TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer Swatches: Quick Swatch

Today's post is just a quick swatch of TheBalm's Mary Lou-Manizer, the beige/champagne shimmery highlighter that's been getting lots of raves from everyone. I happened to be in the store, looking around, when this caught my eye, and I was entertaining that age-old question that plagues every beauty blogger, "To buy or not to buy". (Believe me, after nearly 5 years as a beauty blogger, saying no to that question isn't any easier than it was when I began...Darn the slick marketing departments of beauty brands.) Of course being the diligent beauty blogger that I am I also took photos for my blog.

TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer Swatch

As you might know, Mary Lou-Manizer (luminizer, haha) is a champagne shade that is actually quite shimmery. I made two swatches, a heavy one and a light one. The colour is really pretty, and overall the product gives off a gold sheen on the face. I did notice however that in direct strong sunlight this looks a little sparkly...As in you can see the sunlight bouncing off the individual sparkles in this product. I'm not too sure how I feel about that, sparkly has always been a thing a good illuminator should avoid, in my opinion. In all other lights (indoors, shaded sunlight) this seemed fine. These swatches are taken indoors so they look a little more metallic and less illuminating, but they don't look that bad in most other lights. And I imagine if in real life this is applied with a fan or stippling brush, it will be just a hint of shimmer and sparkle.

In the end, I didn't get these because one of the Etude House highlighters I got in Korea lately, the Face Designing Brightener in #1 Wannabe Face, kind-of-sort-of reminded me of this (also another beige-y highlighter with shimmer) so although I'm pretty sure they're probably not dupes, I didn't buy it. So I escaped for today. (Who knows when I might cave, or what I might cave in on next, though!)

Sleek Glo Highlighter: Peach Shimmer Swatch/Review

In addition to the well-received Blush by 3, Sleek has also launched their Glo Face and Body Highlighter, which also looks set to be popular this summer. Unlike the Sleek Blush by 3, which (as the name implies) focuses more on blush, the Glo Face and Body Highlighter is a little more versatile - you can use it as a blush if it's the right shade, or a highlighter or bronzer. It's a pretty nifty multitasking product, and who doesn't love that?

The Sleek Makeup Glo Highlighters come in small, square black plastic cases that are just the size of my palm. That's not huge, but it's a pretty decent size for me. Also, the boxes that feature the colours of the highlighter on the boxes! I thought that was sort of a cute touch. And the colour on the boxes was pretty accurate too.



Don't believe me? Here's the actual thing! It totally looks like the box, haha. These come in three shades - a peach, a bronze, and a gold. The shade I have here is Peach Shimmer, the lightest shade available.



Anyway, I found these to have pretty good pigmentation and texture. The shimmer in these is a little frostier and shinier than the shimmer I found in the Sleek Blush by 3 range, because these are highlighters. They're pretty illuminating, so if you have really large pores or deep wrinkles, these can highlight those areas as well.



Here are swatches of the colours swirled together. I didn't bother with individual swatches of each of the stripes - I figured that the way all the colours are crammed together, noone's going to use them alone.



Since the shimmer can look rather metallic when piled on, a little goes a long way. If just the right amount is applied, you get a very pretty pearly glow with some peachy colour. It makes for a great highlighter, but also for fairer girls, would look great as a peachy blush with a hint of bronze. Overall, I think this is pretty great value for money - it reminds me of more expensive products like Dior's Amber Diamond and Too Faced Snow Bunny, but for much less. Good quality makeup at affordable prices - now who wouldn't like that?

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting Primer and Eye Lift: Swatches and Launch

Murad, the brand most famed for its wide, all-encompassing range of skincare products, including everything from acne to anti-aging, has now branched out into makeup! The brand's maiden offerings are still small, consisting of tinted face primers, the Skin Perfecting Primers, and eye concealers and brighteners, the Eye Lift products. Murad's selling point is that these are a hybrid of makeup and skincare, and have have accordingly named the entire range Hybrids. The Hybrids range is supposed to not only cover your imperfections in the short run, but also contain ingredients that improve the skin with long-run usage.



The Murad Hybrids website lists three Skin Perfecting Primers (Dewy, Matte, Acne), but in Singapore we only seem to have the Dewy and Matte. The main difference between the two is that the Dewy Finish primer is meant for dry skin, and gives a more glowy finish, while the Matte Finish primer is more for oily skin, and is meant to mattify the skin.



Both the Skin Perfecting Primers come packaged in sleek, black, packaging. The one thing I liked about this range from the outset is the very practical, no-mess, no-fuss, hygenic packaging - it's something a doctor would have come up with, as opposed to a sales and marketing person. The primers all come in pump bottles, which are much more hygenic than jars. The pumps have a fine opening, so you can be sure that you only pump out as much or as little as you need, without wastage.



