Reviews and Other Stuff

becca bronzer

La Mer The Bronzing Powder Review + Swatches

Hello guys! Happy Thursday to you all. My apologies for being kind of MIA lately. I’ve been down with a pretty strong cold and I didn’t wanna risk writing a review while being heavily medicated. LOL. God knows what I might have said, right? Anyhow, I got this really interesting La Mer product that I wanna talk about. It’s been released recently and it’s a limited-edition. The last time I check, this particular product is almost slowly getting sold out. Now that’s something. The latest La Mer The Bronzing Powder ($85) is a sight to behold. A vision in soft powdery pink and champagne waves embossed on a matte tan bronzer and encased inside a beautiful rose-gold pearly white compact. The packaging looks glam and luxurious though it can feel a bit delicate. The top half/cover of the compact can be used as a mirror since it’s quite reflective even though it actually houses a real mirror underneath once you flip it open.

 

la mer the bronzing powder review and swatches

la mer the bronzing powder

 

According to La Mer, this bronzing powder is meant to feel like a silky pressed powder that is infused with their famous Miracle Broth and is designed to give you that sun-kissed glow. According to my first impression, this bronzer gave me some mixed feelings. When I tried it at my local La Mer counter, I noticed that it had a very pleasant scent that’s typical of most La Mer skincare products, but this bronzer has some strong powdery notes to it, which I actually love and I could have just purchased it just for the scent alone, but I wanted to check if the product applies as beautifully as it looks on the compact. The La Mer S.A. gave me two brushes, one was a powder brush and one was a brush with more dense bristles. I first used the powder brush and swirled it around this bronzer which contains three shades; a slightly shimmery light baby pink (looks more like a blush), a shimmery champagne shade (a highlighter), and a matte tan or light brown shade (bronzer). After swirling all three shades, I then applied it underneath my cheeks. Much to my surprise, the product didn’t really show much on my face. It’s too close to my skin tone and by using the brush powder, there wasn’t much to see. I was a bit disappointed, but then I tried the dense powder and I finally I did see a light peachy sun-kissed glow on my face. I admit I still didn’t like this bronzer much even after trying it, it took me a couple of swatches and several glances at the mirror to realize that this bronzing powder really does show up my face. Also, the store that I was in had some really bad lighting, so that’s something to consider.

 

la mer the bronzing powder swatches

 

la mer the bronzing powder swatch

 

Fast forward, a few weeks later, I found myself really loving this La Mer The Bronzing Powder. For the record, I wasn’t really a bronzer fan, to begin with, and what little collection of bronzers I have, they’re mostly quite more pigmented than this La Mer. But, I’ve been really loving the sun-kissed beachy-look vibe lately, which calls for a slight application of bronzers, peachy blushes, and golden highlighters, so this La Mer Bronzer fits the bill. It really does give a sun-kissed glow without looking too contoured or overdone. Once all three colors are swirled, the effect looks quite peachy but still very light. You can build the shade but it still won’t be too pigmented especially if your skin tone is light-medium to golden-warm. If you’re fair or light in complexion, then you’re mostly going to love this, but with my NC25-NC30 skin, this looks very subtle.

la mer cool gel cream

I also tested the Lip & Cheek Glows from La Mer, but I skipped on those, I thought they looked so ordinary and they don’t warrant the price. Also, they could probably be easily dupable. What I did get as a sample from purchasing this La Mer Bronzer is a mini La Mer The Moisturizing Cool Gel Cream. Just to give you an overview of this gel cream, well, this doesn’t feel cooling at all, but it’s indeed lightweight and great for sensitive or oily-prone skin types. However, this isn’t so different from the La Mer Soft Cream in term of its lightweightness and texture, and you may have to use a lot of it to get enough coverage on the face. I still suggest using the original Creme de la Mer as it will give you the best bang for your buck.

 

la mer bronzer

 

Overall, if you like sheer bronzers and you have a fair to light-medium skin tone, then you’re gonna love this La Mer The Bronzing Powder. It will give you that subtle sun-lit glow while it defines and contours your face. With that being said, the sheerness of its pigments is not for everyone.

