The Bronzers

Hello lovelies, let’s discuss bronzer, shall we? When I first started wearing makeup, I refused to wear bronzer! I thought bronzer was only for people who were trying to achieve a “tan” look and I didn't fit into that category! While this is still the case for some, I realized quickly how amazing and versatile bronzer can actually be, so let’s begin with my favourite bronzers.

The first bronzer that I bought and still use up until this day is MAC’s Give Me Sun. Before I begin, let me forewarn you that this bronzer is not for everybody, for reference I wear Nars Sheer Glow in the colour Stromboli. If you have olive/tan skin with yellow/golden undertones then you will love this bronzer. It has a warm terracotta base. The warmth in this bronzer really give a radiant look to the skin and as an added feature I use this on my eye crease and it really opens up my eyes. It is a skinfinish, therefore it’s a bit pricier but it last for years and is mineral based, which means no clogged pores!

I also love Benefit’s Hoola ($36 CAD), I had heard so many raving reviews for this product but I would always walk past it thinking it wouldn't show up on my skin even after swatching it on the back of my hand I wasn't convinced. Eventually I caved and bought it and it did show up on my skin and is perfect for a daytime contour because of it’s true matte finish with a neutral undertone. It looks so natural and it’s comes with a brush perfect for contouring. I really love that it’s also buildable, so if you require a bit more colour, say for the summer months, you can intensify the colour and it won't look muddy. 

I only have one cream bronzer to mention. Cream bronzera are not too common and honestly I don’t know why. The Chanel Soleil De Tan – Universal ($48 CAD) is my favourite and for good reason. This one is a terracotta base and is absolutely perfect for medium/tan complexions. I absolutely love this product in the summer, it gives such a natural and smooth finish and is easy to blend. I also like it to really define my contour, so I’ll use it under a powder contour. If you live somewhere hot or are going on vacation this is the bronzer for you as it’s really radiant and glowy.

I can’t have a bronzer list without mentioning Nars Laguna ($45 CAD). This is another cult product from my favourite brand. Like Hoola, I had heard so much rave about this bronzer but thought it would be too light to use as a contour. It’s a warm brown with very fine flecks of glitter that are not apparent once applied to the face. I was at a duty free store at JFK airport and they had a Nars counter where they were selling this for I think $34 and I had some extra USD cash on me so I thought I might as well give it a shot. I really like this bronzer for an everyday contour, it’s got the perfect amount of warmth and hue to it for an easy application. I also like that it can be buildable to provide a stronger contour should you desire it. Additionally, I really like to use it as an eyeshadow for a brown smoky eye. I think if Hoola is too light for you, this might be more to your liking!

For the ladies that like a little more shimmer in their bronzer I would recommend MAC’s Delphic (limited edition) if you can get your hands on it. It’s a neutral tone bronzer that’s an Extra Dimension finish, which means it provides a beautiful sheen. If you’re unable to find it another bronzer I love is the Illamasqua duo in Glint and Solar. Glint is a highlighter with a champagne sheen and Solar is a warm bronzer with a red-bronze sheen. I like to mix the two together and it give my cheeks the most luminous glow, I always get compliments when I wear this and sometimes when I’m wearing minimal makeup I just add this to my cheeks without anything else and it provides a nice hint of colour and glow!

  

Last but certainly not least is my main contour the Balm’s Bahama Mama ($22 CAD). This is the bronzer I use when I want to really sculpt out my face. This is definitely not a bronzer I use all over my face as it’s a straight up deep brown. The pigmentation, like with all other the Balm products is insane, I just use the smallest amount and it gives me enough pigmentation. I use a contour brush from Morphe that I picked up at IMATS to apply the two lines in the hollow of my cheeks and then use my MAC 109 contour brush to blend it out and that’s it, I’m done. It blends well and give a very defined contour.

I should mention that I use a Real Techniques blush brush for all over bronzer application and my MAC 109 brush to contour. Let me know some of your favourite bronzers! xo.

