Friday I hosted a House Party. If you never heard of House Party, it’s a party site. The have many different parties they facilitate. You apply to host the party, and if you are chosen you get a party page where you can keep track of your party planning, send invites, etc. Best of all, they send you a party box. You don’t always get accepted for parties but keep trying! I have been accepted to some and not others. It all depends what they are looking for or how many people have applied. It’s a great way to host a party on a budget and even though it is a “product party”. There are NO sales involved. It gives people a chance to try new things and get coupons for those products.

This time I hosted a Benefit make up party – “Laughter is the Best Cosmetic”. My party pack included Benefit’s whole line of foundation, samples of their Bad Gal mascara and “Pore”fessional for all my guests, picture frame magnets and coupons. There were cute little gift bags for people to carry their products home in. They also sent me: a full size Benetint lip and cheek stain, blush, “Pore”fessional, eyeshadow, and blush.

Along with the party gifts they included a few catalogs that told us about their products and a whole book on eyebrows. There is literally everything and more than you ever needed to know about eyebrows and how to take care of them in this book.

Some of my guests ended up having things come up and couldn’t make it but even with a small group we still had fun. We had bread and Easy Potato Soup for lunch. Then for dessert my friends brought apple crisp and strawberries and I had Berry Cheesecake Parfaits from a recipe my sister found.

Every one found their foundation shade so they could take a sample bottle home with them. Some of the things we loved about the foundation were – it applies very lightly and you feel like you have no make up on, yet it evens your skin tone out. The bottles are designed so that as you use the product the bottom of the tube moves up so there is no excess air in the tube. It also has a pump top and the tube is actually a little bottle so it stands upright. The foundation has no fragrance but many of the other products are lightly scented – not that chemical scent but pretty scents. The “Pore” fessional was one of my favorite products. It goes on so lightly and smoothly but it smoothed out all the little bumps under my eyes and made my face look fresh. My sister loved their mascara because it made her eyelashes really pop. No need for fake lashes when you have Bad Gal mascara. Benefit products do not come with a “cheap” price tag but it is so worth it. The quality and wear of the product speak for the price tag. It convinced even this frugal mama. You can find Benefit make up products at Sephora, Ulta, Macy’s, Amazon, and Benefit.com. Better yet, find a coupon you can use at one of those stores when you buy it.

Thank you to House Party, Benefit Makeup, and my friends for a successful party.