Bobbi Brown in Town!

Bobbi Brown's Bronzing Powder is the newest addition to my ever growing (although it's needs to stop growing) bronzer collection.


When I tried it on in the store, I liked what I saw. The Sales Associate matched me to Dark. I thought I would have been Deep. Apparently the difference isn't in the depth of the color, but instead the undertones. Dark is more red, and Deep more golden; the yellow in Deep could have come off as ashy.

When I got home I tried it on half of my face over my MAC Select Tint. I like it if there is a bronzyness, it is very subtle. I should add that this is a matte product, without any shimmer. I love the finish of the product however. I'd like to keep it as a option for a finishing powder, because I don't always like to use my Prescriptives Magic powder, especially now that I've gotten toasty. I haven't noticed a problem with it per say but I am very cautious with it. And I have backed off of my Px Custom Blend Bronzer for the time being because it is probably the lightest of my bronzers and I don't want to look ashy. It's on the Disabled List until September.

Anyway, as I was saying, I like the finish of the powder. I think the bronze factor may be more evident with my tan fades sometime later this summer. I decided to compare this bronzer to my all time favorite Stila Sun #3. I applied it all over to the other side of my face, and realized that it is really subtle as well. It has a slight shimmer and you could see that, but it had the lightest touch of a glow. I love it, and it gives you the option to layer more prominent, shimmery bronzers over it. So I think I will keep this one, and layer other bronzers with it. What do you all think?

Don't Stop To You Get Enough

Yesterday's post about bronzers made me eager to get my greedy little paws on a few more bronzing products, so I dropped into to Sephora and here's what I got: LORAC Bronzer in Glow, Laura Mercier's Bronzing Duo in Pink Bronze, NARS The Multiple in Palm Beach and the Sephora Bronzing Trio. I was so impressed with the LORAC bronzer especially.

It is in the same color family as MAC's Refined Deeper Bronze, except it has a better texture and different finish. It compliments darker skintones so well and it looks so sexy on! That is really the only way I can describe it. Ladies, go get it, NOW!

Even though I don't really own anything from Laura Mercier, I always hear good things about the products.


The Bronzing Duo is half bronzer, half blush. The bronzer is deeper and browner that the LORAC one, not as sexy but definetly very wearable and both the bronzer and blush can be worn together, on the cheeks, or all over really.

The Sephora Trio is very simple, relatively cheap and nice. It gives a bronze highlight and the texture is smooth, not gritty. You could also use this a eye shadow.


And finally there is the Palm Beach. I was most disappointed in this product. It's gorgeous, and the texture is DIVINE, but it is so sheer and subtle. I wouldn't say it bronzes so much as it gives a subtle luminescent glow. It reminded me of a darker version of the Prescriptives Illuminating Cream Potion minus the light reflecting properties.. It's nice, but for my skintone, it doesn't do much. And it's not that I don't like subtle. The MAC FX bronzers are subtle (I rediscovered my love for Deeper Bronze today, no wonder I got a backup!), but this was $37 and I just don't know that I need it. And for $37 I better NEED it. It may be (probably is) going right back to Sephora on Thursday when I hit up the mall for Cool Heat.

I may also return my Iman bronzer. It is nice in it's own way, and it was cheap, but again, I just don't know that I need it. But it does serve a purpose, I like having options and it was only $12. I suppose it's a keeper.

I tried the Make Up Forever bronzer mentioned in my previous post. It looked like brown chalk. The Sephora Safari Bronzer was also a no-go. And Guerlain #4 wasn't at the actual Sephora store (only #1 and #2 were available) and it is sold out online. It's expensive anyway, and I am not going to buy something I can't see, especially something of this nature. There's a part of me that still want the Armani bronzer but I definitely will NOT be getting the Px Cooling Bronzing Powder. It would get not use at all.

Well that's it for now!

I Told You

That I was a bronzer whore. And below are the swatches to prove it.

I call these, "Bronzers that aren't really bronzers". Some (like Warmed MSF) create more of a warm glow or finish, rather than bronze per say, but they are in the general realm of bronzers. Ultimately is just depends on the effect you are going for.

First the products themselves:


And now the swatches:


(L to R - Deep Dark MSF, Warmed MSF, Stila Bronze Illuminating Finishing Powder, Off The Radar Pigment, Format Blush, and Sweet As Cocoa Blush)

These are actually bronzers by design, of the powder variety.

Again, product images (they're a bit washed out from the flash):


And swatches:

(L to R - Iman Sheer Finish Bronzing Powder in Clay, Prescriptives Custom Blend Bronzer, NARS Casino, Stila Sun #3 (d/c but easy to find), Prescriptives Bronzing Trio in Dark, CARGO in Dark, and MAC Bronzing Powder in Refined Deeper Bronze)

And now for liquid and cream stick blushes with MAC's Mineralize Loose Foundation thrown in for measure (I use it as a completely matte bronzer):




Almost there:

(L to R - Golden Face & Body FX Bronzer, and Deeper Bronze F&B FX Bronzer)

FInally:

(L to R - Bronzeray Bronzing Stick, Gold Magic, Rose D'or and MSF Loose in Deeper Dark)

Whew [wipes brow] !!! I think I am done swatching for a little while. I wish I could get better light settings on my camera to get more true to life swatches, but one does what one can.

