Benefit Hoola Review

Benefit Hoola £23.50 available from Debenhams here

I've had it in mind for a while now to invest in a good contour bronzer, which is never an easy task when your complexion could give Casper the friendly ghost a run for his money. Top that off with a pinkish 'cool undertone' and most bronzers look very orange and unnatural on me- and lets face it, is there any worse start to your day than rushing out of the door in the morning to later realise you resemble a Wotsit? I don't think so. In order to give a bit of colour to my complexion that I've fondly categorised as 'pallid corpse' I was using 'Glow Summer Bronze' by Model Co, which is a lovely bronzer but is quite shimmery so not the best thing for adding definition. I'd seen reviews for Hoola being a great neutral shade, and after looking up a few swatches knew that it had to be mine.

I was told by the girl at the Benefit counter that there are no red or orange pigments in this, so is good for all skin tones. As you can probably tell from the picture it's a dark bronzer, but blended out it's fine even on my pale face. As soon as I tried this I knew I'd never be without it again, my face looks so much more defined and Hoola works beautifully with the subtle highlight of Lightscapade. I love the box packaging, but on the downside it is a bit of a pain to get your brush into. I found that it's a lot smaller in person that I was expecting from seeing in pictures, and you can't swirl your brush into the small pan because of the raised edges. Instead you have to tap the ends of your brush into it although that's probably a good thing in a way, the pigment is really good so swirling the brush around would probably pick up way too much product. I haven't used the brush that comes with this and doubt I will, I apply with a small angled contour brush and buff out any harsh lines with a powder brush. I think the Real Techniques contour and powder brushes would be great for this, and I can't wait to pick them up to give it a try. Hoola costs £23.50, and as far as I can tell all of their other boxed powders cost the same. There are eight grams of product in each box, and although it looks compact eight grams is a lot and should last for the best part of a year of daily use. 

Overall I couldn't be happier with Hoola bronzer, it makes such a difference to how my face looks and I'll happily repurchase when it eventually runs out. I'm a convert to these little boxed powders by Benefit and will be looking into getting more, I have my eye on Hervana which is a matte pink blush. I don't think the packaging would stand up too well to being thrown around in a makeup bag, although I store all of my everyday products in an acrylic tray on my dressing table so is fine for me. Personally I wouldn't take a product with this kind of packaging out with me in my bag anyway, so if you're looking for something a bit more travel friendly this probably isn't the best thing to go for. But otherwise I'd definitely recommend Hoola, especially if you're looking for a bronzer to contour with.

Have you tried any of Benefit's boxed powders? Which one should I go for next?