Murad claims that all of the Skin Perfecting Primers are the same colour, and that the primers will adjust to any skin tone. When I heard this, I was really skeptical about the claim - I mean, since when did colour pigments magically change properties upon contact with skin? So I decided to put the products to the test, by swatching them on the spot. The photo below shows both the Dewy Finish and the Matte Finish primers swatched.



When I first swatched them, it appeared that both shades were too dark for my skin (around NC20 in MAC). Also, although both shades were supposed to be the same colour, it appeared to my eye that the Dewy Finish Primer was a hair darker than the Matte Finish Primer. But of course, I had to blend them in to be sure.

Upon blending, I had to admit I was mistaken. Both primers blended into my skin, and they didn't seem too dark at all. It seems like the primers are quite sheer in terms of coverage, thus the natural skin colour beneath shows through, which is pretty cool if you ask me! I'll definitely be trying out the primers a bit more to see how they actually fare on my face!



As you can see from the swatches, both primers - even the Matte Finish one - actually have tiny specks of shimmer in them, but the shimmer fortunately is quite muted in appearance. I don't foresee any problems looking like a discoball with these on. Also, the Dewy Finish primer is slightly thinner and more watery in texture than the Matte Finish primer, but both of them blend and apply in a similar manner, and provide similar coverage. These, as primers, are meant to be used under the skin, but since they provide a small amount of coverage, I can imagine that these could be used alone if you have reasonably good skin.

The other stars of Murad's Hybrids line are the Eye Lift products, consisting of the Eye Lift Illuminator, and the Eye Lift Perfector. These also come packaged in slim, black tubes.



As with the packaging of the Skin Perfecting Primers, Murad chose a very hygenic, practical packaging for the Eye Lift products. These are dispensed in click-pen form, but instead of the more commonly-used brush at the end of the pen, the product actually is dispensed by a slanted plastic tube. I know a plastic tube looks odd, but I much prefer it to the brush - in my experience, brushes tend to get all gunky and gooey and clumped up with product after a while, which makes them very gross. Plastic applicators are so much cleaner.



The Eye Lift Illuminator is meant as a under eye brightener, and contains a purple-violet sheen to brighten undereye discolouration. The Eye Lift Perfector functions more like a concealer, with a yellow-beige shade.

As you can see in the swatches below, although both have some form of shimmer, the Eye Lift Illuminator has larger, denser shimmer, as well as the violet sheen, while the Eye Lift Perfector has shimmer that is smaller, and more similar to the shimmer found in the Skin Perfecting Primers. Both have a light, watery texture that blends in easily and is quite pleasant to apply.



I'm pretty excited everytime a skincare brand launches makeup products, as my experience tends to be that the brand pays more attention to the formulation and ingredients used in the products. I'm hoping that these products fare well on my uber-sensitive skin. I'll be trying out the Skin Perfecting Primer, and will be reporting back on how it fares on my skin!



And to end off, that's a photo of myself and some of the other bloggers at the event, including my friend Lynn (whose brother used to be my classmate in University, way back when), and fellow beauty blogger LunaLunaFace. I don't know why I put that photo up when we're all squished in a corner, you barely see half my body, and the lighting was so bad that noone in the photo looks good (including myself). But hey, we all love photos, don't we?

St Tropez Skin Illuminator Swatches and FOTD!

One of the exciting shiny new products that have been released of late are their range of Skin Illuminators! These are making quite the splash, given that St Tropez's product range consists mostly of bronzing, self-tanning products and related suncare products. But here they are, with a line of products that appeals to people who wouldn't have an interest in bronzing.

The Skin Illuminators are making their debute for Spring/Summer 2011, and they are packaged in sleek, flat tubes.



Just in case you didn't know, although these are new products, St Tropez has actually had the Skin Illuminator out for awhile. The first Skin Illuminator was the Violet shade, and back then there was only one shade, so it was just called Skin Illuminator. It came in a smaller white tube, and contained 30ml instead of the 50ml that we have now. Yay for increased product size!

Anyway, the story goes that the first shade of Skin Illuminator proved so popular that St Tropez decided to supplement the Skin Illuminator with more shades, Rose and Gold. But for nostalgia's sake, here's the old tube:



The products come in a squeeze tube, and you can squeeze out a bit at a time, just enough for what you need.



Here are swatches of all the three products. You can see that they give off a distinct coloured sheen, which is very pretty.



L-R: Violet, Gold, Rose

And just because I know you guys will be interested in seeing the products up close and personal, here are close-up shots of all the the products one by one.

