Countdown to Gorgeous Days 10 and 11: Glee Radiance and Risk Taking

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I'm impressed with the attention to detail put into the Countdown to Gorgeous advent calendar by bareMinerals. For example, Day 10's saying is "Be Radiant", and behind the door is Glee Radiance. Looks like some thought went into the items and their sayings, which adds to the experience!

Glee Radiance is a face powder/luminizer that is peachy pink in color.  The shimmer is on the more subdued side, but it does give a glow that does not emphasize skin imperfections. My camera did not want to focus on it for some reason :-( If you are super fair you may be able to use it as a blush. It's not super evident on my face in the pictures I took, although you can make it out as my inner eye color in the picture below.

Day 11 brought another Marvelous Moxie lip gloss, this time the copper shimmer Risk Taker. It's the darkest and most pigmented of the three I've received from this calendar, but does look more sheer on my lips than in my arm swatch.

The Marvelous Moxie glosses are a stickier gloss with an obvious tack when you rub your lips together, but they do wear really well for me. I'm a fan and considering I had not tried them before this advent calendar, they are a nice find.

Less than two weeks til Christmas and only 5 more working days! I'm slowly tackling my to do list at work and there is light at the end of the tunnel.....

Warm Nude Shimmer Strip All-in-1 Palette by Physicians Formula

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I still seem to be in "collect all the highlighters" mode, so I decided to try Physician Formula's Custom Shimmer Strips All-in-1 Nude Palette.  It can be used on both your eyes and face, and I quite like it!

The shimmer strips are rather pricey for the drugstore (~$13-$14), so I waited until there was a 40% off sale at Rite Aid.  There are two versions available, Natural and Warm, but I went with the slightly darker Warm Nude.

These worked quite well as both eye shadow or a face highlight, and I like that you can focus on different squares or rows of the palette to vary the intensity of color.  Of course, just swiping your brush across the entire palette gives a lovely overall glow when used as a highlighter.

I would say wear time as an eyeshadow (with primer, always, for my oily lids) was about 8-9 hours with some fading.

As a highlighter, I felt like the product had faded and broken up a bit by the end of the day, so I would only rank it as about average in wear.  Warm Nude does give a nice glow to the skin without emphasizing skin texture. Definitely pretty!

Precious Petals Megaglo Highlighting Powder by Wet 'n Wild

Well would you look at this.  A drugstore highlighting powder from Wet 'n Wild that I've been reaching for every day since I got it a few weeks back, even over some other favorites from much more expensive brands.  

Not only is Precious Petals gorgeous to look at and reminiscent of much higher end brands, it also applies smoothly with minimal powder kick-up, perhaps due to it's talc free formula?   Shimmer can be built up from glow-from-within to high beam by applying layers. For the arm swatches, you are looking at 3 layers and a resulting high beam shimmer.

The color of Precious Petals is what I consider a soft champagne pink.  It's slightly pinker than BECCA's Opal, although in the same ballpark. I have one other limited edition highlighter from Le Metier de Beaute that is close in color, Trompe l'Oeil. 

Both Opal and Trompe l'Oeil kick up much more powder in comparison, although they both apply beautifully.  Precious Petals is right up there with them, however, which is saying something considering it's $4 price tag. 

Too bad Precious Petals and it's sister Crown of my Canopy are limited edition! I tried to pick up the darker Crown of my Canopy once I realized how nice Precious Petals is, but they were all gone, gone, gone.  Within a few days, actually, and I'm already seeing listings on ebay with prices just shy of $30.  Crazy.  Good.

Pixelated Color Kit by Japonesque

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

The Japonesque Pixelated Color Kit was a set I bought in order to make Ulta's free shipping limit and because I've got a thing for liquid highlighters.  I like mixing them with my foundation to give my skin a bit of glow, so the Radiance Primer and Liquid Light intrigued me. There were no reviews at the time but I decided to take the plunge at their reduced price of $14.

Also included in the kit is a Finishing Powder, although this has enough of a shimmer that I used it more as a highlight.  The powder is pressed firmly and does not kick up much dust, but is easy to build up and gives a subtle light gold shimmer finish.

The Radiance Primer is a cool toned pearl shimmer and the Liquid Light in Shade 1 is a coppery shimmer that worked well as a blush for me.  I mixed the Radiance Primer with my foundation and applied the Liquid Light with a damp Beauty Blend on my cheeks.  The effect is a soft shimmer as opposed to glittery or metallic.

I did not notice the primer extending the wear of my foundation, but on the plus side all of the these played nicely with other products.  While I wouldn't say these wowed me, I will use all three going forward.

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal: Powder vs. Liquid

Now that I've gotten over my fear of using luminizers on my oily skin, I'm starting to appreciate the difference between powder and liquid versions.  As an aside and in case you are wondering what constitutes oily skin, here's a reference point:

So, it's nice when a brand like BECCA offers luminizers in both formats.  I bought Opal in powder format back in the spring, and have received several samples of the liquid Opal with purchases. 

I love mixing a liquid luminizer in my foundation, but have not gotten adept at using them to highlight smaller areas of my face.  The liquid version of Opal is a bit darker in tone and less shimmery than the powder version and I actually prefer the color and finish of it over the Opal powder. 

Powders work best for pinpointing areas such as the bridge of my nose or the top of my cheekbones. However, the powder Opal can veer into metallic territory quite easily, so I have to use a very light touch when applying.

Opal liquid (L), Opal powder (R)

Of course, too much of the liquid mixed with foundation produces more "glow" than I want as well, as I found out the first time I tried it.  A bit more dewy than I'm comfortable with, considering my oily skin starts producing it's own glow soon enough.  Still, no denying that BECCA's Opal luminizer is quite lovely.  A bit pricey at $38 for the powder and $41 for the liquid, but still lovely.