 

The La Mer Bronzing Powder is currently available at Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Bloomingdale’s, and Selfridges.

 

Becca Apres Ski Glow Face Palette Review + Swatches

Hello You Guys! the holidays are coming and so are the latest gorgeous holiday palettes popping out of Sephora and Ulta lately. It’s been crazy to see all these limited edition beauties! They’re so tempting, and with Sephora’s VIB Rouge 20% OFF Beauty Insider Event which happened a few days ago (they’re doing it again tomorrow) it’s kinda hard to resist. I’ve been contemplating which palette to purchase, but here’s one that I think is worth buying.

 

becca apres ski palette

 

The Becca Aprรจs Ski Glow Face Palette ($54) is a limited edition highlighter-blush-bronzer palette in one. It features four of Becca’s bestselling shades; Two versatile Shimmering Skin Pressed Perfector Highlighters in Opal and Rose Quartz (reviewed further HERE), a luminous blush in Blushed Copper, and the Bronzed Bondi Bronzer. A new highlighter shade called Icicle has been added to the palette, and it also contains the new rosy pink mineral blush called Winter Berry. This highlighter is pretty much similar to the previously released Becca x Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette (also reviewed HERE), but with more shades to choose from. The packaging is elegant. It even came with a sample of Becca First Light Priming Filter. Size-wise, this palette is slightly larger than the Chrissy Teigen collab.

 

becca apres ski glow face palette vs chrissy teigen

This palette has a really good color payoff for each shade, so you have to be really light handed when using these. I do feel like they’re probably a bit more pigmented than the Chrissy Teigen ones and I love the fact that I can do my whole contouring and strobing agenda in one single palette. It’s time-saving and practical to have. I also love the large mirror that comes with this palette so I could see my entire face while applying my makeup. Not only that, I love the snowflakes/pine etching on the palette. It reminds me of skiing in the Alps or the Pyrenees.

becca apres ski palette review

I feel like this palette could really work in almost all skin tones because each shade is so versatile. The Rose Quartz and Opal highlighters are great for light to medium skin tones, while the new shade called Icicle, which is a pearly shade with little flecks of blue is quite prismatic and ideal for lighter skin tones. The matte Winter Berry blush is also quite versatile and is very similar to the Blush in the Chrissy Teigen palette. Even the Bronzed Bondi matte bronzer is very similar as well. The Blushed Copper shade is very interesting for me. It looks like a bronzer, but apparently, it’s a blush that has shimmers. For me, it seems very versatile, as you can probably use this as a highlighter/blush if you have a deeper complexion, and you can also probably use this as a bronzer/blush if your complexion is on the lighter side. There’s a lot of things you can do with this shade. Also, if you like the eyeshadow version of this, Becca also released the Apres Ski Eye Lights Palette.

 

 

becca apres ski glow face palette

 

I do think that this Becca Aprรจs Ski Glow Palette is one of the best palettes on the market nowadays, and one of this year’s best holiday releases. I like the fact that “it’s got everything” type of palette. You pretty much get what you pay for and what you need in one single beautiful compact. The pigments are amazing and it retains the similar formulation/texture as most of Becca’s Shimmering Skin Pressed Perfector Highlighters, Blushes and Bronzers. To be honest, I kinda prefer this over the Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette. Though larger and bulkier for traveling, at least none of the colors looked very identical to each other. The two highlighters on the Chrissy Teigen ones looked very identical to my skin tone, so I feel like I could really only use three of that palette’s shades.

 

becca apres ski glow face palette

becca x chrissy teigen glow face palette swatch

 

The thing that I like about this palette is that you can customize your look. You can either have a post-ski glow, or you can look like a beach bum. Up to you, but for me, this palette is one of the best holiday beauty must have.

 

becca apres ski glow face palette review swatches

What makeup palettes are you dreaming of lately?

 

The Becca Aprรจs Ski Glow Face Palette is currently available at Sephora, Ulta, Dermstore, QVC, & Revolve

The Becca Aprรจs Ski Eye Lights Palette can also be found at Sephora, Revolve, Ulta, & Dermstore

Becca x Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette is also available at Sephora, Ulta, QVC, & Revolve

 

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