Gradient Sunlit Bronzer in Sunrise Waves by BECCA

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I did not take advantage of the recent Sephora sale with 15% off, opting instead to use Ulta's 20% off for the BECCA Gradient Sunlit Bronzer in Sunrise Waves.  There were hardly any reviews available at the time, so it was largely a blind buy.  After using it for the past few weeks, I've got to say I'm quite pleased with my purchase!

The packaging is the traditional, sturdy compact used by BECCA for most of their power products. Inside is a gradient of three bronzer shades sandwiched between the highlighter in Opal. Quite pretty to look at.

Sunrise Waves is meant for fair to medium skin tones, and contains the Sunlit bronzers in Bali Sands, Capri Coast, and Bronzed Bondi.  There is a version for darker skin tones called Sunset Waves, which features Bronzed Bondi, Ipanema Sun, and Maui Nights sandwiched between the Rose Gold highlighter.  All of the bronzers in Sunrise Waves have some degree of shimmer or glow to them, and I was a bit concerned that combined with Opal, the shimmer finish would be a bit too much for me.

Obviously, you can opt to focus your brush on just the bronzer shades and then use a small brush for Opal as your highlight.  Or, you can swirl them all together to bask in a full shimmery glow.

The swatch on the far left is all of the colors swirled together, and next to it is just the bronzers together.  I think the finish of both is lovely, imparting more of a glow than anything too metallic.  There is quite a bit of powder kick-up, which I tried to capture in the indoor shot below.

I had a full-sized compact of Opal but it went bad on me, so I try to only collect travel sized Becca highlighters now as I know I will never use them up before they go bad. This gradient type of product therefore suits me fine, and I was also able to create a natural looking bronzey eye using the palette as well.

I think I will get a lot of use out of Sunrise Waves this summer and am happy I was able to get it at a discount!  I noticed that when you sign up at BECCA's site you get 20% off your first purchase, so....there is that.

My Must Haves Palette by Essence

Disclaimer: I purchased these.

Hey, long time no see! I'm still playing with lots of makeup and skincare and today wanted to share my impressions of the Essence My Must Haves singles, which retail for a whopping $1.99 each at Ulta.  I picked up a bronzer, two blushes, and an eye shadow to go into the 4-pan palette ($3.49). I've been playing with these for over a month now, let's see if they are any good!

First of all, the palette arrived without any packaging and was scratched on top :-(  Not good, Ulta, especially considering the claims against you about reselling products that have been returned. Fortunately, each single comes securely packaged in it's own container and was in good condition, so no complaints there.  They are not magnetized but do fit nicely into the palette, which is a rather flimsy plastic.

The bronzer shade also works as an eyeshadow, and I've been using it as a crease shade as well.  It's best suited for fair complexions and I've reached for it quite a lot in the last month.  There are 3 blushes on Ulta's site and I purchased Rosy Glow and Coral Dream. 

Rosy Glow is the more pigmented of the two, but I like them both and find that they can be built up in color without getting cakey.  The single eye shadow I chose is Brownie Licious, which is a dark brown matte that applies smoothly and can also be built up in color. 

None of these are groundbreaking, but I do like them and would take them with me when traveling for a nice one and done natural look. I hate taking expensive makeup with me when traveling, as I've been known to lose items, plus things get broken. At this price point I wouldn't be heart broken and I do like them!

Murumuru Butter Bronzer in Light by Physician's Formula

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

Physician's Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer ($14.99) has gotten a lot of love from the beauty world, so when there was a 40% off sale going on at my local Rite Aid back in October, I picked the Light Butter Bronzer. After using it for close to two months, I thought it was time to add my thoughts to the mix.

First off, you are getting a generous 11 grams of product for your money. The packaging is classic Physician's Formula, which means it's a bit on the bulky side with an applicator stored in a bottom compartment.

The applicator is foam and does do a nice job of picking up product, but I prefer to use a brush. Using a brush does kick up some powder, but I'm okay with that. The Butter Bronzer does not look powdery on the skin in the least, which could be because it contains several different "butters", namely Murumuru, Cupuacu, and Tucuma butters. I've linked each butter to more information about them, but one interesting takeaway is that both Murumura and Tucuma are referred to as "vegetable silicones", in that they leave a protective film on the skin without clogging pores. I like!

