The Body Shop Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes in 01, 02 & 03

The Body Shop has expanded its Honey Bronze collection. The Body Shop Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes ($16 each) in the shades 01 (bronze), 02 (champagne), 03 (pink) are the collections latest makeup additions. 

The name for these products is quite confusing. As far as I’m aware, if you’re within the range of very fair to quite tan, only one of these is a highlighter (shade 02). The other two (shade 01 and 03) would be more suitably named as both blushes or bronzer and blush. 

Names aside, the product is housed in a cute little dome. Upon opening the dome’s plastic top, you get a sweet fragrance (presumably the Ethiopian fair trade honey). I’d describe the texture as a … waxy cream. All three are not particularly smooth but feel lightweight on the face, perhaps a touch gritty due to the shimmer particles. 

The colour pink and champagne colours are soft and sheer but buildable with multiple swipes and fairly blendable with fingertips.  In terms of shade, I think the pink and champagne colours will suit most people. The bronzer appears slightly muddy on my face and I find it patchy when blending. The shimmer for all three is on the verge of being too much but it’s not over glittery and right at my level of sparkle-tolerance. 

The colour lasts 4-5 hours on my cheeks but a slight shimmer can remain for the entirety of a day. 

Overall, they aren’t particularly ground-breaking but The Body Shop Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes are easy-to-use (just swipe, blend, and go) and thus are good option if you’re looking for a shimmery highlighter, blush, or bronzer that’s travel-friendly.  Lovely new additions to The Body Shop Honey Bronze Collection! 

Have you tried the Body Shop Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes? 

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MAKE UP FOR EVER Pro Sculpting Duo #2 in Golden

Contouring, highlighting and sculpting seem to be all the rage in the makeup world. To keep up with the trends, Make Up For Ever has launched its own Pro Sculpting Duos ($45), two sets of contour and highlighting powders that are weightless, blendable, and formulated with the same talc-free, gel-powder formula as the Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows. 

My skin tone is the awkward space between light and medium, which means that the bronzing powder is a tad too orange but the golden highlight is perfection. The Pro Sculpting Duos are available in two shades #1 (Pink Beige) and #2 (Golden). I presume the contour in the Pink Beige Duo would be perfect for my current complexion, while the #2 contour will suit me better in the summer. 

Personally, the matte contour shade seems more like a bronzer because of the strong warm undertone.   The highlight is super gorgeous and all-out shimmery golden glow. Both shades blend beautifully on the face and they last on the face until the second you feel like taking them off. 

Furthermore, MUFE doesn't mention this but the contour and highlight shades can both be used as eyeshadows. In addition to being a sculpting duo, it also works flawlessly as an eyeshadow duo. 

CONTOUR- across the hairline, below the cheekbone, around the jawline, all over the eyelids as eye shadow // HIGHLIGHT - on the cupids bow, above the cheekbones and on the bridge of the nose, in the inner eye corner as eye shadow

Hopefully, in the photo above, you can pick up on the gorgeousness that is the golden highlight. All in all, the MUFE Pro Sculpting Duo #2 in Golden is a beautiful product. But what I need from Make Up For Ever is this - a Pro Sculpting Duo #3 with the light/cool undertone contour powder and the golden highlight. 

What do you think of the MUFE Pro Sculpting Duo? Would you go for pink beige or golden? 

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette in Dim Light, Incandescent Light & Radiant Light

Gorgeously fingerprinted packaging? Check. Exorbitant pricing? Check. Baby's butt smooth powders? Check. I've been testing out the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette ($67) (dim light, incandescent light, radiant light) for two months now and I must come to final verdict. 

For one, this ain't no dealio. It's $52 for a single 0.35 ounce powder or $67 for 3 minis weighing in at .348 ounces in total. You're paying for variety and the semi-compact packaging. The packaging is beautiful yet prone to picking up fingerprints. These are my two and only two complaints. 

The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders are meant to be groundbreaking finishing powders that capture, diffuse, and soften the way light reflects on skin. The finely-milled, talc/gluten/fragrance/nano particle-free formula is as good as everybody says. The powders add that je ne sais quoi to the complexion (not different from the Guerlain Meteorites). 

There undetectable on the skin, which is totally a good thing. This means that it looks like you're not really wearing makeup, like the light is just really flattering on your skin. Depending on your colouring, different powders = different colours. Here's how they work for me: 

- dim light (soft neutral beige) - meant to blur imperfections (per Sephora), I use this as an all-over powder

- incandescent light (pale white gold with shimmer) - too shimmery for all over the face, I use it as a highlighter

- radiant light (sun-kissed golden beige with shimmer) - it's slightly orange on my skin, so I use it as a blush/bronzer. 

