully for life if not for a very long time (I had sworn off the brand entirely but Lipglossiping wrote about the creaseless cream shadows on her blog so I had to try one, but didn't pay full price, so i'm happy to buy discount Benefit I've decided!)

I hope you've all had a lovely bank holiday, I actually didn't get a lie in at all which I am slightly miffed about but hey ho there's always next Saturday! Thanks for reading & i'll see you soon

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9 comments

  1. Hello lovely, excellent blog :) also i agree with you about not minding paying more for things if they're worth it, but some things are just not worth it! shame about benefit cause some of their products look great but i've had similar experiences. ah well plenty more to try hey! x

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  2. its all about the packaging with benefit! I always get sucked in, but the product never matches the packaging. Love to find cheap dupes, thanks for the review, can't wait to try Ben Nye x

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  3. Well I must say great post!
    Such a shame about all that wasted product that had spilled.

    I deffinetly must get that Ben Nye one such a bargain Thanks for sharing :)

    Nicola-x
    http://www.cosmeticsmile-x.blogspot.com

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  4. You're def correct, Benefit take the piss with the prices they charge. The Ben Nye powder is better for flash photography as well, due to the lack of light reflecting particles. Thanks for the links too! :)

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  5. Benefit has always been overpriced. They have to get that pretty packaging paid for somehow though. God that pic of the leaked powderflage is awful. omg i'd have been soooo pissed off. The ben nye stuff looks so nice, even the packaging is nice.
    xoxox

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  6. I keep picking up Powderflage and umming and ahhing - after reading this I'm really glad I keep putting it down! Could easily be tempted by the Ben Nye though...

    xx

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  7. This post cracked me up! I never knew Ben Nye was as cheap as it is, may have to look into it.

    I don't buy anything from Benefit because you get better working products for a cheaper price and they don't really cater for my skintone.

    x

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  8. Thank you for this info. I was NOT happy when Benefit decided to discontinue Powderflage ... but it seems I have a much cheaper alternative now because of your post! Appreciate it. Best to you!

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