NYC Big Bold Bronzing Powder Swatches & Quick Review

Purchased

NYC Big Bold Bronzing Powder Compact

Next up, also part of NYC’s new Let’s Paint The Town Collection, are the two Big Bold Bronzing Powders.  They come in two colors; ManhaTan is the lighter one, and MetropoliTan is the darker shade.

NYC Big Bold Bronzing Powder ManhaTan MetropoliTan

ManhaTan // MetropoliTan

And both have a really lovely design embossed on them – but note that it won’t last very long at all, because the embossing is quite shallow and the bronzers are on the powdery side. In fact, you can see some of the fallout / powder in the following swatches.

NYC Big Bold Bronzing Powder Swatches - ManhaTan MetropoliTan

Daylight bulb: ManhaTan, MetropoliTan

NYC Big Bold Bronzing Powder Swatches ManhaTan MetropoliTan

With flash: ManhaTan, MetropoliTan

Despite the fallout, these are both quite smooth and blend well.  They’re on the sheer side (which I think is a good thing for bronzers!) and, as you can see, are buildable to a moderate intensity – the swatches are multiple swipes with a sponge-tipped applicator.

I’m not great at undertones, but ManhaTan looks yellow-based to me, and MetropoliTan looks more neutral, but slightly red-based. I would not contour with either of them, because I prefer a more ashy / grey toned contour (like the ones I swatched in this post), but I do think they colors will work bronzers.

I see a slight sparkle in the pan with both shades, but it’s not visible in most lighting. In full sunlight, ManhaTan (the lighter shade) is matte with a slight sparkle, and MetropoliTan is a bit sheeny with a slight sparkle.  Inside, Manhatan appears quite matte, and Metropolitan has a bit of a sheen.  I would say that if you generally prefer not to wear shimmer on your face, these are still wearable; but if you loathe the thought of even a fleck of shimmer ever appearing on your face, skip them.

Overall, I think these are quite nice for the price (around $5 each; and there are some $1 off NYC coupons floating around right now that I used).  The texture of these is a bit powdery and not particularly refined, but they’re smooth and blendable, and the pigmentation level is exactly right for a bronzer – sheer enough to be foolproof, but easily buildable.  If you’re in the market for an inexpensive drugstore bronzer, these are worth a look!

 
*I purchased both of the featured products.  Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

New 2013 Physician’s Formula Bronze Booster Review & Swatches

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition

This new 2013 addition to Physician’s Formula’s Bronze Booster line of bronzers wins the longest name award – it’s apparently called the Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil – Deluxe Edition. It comes in two shades — Light/Medium and Medium/Dark — and I purchased both to swatch and review.

I don’t like the packaging – it’s a large, rounded-bottom compact with a brush included. I almost always dislike included brushes because I prefer to use my own tools and they just take up space. This is no exception – the compact would be sleek and pretty without the brush, but with it, it’s bulky and annoying. The brush is a nice shape, but it’s a bit scratchy and I don’t plan to use it.

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition packaging

packaging; compact with included brush

physicians formula bronze booster brush

The bronzer itself, however, is lovely – I really like the sunburst design, and (to be perfectly honest) it’s the main reason I was attracted to these bronzers in the first place. It makes me wish the compact were prettier to better show off the design! Do note that the bronzer is quite soft, so the sun design will wear away quickly. I swatched from one edge, and the design is already gone from that area of the bronzers.

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition - light / medium

Light / Medium

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition - medium / dark

Medium / Dark

The bronzers appear to have a very metallic sheen in the pan, and I was curious as to whether it was an overspray, or if they were the same texture all the way through. I dug a little way into one, and can confirm that there is no overspray – the top layer swatches identically to the lower layers.

Texturewise, these bronzers are very soft (almost to the point of being crumbly), and very smooth.  They are quite pigmented, and quite shimmery – I personally would not consider using them to contour, and I probably wouldn’t use them as bronzer either.  I think they’d actually make fantastic highlighters for darker-skinned women.  I also tested them out as eyeshadow, and they work well – they’re on the sheer side for eyeshadow, but workable, and very pretty.

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition - light medium swatches

Light / Medium: Heavy swatch, blended swatch

Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition - medium dark swatches

Medium / Dark: Heavy swatch, blended swatch

Swatches - Physician's Formula Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Airbrushing Veil - Deluxe Edition

Comparison: Light / Medium, Medium / Dark

 Overall, I’d recommend these if you’re looking for a glowy, shimmery bronzer. The bulky packaging isn’t my favorite, but the design is very pretty! The product itself is of nice quality – soft, pigmented, and very blendable, and the two colors are both wearable and nice.   These are expensive – I see them on Ulta.com for $15.99 each – but Physician’s Formula frequently has great  sales at the drugstore — 40% off, $6 off any product, etc. The new displays of these also have $3 off stickers (mine did), which can be combined with other discounts. 

Wet n Wild Fergie To Reflect Shimmer Palette Swatches & Photos

Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow

It seems like some of the most coveted items from Wet n Wild’s new Centerstage Fergie collection are the new To Reflect Shimmer palettes (now available to buy online), which are supposedly MAC MSF dupes.  I’ve already reviewed one, Rose Champagne  Glow – read my full review here.  Today, I have swatches of all three of the shades for you.

