The best way to test a blush or any makeup for that matter, is to only have 1 choice – the item you are testing. That way you have no choice but to make the most of it. That is what I did with Benefit Coralista blush this Chinese New Year.
Since we wear red for prosperity during the new year, I opted for Coralista to fit the bill as it is a lovely coral red blush.
My first perception of Coralista was not wrong. This is one nicely pigmented blush from Benefit, which definitely sets it apart from Dandelion and Georgia, both of which tend to be light on the pigment front. With Coralista however, tap your blush brush on the surface of the blush and be prepared to see the colour transfer immediately to your brush. It is that pigmented.
However, strangely enough, I found that although the pigment transfers well onto the brush, it goes on the skin rather sheer. So, what you get on your cheeks is a rather lighter flush of colour than what you would see from my swatch on the back of my hand. I do need to layer it on a little more than I expected for the colour to show up nicely, considering that my skin tone is rather on the lighter side.
When it does show up nicely, Coralista is a gorgeous coral-pink flush on the cheeks. Much has been made of how similar Coralista is to NARS Orgasm. I say pish! Coralista pips Orgasm for me!
Whilst, there is a similar pink-peach mix of colours with gold shimmer, Coralista has an added twist of coral red tones with more muted shimmer. Orgasm goes on more peachy. I couldn’t make any mistakes with Coralista because its sheer and you can build up the colour to the intensity you want.
Unlike Dandelion and Benefit, Coralista will show up even on those with medium-dark skin tones with a few layers. If you have light skin, use a light hand or tap off the excess of the blush before applying it to your cheeks. I can see it suiting most skin tones, warm and cool.
Bar the sweet tropical peachy smell that accompanies the blush, Coralista can do no wrong for me. I can see myself wearing it everyday (and I have for nearly a week!) for day and night. I do have to layer it on more at night to get the colour to show up stronger. I also do find that the colour fades a little throughout the day which is a bit of a pity.
I have left the box open for about half a day and this helps the sweet smell dissipate from the box. I’m not sure if its the subtle shimmer from the blush but I had people tell me that my skin looked very smooth especially on my cheeks, and I know my skin is a little dull at this point in time. So, do not underestimate the powers of blush and makeup! 🙂
Benefit’s new blush gets the thumbs up from me, which is saying a lot, as I have not found any new nice blushes that catch my eye to date. The Benefit Coralista blush is available online from Benefit Cosmetics for US$28 or wait for it to arrive at our Malaysian Benefit Cosmetics counters where it will probably retail for RM129. I’d say Coralista is a blush worth waiting for.
Pros: Sheer blush with subtle shimmer, Lovely color, Pigmented
Cons: Expensive, Colour fades a little, Smell is a little too sweet
[rating:4.5/5]
glad that it suits you! i had never tried any blush from Benefits due to the high retail price here in malaysia
Hi Akiki
Its cheaper to get it online – see if you have friends you can share in an order 🙂
The other day, I wore Orgasm on bare skin without layering it on ANYTHING. Perhaps I’d gotten tanned over the summer, it looked great! (After I told Syen and Tine that it looked brown on me the other night too!><)
I’m a little wary of Coralista, though. Peachy usually end up looking dirty on me 🙁 Glad it worked on you, can’t wait for this overpriced paper box to hit Down Under 😛
Hi geekchic
Strangely many tanned girls say Orgasm doesn’t show up on them! Glad you got it to work for you. Coralista is more red than peach but check it out in person first.
Thanks for the review girl! I’ve been waiting for it, and am glad to see the swatch. I’m going to wait till it comes out here (apparently it’ll come out next month or so) and see if I can tahan the smell ;p
Hi Tine
Yep, take a big sniff and see – it doesn’t stay long but it IS sweet.
lovely color! 🙂 Thanks for the review and if it’s a “thumbs up” from the blush queen 🙂 LOL this must be something 🙂
Hi Nikki
LOL… Yep I haven’t had a blush excite me in a while. 🙂
Oooh! I like how it appears on the swatch. Nice! Oh boy, the lemming list grows longer…
Hey rinnah
Careful… lemmings fall over cliff edges… 😉
thanks for the review…. Coralista is in my wishlist…wuhuhuhu 😉
Hi Aiyu
You’re welcome – do check it out in person first – the smell can be strong 😉
Thanks to your reviews…..I’m lemming for more and more Benefit stuff. Just came back from town, bought the LE lip gloss set. Just can’t help myself……there’s six glosses in a box!! And now I can’t wait to check out the new blush. Still not at the counter yet 🙁
I think getting their palettes/sets are really quite worth it, even though the sizes of the products may be smalller. But hey, so what? You can have several different items for, say, about RM100-200. the lip gloss set has 6 glosses for RM115 only, when 1 gloss is between RM65-73.
Btw, if anyone interested to get Primpcess which is already sold out, the SA just told me, there’ll be some stocks coming in the next few weeks, but will be limited number. So need to reserve. And I just did for mine 😉
Hi Vonvon
Thanks for the heads up about the sets. I’m not that into Benefit to be honest – just these few box blushes 🙂
I love Benefit, but I really hate the packaging of their blushes/bronzers. Makes it so difficult to carry the blush around.
Hi Me
I don’t find it hard to carry around, but I don’t like the fact its cardboard and deep which makes it hard to get a brush into. Thanks for coming by!
I tried it before I went to work today. Really nice! Haha.. Let me finish up my georgia blush first. Then I’ll buy this.
But it’ll be hard to finish it… I only use it when I have my monthly aunt flo visits [that’s when my skin will look pale and dull.]
Hi Ms. Blacklace
Nice right? At least you know what to get next! 😉
Ooh, that IS a SWEET color! I wanted to tell you that the Georgia is really very light, but this one really looks pigmented!
Hi giddy tigress
Yes Georgia is very light – works for me on dull days but its not a blush colour. Coralista is pigmented but not strong if it makes sense.
ah, lovely!
i think it’s out ady in stores, though I am not too sure. for rm129, i think it’s kinda an ouch factor for a blusher 😛
but still… this looks darn pretty! 😀
dang… stop tempting me!! I loved Georgio as an all over finishing power. Make my skin look so fresh.
Hi Connie
Oops! 😛
I love this blush, the smell is soo beautiful, sometimes I find it goes on too shimmery though – do you find that too? But I love it nonetheless.
Hi Ida-Maria
I love this blush too 🙂 I don’t find it too shimmery though. Its sorta just nice for me 🙂