Just the Right Glow: CoverGirl TruBlend Blush and Bronzer Swatch and Review

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Have you seen these? I've overlooked them for a looong time at the drugstore. When I shouldn't have. It took CoverGirl sending them to me (for a sponsored post in the fall) for me to really notice them. You can check out that sponsored post here, but they've been quietly sitting here on my vanity, being used frequently, ever since. Because they're kind of amazing.

One of the first things you might notice is that they look a bit... familiar? They remind me a lot of the MAC Mineralize Skinfinish and Mineralize Blush. I don't use a lot of MAC face products, but anything marbleized with shimmery metallic screams "MINERALIZE" to me. There's a reason those MAC products have stuck around for so long, is that they're just so pretty. Super pretty, they make you glowy, they last all day... you get the picture. They're classics for a reason.

These CoverGirl TruBlends do remind me a lot of the Mineralize products, though they are a little less pigmented and they don't last quite as long. Think 10 hours instead of 12-14 hours. But, they are just as pretty. And they cost a fraction of the MAC products.


bronze, light rose, deep mauve
One thing to notice is that the bronzer is pretty golden, and all three do have a subtle shimmer that is just enough to catch the light and look glowy. This means that you'll get a great sunkissed look with this bronzer, but it wouldn't work for contouring. As well, even though I'm pretty fair, I mostly use the deep mauve color. With a slightly larger blush brush, this gives me a very pretty look!


TruBlend Baked Powder Blush at Amazon, ULTA or Target
TruBlend Baked Powder Bronzer at Amazon, ULTA or Target

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My Favorite Bronzers for Pale Skin

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IMAXtree

Sometimes, it can be a little hard finding makeup when you're a pale girl. One of the hardest things for me has always been finding a good bronzer. Most bronzers are for darker skin tones. They come across on my skin as much too dark, and instead of looking sun kissed I look like I have dirt smudged all over. There's also a danger of looking too orange, similar to a self tanner.

During the summer, I do often do a very light dusting of bronzer at the end of my makeup routine. I just dust it on to my t-zone, and then my temple, cheek bone and jawbone (here's a quick tip on where to apply bronzer for a great sunkissed look).

After a lot of trial and error, I've found that there are bronzers out there that work for pale girls, read on to see some of my favorites!

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A Little Sunkissed Glow: Stila Stay All Day Bronzer For Face & Body

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I'm a pale girl. I long ago embraced this, and my complete inability to get a tan. I don't get red but I do get clumps of freckles that aren't cute. They make me look dirty. So, I (somewhat) shun the sun. I hang out in the shade, I wear sunscreen daily, and I own a couple of great sun hats.

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Favorite Contouring and Highlighting Products of Makeup Artists

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Recently I wrote a piece for Babble, Optical Illusions 101: Highlighting and Contouring Tips from the Pros. I asked the pros in the piece what their favorite makeup to contour with is, and they spilled! I love seeing what products the professional makeup artists think works best. Which ones will you add to your shopping list?

"I really like using Bobbi Brown's bronzer (1) to contour with. It isn't too orange, and is perfect for contouring."
- Brianna Gonzalez, also blogs at Briksia

"When contouring the cheeks I tend to gravitate towards big paddle brushes or fan brushes. My very favorite is the It Cosmetics Heavenly Luxe Fan Brush (review, 2)."
- Laura, blogs at My Newest Addiction, and she is available as a makeup artist

"Benefit's Hoola bronzer (3) works well for almost every skin tone and surprisingly, the included brush works well for sweeping the initial color under your cheek bones as long as you blend it out with another brush afterwards. I love highlighters right now and one of my favorites is NARS Highlighting Blush in Albatross (4). A great duo would be LORAC TANtalizer Highlighter & Matte Bronzer Duo (5)."
- Ivy Boyd blogs at Wake Up For Makeup

"IT cosmetics makes an amazing highlighting and contour palette (CC+ Radiance Palette) (6)."
- Christina Farrell also blogs at The Makeup Blogger

"Tom Ford's Highlight and Shader Duo (7) is the best for both pros and everyday people. It is so natural and easy to blend, I love using this to create a new face."
- Dimitri James founder of Skinn Cosmetics

