One Hot Unveiling from Benefit Cosmetics

What a gorgeous way to start the day! I had such a wonderful time earlier this week at the Benefit boutique on Chestnut Street in San Francisco. Bay Area bloggers were invited to the unveiling of the sexy new face powder one hot minute ($30). We got a sneak peek before magazine editors and bloggers around the rest of the country – a wonderful treat and a real rarity for us ladies in San Francisco. Along with being introduced to new makeup, I got to meet some lovely beauty bloggers: Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog, Lilan of The Daily Cookie, Christine of Temptalia, and Jenny from the Sephora blog.

What’s So Hot

We gathered to check out one hot minute, a gorgeous, universally flattering finishing touch for face and body that’s divine for summer. At first glimpse, you might say, “Yeah, another bronzer.” Not so fast. one hot minute isn’t actually a bronzer. It’s sort of a highlighter with a golden, bronze shimmer. It gives skin a beautiful, warm glow without overdoing it. It looks delightful all about the face and on the body – brilliant on arms, legs, and décolleté. Should you wear this, people are likely to think to themselves, “Oooh, doesn’t she have a lovely, warm glow,” as opposed to, “Damn, that girl needs to step away from the bronzer.”

Benefit describes this as a loose, rose-gold finishing powder that’s “the final touch for a ‘gaze at me’ glow.” In Benefit’s signature, sassy style, one hot minute comes in a fun, retro copper tin that was well thought out. To avoid loose powder messes, the tin has a twist cap that closes tightly and includes a little plastic thingamajig that blocks the powder from shaking out when the container’s closed. It also comes with a unique, fan-style brush that lightly sweeps on the powder.

Getting Sexy in Seconds

I got to give one hit minute a spin at the event. Benefit makeup artist Jared Bailey gave me a summer look that’s fast and easy to apply. He applied the powder with the Benefit fantail brush ($22), which gives a featherlight dusting. I adore this brush. For the body or when you simply want to apply a heavier dusting of powder, he recommends using the bronzing brush ($22).

Here’s one hot minute of video of Jared working some magic with this fabulous powder.

Excellent Accompaniments

Jared also applied these gorgeous goods to give me shimmery eyes, the look of just-bitten lips, and an all-over glow.

• posie tint. This is fantastic for a quick tint of natural-looking pink that lasts all day. Jared applied it to my cheeks before one hot minute. You can also use it as a lip tint ($28).
• creaseless cream shadow/liner in birthday suit (a must-have shimmery, silvery taupe) – an ideal way to add incredibly lasting color to the eyes (in photo to left, $19).
• velvet eyeshadow in where there’s smoke (smoky grey) and bikini line (light gold) – new silky, silky, shimmery shadows ($18).
• BADgal liner waterproof – a new, award-winning, super black liner that’s so easy to use and really stays put ($20).
• BADgal lash mascara – a classic, best-selling mascara to add serious volume and length ($19).
• automatic lipliner duo in nudist colony – one of three versatile, new nude liners that work well with any lipstick – nude or not – and conveniently come with lip brushes on the one end. (that’s them in the center of the photo to the left, $20).
• benetint lip balm SPF 15 – an easy way to give lips a kiss of color, moisture, and sun protection. This is a perfect lip treat for summer ($20).
• brow tint. To bring out my brows so I don’t have to use so much powder to define them, I tried out brow tinting, one of the splendid services offered at the brow bar. I love the look. Never underestimate the power of a well-defined brow.

Coming Soon

one hot minute will be available in July as a Sephora exclusive. While at the Benefit boutique, I also got to see their new tantalizing trio of perfumes that are also coming out soon. Check back next week to get the scoop. Benefit is on a roll.

Extra Benefits

In the meantime, make a mad dash to benefitcosmetics.com to get 20% off your entire purchase. This offer is only good through the end of the today (use code MAKEUP20, one per customer). Or you can get a free Color Plump in Yoo Hoo (a gilded honey shade) with any $35 purchase until June 30th (no promo code needed). You might also like to take a peek at my video tutorial of a golden, summery look created with new Benefit Cosmetics that I’ve been wearing a lot lately and this video post of a makeup lesson with the recently introduced Benefit smokin’ eyes.

Do Tell

What do you think of one hot minute? Do tell.

P.S. Check out our regularly updated Beauty Resources page for some amazing beauty deals at benefitcosmetics.com, beauty.com, Sephora, and more.