These shimmer palettesare very pretty in the pan:

A043 Carnaval in Rio

A043 Carnaval in Rio

A044 Rose Golden Goddess

A044 Rose Golden Goddess

A045 Rose Champagne Glow

A045 Rose Champagne Glow

And, swatches:

Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow swatches

Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow
daylight bulb

Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow swatches

Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow
with flash to show sparkle

Carnaval in Rio is a shimmery bronze that would work best as a bronzer on most skintones.  Rose Golden Goddess is an orangey – gold shimmer; this seems like a difficult shade to work with. It might work as a blush on lighter skintones and a highlighter on deeper skintones.  Rose Champagne Glow is a shimmer with small flecks of glitter, and is best suited as a highlighter.

Again, for a full review of the To Reflect Shimmer palettes, please click here.

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ELF St. Lucia Contouring Blush & Bronzing Cream Review & Swatches

ELF St. Lucia Cream Blush / Bronzer

ELF St. Lucia Cream Blush / Bronzer

I recently placed an ELF order, which consisted of several brushes and one makeup item – the new Contouring Blush & Bronzing Cream, which comes in one color, St. Lucia.  ELF’s original Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder is also named St. Lucia – so this is probably meant to be a cream version of that, though in the powder version both the blush & bronzer are shimmery, and neither of the cream products have any shimmer.

The blush and bronzer are housed in ELF’s standard black compact; I quite like ELF’s packaging, as it’s sturdy, sleek, and functional. You can see some beads of moisture on both the blush and bronzer, which is completely normal – almost all cream products have this when purchased.

ELF St. Lucia Cream Blush / Bronzer

The texture of these creams is nice – they’re quite pigmented, but no so pigmented that they’re hard to work with. They’re very blendable if your skin is moisturized, but tricky to blend on dry skin. They dry down quite slowly – you don’t need to worry about taking your time blending. I powdered over, and ended up with a natural finish – powdering over worked well, no caking or problems. I’m happy with the texture.

St. Lucia Cream blush swatch

St. Lucia Cream blush – one swipe / blended

St. Lucia cream bronzer swatch

St. Lucia cream bronzer – one swipe / blended

The blush is really great shade – it’s a very natural, easy-to-wear dusty pink – I think it would look good on fair to medium skintones.  The bronzer, however, is a difficult shade; it leans sort of yellow/orange, and it’s hard to image it working well on just about anyone as a bronzer (and definitely wouldn’t work on anyone as a contour shade).  Then, I tried layering them, with this result:

ELF St. Lucia Cream Blush swatches

blush, bronzer, both layered

I love the layered shade – it has just the right amount of pink and brown, and is very wearable and neutral.   So, even though I can’t see myself wearing the bronzer alone, I still have two great shades in this duo – the blush alone, and the two shades mixed.

Here’s a full face photo; I’m wearing both shades in this, applied quite lightly – no eye makeup at all because I’m on the way to the eye doctor. The blush is subtle, but it’s definitely there.

Wear time is around four hours, which is typical for me for cream blushes – they just don’t last well on me, especially since I tend to apply so lightly.  I’m sure I could get longer wear with a heavier application.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this duo for anyone with fair to medium skin – it’s a fantastic value, and one of the best products I have tried from ELF.

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This post is from Project Swatch. All rights reserved.

ELF Turks & Caicos Contouring Blush & Bronzer Review & Swatches

ELF Turks & Caicos Contouring Blush & Bronzer

ELF Turks & Caicos Contouring Blush & Bronzer – with flash

During ELF’s most recent 50% off Studio sale, I bought several of their new items to try out.  ELF has had one Contouring Blush & Bronzer duo for a while – I have a swatch of the bronzer side here – but recently added two new shades to the lineup.  Today, I have a review of the shade Turks & Caicos for you.  (The other new shade is Antigua – you can see swatches of it, as well as swatches of Turks & Caicos on a darker skintone, on Glam Morena here).

ELF Turks & Caicos Blush and Bronzer

Turks & Caicos Blush / Bronzer duo is packed in a nice, sturdy case with a mirror.  The pans are very easy to depot (if you wish), and the case can then be reused – I’ll show you how in a separate post.  The only downside of the packaging is that the name of the duo isn’t printed on it – there’s just a tiny sticker that falls off easily.

The blush and bronzer themselves are very smooth and pigmented; the texture is really nice.  Both are shimmery.

ELF Turks & Caicos Blush and  Bronzer swatches

Natural light

ELF Turks & Caicos Blush and  Bronzer swatches

With flash

I really love the blush shade – it fits in well with all the muted neutral blushes I’ve been loving lately, and the pigmentation and texture are just wonderful.  The only downside for me is the shimmer/sparkle, but it’s not too noticeable when applied.

The bronzer side isn’t a good shade for me – it’s too dark to use as a bronzer, and too warm to use as a contour shade – but I can imagine it working really well on someone with a darker, warm skintone.  Because of this, I may depot the blush, toss the bronzer, and use the compact as a travel eyeshadow compact (see my tutorial for how to do that here).

Overall, this is a nice little duo for $3, or $1.50 on sale.  I’m quite impressed with the quality!