The Butter Bronzers are available in two shades, but my Rite Aid only had the Light in stock. It's definitely more suited for those with fair/light complexions, and I like how easily it blends into my skin for a touch of color without looking obvious or overly ruddy in tone. I do use this to contour as well, and it also makes for a nice eyelid shade, especially as a subtle crease contour.

Overall, I think the Butter Bronzers are worth the hype! I almost picked up the darker version during Ulta's Black Friday sale, as all of the Physician Formula products were 50% off. I restrained myself as the lighter shade is working quite well for me, plus I have to draw the line somewhere. It's definitely been conspicuous consumption season around here.

Light Butter Bronzer as eyeshadow

Year 3 of Le Métier de Beauté's VIP Begins with a Bang!

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Year 3 of Le Métier de Beauté's Beauty Vault VIP program began in August, and I continue to enjoy building my collection of these luxury products.  The first month is always exciting as a little something extra is usually included for those renewing their subscriptions, so let's see what I got!

Le Métier de Beauté has started creating items just for the Beauty Vault VIP and those items are marked as such.  This VIP palette contains a leopard print bronzer, a contour shade, a blush, and 3 eyeshadows.  If I was to estimate the value based on how LMdB prices their singles, it would be around $230.  Yeah, I know.  

LMdB eyeshadows have become my favorite, mainly for their ability to be layered seamlessly without any muddying effects.  So, adding 3 new ones to my collection is always nice, especially considering each eyeshadow single costs $30.  I will say that I'm starting to get to the point where it's hard not to get similar colors now, but that's more because I've got so many of the shadows now as opposed to them being true dupes of each other.  There are definitely tonal differences and no two have been the same.

The contour shade is such a welcome addition, as it is definitely a shade that works well as a contour and does not go ruddy on me.  The blush color is not one I would veer towards on my own, but it's pretty and the quality is better than the ones I received in a blush kaleidoscope, as I found them to be just a tad chalky.

The leopard print bronzer is large enough that you could potentially use the shades as eyeshadows as well, but I mainly swirl them together and apply as a bronzer/highlighter.  The resulting finish has a bit of shimmer that complements my skin, and again I like that it does not go orange on me.

The gold and brown shadows lay down soft color that is easy to blend for a very natural eye look, and I used the teal shadow as a liner.  All 3 colors performed well and seem up to the usual LMdB standards. One aspect of the palette that IREALLY like is that you can remove the black foam overlay around the powders and add other tins of color.  Yes, it's got a magnetic backing.  I'm hoping they send other singles for that very purpose. /Wishful thinking.

Here I'm wearing the gold and brown shadows layered together over Maybelline's Bold Gold, which amped up the gold shimmer:

The extra item included for resubscribing was a cream shadow, which I'll be posting about separately just to keep this post from becoming toooooo long :-)

Sunkissed Beauty Mosaic Powder Compact by Essence

The German brand Essence continues to impress me with their uber affordable yet good quality line of cosmetics.  For example, the Sunkissed Beauty Mosaic Compact Powder is only $4.49 yet provides the fair-skinned with a natural looking, lightly tanned look.

I'm not going to call Sunkissed Beauty a bronzer, because it's more than that.  It can be used as an all over face powder when you blend all the colors together.  Or, it can be used as a highlighter when you use a smaller brush to concentrate on the lighter shades.  Alternatively, you can focus on the dark tan colors for contouring.

But get this:  it also works really well for a neutral eye look that's a step beyond naked.  Quite versatile, no?

Don't let the sparkles scare you off, as they are not of the disco ball variety.  Instead, they keep the color from looking flat yet in no way magnify skin imperfections, of which I've got plenty.

Here I used Sunkissed on both my eyes and face, including as a blush.

If you want to amp it up a bit, add in a bit more color on your cheeks and lips, as well a some inner eye shimmer.  I used Essence's Autumn Peach blush on the apples of my cheeks (review coming soon) and Revlon's Lip Butter in Candy Apple on my lips.  The inner eye shimmer is courtesy of Laura Mercier's Rose Gold Caviar Pencil (such a beauty, see full review here).

Sunkissed Beauty does kick up a lot of powder, but that doesn't translate to chalkiness on the skin. Overall, I'm impressed and will keep my eye out for more bargain beauties from Essence!