Admittedly, this was a hype-induced purchase but I should get credit because I waited more than a year to pick the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette up. Regardless of anyone else's opinion, these are lovely powders that enhance the look of skin in real life and in flash photos. I have yet to come across a dupe for any of them but I'd definitely pick up the full size of dim light if and when I ever run out. Whether you need or must have them is up to you. 

Have you tried the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders? What did you think of them? 

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Guerlain Meteorites Compact Light Revealing Powder

The Guerlain Meteorites Compact Light Revealing Powder ($71) in Mythic is Geurlain's Meteorite Pearls in a pressed powder format. I don't own the original Guerlain Meteorites so I can't say if it compares. The premise of both products is the same - the blending of corrective and enhancing colours to catch the light into soft-focus on the face. 

The compact comes with a black suede pouch (not shown) and the powder is encased in a heavy metal package embossed with Guerlain. It's beautiful for any woman's vanity but very prone to picking up fingerprints. Inevitably, the compact is much more travel friendly than the jar of pearls. The Guerlain Meteorites Compact is available in one shade for all skintones as it is a light powder that appears translucent when applied to the skin. 

As previously mentioned, the Meteorites compact contains 6 different corrective and enhancing shades: 

• pink // to refresh the complexion 
• green // to diminish redness 
• white // for a brighter complexion 
• mauve // to catch the light
• gold and pearl // to add a perfect touch of radiance

It was impossible to pick up each of these colours individually. Blended together, the colours yield an iridescent golden-pearl glow with a touch of shimmer. 

Guerlain Meteorites Compact applied on nose, cheekbones, and chin 

On the face, it's undetectable. Only with a 10x magnifying mirror would you be able to see traces of shimmer particles. Other than that, it adds what Guerlain refers to as an invisible beam of UV rays for soft-focus perfecting light. The product wears like a setting powder without making the face matte and simply adding a very, very subtle light-catching glow to the skin. The effect is lesser than that of a traditional highlighter and quite similar to that of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders. 

All in all, I'm on the fence about the subtle glow of the Guerlain Meteorites Compact in Mythic. It's beautiful, as is the packaging, but I'm still a little confused about it's merits as a setting powder and/or highlighter. 

Have you ever tried Guerlain's Meteorites Pearls? Would you try it in compact form? 

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Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura #Shupette Holiday 2014 Collection + Look - Eyeshadow Trios, Face Powder and Glitter

An entire makeup collection marked with cat drawings and paw prints. What's not to adore? Inspired by Karl Lagerfeld's pet cat Choupette, fittingly, Shu Uemura and Karl Lagerfeld have come together to create the Shupette Holiday 2014 Collection. From an all-out eye and lip palette with a faux fur cover to cleansing oils and furry eyelashes, this post captures just a few of the pieces in the collection. You can see press photos of everything else here. 

Sometimes it's hard to review the product itself because I'm so enamored with the packaging. It's almost pointless for me to ramble on about the kitty cat, pastel colours, and paw prints. Just look at it. I'm not even a cat lover and I think that this collection is highly covetable. 

eye-need-shu eyeshadow trios in Parisienne Chic and Tokyo Kawaii ($45 each)

Shu Uemura eyeshadows are always such a joy to work with. The eye-need-shu eyeshadow trios are just like other Shu Palettes in that they're easily depottable and slide out of the casing for storage in a larger palette. Particularly in Parisienne Chic (blue) and Tokyo Kawaii (pink), certain colours are less pigmented than others. The pale yellow-gold and white-blue (lightest) are quite sheer. The pastel pink and blue and the navy blue and burgundy are less sheer. All together, these shadows are still easy to work with and pair nicely together. Despite the lack of neutral shades in these palettes, I find the sheerness makes for the most more natural-looking coloured eyeshadow looks. 

my precious glitter set (trio) ($58) 

The my precious glitters set comes with a gold, pink, and silver glitter.The packaging of the glitters is not the best (I would have preferred an uncovered top instead of the hole, as it's hard to put the product back into the pot if you pour too much). It's important to keep in mind that these are glitters not pigments because they're quite sheer and require some sort of sticky base in order to adhere to the lid. The glitters are quite fine, but I was disappointed to find that they don't have enough sparkle. If anything, they're more like a fine, sheer semi-sparkly glitter and nice to pat over the lid if you want something subtle.

pampearl-me face powder ($50)

The pampearl-me face powder is like nothing I've worked with. It seems to be a sheer face powder + very, very fine shimmer that works beautifully as highlighter. To me, this is the most impressive of the collection that I've tried. Putting on your face is the equivalent to fairy dust, it's light, airy, and adds a subtle glow to the skin. Plus, the included powder puff has little paw prints that are just so fluffy I could die. 

