Benefit makeup

[Presenthelp]

I was planning to buy my sister some makeup as part of her christmas present (before the main present arrives which will be after Christmas). I don't normally wear makeup, but when I do I use some benefit stuff which someone got me aaaages ago and which I really like. So I was going to pick some for her but... the whole makeup counter was crowded with teens, which made me wonder whether maybe the target market for benefit stuff is much younger these days and that had somehow passed me by... so - if you were in your early thirties and liked occasionally wearing makeup would you be happy to receive benefit stuff? And if not, what other brands would you prefer...

[Auvergne]

It is quite teenagey because of the packaging and marketing but it is quite nice. I like hoola lite - I use it as a blusher.

But I prefer bare minerals generally. Or Clinique.

[CantChoose]

I'm 29, I find that the benefit brow products are really good but the rest seems much lower quality than it used to be. I'd still be very happy to receive it.
I tend to use Chanel, Elizabeth Arden or Clinique make up.

[ShirleyPhallus]

Charlotte Tilbury!

[moonmaker]

I'm in my thirties and use benefit but am drifting towards Charlotte tilbury

[Presenthelp]

Thanks, auvergne that's kind of what I was worried about. And it's useful to know the quality is lower now, my stuff is quite a few years old (the lip tint for example seems to last forever) so it's good to know that if I buy it now it won't necessarily be as good. I will go and check out the other suggested brands :)

[Presenthelp]

And I hadn't heard of charlottes tilbury at all so shall have a look...

[poppyinbloom]

There's so many great brands out there and I find that each brand does 1 or 2 things really well. I own makeup from a wide array of brands. What type of products does your sister want or need and then I could make some recommendations. Benefit's bronzer and brow products are popular as well as some of their blushes in the cute little boxes. Charlotte Tilbury is good as well but the price point is higher. I think Benefit is still good for any age.

[BlueEyedWonder]

My 13 year old loves it! So I’m now avoiding it!

[poppyinbloom]

BlueEyedWonder, that logic doesn't make much sense to me. Some 13 year old out there could love Kevyn Aucoin, for example. Should 30 year olds stop loving that brand too?

I'm not a huge fan of Benefit but I did just buy one product from there... some beauty bloggers swear by certain Benefit products. I think some brands do 1-2 really good products and Benefit is one of those lines.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I'm far from a teenager and think some Benefit stuff is really good. But an Urban Decay Naked basics palette might go down well too.

[TheImprobableGirl]

I’m very soon to be 29, and I adore benefit stuff! Cleared them out of £250 worth of stuff when they had their 3 for 2 on which happily coincided with boots £50 for £10 of points thing last month.
There’s bits to avoid but I think that as a general set it is good.

Otherwise maybe Mac, Charlotte tilbury as a pp said, urban decay or Lancôme do a good mascara

[Presenthelp]

Thanks everyone, sorry for not replying sooner I was distracted by the snow. I was at the price of charlotte tilbury etc when I checked, so may have a ponder on how much I like my sister :)

[LemonShark]

Benefit would be lovely for me (almost thirty), I find it bizarre it's seen as a teen range when you consider the prices, what teen has £20 for a mascara!?

I second the urban decay naked eyeshadow palettes. What actual items are you looking to buy?

[OCSockOrphanage]

If you can countenance a subscription based shop, £10 monthly gets you entitlement to buy products which would retail at £100 at factory prices. I haven't loved everything I have bought, and being ancient I tend to stick to skincare (mostly good enough to repeat buy so far); Moonlighting Balm is v similar to Hourglass, the brow products are good, and the brush sets are excellent, as are the nail base and top coats. What about giving her a subscription (from three months, so £30) and letting her try what she wants to to buy? Their goal is to use the same Swiss, Italian and Korean factories that make products for the top companies but at Boots prices.

[OCSockOrphanage]

Duh.... Beauty Pie is the name to google.

[LemonShark]

Careful OP beautypie is a ripoff and the figures don't add up. Don't do it. No offence to PP. it does sound good until you research it.

[Presenthelp]

Lemonshark - that was my thinking, its a whole different world
And Ocsock, thanks, that sounds interesting... I won't get it for my sister but might consider it for someone else I knows birthday present...

[Madonnasmum]

I'm 47 and wear benefit
Love the bb cream. Decent coverage that dosnt sit in the lines!

[OCSockOrphanage]

I'm surprised lemonshark has presumably had poor results from Beauty Pie products. I have generally found them comparable quality to the equivalents/duplicates from counters. And at better prices, although you have to take into account quite high postage/packing charges.

[TracyBeakerSoYeah]

Way over 30 here & I love my Benefit Make Up.

[Bluesheep8]

Hi, I'm 44 and wear lots of benefit stuff.the brow products, gimme brow in particular are great and all their highlighters and blisters are good. High beam or girl meets pearl especially so. I've recently bought shy beam which is a Matt version of high beam and that's also good. Blisters are really highly pigmented so those little boxes last ages. Don't let the teenagers put you off

[Bluesheep8]

BLUSHERS not BLISTERS!! That wouldn't be a good look!!

[Littlechocola]

I’m quite old and use some of their stuff.

[user7654321]

I’m 32 and I love Benefit. I use Hoola/Hoola Lite more recently, Porefessional, and Real Mascara, and their eyebrow wand things

I don’t like their foundation so I use Clinique foundation, And YSL touché eclat as a highlighter/concealer

I also don’t like their skincare range - for skincare everything is Clinique!

[LemonShark]

Hi OCSockOrphanage, I've never used beautypie but I did a lot of reading into it when it had been out a few months as it seemed tempting, and what I found was that once you add up the mandatory subscription fee, the delivery fee, and the limit to how many items you can buy, the items didn't work out all that cheap after all, more mid range (a bit more than drugstore prices), and the kicker is that that is just for a product they claim is 'high end' but with zero evidence. They say that it's items from high end factories in cheaper casing but nobody has been able to find any proof of that. So it seems to me like they've created a new range, or a mish mash of cast offs from other ranges, slapped 'beautypie' on it and expect the consumer to gobble up that it's high end stuff they've changed the label off. Their model expects people to be very naive and believe something is high end because they say it is. I also read some reviews of some products which said a highlighter was nice but others such as foundation and lipstick and eyeliner fell short.

All in all I think someone would be much better off taking the money they'd have spent on the items, postage and subscription, and spending it all on items they've had chance go go and look at in Boots, or have had chance to try out at a beauty counter, rather than random stuff from a website of unknown origins!

I'm a huge beauty enthusiast and I'd be disappointed if someone gave me beauty pie for the above reasons. If someone has taken all of the above into account and still thinks it's worthwhile/has enough disposable income they can afford it to be a mistake,then good luck to them :)

I just wanted to make sure OP didn't jump into it without doing the research. I'm glad it's worked for you!