Review | Benefit Watt’s Up!

The latest glow-giver in Benefit’s range of face brighteners, Watt’s Up! (S$54/9.4 g) is a champagne-coloured highlighter stick that promises to light up your visage with an incandescent gleam.

I love its witty take on the humble light bulb: from the name pun to the modified shape to the highlighting hue, this adorable little product cleverly encapsulates the allusion to light.

The tube has a nice heft to it and despite its seemingly tapered shape, it is well-balanced.

It’s been a while since I’ve tried a highlighter stick, so I had fun playing with the preview sample that I received.

The creamy product is well-protected with a plastic cap; however, it fills the sturdy swivel tube fully and juts out just a little, so I tend to nick it with the cap. This problem will go away, thankfully, once the product is used till it’s below the packaging rim. It will make a consumer feel that she’s getting her money’s worth! ;)

The bottom has an in-built sponge-tip applicator. It’s a touch too firm for blending the product on the cheeks, though not impossible (I prefer using my fingers). It will be helpful for brow bone and nose bridge highlighting, nonetheless.

The cream stick is firm yet readily imparts colour with a gentle swipe.

A shimmery peachy beige, this might appear slightly warm when swatched but on my MAC NC 20-25 skin, it is a neutral – almost skin-tone – glimmery shade.

When I tried it over foundation and under powder, I found that while powder (and powder foundation) can mute its radiance, the highlighter is not entirely subsumed and is still discernible – a gentle glow, if you will. Over powder/powder foundation, the smooth-textured cream gleams prettily and doesn’t cake, thank goodness! (A bit of careful blending is a must, lest you end up with an unbecoming patchy mess.)

The cream is fairly lightweight and dries to a powdery finish quite quickly. I don’t recommend more than two light swipes – not only will multiple layers give you an obviously cakey appearance, the resulting frosty sheen can also be a bit too much.

For a soft-focus glow, swipe the stick lightly over the facial planes and blend gently with your fingers or a sponge. Applying the product with a light touch also prevents it from emphasising the facial pores.

Watt’s Up! is a shade or two below that of Estée Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée in Modern Mercury albeit without the overt rosy tone of the latter. I reckon the Benefit cream will make a nice base for the EL illuminator.

Like the Esprique Melty Fix Cheek that I recently reviewed, Watt’s Up! is convenient and easy to use. It’ll be complementary with the Esprique cheek stick for a quick yet finished blush look.