Benefit Rockateur Blush Review


A few days ago Benefit launched a flash sale of their newest blush Rockateur which will be available for sale on August the 22nd but today while getting my brows waxed in the House of Fraser Glasgow I noticed that they had the stand out and were merrily selling the blushes despite the somewhat embargo...naughty. Basically if you can't wait until late August I suggest hitting up the House of Fraser and chancing your luck! 

Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review

I did want to post my review a few days ago but I wanted to wait until I had all the information regarding the weight of this product. As you may or may not know all Benefit boxed blushes retail for the same price (£23.50) and on average weigh around 7 to 8g yet Rockateur is slightly more skimpy in weight at 5g, rightly so a few have queried the sudden weight drop. The official explanation is as follows: “Soft formulas can crack if they sit in a pan that’s too deep; Rockateur is made differently to the rest of our powders and so the size, rather than the price, reflects this.”
Other than the weight decrease the boxed blush is very typical of Benefit - a small, hinged top reinforced cardboard box that comes complete with a brush and mirror. Despite being cardboard I find this style of packaging to be fairly robust and have yet to experience any true problems but I will warn you that with continuous use the cardboard does age and can become a little grubby and worn.

Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review

The weight might be somewhat skimpy but the powder is rather pretty and the only current embossed cheek powder by Benefit. The Rockateur pan is embossed with a cubic design and the word rock, a little cheesy but pretty none the less. On close inspection the blush is made up of two rose gold shimmer sections with a more matte segment in the middle of the same shade - if you used a brush like Illamasqua's Blush Up Brush you could easily use both finishes individually which does give you more bang for your buck. Benefit describe their Rockateur offering as a "rockin' rose gold" and I somewhat agree. To me this is a little like their Dallas powder not so much in shade but for the fact it tinkers in-between being a blush and a bronzing hue - essentially this is a dusky cool toned rose gold that gives an almost sunkissed effect without being bronze. In my opinion this is best suited as a blush on light to light medium skin tones as the deeper the skin tone the more metallic this shade appears and as a result it can look a little off. However those with a deeper complexion may find this to be a great rosy highlighter. I don't have any outright dupes of this shade but NARS Deep Throat is somewhat similar in tone but not finish.

Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review
Benefit Rockateur Blush Review

In the pan this does look appear to be rather shimmer based and as someone with less than perfect skin (hello enlarged pores) this can be troublesome but luckily the shimmer element is beyond fine and gives more of a luminous finish rather than being all out disco-tastic with glitter chunks!
Benefit were not kidding when they stated that this is a softer formula than normal, it almost feels gel like on the skin and only requires the lightest of touch when it comes to application to avoid damaging the product. In terms of pigmentation I would say that it is on par with what we have come to expect from Benefit - not so pigmented that you have to worry but not at all lacking in colour pay off that you have to cake it on, the perfect fuss free middle ground formulation in my opinion. In terms of wear again I found it to be typical of Benefit's past offerings - with primer it wore for close to 8 hours and without it was closer to the 6 hour mark on my oily skin.

Benefit Rockateur Blush will launch online via Benefit UK on August the 22nd - link


Random Fact - Keith Moon of The Who was the inspiration for Muppet drummer, "Animal."