The Life of A Ladybug

Ladybug Loves ...

• BareEscentuals Foundation in Warm Tan
• Pacifica solid perfumes
• tarte eyeliner in ballet dancers
• Too Faced "The Bronzed & The Beautiful" Bronzing Powder Collection

Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronze Collection

 

The Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronze Collection is on counters now!  The entire collection is full of bronzers for face and body, designed to add a sunkissed effect to the skin, while also giving you a beautiful glow.

The Shimmer Brick for Body is really big - way larger than a typical Shimmer Brick, as it should be, since it costs $75!  Still, if you're a lover of Bobbi's Shimmer Bricks, you'll want this, too!  The massive size of the compact means you'll get your money's worth and the All Over Body Brush is the perfect accompaniment, with the cushiest bristles I've ever felt!  It's like a luxurious pampering procedure to run across your arms, legs, shoulders, and decolletage.  I've been having way too much fun with it.  Make sure that you blow or tap the excess powder off your brush before applying - otherwise, you wind up with a big spot of shimmer that you'll have to rub in with your hand.  I declare both of these - the Shimmer Brick and the brush - Totally Splurge-worthy!

Bronzers for Brown Girls: LORAC TANtalizer Baked Matte Satin Bronzer SPF 15

 As you all know from my "Bronzers for Brown Girls" series, I constantly am on the lookout for a bronzer which actually meets my needs and the needs of bajillions of other brown-skinned beauties.  We want to be able to achieve bronzed bombshell look, too!  Sadly, many bronzers aren't deep enough in color to work for us.  I get it - the beauty industry assumed that, as brown folks, we wouldn't need a bronzer.  Well, WRONG!

So, allow me to extend a hearty "Good on ya!" to LORAC for creating the LORAC TANTalizer Baked Matte Satin Bronzer SPF 15.  This product is great for many reasons.

Ladybug Loves this week ...

 

• Mally Beauty Mascara
• MAC Naked Honey Salve
• Carol's Daughter Pearls eau de toilette
• LORAC Tantalizer
• Prescriptives Cheek Blossom in Melon Warm

MAC Naked Honey

 

MAC's Naked Honey collection has me salivating and I've only tried one of the products!  My loves/lemmings in bold.

MAC Style Warrior

 

The MAC Style Warrior collection is hot as fire!  Look at that packaging!  I am in love with animal prints, so having makeup in my purse covered in animal print makes me unbelievably happy.  My loves/lemmings will be in bold!

Freeze 24-7 Minerals

 

In the last few weeks, I have had the chance to try out Freeze 24-7's new Mineral Collection.  According to the brand, the collection is a "fusion of ground-breaking skincare and pure color makeup, powered with revolutionary Vita-Nutriplex Technology to provide a 96% reduction in the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, pore size, discoloration and sun spots."  Well, I can't attest to most of those claims.  The only issue I have is large pores on the area near my nose.  In that regard, yes, this product does work.  When brushed on, the appearance of the pores are reduced - they're almost unnoticeable.  If I didn't know to look there, I wouldn't notice it.  So, yay!

The included face brush is kind of scratchy and doesn't offer the fuller coverage of, say, BareMinerals' brushes.  However, the two included shades of foundation (I have the Medium/Tan collection) work well for my skin.  If you don't need much coverage and you're a medium brown complexion, I think this set is good.  You are instructed to use the lighter of the two foundation shades as a concealer for undereye darkness and any redness.  It does not work well at lightening dark undereye circles, but it does do well at covering redness.  I would suggest that you stick with whatever concealer you're already using for your undereye region.  You can use the two foundation shades to mix and match a shade that would work best for you.  You also could use the included Bronze-to-Glow as a way of darkening the shade a bit, if necessary.  The Bronze-to-Glow is a great bronzer/cheek color that looks wonderful alone or layered under your chosen blush shade.  I like it much better than BE's Warmth.  Also included in the collection is a Cheeky Highlighter, but I was underwhelmed.  It didn't add much light to my face, at all.  It could have been left out, in my opinion.

I'm quite pleased with this collection overall and will continue to use it regularly.  Still, at $85, I find it a bit pricey.

Bronzers for Brown Girls: Three Custom Color Specialists Warm Bronzer

Three Custom Color Specialists Warm Bronzer is a great multi-use product.  As a woman of medium brown skintone, I've found that it works both as a matte bronzer, in which case, it offers just a hint of bronziness to my skin so that it doesn't lose that sunkissed look and it also works as an all-over face powder.  Since it's matte and fairly sheer, I can dust it over my skin with a fluffy powder brush and it can act as a great setting powder, helping to minimize shine.  I love that it comes in cute but small packaging, so it's perfect to throw into my purse for touch-ups during the day! 

You can find the Bronzer on www.threecustom.com.  It also comes in Cool.

Proud member of Total Beauty, Glam, and The Beauty Blog Network.

Bronzers for Brown Girls: DuWop Bronzerush

Okay, so the summer is winding down and most of us think that it's now time to put away the bronzers.  I'm not one of those people!  I love sunkissed skin all year long, so, if you're like me, keep those bronzers at the ready, girls!

Brown girls (and others), I think you'll love this product: DuWop Bronzerush.  I know I do.  Contained in one slim gold compact, you get a good-sized bronzer and a round tin of gel-based cheek stain.  This product comes in two shades: June - with a golden tan bronzer and a poppy-colored cheek stain and August - with deeper bronze bronzer and a cherry-colored cheek stain.  I picked the August duo and love it.  The gel is quite similar in consistency to 3CC's Lip and Cheek Stain, though I haven't tried it on my lips.  A little goes a long way - I usually only use three dabs on my cheeks to give them a sexy flush.  And the bronzer is wonderful for adding warmth and glow to my skin.  I think August is a good choice for women of medium brown to dark skintone and for lighter-skinned women June would be a great pick.

You can find the DuWop Bronzerush at Sephora for $35.

If you've tried it, let me know what you think in the comments!

Proud member of Total Beauty, Glam, and the Beauty Blog Network!

Bronzers for Brown Girls: N.Y.C. Sun 2 Sun Bronzing Powder

So, I get a honking big package and guess what's in it?  Among other goodies (which I'll blog about at a later date), I got the three shades of N.Y.C. Sun 2 Sun Bronzing Powder!  Woot!  Y'all, I was so pleased with that package that I couldn't catch my breath for a quick second.  In three days (count 'em ... 3!), I'm headed to sunny Florida, and these bronzing duos are just the move!  They will be coming with, do you hear me?

In three shades: Bronze Gold, Bronze Mist (which I'm wearing today) and Terracotta Tan, you are sure to find a duo that suits your needs, no matter what shade you are!  The Bronze Mist duo, for example, comes with a very deep shimmery bronze side and a light, peachy pink side.  These duos can have multiple uses.  You can use them like I am today, with the dark side as cheek color and the light side as highlight.  You can use them as highlight and contour powders.  You can use them like traditional bronzers.  You can use them separately as blushes.  I think these chumpies would even look good swiped across your eyes as bronzy shadows!  These things might be my new best friends!

Ding!  Pick 'em up!

You can find N.Y.C. Sun 2 Sun Bronzing Powder at your local drugstore or at www.newyorkcolor.com.  And at $4.99, you can afford to buy all three!

Proud member of The Beauty Blog Network, Total Beauty, and Glam!