Real Techniques Blush Brush

MAC 109 Samll Contour Brush

Sephora VIB Sale

Hello lovelies, it’s that time of year again where make up junkies like myself are able to binge shop a little less guiltily with the Sephora VIB 20% sale. This year it caused quite a ruckus in Canada as the website was down for the first couple of days of the sale! Fortunately for me I have a handful of Sephora stores at my disposable so needless to say I did a bit of damage. This year I only wanted blushes and lipsticks since I just came back from NYC in September and had stocked up on my essentials (foundation, concealer ect.). This is a great time to start any holiday shopping as the holiday sets are available and great for presents, I did not pick up any sets this year as I find when I have mini items I don’t tend to use them and they end up in a big Sephora Ziploc bag I have that I rarely divulge into. So without further ado let’s begin!

First of all, I picked up NARS Lovejoy ($35 CAD), which I would describe as a warm bronzy colour with a hint of rose and very fine flecks of glitter, that are not noticeable once applied to the cheeks. This blush, like all the other NARS blushes I have tried is amazing. It’s well pigmented and blendable with minimal fall out. Lovejoy is perfect for a bronzy look and I would describe it as one shade away from a bronzer. It provides the perfect gradient when applied on top of a contoured cheek giving an overall warm, glowy look. I think this would be perfect for tan, medium and olive skin tones as it can give a natural glow, but otherwise might be too muddy for fairer skin tones and probably won’t show up on darker skin tones. Overall the longevity of the blush is about 6-7 hours on my normal skin. I love this blush and will probably use this a lot during the summer months!

I also picked up NARS Deep Throat ($35 CAD). Excuse the inappropriate name, but that’s what NARS is known for. I actually already have this shade, it was in the Guy Bourdin blush set that I bought last year, however that palette, while it’s traveler friendly on overnight stays it’s not convenient to throw in my make up if I’m going out after work or require a touch up on a very long day. I also received it in the 500 points peek at Sephora over the summer but my lovely mother loved it as much as I did so needless to say I no longer have that one. I absolutely love this blush; it is such a flattering, universal blush that compliments numerous make up looks. It’s a pinky-peach blush with more pink than peach. Similar to Lovejoy it has fine flecks of glitter that are not noticeable once transferred to the skin. It provides the perfect amount of pink and peach to give the cheeks a very radiant look. If you are in the market for a phenomenal blush this is the one I highly recommend, I actually prefer this to NARS O! Personally, if I could only use one blush for the rest of my life this would be the one! It has such a beautiful sheen to it that you don’t even need to apply a highlighter but if you choose to it wouldn’t be overwhelming. Seriously I cannot say enough good things about this blush.

Lastly for the NARS blushes I picked up Almeria ($35 CAD), which is from the Laced With Edge holiday collection. I was debating between Taos and Amour but then I spotted this and instantly knew this was the winner. It’s a bit different from the other NARS blushes I have in my collection as it’s what I would consider a NARS matte; matte with very very fine flecks of gold glitter but very few and far between. Also the consistency is different too, while still a powder it’s creamier and very blendable, which it needs to be as it’s highly pigmented. It’s a deep brick red shade with a warm undertone. This colour is universal but obviously depending on your skin tone you can apply either more or less. I personally use the MAC 116 blush brush and gently pick up a small amount which is enough pigment for both my cheeks, so this one is going to last me forever. I realize that deep/bright colours like Almeria can be extremely intimidating in the pan, but trust me if applied with a light hand it can give the most naturally flushed look. I think Almeria is perfect for the colder months ahead and will look amazing paired with a plum lipstick, I personally applied mine with Becca Topaz and it looked so festive.