Final exam season is upon us, so I haven't really had the time for crazy eyeshadow looks. Instead, I went for something simple and the Shupette collection as a whole is actually perfect for "cutesy" natural looks with a refined pop of colour. 

I used the Eye-Need-Shu Eyeshadow Trio in Tokyo Kawaii (white-gold in the inner corner, pink on the lid and burgundy in the crease) and patted pink glitter on the centre of the eyelid. I also applied some of the Pampearl-Me Face Powder on the bridge of my nose. 

What do you think of the Shupette collection? Will you be picking anything up this holiday season? 

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Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette

The Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette ($41 CAD, exclusively at Sephora) is yet another limited edition set. In a nutshell, it's a wallet-sized fold-able palette containing everything you should ever need for your face, convenient for different looks and skin tones - concealers, bronzers, powder blushes, cream blushes, cream highlighters, and powder highlighters. There's three shades of everything except for the four powder blushes. It also comes with step-by-step instructions for  Bronzed and Beautiful and Ethereal and Illuminated looks. 

I've honed down on which colours work for my light-medium (~MAC NC 30)  skin colour. So I'll attempt to describe each shade in the palette and if you're having a tl;dr moment, I'll also denote colours that I would personally use with a (*). 

The concealers are cream-to-powder and dry down to a matte finish that lasts ~5 hours when set with a powder. Be forewarned, the concealers work much better over big oily blemishes than ones that are already dried up, as the faux-powder finish exaggerates dryness. 

#1 - light, #2 - medium*, #3 - dark (with a prominent orange tinge)

The powder bronzers impressed me. They feel more finely milled and easily blend-able than I had expected (kind of like a really nice face powder - shade #1 actually works quite nicely as one). 

#1 - light, #2 - light-medium*, #3 - medium

The powder blushes are not quite as soft as the bronzers and as such, they don't apply quite as smoothly. I find the first much too light for my face and the second and third too overtly shimmery for my tastes. 

#1 - matte pastel pink, #2 - neutral pink with gold shimmer, #3 - peach with gold shimmer, #4 - matte hot pink*

I have the same qualms with the cream blushes as I do with the powder ones. The first two have a shimmery iridescence that is too much to apply all over the cheeks, while the last bright pink is absolute perfection. The cream blushes work well to prolong the longevity and pigmentation of the powders for up to 6 hours. 

#1 - neutral pink with gold shimmer, #2 - peach with gold shimmer, #3 - matte hot pink*

The shimmers in the cream highlighters are thankfully much finer than the blushes and cream blushes. The cream highlighters provide a natural sheen to the cheeks and dry down to a powdery finish (similar to the concealer). All three shades suit my complexion. 

#1 - pale yellow shimmer*, #2 - pale pink shimmer*, #3 - pale gold shimmer*

The powder highlighters have slightly more concentration of shimmer than the cream higlighters but the shimmers are still fine enough that they don't look chunky. The texture is similar to that of the powder blushes. I've never seen an orange tinted highlighter in my life, so I'm not sure why there's one included here. 

#1 - gold shimmer*, #2 - pink shimmer*, #3 - orange shimmer 

Before (looking a little tired and red-nosed...also one noteworthy zit and a few minimal blemishes) 

After (Wearing the Sephora Collection All A Glow Contouring Face Palette ONLY- #2 concealer, #2 bronzer, #1 powder blush (pale pink) , #3 cream blush (bright pink), #2 cream highlighter (pink frost) , #2 powder highlighter (pink frost)) 

There's a heck of a lot of product packed in this one wallet-sized palette. Some products were good (concealers, bronzers, cream blushes, both highlighters) but others missed the mark for me (shimmery blushes, orange highlighter). While it's awesome for travel, for the price, I'd rather get a couple individual products with formulas that I am above and beyond excited about. That being said, this will come in handy when I want to do makeup on a friend with a different skin tone from my own, so I truly appreciate the variety. 

What do you think of the All a Glow Contouring Face Palette? 

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