Benefit 'Upgrade to Gorgeous' Set and Reviews

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year - apologies for the break I've taken over Christmas, but it was nice to have some time to relax without worrying about shifts at work, school work or revision - unfortunately, I'm kicking off 2013 with a lovely 6 hour shift at the pool this afternoon, but hey ho, I'll try my best to stay awake!

I thought today I'd do a little review of a Benefit set I got for Christmas - it's a mixture of full size and sample products, which gave me a good chance to test out a few of their products and give you my opinion on them.

High Beam Highlighter
I've had the dupe version of High Beam for a while now - the Technic Highlights and though it's amazing especially for it's miniature price tag, I've always had a slight want to get the real thing. Luckily, it was included in the set as a full size product - so I can use it to my heart's content! I've only used it the once so far, but from first impressions, I can already tell that the formula is much more concentrated than the Technic version, and it doesn't sit so much on top of makeup - it's much more blendable. So far I'm loving it!

Sugarbomb Blusher
I'm having mixed feelings about this blush- initially after putting it on, I love it - the colour is a gorgeous peachy coral and because of the four colour sections, looks lovely when swirled. It has a slight shimmer but nothing offensive and is pigmented enough, though not hugely concentrated. The only issue I really have with it is the lasting power - it doesn't last more than an hour tops, and though I haven't actually yet found a blusher that will stay put for more than a few hours, this one seemed to disappear at top speed - a shame for such a lovely colour! I'll definitely keep using it, but it might need topping up a bit more than other products would.

They're Real! Mascara
This product has been the biggest surprise of the set - it's only a sample size of 3g, but before receiving this set, I'd never heard of it. Since doing a bit of googling, I was surprised to find that it's actually a product that's been raved about everywhere - and yet I'd never heard of it! It has a weird shaped brush head with a spherical part on the end which makes sure to catch every lash, and is a big enough brush to keep me happy - there's nothing I hate more than mascara with a tiny wand! Onto the actual product, I have to say I absolutely adore it! It's by far the best mascara I've ever tried, and even beats the Maybelline 'Falsies' that I've been in love with recently. It somehow achieves jet black colour, good length and volume, whilst keeping the lashes completely clump-free! A totally gorgeous product, and I'm without a doubt going to be purchasing a full size once this runs out.

The other two products in the box were The Porefessional primer, and a sample of Laugh with me LeeLee perfume - I haven't had a chance to try either of these out yet, but the perfume seems like a pretty standard sweet smelling smell - maybe a bit too strong for me but we'll see if it grows on me! I'm wary on the primer as it contains silica, which my skin is extremely sensitive to and tends to break out if I use it, so I may have to give that one a miss.
Thank you so much to my Mum and Dad (not that Dad probably even knew what it was) for getting me this if you're reading!

Again, hope everyone had a lovely Christmas - and bring on 2013!
Livs xo