I was in the market for a new foundation and my eyebrow gal suggested I try this one. To be fair, she's a Benefit Brow Gal, and recommended a Benefit product, so...yeah.

First impressions are that this looks happy, but also fairly childish. The little emoji face didn't really do it for me. It's not that I'm too classy for that noise or anything, but it does bring the whole vibe down in age quite a bit. I think it's cute though. That wouldn't stop me from buying it. What would stop me from buying it is that it only comes in 12 shades. It's hard to find a foundation shade normally, but when there's only 12 shades, it gets nearly impossible, especially if you're more than moderately tan. 

I wear shade 3. See what I mean about the shade range? I am whiiiiite and a quarter of the shades are already too light. It's billed as a light-medium coverage soft-blur foundation. I think that's pretty accurate. It's very fluid, compared to many thicker formulas, and I drop the foundation straight onto my face. I think light coverage is accurate. You can see most of the imperfections after a layer, but it makes my pores vanish and my skintone even. It's pretty much my ideal summer foundation in that regard.

In terms of wear time, there aren't any miracles here. Because it's so light coverage, it's hard to tell when it's fading. It lasts about 8 hours right now, and that's in the sun of the summer. I bet during the fall when I'm wearing it to the office, it will last a little better. I have normal skin and it doesn't break up or get cakey with wear. 

One thing that I do appreciate is that if you're not up for buying the foundation in its fullsize, Benefit is selling a few of the shades in deluxe samples. The downside to this? Sephora was very hesitant to give me a sample. Why don't you just buy the little one? No, I want to try it and then buy the fullsize. Reduce waste and number of returns, right? I guess that the sale today is more important than the return tomorrow. 

I like this foundation. I will keep wearing it throughout the summer, and maybe into the fall. I don't think that it's particularly new and interesting compared to other offerings, but it does the job at a price point I'm comfortable with. I don't like the spectacularly limited shade range. In this day and age, it's not really possible to release only 12 shades. The internet won't allow it, and will call you on it. 

Benefit Hello Happy retails for $29, and comes in a standard one ounce bottle. Available at Sephora, Ulta, and other makeup retailers.

Let me know your thoughts! Does Benefit Hello Happy make you happy?