Of Fairy Tales, Movies and Makeup- Snow White and the Hunstman Review and Benefit Cosmetics Event

Jumping on the Snow White bandwagon with a slightly darker twist, comes this new film from Universal Pictures “Snow White and the Huntsman.” The film stars Charlize Theron, as the Queen Ravenna, who murders the king and takes over the kingdom of Snow White, played by Kristen Stewart. Knowing only a secret divulged later in the movie, the Queen must be rid of Snow White, but can’t kill her, so she locks her in a tower where she is for several years. The few members of the King’s court who escaped, which included Snow’s Prince- William played by Sam Claflin, formed a new kingdom far from the claws (literally) of the Queen.

When the Queen sends her creepy brother (named Finn played by Sam Spruell) to fetch her to be killed, Snow manages to escape and runs through the kingdom where she ends up lost in a Dark Forrest. The Queen then enlists a drunk, angry Huntsman, played by Chris Hemsworth, to hunt her in the Forrest to bring her to him. But when he meets Snow and learns of the betrayal the Queen has in store for him, he decides to help Snow in her journey to find the other kingdom and bring an army to overthrow the Queen.

The first thing I have to say about this movie is that it is stunning- the visuals are beautiful. The use of color and landscape is amazing and coincides with a dark undertone the film is driving to. Charlize Theron was a great wicked queen and I loved how she was not only beautiful but you could see the icyness of a woman scorned and damaged- different than most Snow White wicked stepmothers out there. While Kristen Stewart was an alright Snow White, she still carried with her a lot of Bella Swan features that I don’t feel this version of Snow would possess. Snow White in this film can be compared to a Joan of Arc figure and I just didn’t see how this character who looked afraid of her own shadow for most of the film could lead a revolution. The Huntsman character had to be one of my favorites. Chris Hemsworth plays those burly guys well- but with the Huntsman there was an added layer of pain. I only wished the movie hadn’t tried to wrap up his character so quickly after giving it more layers.

Since we’re talking about a fairy tale about a princess awoken by a kiss, you must be asking- so where’s the romance? The movie downplayed the romance and really wanted to portray Snow as this strong, independent female made to lead a kingdom. Was there a kiss? Of course there was- but the question of if the kiss was one of chaste love vs. romantic love was never addressed. However, if you are thinking about taking your younger children to see this, I wouldn’t recommend it. There is tons of violence and death and some situations you probably don’t want them to see. I would recommend this movie for the tween set and maybe a date night, as I am sure this visually stunning and warrior type scenes would be entertaining for both men and women.  This is definitely a movie to be watched on the big screen as that is the only way you can take in it’s cinematic beauty and crazy effects (hint- the queen’s name Ravenna- yea, i’m sure you can guess)

The makeup that Kristen Stewart wore throughout the filming to capture Snow White’s beauty was provided by Benefit Cosmetics. In fact, Benefit has just released a Snow White and the Huntsman Rare Beauty Kit that retails for $45 to help make you the fairest in the land.

Kit contents

• BADgal Lash Mascara (full size, retails for $19): I am in awe of this mascara. It gave me these crazy princess like lashes. Has become one of my musts for a night out with the man. In fact, I talk about this in the video below.
• The POREfessional (full size, retails for $29): This professional balm minimizes the appearance of pores. Love.
• Benetint (sample size): Gives you just enough color to make it look like a natural flush but not too much to make it seems all fake.
• High Beam (sample size): Gives you an “angelic sheen” with its pink shimmering glow and it works on all skin tones.

If you want to know what I think about the products and the movie, check out the video below which my friend Caryn of Rockin’ Mama and I filmed at a special event hosted by Benefit Cosmetics after our sneak peak into Snow White and the Huntsman.

Disclosure: I was invited to a media preview of the film and attended an event from Benefit. No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.