Flashback Beauty Friday 96: BeneFit Glamourette

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Last week I shared a now discontinued product by Australian brand, SugarBaby (Glamour Puss), if you missed that. I'm hoping to blog every day in the run up to Christmas with special 'Holiday' launches past and present, as I did last year. I realised I have absolutely loads of limited edition Christmas releases, so can definitely manage another year of it, so that will replace our Friday posts during December. Today, I have one of my most treasured makeup items, something that makes me feel very nostalgic as I wanted this so badly.

It's the BeneFit Glamourette, which launched in 2002. BeneFit, at the time, were known for their vintage inspired packaging with the retro mannequin used in advertising and similar 'bust' styles on counters in stores. However, I think even for them, this was hugely retro and more grown-up or serious than their usual bright, colourful and kitsch items.

It's based on compact makeup from the 40's and The Makeup Museum has an amazing write-up comparing it to older styles (freakishly similar), it's well worth a read and look. Marketed as refillable, I'm sure I bought the extra items separately to switch in with what was given in the set. There's an outer sleeve and then a really nice, sturdy box with a hinged style lid (a bit like a jewellery/necklace box) that just has such a vintage feel and was not like anything else in the early Noughties.

Inside, the compact sits nestled into the base, I just love the way it's presented, like it's something truly special. It reads, Glamourette, inspired by luxury cosmetics of the 1940's, we introduce a makeup ensemble of classic neutrals with modern excitement. Glamourette...a ladylike symbol of style and chic. Again, not really words I'd associate with the silver-blue eyeshadow, overplucked brows, sticky lipgloss, butterfly clips and diamante branded, velour tracksuits that were de rigueur in Y2K.

The compact looks like an old fashioned hand-held mirror, in black plastic. It's small, but chunky. On one side you lift the round black lid to reveal a powder blush (rosy brown) and flat puff. There's a mirror under the lid.

The other side is mirrored and when you lift that, again there's a mirror on the inside of the lid (so three in total) and this time, powder and a puff. Weirdly, this was a one-shade powder. I actually forgot to swatch both powder products, maybe it's magically translucent on every skintone (highly doubt that though).

I also have the Cheek And Lip Highlighter in Fancy Lady, which could be switched out with either the blush or powder. It's a cream highlighter in an ivory-champagne shade, it's really pretty actually, but again, just the "one shade fits all" approach. This also came with a puff (you'll see I have an abundance of puffs here, that I have never and will never use).

Then, hidden in the stem of the mirror style compact is a lipstick, which twists out. My set is Divine, so the lipstick shade here (a very 90's brown) is of the same name.

I also have an extra, called Fickle, which I think I bought separately with the highlighter. Fickle is a pretty colour, a lighter, rosier shade than Divine. I've swatched both below, but Divine was very dried up, having been stored in the compact for so long. Fickle, I had an easier time with as it's had the removable cap on this whole time. The lipsticks just push up, no twist (reminds me of the Rimmel lippie I wore at school.  It was interesting to see in that other blog post, how the rounded shape of the lipstick was identical to the old version too.

In the box, under the compact, are some spare puffs (!) and a black, drawstring, organza bag to carry your compact in. Given that the compact overall is quite chunky, the bag wouldn't withstand much to be honest, but I appreciate the thought.

For me, this was never about being something I'd use every day, so I can't really complain about the lack of colour options or worry how quickly the lipstick would run out.  It's one of those things that's just so darling, I had to have it as a collectors piece. I still think it's adorable today, but rather niche for the time and the brand (given how *seriously* retro it looks).  I feel BeneFit have dialled down that vintage vibe in recent years with the rapid growth of their brow products, which is a pity as that was their usp.  Their California Kissin lip balms actually excited me recently, as they reminded me of older BeneFit products with that cute packaging-I'd love to see more like that from them.  What about you, do you remember this one?