"My favorite foundation to contour with is Cover FX Total Cover Cream Foundation (8). I discovered it during my trip to Sephora."
- Meg Raiano

"I love Senna's Face sculpting kit (9). It was originally developed for the cast of Desperate Housewives and it's basically all you need in order to contour and highlight. I also use Kevyn Aucoin's Sculpting Powder (11) and Tom Ford's Highlight and Shader Duo (7)."
- Lindsey Rivera

"Bobbi Brown makes a great stick foundation that is easy to contour and highlight with (10)."
- Shannon Van Horn


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Urban Decay Naked Flushed Review and Swatches: Everything You Need In One Palette

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Urban Decay has slowly been adding more and more products to their Naked line, have you noticed? While I'm a big fan of all the eye shadow palettes (Naked2 is my favorite), the double ended 24/7 Glide On Liners and the foundation, I think this might be my favorite yet! They released their original Naked Flushed palette a while ago, somehow I haven't tried it yet. But three new shades have just been added to the collection, and I'm in love!

Each of these palettes is pretty large. They contain a trio of very finely milled products. Don't let that palette fool you, there's enough of each to fill a regular full sized container. Each trio is meant to work together for your look, and there is a bronzer, a highlighter and a blush. Everything you need to highlight/contour/glow!



Since the original Naked is more of a medium-pink (I don't have it, so no comparison pics, sorry!), the 3 new shades all fill the colors you'd want to see as well. Native is a lighter pink, Streak is more of a peach and Strip is mauve. And yes, Strip makes me look a bit bruised? I do think they would all work with any skin tone, though on such light skin I would use a very light hand with Strip!

I thought for sure that I'd be using Native the most often, I seem to always be drawn to pink blushes. But, the bronzer in Streak is a tad lighter and the golden glow of the highlighter seem to work better for me. So, I'm using Streak a bit more often.

I think these palettes are a steal if you use blush, bronzer and highlighter every day. They're also very compact for travel.

Which trio would you use?

Urban Decay Naked Flushed
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Too Faced's Little Black Book of Bronzers: Every Bronzer Girl's Dream Come True

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Have you seen this huge palette yet? Yes, that really is a palette. It's the size of a coffee table book. I took a pic next to this month's Allure just so you could see how large it really is.

Why is it so big? This book contains 8 full-sized bronzers from Too Faced. For realz.



Inside the book there is a super cute cartoon about using each bronzer for different events/aspects of your life, and then all 8 bronzers are on the right side.




Here's a closer look at the bronzers (you should be able to right click and open that image in a new window to double the size. Same for the swatch pic below). I have to admit that I already own all of them.... yes. I have a lot of bronzers. My personal go-to bronzer is the Milk Chocolate, I think it works the best with my pale complexion. When I want a little shimmer I'll grab Pink Leopard or Snow Bunny and hit the areas that I want to highlight and that the sun hits (cheekbones, center of the face) and that little bit of shimmer is just enough.



The Little Black Book of Bronzers is coming out in May and you'll be able to buy it from Too Faced, ULTA and Sephora on-line (I don't think it will be in stores). It is very limited edition, so if you're a bronzer girl you need to snap one up! Too Faced is donating $1 for every bronzer sold in the United States during the month of May to the Melanoma Research Foundation, for a total of $30,000!


Too Faced
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Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer: Perfect For Us Pale Girls

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I'm pretty sure I'm not the only pale girl out there with this issue. You hunt all over the place for the right bronzer. You want one that isn't orange, has a matte finish, and won't make you look dirty. A natural glow or just the right color for subtle contouring is the goal.

Except, it doesn't exist.

You can get the first two, but it seems like that last one is hard for us super pale girls. A bronzer that works on someone with a darker complexion is always too pigmented for a pale girl, and while you can use a bigger brush for a lighter effect, sometimes you want your application to be more precise.

I have finally found the perfect bronzer shade, and it's great for us pale girls. It's Milk Chocolate Soliel, the lighter sister of Too Faced's Chocolate Soliel Bronzer. It is just the right shade of brown, isn't orange, there's no shimmer and best of all, it isn't too dark for me! A heavy hand won't have people telling me to wipe the dirt off of my face.

