TREND MODE OF ARTIST 2012: Benefit Cosmetics CORALista Face Powder

CORALista is one of Benefit Cosmetics newest boxed face powders, one of their top-selling products. You may have heard of Benefit's Dandelion, Thrrob, Hoola, Bella Bamba, 10, Sugarbomb or Dallas box o'powders. They're all fairly sheer, shimmery powders that can be worn as a blush or an illuminating powder and cost $32 CDN. They come with a wooden handled flat brush for application, and while you don't have to use them, they do work well for these powders and are easy to use, not to mention highly portable since they sit inside the box in a little tray on top of the powder.

CORALista is a warm coral-pink face powder with lots of shimmer. On my skin tone it works as a shimmery blush and I can also layer it on top of a blush for added colour and shimmer. I got a sample from Sephora on a recent visit and was impressed by the sample! You don't normally get blush and eyeshadow samples simply due to the fact that they'd need to be made especially. Check it out!

CORALista blush sample

It's 0.1 oz (the regular size is 0.28 oz) so it's a decent size and will last a few uses. Of course, the regular size comes with the little wooden brush for application, but any blush brush will work for this sample.

CORALista blush sample

Benefit claims that CORALista wakes up the skin, which is an astute claim - most shimmery coral blushes will do exactly that. And so CORALista does, see below.

I'm wearing only CORALista in these photos to show how much pigment it has (which is not a great deal), but for me it works for a sheer pop of colour and quite a lot of shine. A bit too much for work look which is what I'm wearing in these photos but it'd be very appropriate for an evening look.

CORALista, as with all of Benefit's box o'powders, a pleasant perfumey fragrance which might offend some users, but I don't find it overwhelming at all. Dior mascaras, for example, have a strong fragrance that I find offensive.

There's a lot of talk in the blogosphere about CORALista being a dupe to NARS' legendary Orgasm blush. I haven't ever tried Orgasm apart from swatching it at Sephora, so I can't say for sure if they're dupes but our fellow bloggers can't be too far off. You get more for your buck with CORALista so it's simply a matter of preference which you choose. As I said before, a shimmery coral blush is going to be extremely flattering and give the skin a pretty, soft glow.

Have you tried CORALista? What do you think? Do you have any favourite Benefit box o'powders?

C.