(from top to bottom: Lovejoy, Deep Throat, Almeria)

Before the sale started I had done a bit of research for a new highlighter. NARS Albatross has been my one and only for a strong 4 years and while I have tried to wander, nothing has really has been better, although some have come close. This time I was really determined. Recently Becca Opal has been all the rage when it comes to highlighters and although I really tried to buy it in NYC (went to 5 different Sephora stores that were all sold out!!) once I got my hands on a tester I realized it wasn’t the one for me. I find it’s not yellow/gold/bronzy enough so it ends up leaving a white-ish cast, which makes it look really artificial and defeats the purpose of a highlighter. I also wanted to get my hands on Becca Champagne (limited edition), but once again that was sold out everywhere! So my second option was Topaz ($46 CAD); a bronze-golden highlight. I was a bit reluctant at first because while it’s beautiful colour (even as an eyeshadow) I was skeptical because I thought it would be perfect for the summer months but not the winter. Well thankfully I was completely wrong. Once applied it gives a very warm golden highlight, which I think is so flattering on tan, medium and dark skin tones. It looks so luminous and has the right amount of gold pigment that when it hits the light it looks so golden, think J.Lo glow. It’s very blendable and highly pigmented so use a light hand, I use mine with a fan brush which give me leverage to pick up the right amount of product and distribute it well.

Additionally I desperately wanted to buy a Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, as I had heard SO much praise for them but hadn’t really thought I would utilize the product enough. Well, with the sale I thought, why not? So I ended up purchasing the colour Bronze ($51 CAD). I now know what all the hype was about. This product is beautiful and so versatile. It comes with five different strips of colour which can be used individually on in conjunction with one another and can be used as eye shadows as well! I personally swirl all the colours together and apply on top of my cheeks/blush to give the most luminous, healthy glow to the face. It can also just be used on the high points of the cheek. This product does have a bit of fall out so make sure to tap your brush before application, otherwise it’s well pigmented and lasts about 6 hours. I also use a fan brush to sweep this on as it can be a bit over the top if applied with a heavy hand. I think I would only buy one more, something a bit more champagne coloured, but for the most part I find the other Shimmer Bricks too pinky and unfortunately that does not compliment my skin tone, however they do look really beautiful in the pan, so if that’s what works for you by all means go ahead, you won’t regret it!

(From left to right: Bobbi Brown Bronze and Becca Topaz, pressed)

As mentioned above, Sephora online is still encountering problems with international shipping, as per their twitter account so unfortunately for me I will be waiting a little bit longer for my online purchases. I will just add them to my IMATS Toronto haul. Luckily for me it was only two lipsticks that were sold out in store that I’m still waiting for. I did manage to nab a couple while in store. The first one I purchased it NARS Pigalle (anybody see a reoccurring trend with my obsession for NARS?). I was initially debating on buying this one or Tolede, which is a tad more red under toned and has a glossy finish. In the end I wound up choosing Pigalle ($32 CAD) as I prefer to wear matte shades more. Pigalle is a matte red-brown that is not drying at all and is quite easy to apply. This is what I consider a perfect work lipstick. It looks minimal and flattering, and is comfortable to wear. I wouldn’t consider this to be a sheer colour more semi-sheer, with two coats you can get an opaque colour. It reminds me of the Kylie Jenner look. I really love the NARS lipstick formulation, while not the most long wearing they definitely will hold up for 4 hours, and as they fade it’s an even fade, not one that is flaky.

And my last in-store purchase was a YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipstick in the colour 6 Rose Bergamasque ($39 CAD). I’m a big fan of YSL lipsticks, the formulation is unmatched. All their lipsticks are super creamy and highly pigmented and of course the packaging is very luxurious. However, I have a hard time finding shades that flatter my skin tone. This lipstick is such an effortless colour and looks so flattering for various occasions. It’s a light pink with a coral under tone that give a radiant look to my overall make up. A small subtlety that makes a big impact. My only complaint is the longevity of the product, it only last 2-3 hours maximum which is kind of a pain and also requires more product usage. But otherwise I absolutely love this colour and think it would be flattering on an array of different skin tones.

So that’s it for my little Sephora haul, hope the above information has been useful to you. Let me know what you ended up getting! I love watching/reading hauls. Xo.