REVIEW: Benefit Hello Happy foundation

I've been looking for some newness to embrace, so I thought I would try the new Benefit foundation. There are some mixed reviews of this out there, and you can probably guess some are sponsored. So no better place to be than to buy it yourself and try it and get a real ideas of how it performs! (Oh and Benefit, what's up with no samples?!)

First off, before judging this foundation, I read it's marketing claim. It is a 'sheer to medium coverage' and has 'soft blur' in the name. So expected a more matte version of a bb cream. And it is indeed very much like that!

You have to shake this quite vigorously before you open it. And because of that, when you do open it, it oozes out through the nozzle so you better be quick! I applied it with a beauty blender but didn't love the result - too sheer. So the next day I used my Zoeva 102 Silk Finish brush and that looked much better! 

FINISH

The result isn't magically pore blurring matte skin, but it is a lovely finish. It didn't make my pores look any larger, which is a good thing. It is a little bit on the matte side, perhaps satin? It wore well for about 5hrs then it did start to settle in my pores on my chin, and had broken up a bit around my nose. However, I'd expect that in this heat! And to be fair, the pores on my chin are rather cavernous so almost everything settles there now and then... It is by no means a long-wear foundation, however it doesn't claim to be.

SHADE RANGE

So what about the all important question nowadays - now many shades does it come in? Well, only 12. BUT as Benefit has defended, it's a sheer foundation that can suit a range of skin tones. I am not convinced the yellow colour I have is my exact match.. I was shade matched to #3, Light Neutral. Not actually sure it would classify as light neutral in many other brands but hey... It does blend out quite sheer so it's not a problem if it isn't the exact match. BUT I would say it did oxidise a little bit so go for the lighter shade if you feel you are inbetween two shades.

Shade #3

Shade #3, not blended and applied very heavy to show tone

The formula is nice and very light, not sticky or heavy. It has a very natural finish. For me, it does wear well for about 5hrs then it starts to fade.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All and all I do like this foundation, it's not the best one I've ever tried but it works for me at the moment. However, I won't be buying it again as it costs £25.50?! All Benefit makeup appears to becoming more and more expensive, whereas I used to feel it was a stepping stone between high street brands and luxury brands, it's slowly creeping up there with the high end brands... I would expect this bottle to sell for about £18-20, £25.50 is far too expensive. They do a mini version for £8.50 but seriously, that's again a rip-off for a mini... I did complain a bit about the pricing and the girl threw in a Boi-ing airbrush concealer mini, so I shall review that in a couple of weeks once I've put it to the test!

Have you tried this? If so what were you thoughts on it?!