Summer Cheek Stains: Bloom Bronze and Rose

Today's swatches are another summer staple - cheek stains! These are from Bloom, an Australian brand that's carried in Australia and other countries. They're most famous for their nail polish among other items, but other than their polish, they seem to be pretty underrated. Anyway, like Benefit, they also have cheek stains.

The interesting about the Bloom stains is that not only do they have a Rose (or Rosie according to the website - I'm not sure which is the correct name) tint that every brand has, they also have more uniquely, a bronze tint, that functions as a bronzer! This is pretty unique, especially at the drugstore beauty level, because most bronzers I've seen to date have been in powder or cream form. This is pretty much the first gel bronzer I've seen, especially in a drugstore context.

Anyway, here are swatches:



Rose or Rosie (whatever the correct name is), is a deep cool-toned rose shade, while bronze is a muddy brown that probably needs to be tried on before you buy it - I'm not sure how this shade would translate onto most skintones. It seems like a really odd shade of brown to have, and honestly, it kind of looks like something you'd find in the bathroom...

Anyway, the texture of these cheek stains was in a gel form, so they weren't too liquid, and unlike previous stains I've swatched, these come in a tube with a brush dispenser. This makes it a little more convenient for travel than other stains which come in an oversized-nail-polish-like bottle, although I'm wary of the brush dispenser because it just looks like a breeding ground for germs. I personally like the Rose (or is it Rosie?) shade a lot, but the Bronze shade is a bit more dubious to me.

I wonder if anyone has tried the Bronze shade? How did it turn out on you?

Summer Bronzing: Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzer Swatch

It's summer, so I'll be attempting to swatch more summer items, like bronzers! Now personally I'm not a fan of bronzers, as being Asian I've spent my entire life being indoctrinated with the kooky belief that fairer=good, and as a result I always want to be that shade of pale that's always out of my range. LOL! Nevertheless, I can certainly appreciate a beautiful tan on another girl. And why not? A tan is so summery, and it makes a lot of the seasonal colours so in vogue now pop a little more. So while I'm intent on sloughing on all the sunscreen I can lay my hands on, for everyone else who is more normal (LOL!) I'm swatching a couple of bronzing items for you guys!

Today we start off with a cheap but good one - good ol' Barry M. Barry M strangely only has one (yes, one) shade of bronzer, and this is called Natural Dazzle. So that makes the Barry M Bronzing line easy to swatch, hah! Anyway, given that this has to be a one-size-fits-all shade, I think they've done a pretty good job. The bronzer in question is a nice shade of medium neutral brown, although there still is a teensy hint of orange that might make it not too great on very pale girls with cool undertones. It also has some shimmer, but not enough to be horribly distracting or OTT. I think it's a good amount, and the shimmer is fine enough to not be too obvious.

Here is the swatch:



As you can see, the name "Natural Dazzle" is a bit of a misnomer, because the shimmer isn't THAT dazzly. But tht's what makes it good, in my opinion. I think the level of shimmer is just nice. This would make a good bronzer, although I doubt anyone would want to contour with it (the Sleek contour palettes are probably better for that), because in general contour shades used to shadow your face (the ones that are darker than your skintone) should ideally be devoid of shimmer. But for light and medium girls with neutral-to-warm undertones, this would probably work well as a bronzer.

theBalm Blushes, Bronzer and Face Powder Swatches!

Today is another swatch post, and this time we're swatching more theBalm products! I'm starting to quite like this brand, as they have some pretty good quality stuff. Last time we talked about theBalm, we saw swatches of their pencil eyeliners (cutely named Pick Up Liners) and their lipsticks (which I thought had a nice decent range of colours). Today, we're looking at the blushes and other powder products in their range, which are the stars of their line.

These have been getting a lot of raves, and I can see why. They come in some very beautiful colours - in fact, some of them are near-dupes for some famous colours in more expensive brands. They're also nicely pigmented, yet not too pigmented, and have a very nice texture and application - these are some of the nicest ones I've seen. And they come in the cutest packaging, too, with pictures of pin-up girls adorning the cover of each blush. Unfortunately, it's also made of paper, so you wouldn't want to be too rough with it.

Here are swatches:



L - R: Down Boy, Cabana Boy, Hot Mama, Bahama Mama, Sexy Mama

Down Boy is a very pretty neutral pink. I know usually I get really bored by neutral pinks, but this isn't your typical pastey pastel neutral pink. There's something about it that makes it more than the sum of it's parts. It's very pretty, and pretty much as universal as a blush can get. It's beautiful. I know the swatches make it look grainy and powdery, but it's not. It's got a good application. I've noticed that my swatches tend to make things look really grainy and powdery, because I pile the product on and don't bother to dust off the excess. Oops.

Cabana Boy reminds me of NARS Sin, and is my favourite of the bunch. This one caused a big hoo-ha when it first came out, because it was apparently hard to find (the commotion has since died down and it's easily available now). It's a beautiful pinky-plummy colour, and unlike NARS Sin, it's not shimmery. I'm so tempted by this. I think I need it. Like NEEEEEED it (Oh, who am I kidding. I don't need anymore makeup...But still...)

Hot Mama is an orgasm lookalike, and although I'm not sure if it's a 100% dupe, because it's been awhile since I last had it, it certainly does look similar. This one also has a shimmery finish, like Nars Orgasm, although it doesn't have glitter bits that are as big. I may be wrong, of course, but I do believe the finish on this one is finer as the glitter bits are smaller...It's more like fine shimmer than big glitter. I do think that it could potentially get a little frosty if layered though, but it's still one lovely colour.

Bahama Mama is a bronzer, and although I don't use bronzers or contouring powders, I think this is one of the best I've seen so far. Most bronzers make the mistake of being either too shimmery, or too orange, so that you either look like Data from Star Trek got a tan, or an Oompa Loompa, or both.

You know, think a cross between this shininess:

Image from Wikipedia

and this orange-ness:

Image from notsuchayummymummy.wordpress.com

Anyway, the good thing about Bahama Mama is that it's NOT orange based, and it's NOT shiny. Which means cool-toned people can use, and people who wish to contour with it (as opposed to putting it on the high points of their face) can use it. I personally think it's great, even if I'm inflicted with the "must-be-fair" Asian skin preference.

Lastly, Sexy Mama is a transluscent powder. It's not 100% transluscent though, so I wouldn't recommend it for anyone too dark. It does show up a little if built up, but you'd have to use a lot (like I did when swatching heavily). But for most people, I think this would definitely get the job done.

I really like these, so if you're lemming any of them, just get them already!