A final note of bronzers (because I know you are sick of reading me blog about it)
You'd think I'd call it a day with the bronzers, but no, not at all. I just picked up the Iman Bronzer today at Walmart. I try to stay away from drug store makeup, but I figure Iman is a little classy, and I couldn't resist. My initial thought was that it was too sheer, and it is really sheer (an the packaging is hella cheap AND it was nearly $12 which is high for drugstore makeup), but I figure it would be good over my Select Tint (MAC) to maintain that dewy look. So [for now] I'm going to hold on to it. The thing is that there is just SO much variety in terms of finishes, coverage, and color family (golden vs. copper/orange, etc), it's exciting! And I wont lie, a lot of it is the thrill of the chase so to speak, because it is so hard to find bronzers that are deep enough for darker skintones, most end up looking like light (sometimes ashy) washes of pale gold shimmer. Not cute.

I have a few things on my things to try and buy list, some of which I have tried, but haven't bought:
- NARS Multiple in Palm Beach
- Sephora Luminous Trio in Bronze Trio
- Sephora Summer Safari Bronzer in Zebra
- Guerlain Terracotta Bronzing Powder #4
- Make Up Forever Mat Bronze in Earth
* Giorgio Armani in Shade # 8 (this stuff is super sheer and super expensive. I had it then returned it, but I still kind of want it)
* Prescriptives Sunsheen Cooling Bronzing Powder in Dark (I so don't need this and it is too sparkly, and yet...)

Until next time!

It's That Time Of Year

When the sun is blaring and we all get a little toasty. I've pakced away my winter powder and foundation as they no longer match (which I am pissed about because I JUST had that foundation mixed not too long ago and barely got any wear out of it. Who knows if it will match come this Fall!) My tinted moisturizer works for now, but I'll probably have to get a darker one blended later down the road.

Now generally I am in love with most types of makeup products, but I truly love bronzer. To borrow a fellow Specktralites phrase, I'm a bronzer whore. Too much is never enough. I layer bronzer over bronzer. At this point I could probably wear a different bronzer a day. I just purchased MAC's Refined Deeper Bronze and the new Mineralize Loose Foundation in Deeper Dark to wear as a matte bronzer. Because the shade is a bit darker and redder than my current skin tone, it works with a light hand. Now I have my eyes on Stila's discontinued Pivotal Sun Bronzer #2, which you can find at Fragrancex.com.



It looks beautiful and coppery, and as I love most things Stila I think this will be a winner.








Another idea of mine is to get a mineral foundation from Milan Minerals (www.milanminerals.com) and use that as a bronzer. Candace also has a few shades of bronzer and I may get a sample of one of them as well.

So here are some bronzer techniques that I love. For liquid bronzer, I like to apply the product over a liquid foundation or tinted moisturizer and follow with a light dusting of a slightly shimmery, but not overly so, bronzer. It makes no sense to apply a traditional powder product over a liquid bronzer because you'll negate the bronzy, dewy look you want to achieve. And I believe all liquid anything should be set with a powder, so this does the trick. In my case I use MAC's Face and Body Bronze FX in Deeper Bronze (released with Lure, Bait, & Hooked - Summer 2006) and set with my Prescriptives Custom Blend Bronzer. The latter is semi-matte and very translucent.

Matte and semi-matte bronzers work well all over the face, as a setting powder even, however shimmery and high shimmer bronzers should only be used where sunlight would hit the face, the cheeks, chin, etc. I like to avoid the forehead because shimmer on the forehead often looks oily or greasy. Instead, make a 3 or W motion with your brush. Imagine the 3 is the profile of your face: start at your temple, sweep to your cheek, and follow through at the chin. For the W look at your face head on and sweep downward from the temple, then up to the chin, and back up athe face to the other temple. For a matte shimmer try Guerlain Terracotta, which is too light for me, but would work for lighter complexions or Stila Sun, which is semi-matte. The Prescriptives Bronzing Trio is a great low shimmer bronzer. CARGO makes an awesome moderately shimmery bronzer as does MAC. And if you like your face glowing, try Prescriptives' Sunsheen Cooling Bronzer Powder or even a darker highlighting powder, Sephora's Luminous Trio (Bronze Trio) comes to mind.

I like to take it a step further and accentuate my cheek bones with a bronzing stick (in may case MAC's Bronzing Sticks, but you could also try a NARS Multiple in Palm Beach) or a golden powder like Stila's Sun Highlighter or for a softer look, try MAC's Iridescent Loose Powder in Golden Bronze.
Format or Raizin blushes (MAC) are gorgeous on the cheeks.
Finally, I add a darker brown shade to my contour. Try Chocolate Brown Pigment (MAC) or Twig or Barefoot eye shadows (Stila).

The result is a polished Bronze Goddess!!! Wow, I just got a little excited there. A little much? Maybe. Gorgeous? Definitely!