Queen Collection Bronzer!

Cover Girl Queen Collection Bronzer is one of my favorite bronzers! But I love Bronzers! I have every shade, color and consistency you can think of as far as a bronzer is concerned. When it comes to placing them in my kit I have atleast three!! I don't know how I became so in love with them. But my favorite is the Queen Collection Bronzer! I have a set of these bronzers in my kit and a set for my personal use.

I pretty much use this bronzer everyday! I use the Q120 as a contour and as a blush sometimes. I use the Q100 as a light golden highlight right on the top of my cheeckbone.

I saw a pic of myslef from The Makeup Show and realized that I may be just a tad bit heavy handed with it! Lol Especially being that I have a tan already.

This bronzer is really great all year round. In the winter months it gives a great contour and just a hint of a sun kissed look. It's excellent in the summer for that "Fresh from Vacation look"! But not too heavily or you will be looking like the women of Jerseylicious or maybe a little oompa loompa-ish! Lol

I thank you all for reading! Happy blogging and let me know your experience with this collection of bronzers from the Queen Collection or any of your favorite bronzers to use!

Lancome Miel Glace vs Jelly Pong Pong Brazilian Sun: Dupes or Not?

Having a makeup stash as large as mine, every now and then there are products that look pretty similar. In my recent ravings over the Jelly Pong Pong Brazilian Sun bronzer, I couldn't help but notice that it was actually quite similar to Lancome's Blush Subtil in Miel Glace.

Now for those of you not in the know, Miel Glace is one of Lancome's more celebrated blushes, and is a classic as a nude blush - you know, the type of blush you wear when you want some colour on your cheeks, but don't want it to be obvious.

Here are photos of both blushes side by side. Don't they look similar?



And here are the products swatched beside each other. As you can see, they are actually quite similar, although Miel Glace is a blush, and Brazilian Sun is a bronzer.



Although they are similar, there are still some differences between the two. Miel Glace has more shimmer than Brazilian Sun. However, the base colour is actually quite similar, although I think Lancome's blush pulls a little more ruddy than Jelly Pong Pong's bronzer.

So which one would I recommend you get, if you only could pick one? This is a tough choice, really. I guess it would boil down to whether you want to use it as a bronzer or a blush, and whether you'd want to apply the product over your body, or just the face. If you intend to use it for the entire body, I'd probably opt for the Jelly Pong Pong version, since you get 19g of product, versus the 5.1g of blush you get in the Lancome compact. However, the packaging (big paper tub) of Jelly Pong Pong's Brazilian Sun might make it harder to use than the Lancome's Miel Glace, which comes in a more accessible compact. I guess ultimately, it would be about packaging and price.

(Jelly Pong Pong 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.)

Mememe Blush Me! Blush Boxes Swatches

Mememe has recently launched four boxed blushes that are packaged exactly like the Benefit's blush boxes, right down to the square paper box and included brush, and are probably meant to imitate them - after all, Mememe already has dupes for Benefit's Benetint and Posietint, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they tried to dupe the powders.

However, while the packaging is similar, the colours are nothing alike. That may be a bad thing for those looking for a dupe (I know I'd love a dupe of Dallas that wasn't so expensive!), but the colours themselves aren't too bad. There are four colours - Coral, Pink, Bronze, and Rouge. The quality of these isn't too shabby, either - the powders were reasonably soft and pigmented, with the exception of Pink.

Here is the entire Blush Me! range swatched:



Coral is a coral that veers orange. I kind of think Rouge is what my idea of Coral should look like. Probably a better shade for the warmer-toned girls among us.

Pink is a light neutral pink, and this one wasn't very well-pigmented. It was quite sheer, and the texture was a bit harder than the other blushes. But it's a really pretty colour though.

Bronze is a light yellow-bronze. I'm surprised that this isn't too dark, so if you're fair and warm, this might work for you. All the Blush Me! shades are shimmery, but the shimmer is especially apparent in this shade, so it's probably not going to be useful for contouring, although for bronzing your cheeks etc it might be good.

Rouge isn't very rouge to me...I'm not sure about you, but when I think rouge, I think of primary red. This is actually a very pretty coral, and it's less orange than the Coral shade. This is my favourite of the bunch, and it seems to be the most popular too.

Out of all the four shades, Bronze and Rouge had the best pigmentation, while Pink had the worst. Coral was somewhere in between, it was decently pigmented. All the shades were also quite soft, except for Pink, which somehow seemed a bit harder to me. These are cheap and cherry, and if you like your blushes in cute little boxes, you'll probably like these.

Edward Bess Bronzer Swatches on Zuneta!

Remember Edward Bess? I'm sure you do - when his makeup range was launched in the UK, it caused quite the hubbub. And for good reason too - the colours are pretty, wearable, and neutral, and the quality is excellent. One of the standouts in his range are his bronzers. And since it's summer, 'tis the season for bronzer!

I know you're going to want to see swatches, so head on over to The Zuneta Blog to check out my guest post!

Cover Girl Queen Collection

Ok so I had the pleasure of reviewing the Queen Collection by Cover Girl. I will say I was reluctant at first because my local CVS pharmacy did not have an array of colors and I personally thought that the colors looked nothing close to my complexion. So one day I'm cruising through You Tube and ran across someone's channel and they just swiped above their eyebrow with the Cover Girl Queen foundation. I instantly noticed how smooth and creamy it appeared. The Youtuber also used a bit of the bronzer. BRONZER!? Did she just say BRONZER! So now at this point I must go get this and test it out for myself. I searched and looked what would be a good match for my complexion. I know that I have salmon undertones which are some oranges in my skin so I found what I thought would be an excellent match. Sure enough I got it nailed! My complexion number is Q510. It went on very smoothly and a creamy consistency. If I had to compare this foundation so far right now I would compare it to MAC's Studio Tech. Its creamy and can be buildable as needed. If you are looking for a full coverage foundation as I stated it could be buildable and add as much as needed but remember not too much! It goes on flawless and gives a nice glow to the skin. I used my sigma F80 brush to apply but this can easily be applied with a sponge(which is included in the case) or you could use your fingers to warm this product up to spread evenly and thin out as needed. Another great suggestion if you find that this is too creamy or too much coverage try adding a bit of fix plus to a sponge or brush and thin out as much as needed. As far as the bronzer goes it was great as well. If your not really into blush it could be used as a sunkissed appearance to your cheek area where you would normally put on blush. If your of somewhat of a lighter complexion you could also use it to contour or sculpt. Being that I thought the bronzer was great I went to another CVS and they had more of a range of colors and I found that that particular CVS carried more colors than the CVS closest to my house. So I got a darker bronzer and I use it for contouring on myself. Are you in need of a MAC replacement? Are you on a budget? Have never tried foundation and would like to give it a try but need something reasonable? Well I would definitely suggest The Cover Girl Queen Collection! Give it a try and let me know how you like it! xoxoxo YoShida

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!