March 20, 2011

Beauty Brawl: Benefit High Beam Vs. The Body Shop Radiant Highlighter

In this new series, I'll be choosing two similar products at a time to compare in a beauty showdown! They will be different brands and different price ranges, but only one will come out the winner! This time, I'll be comparing The Body Shop's Radiant Highlighter (available here for $14) and Benefit's High Beam Luminescent Complexion Enhancer (available here for $24)

What they say...

Note: I obviously only have
 a miniature size of High
Beam, haha.




The Body Shop claims that their highlighter enhances skin's natural radiance and creates glowing accents for healthy-looking skin through light-reflective particles that help reduce the appearance of imperfections and fine lines. It also contains vitamin E and aloe vera to help soothe the skin.

Benefit, on the other hand, calls High Beam an ethereal pink liquid highlighter that creates a radiantly dewy complexion that can be used for spot highlighting and for mixing into foundation for an all-over glow.






What I say...

Look how similar these are!

Both highlighters have the same shimmery shell pink color and liquid texture. High Beam comes off a little more pink in the container, while the Body Shop's radiant highlighter seems a little more flesh-toned. As far as packaging goes, these two products are pretty different. The bottle of High Beam I'm showing in these pictures is a miniature version, but the full size has the same almost nail-polish style bottle. The Body Shop's version comes in a squeeze tube. The full size of High Beam is $24 for .45 oz while The Body Shop highlighter is a whopping .84 oz for just $14.




Overall, I think I like the High Beam packaging better. It makes for easy, neat application while a tube like the Body Shop's has the potential to be messy, as you can clearly see on the right!




Now, for swatches, which I have to admit I was shocked by. 

Unblended: The Body Shop on the left,
Benefit on the right. Sorry it's blurry, but this best captured
 the color
Blended: The Body Shop on the left, Benefit on the right

Guys, I think I discovered a High Beam dupe. Holy crap. In the interest of full disclosure I've been using the Body Shop Radiant Highlighter for quite a while and have always loved it, but I only recently got my mini High Beam. I've had it in my head for a while that the two might be similar, but it wasn't until I swatched them now that I realized just how close they are!

As you can see, the difference between them is pretty damn marginal. High Beam might look a tinnnnny bit nicer blended in, but it's not super noticeable. As far as lasting power goes, I let the swatches sit on my hand for about an hour after taking these pictures and they both looked exactly the same up until a minute ago when I did a rub test. And guess what: High Beam rubbed off first.


And the winner is...


The Body Shop's Radiant Highlighter!

This was really not a difficult decision at all. Yes, I like Benefit's packaging better and it looks a TINY bit nicer blended in, but I am certainly not going to be paying $10 more for about half as much product as I would be getting from the Body Shop!

I've always loved the Body Shop, but doing this comparison really just solidified how for me how truly awesome they are!

Do you guys think this looks like a legitimate dupe?


11 comments:

  1. WOW, it is a legitmate dupe. sucks benefit is expensive, i have a full size bottle. but i justify it with saying that it'll last me a long time and ive had it over a year and i still have tons left!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MeMeMe cosmetics also have a Benefit High Beam Dupe very similar packaging as well. They have other benefit dupes like Posie tint and Bene tint if I'm correct. I might be buying them at the end of this month! Great comparison btw :)

    X

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Christine- thats true, a lot of the expensive products out there last absolutely FOREVER, thank goodness haha.

    @Carla- Hm, I'm not familiar with MeMeMe cosmetics, I'll have to check them out! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think it's a perfect dupe!! I've been looking for something to replace my high beam.. and I think I just found it! I read that No.7 Illuminator is also a good dube for the high beam.. But I didn't like the packaging of the No.7 one..

    Thanks so much for this post! Very informative!

    Awesome blog btw.. I'm following ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, these look so similar. I prefer the packaging of the Benefit highlighter but The Body Shop's is so much better value! x

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow what a great find! :}
    I've always been reluctant about buying High Beam due to the ££££
    I def. need to get the Body Shop one now!

    xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Definitely looks like an awesome dupe! Thanks :)

    xo

    http://melodyofbeauty.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Delyteful Speaks- Thanks for following and I'm glad I could help you find a High Beam replacement =)

    @Lily- Yeah it's too bad the packaging isn't a bit nicer but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to save some money!

    @Charls- Yay, you post a review if you do buy it- I'd be curious to see what you think!

    @Melody of Beauty- You're welcome, and thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It definitely does! I hadn't realized the body shop carried a highlighter like this. I'm a huge fan of Benefits High Beam so I will definitely check this out! Thanks!

    Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Jenny- You're welcome! I love the Body Shop so I'm happy to turn people on to their products =)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nice comparison! I think I will go for the body shop highlighter! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for reading and commenting! If you leave a question for me, be sure to check back for my response or feel free to email me at embellishmentsbeauty@gmail.com!