Review & Swatches: Benefit Fine One One

Meet Benefit's latest beauty fake-it - Fine One One provides a sheer pop of colour for lips and cheeks in a cream to powder format which is eminently portable.

Encased in a metallic pink-coral case (which collects fingerprints like I collect lipstick), it bears a stylised badge (fine-one-one - nine-one-one = American emergency services number) and a dial to allow you to twist up the product as you use it.

The product block contains three shades in one stick - a shimmering pale pink highlight shade, rose pink blush shade, and orangey coral contour.  The colours look pretty bright in the casing (and in the case of the orange, terrifyingly tan-tastic), but are much sheerer when swatched.

The concept is that you glide the stick from the apple of the cheek, up the cheekbone, and then blend, which gives you a soft flush, perfectly placed highlighter, and a little bit of contour thanks to the orange shade.  Obviously to do this, you put the pale pink highlighter at the top, and the orange at the bottom.  I can only imagine how weird it'd look if it was done the other way around.

The effect is a pretty, subtle flush, which has more dimension to it than just a quick sweep of one shade.  The orange blends out into something not at all orange, and the highlight shade is just enough to add a soft gleam, and isn't at all sparkly.  At the launch event, I saw this product tried out on many skintones from pale to deep, and it suited everyone - it goes on sheer, but can be built up to get the perfect level of glow.  The texture is completely non-greasy, and as you blend out the cream it turns into a silky powder finish.  There's no shine or oily finish left on the skin; it looks just like a soft powder finish.  

I've yet to try Fine One One out on my lips, mostly because it's so sheer I don't think I'll particularly like it (being a wearer of strong lips at pretty much all times), but I can see it becoming a favourite in my blush collection - mostly due to the quick, easy application, the soft finish, and the dimension I can get with just one stick.  If you're a fan of a sculpted cheek, this is well worth checking out!

Find it at Benefit counters and stores, and online at the Benefit website, where it'll cost you £23.50.

Disclosure: PR sample