Hold Me Close // Dusk Til Dawn // Everything Under the Sun
Wet n Wild has released a small collection for Summer 2014; it includes three limited edition ColorIcon bronzer/blushes which I’ll be reviewing today plus six nail polishes. First, let’s take a look at the three limited edition bronzers compared to the three permanent bronzers. Continue reading
Physician’s Formula Bronze Booster BB Cream
Whoever is in charge of Physician’s Formula seems to be totally obsessed with bronzers – there are 34 different TYPES (not shades) listed on their website. Their newest bronzer-related innovation is a “Bronze Booster” Glow-boosint BB cream that supposedly replaces moisturizer, foundation, sunscreen, and bronzer. It sounded to me like it would likely just be a too-dark foundation, but I was too intrigued not to try it out (on sale!).
Covergirl recently released three “skin perfectors”, called the truMagic “The Perfector”, “The Sunkisser”, and “The Luminizer”. They’re silicone-based, and Covergirl categorizes them online as primers and claims that they create a “soft, smooth finish” that “controls shine” and “won’t clog pores.” They are permanent, and now available online at Ulta.com & drugstore.com – drugstore.com also has a mini version available for around $5, which I haven’t seen in stores.
The first thing I noticed is that the packaging is WAY bulkier than it needs to be.
There is no reason it can’t have a flat lid! I guess you could store a sponge in there (it comes with one), but it seems like a bad idea to store a sponge on top of a cream.
Packaging aside, the product itself is very nice. It feels like cross between a silicone primer and a cream to powder blush. I think the name “sunkisser” is a good one – at least on my skintone (around MAC NC20), it does create a natural sunkissed / bronzed look.
heavy swatch // blended out
I rarely wear bronzer on my face, so lately I’ve been using this on my neck, to even out my skintone (my neck is much lighter than my face, despite daily sunscreen). I find that it lasts well & doesn’t rub off on my clothing. It’s easy to apply lightly or heavily – a sponge gives heavier coverage than fingers – and looks natural both ways.
I can’t really speak to controlling shine, because (especially in the winter), my skin produces very little oil. Luckily, this doesn’t seem to dry out my skin!
Overall, I would recommend this as a lightweight, matte finish cream bronzer.
*I purchased the product(s) featured in this post. This post contains one or more affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.
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.
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.
Daylight bulb: 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.
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.
packaging; compact with included 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.
Light / Medium
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.
Light / Medium: Heavy swatch, blended swatch
Medium / Dark: Heavy swatch, blended swatch
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.
*Contains affiliate links
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 |
A044 Rose Golden Goddess |
A045 Rose Champagne Glow |
And, swatches:
Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow |
Carnaval in Rio, Rose Golden Goddess, Rose Champagne Glow |
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.