For starters, here's the Violet Skin Illuminator. This one doesn't have any discernable glitter or shimmer bits, it just produces a kind of purple-blue sheen on the skin, which I think is very cool. I can imagine this one being uesd for all kinds of effects, from subtle to out there. If you're afraid of having a blue glow on your face, it can be blended in. But the violet shade would be good for people with sallow yellow skins.



The Gold Skin Illuminator will probably be much sought after in the Western markets by customers looking to enhance a tan. This one doesn't give off much of a iridiscence like the Violet shade, but it has a certain glow. It also has more discernable bits of gold shimmer, but nothing that would draw your eye too much.



Lastly, the Pink Skin Illuminator. I can imagine this being very popular among Asian girls, since pink-tinged primers and creams are all the rage in this part of the world. This one has the least sheen adn iridiscence, and is the most subtle in terms of effect, so I think this could very well function as a skin primer under makeup as well. It has a soft pink glow, which is very pretty.



To end off, here is an FOTD (Face of the Day) I did with the Pink Skin Illuminator. The Skin lluminator is used on my cheeks, over a matte powder blush. As you can see, it just adds a soft kind of glow that isn't like a glitterbomb. I really like this effect.



As you can see, other than the colour, all three are slightly different. The Violet Skin Illuminator has the strongest sheen/iridiscence, while the Pink has the weakest. The Gold shade also features tiny speckles of shimmer, so depending on your preferences, one may suit you better than the other. Then again, of course, you could just get all three!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Jelly Pong Pong Brazilian Sun Bronzer and Wide Awake Palette

Think of cutesy makeup, and Jelly Pong Pong immediately comes to mind. I swear, the brand finds a cute way to package even the most mundane of products, and their recently-released Lavish Gift Bags are no exception to the rule.

There are two Gift Bags, Gift Bag A and Gift Bag B. In my last post, I looked at some of the Gift Bag products, namely, the Jelly Flush cheek stain and Lip Frosting. Today, I'm completing my peek into the items by featuring the Brazilian Sun Bronzer, and the Wide Awake Palette.

Okay now, let's gush at the packaging together! Ahhh, so cute! *Happy squeals* However, unlike the previous products featured which smelled of sweet edibles, these two products don't have any fragrances added to them.



The Brazilian Sun Bronzer is probably one of the cutest-packaged bronzers I've seen in my entire life. To be sure, the huge packaging is kinda clunky and not very travel-friendly, but it's just so cute. I was wondering why the bronzer needed such a large box, and when I opened the lid, I was quite surprised to see this:



My first reaction was - what is that? There's a flower in my bronzer! But it's not a flower. It's actually a powder puff for the bronzer, but it has the cutest flower top ever.



So what about the bronzer itself? The bronzer pan is glued to the bottom of the entire container, and it's a pretty big pan of bronzer. Since it's lodged inside the container, though, you'll have to use either the puff, or your own bronzer brush to apply the powder.

The colour of the bronzer is also very pretty. It's a medium brown, that doesn't run orangey or look too brash. It's actually quite wearable. It has some shimmer, so this probably won't be your best choice for contouring.



Here's a swatch of the Brazilian Sun bronzer, applied perhaps a bit more heavily than a normal person might apply. On me, it looks a little ruddy, so I'm actually considering using this as a blush colour, in addition to being a bronzer.



The last item that I have to cover is the Wide Awake Palette. This is also a very pretty palette. The packaging is clad in paper, though, so you wouldn't want to put this on your sink, or anywhere it would get wet.



The packaging is so pretty! I love the flower and bird illustrations on the cover.



The Wide Awake Palette consists of an illuminating cream, which is a cream highlighter with a beige colour, a soft lemon yellow highlighting cream, and an eyebrow sculptor, which consists of a trio of eyeshadow powders.



Here's a close-up shot of the products in the palette.



I've swatched the two cream highlighters side by side. Honestly, on my skin, they both turn kind of off-white and look quite similar. The good thing about the creams is that there isn't any discernable shimmer, and both creams are good for highlighting the high points of the face, or even acting as a concealer or brightener for the skin.



Here are swatches of the eyebrow sculptor powders. There is a good gradation of powder colours in the set, consisting of a tan beige colour, a medium warm brown, and a lovely neutral dark brown. A pretty wide array of shades are covered with the colours in this palette. The powders are also actually very soft and pigmented. I actually kind of think they could double up as eyeshadows in a pinch.



Would I recommend these products? I love the bronzer and would recommend it, cute flower puff and all. The palette is also very useful with its variety of creams and shades, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are planning to bring it along for travel. But if you are planning to use it at home, or if you want something with pretty packaging, this would be a good choice to check out.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)