Review| Benefit The Big Easy Liquid to Powder Foundation SPF35 in Medium

I will keep this review short and simple. The Big Easy Liquid to Powder Foundation ($38) is overpriced. Not saying that it's sheer crap, but its price tag makes me want to betch slap Benefit. I usually adore their products, but everything about this is unimpressive.  

I wasn't interested in picking it up at Ulta since the packaging is hideous (some sort of tan circus tent inspired design with a scalloped sea lion pedestal cap) I was actually generously gifted the shade Medium by my mom, who said that it did nothing to keep her oily skin in check. 

 The biggest claim from Benefit is that the Big Easy comes out as a creamy liquid but dries down into a lightweight powder. I'll give them that. It really doesn't feel like makeup on the face and you can layer it under another base product that provides coverage.


It comes in five shades that are supposed to adjust to your skin tone, meanwhile controlling oil, adding moisture, and protecting your skin from the sun. Sounds good in theory right? I found that Medium was a close match to NC25-30 but nowhere near NC35.

It's a shame that when applied with fingers, you're in effect sheering it out to no coverage on the skin. You have to use a patting motion along the face to hide discoloration, which defeats the purpose of an "easy" product. 

When rubbed in it has less coverage than my MAC Face and Body foundation, making it a true tinted moisturizer that doesn't moisturize too well. If you take the time to pat it in, you'll get light to light medium coverage. For best results you should use a dense buffing brush and really pat it into the skin.

Second, it can catch on dry spots and flakes. My skin is back to normal at the moment (I've finally moved back to the Bay Area) but it managed to pick up on flakes on my nose. This seems to be a product that only works well if you're normal or on the oily side of normal.

Here is one coat on my face sans moisturizer or powder on top. Ghastly pale and neutral.


In the picture above you can see even the slightest hyper-pigmentation on my skin. Useless. After an hour, the color settled better into my skin. I found that by 4 hours my skin was looking a little dewy in the Tzone. After 6 hours it began to fade away and looked patchy. 

My consensus? You can get tinted sunscreen at the drugstore for cheaper and they will perform just as well if not better. Definitely ignore the hype and skip out on this product. 

xo Be

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