Too Faced
Product Sent for Review

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MAC Hey Sailor Bronzers: Nude on Board and Soft Sand

Strangely enough, though MAC is releasing 4 different bronzers with the Hey Sailor collection, they come in 2 different formulations.

Pro Longwear Bronzer: "Combining comfort, flawless sheer-low transparent coverage and long wear, this is bronze with a fully dimensional yet natural finish. "

Bronzing Powder: "A lightly frosted, tinted powder that gives skin sheer, natural colour effects and highlights. Ideal to enhance and strengthen a tan."

Both formulations come in the same compact, which is a navy and white stripe on the outside with a nice sized mirror on the inside. It is definitely a bit heavier duty than other MAC compacts and could easily be carried around with you all day. I didn't really notice a difference between the 2 formulations in terms of pigmentation level or application. Soft Sand (the regular bronzer) does have a touch more fine shimmer (which MAC calls frost), but I think that's the main difference.

Nude on Board: A basic bronzy yellow, I didn't think it was too dark for my pale skin (I'm NC15 or so), and I liked that it didn't come across as orange.

Soft Sand: This golden bronze was very similar to Nude on Board but with a touch more golden shimmer.

Either would be a good choice for a summer bronzer.


MAC

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MAC Hey Sailor Highlight Powder: Grab It If You Find It!

I don't usually review items that are discontinued or already sold out, but there's a chance that this might still be available at a MAC counter near you. If so, grab one! This baby sold out fast, probably helped quite a bit by Temptalia's Review and pics.

This is a bit different than many other highlighting powders that I've had from MAC.
Read on to see pics and why I think it is different.

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Summer-ize Your Make-Up!

Today I have a great guest post from Jaime, who has long been one of my favorite commenters on this blog. She recently started her own beauty blog, Drug of Choice Beauty, which as far as I know makes her the only beauty blogger based in Maine. Her reviews are fun and easy to read, I especially love her fashion and Face-Off Friday posts.


Can you believe it? Summer is here! Naturally, the first thing I think about is how to summer-ize my makeup and beauty routines. What kind of makeup junkie would I be if I didn't?

For a look that lasts all day you may have to add a few steps to your morning routine and that starts with primer. You'll want a good mattifying one to keep the shine off your face while you're soaking up those rays. Philosophy's The Present is so mattifying it can suck up sparkles from my cheek color. The multitasker can be used to soften lines and the appearance of pores either under foundation or alone. For best results let this product fully soak in before applying foundation or concealer. This is the perfect time to prime those eyes and get to work making them fabulous.

The best look for the beach as far as the eyes go is a pop of colorful liner topped off with waterproof mascara. Sure you can cower in the corner with your nude matte shadow or you can really come out and play with Cargo's Swimmable Waterproof Liners. For the faint at heart there's a gorgeous gold but you can't go wrong with the bright blue, purple and green also in the set. For $20 this four piece set can't be beat. When I swatched these suckers on my hand they seriously stayed overnight, through multiple handwashings and had to be scrubbed off in the AM but they easily remove with makeup remover. They appear to only be available in Ulta Stores but they're worth tracking down. To keep those lashes in check pick up Urban Decay's Cannonballs Mascara. Not only is it a cute name but the mascara made my lashes look amazing regardless of its waterproof-ness, a feat in itself.

The summer is the best time to try out brighter lipcolors, pinks more daring than you'd normally go, corals and peaches with more of an orange leaning than you'd dare to wear in the middle of a harsh winter. For that reason I'm really lusting over Bare Minerals Pretty Amazing Lipcolor in Moxie and Charisma, both brighter and bolder than my regular pink glosses. This amazing lipcolor is a liquid lipstick that goes on opaque and really does last all day.

Last but not least, let's give those cheeks some action. All that SPF should be keeping your skintone uniform and healthy but that doesn't mean you don't want a little color and Cargo comes to the rescue again with their Water Resistant Bronzer (seriously!). The color is believable even on my fair skin and buildable for those with darker complexions.

So swim until your heart is content, rock that bikini on the shore or beat the boys butts in beach volleyball all while looking gorgeous, all summer long. Are there any products out there that you just can't live without in the summer months? I'm dying to know.

Drug of Choice Beauty

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