Benefit Hoola and Hoola Lite Comparison and Review

It’s summertime!! (YAY) Time for me to break out my bronzers. I generally tend to steer clear of bronzers through the winter months….and that’s because I’m so freaking pale then, no one would ever believe that I have a tan, or even just a titch of color. So, I look forward to the summer months to bronzify my face without baking in the sun.

In years prior I’ve always tried Hoola but always felt it was a touch too dark. Maybe it’s because I’m super pale, or maybe it’s because I sucked at blending and didn’t understand how to properly use it. This year, I’ve advanced my skills, but when I saw Hoola Lite, thought I had to try it because surely it’ll look more natural on my skin tone. Okay, so from Benefits website here is the description for both.

Hoola: Dust this award-winning bronzing powder over your chin, cheeks and forehead for a healthy, natural-looking “tan” year-round. It’s pure matte color…no sparkle or shine!

Hoola Lite: Now the award-winning hoola matte bronzer is joined by a lighter shade…hoola lite! This finely milled matte bronzer is perfect for fair complexions or for use as an all-over finishing powder. The soft-matte texture blends smoothly and seamlessly for a healthy, believable glow 365 days a year.

I have to say, one reason I like Hoola is because it is a Matte bronzer. Unlike my NARS Laguna (pictured on the right of the swatches) which is quite sparkly/shimmery. I generally use Hoola as a contour, but it can come off a bit harsh on my skin tone. So I got the Hoola Lite.

Hoola Lite is kind of a mistake for me, it’s really orange and a bit dirty looking on my face. On me, the color payoff is terrible, and it just looks really artificial and pretty terrible on my skintone. I don’t really have much good to say about it except that it may work out of the fairest of people. I applied it to my temples, forehead, jawline and cheekbones and it just looked so bad that I had to immediately remove it. The texture itself is okay and pretty velvety, it just didn’t work out for me. Lite is a velvety soft yellow toned tan color (on my skin)

Hoola original is a true winner in my book. It has good color payoff but it still super blendable. If you overdo it you can always top it with lots of loose or pressed translucent powder and that usually sheers it out for me. I do not apply either of these with the including brush as I find them to be crap in general. I apply them with my Bobbi Brown powder brush and also blend/buff them out with the same brush. I apply it at my temples/forehead, cheek line, jawline and sometimes down the sides of my nose. If I’m looking for a tanned look instead of contour I apply to my nose and middle of my forehead as well but you have to be careful in those areas because despite being matte, it does make skin a bit oilier. Hoola is a truly velvety soft bronzed color.

(L)Hoola Lite (R) Hoola

If I had to choose, I’d definitely choose Hoola, it’s pretty, it’s blendable, doesn’t turn orange and looks natural on me. I’ve also tested it against Too Faced Soleil chocolate bronzer and it’s still the clear winner. I give it an A+.

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Benefit Hoola Lite and Hoola

Hoola Lite Hoola and NARS Laguna

Final application of Hoola as bronzer.

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