Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Make-up Review and Swatches

While in New York City recently, I picked up some of the new Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Brightening Make-up. I'd heard the buzz about this brand new product for a few weeks and I was intrigued. This was new and innovative for Benefit for a few reasons - the main one being that it's their first liquid foundation. 

Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow is available in nine shades, is oil-free, and contains an oxygen hydrating complex (the Oxygen Wow bit) that works to make the skin look plumper, reducing fine lines and giving it a non-shimmery glow. Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow also contains Vitamins A and E and provides SPF25 (impressive). 

It's $34 US and comes in 300 mL/10 fl. oz. The bottle is frosted plastic with a pump that makes it easy to procure just a little product, as needed.

Inside the box was a sample of Benefit's new primer The Pore Professional. It's very clever of them and an adorable little sample. I'm a big fan of the primer too! 

I bought the lightest of the nine shades - "I'm pure 4 sure" Ivory. More photos of the packaging below...

This is about one third of a pump of product on the back of my hand. I was a bit startled by how yellow the shade was (the next shade, Petal, is too pink for me), but I persevered. 

Turns out that on my face it's not too yellow at all. It goes on quite sheer and the skin on my throat doesn't have a lot of pink to it so wearing this makes my skin closer in colour to my face. I simply apply a little bit more on the areas of my face that needs a bit more coverage.

You don't need a lot of product at all. Oxygen Wow Foundation can be applied with the fingers or with a brush. Like with most liquid foundations, applying with the fingers gives you a sheerer application and applying it with a brush gives you a heavier application. 

Oxygen Wow Foundation is very hydrating, which is good news for those of you with dry skin. For those of you with oily skin, this will probably be ok but you may want to use a primer and apply powder to set it. My combination skin found Oxygen Wow worked well on both the drier areas and oily spots of my face. I use Pore Professional underneath and set it with powder (Make Up For Ever's HD Microfinish Powder). 

What I like best about Oxygen Wow is its texture. It has a thickness to it like it's been whipped a little bit. I suppose that's the added oxygen. Even applying it with the fingers doesn't change the consistency. 

Another thing I quite like about Oxygen Wow is the way it makes my skin look. It does indeed give it a glow, but not a shimmery glow. It's a plump, moisturized, healthy glow. And it doesn't fade too much during the day. I still have to blot where my skin is naturally oily and shiny and touch-up with powder but I have to do that with every foundation I've ever used.

I took some photos of me wearing Oxygen Wow (on top of my Garnier BB Cream). 

It looks quite natural on my skin. This is without any powder on top to set it (you can see the creasing of my undereye concealer) but it definitely gives my skin a bit of a glow and a plump, healthy look.

Close-up of my cheek

In summary, I really like this foundation. At just under $40 it's reasonably priced and considering one full pump of product is probably enough for medium to full coverage on most people, it's definitely good value. 

Has anyone else tried this foundation yet? What do you think of it?