Multi-purpose bronzer & highlighter : BYS Sun Bronzer and The Balm Mary-lou Manizer

 I want to share with you these two amazing products I am loving lately!
 Good news is, these are inexpensive and can be used in two ways, as bronzer/highlighter or as an eyeshadow! A great way to save money right?

 Hint: The bronzer is a spot on dupe for the popular Urban Decay eyeshadow. Read on to find out which shade.

BYS Sun Bronzer in Gold and The Balm Mary-lou Manizer

 

 BYS Bronzing Powder Round Sun Design in Gold (8 grams)

This sun design bronzer by BYS gives a sheer, natural finish that can also be built for desired intensity. This is the ultimate solution for a sunless tan that is easily created within seconds giving you a smooth flawless finish.

Available at Watsons and SM stores.

On my fair NC20 skintone, the shade looks orange and too shimmery when used as a bronzer all over the face.... But when used as a blush, it gives me a healthy sunkissed glow on the cheeks. You need to be careful though coz this baby is super pigmented! You only need to tap your stippling/duo fibre brush when you apply it on the cheeks. This shimmery bronzer reminds me of The Balm's Betty-lou Manizer except lighter in color. 

I like that the powder is soft and easy to blend. When used as an eyeshadow, this is a spot on dupe for Urban decay Half Baked when applied sheerly. On some angles, it looks like Chopper from the Naked 2 palette when applied heavily. Check out side by side swatches below.

 The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer (8 grams)

Meet Mary-Lou Manizer, a seemingly innocent honey-hued luminizer that catches everybody’s eye. This highlighter, shadow and shimmer diffuses light so your skin looks softer and younger while adding a subtle glow.

Available at Beauty Bar for Php 895.00

 Mary-Lou Manizer is a lovely shimmery- champagne shade with gold tones. I use this almost everyday on the bridge on my nose and the cupids bow to highlight. Sometimes I use this as an eyeshadow or to highlight the tear ducts and browbone. Super sulit na for the price right?! So instead of buying a single shade of MAC eyeshadow like Ricepaper or White frost for highlight, I suggest you buy this product instead! hehe

Swatches

 BYS Sun Bronzing powder in Gold | The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer

Urban Decay Chopper | Urban Decay Half-baked| BYS Sun Bronzer
 
What's your favorite multi-purpose product?

Till next time, 

Swatches: MAC Sculpt and Shape Powders

PRODUCT INFO from MAC:

Sculpt and Shape Powder is a split-pan, two-in-one powder with the perfect level of pigment for creating a naturally sculpted look. The deeper shade is matte, making it perfect for contouring the face and body. The lighter shade has low-level pearlized pigments, making it ideal for highlighting the high planes of the face. This non-acnegenic formula has jet-milled pigments to allow for smooth, even, silky application. Sculpt and Shape Powder contains skin conditioning agents like Wheat and Barley Extracts and is dermatologist and ophthalomologist-tested.

click pics to zoom

Shades: Warm Light/Definitive; Accentuate/Sculpt

Swatches:

Warm Light - a gorgeous peach shade that can also be used as blush.
Definitive - a medium brown contouring powder that suits medium to dark skintones. You can also use this shade as eyeshadow to define the outer-v.
Accentuate - a pinky beige highlighter. I usually use this on the bridge of my nose and cheekbones. This shade suits fair to medium skintones.
Sculpt - a grayish brown contouring powder that looks so natural on my skintone.

Click HERE to read my review for the Accentuate/Sculpt shade.

Till next time,

Review : MAC Mineralized Skinfinish (MSF) in Gold Spill

Click to enlarge

PRODUCT INFO from MAC:

A luxurious velvet-soft powder with high-frost metallic finish. Smoothes on: adds buffed-up highlights to cheeks and brows, or an overall ultra-deluxe polish to the face.

RETAIL PRICE: Around Php 1,500 (about $32) <- correct me if I'm wrong.
Bought this from Babyjap for a much cheaper price.

WEIGHT : 10 grams / 0.35 US oz.

SHADES : Available in several LE (limited edition) shades. Currently, MAC has 5:
> Sunny by nature - rich bronze w/ pink pearl
> Cheeky bronze - soft golden coral w/ bronze pearl
> Comfort - golden bronze
> Gold deposit - soft reflective golden-bronze
> Soft and Gentle - gilded peach bronze
> Gold Spill - Pink peach w/ warm brown and cream pearl (LE shade)

WHAT I LIKE:
* its multi-purpose! can be used as blush, bronzer and eyeshadow
* made of minerals
* love the dome shape (since this is baked)
* nice color pay-off; pigmented
* not too shimmery when applied
* MSF's are very lightweight on the face
* no allergies

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
* MSF's are fragile! Do NOT drop this.
* messy - when I use a kabuki brush, the powder tends to scatter all over the compact.


TIPS:
Can be used alone or layered over blush (as contour powder). I always use this with NARS Orgasm blush. Thanks Babyjap for the tip! I prefer to use my Ecotools blush brush or angled blush brush to apply this.

ADDICTION FACTOR:
Yes, if the price is cheap.

RATING :
5 out of 5.

Swatch (click to enlarge)

MAC Mineralized Skinfinish in Gold Spill

Lovely peach-bronze color eh?!


Till next time,

Review : MAC Dsquared2 Sculpt and Shape Powder Duo

This Limited Edition Powder is part of the Dsquared2 Collection released last November 2009. Got this from a Hongkong based seller on Ebay for Php 1,200+ only including shipping. It arrived after a month coz of the holidays. Read on to find out if its worth the wait =)

MAC Dsquared2 Sculpt and Shape powder in Accentuate/Sculpt

PRODUCT INFO:

Sculpt and Shape Powder is a split-pan, two-in-one powder with the perfect level of pigment for creating a naturally sculpted look. The deeper shade is matte, making it perfect for contouring the face and body. The lighter shade has low-level pearlized pigments, making it ideal for highlighting the high planes of the face. This non-acnegenic formula has jet-milled pigments to allow for smooth, even, silky application. Sculpt and Shape Powder contains skin conditioning agents like Wheat and Barley Extracts and is dermatologist and ophthalomologist-tested.

RETAIL PRICE: Php 1,500 in MAC stores.

WEIGHT : 11.5 grams / 0.40 oz.

SHADES :
Accentuate/Sculpt (Pale peach highlighter and cool matte brown contour powder)
Bone Beige/Emphasize (Pale cream shimmer higlighter and reddish brown contouring powder)

WHAT I LIKE:
* finely milled texture
* long lasting - after swatching, I washed my hands 2x and the color didn't budge!
* contour powder is natural looking compared to using bronzers, doesn't create a harsh line when applied.
* easy to blend (compared to using bronzers to contour in my experience)
* pan holds a lot of product - will last me a long time!
* no weird smell

WHAT I DON'T LIKE:
* this is Limited Edition. Not sure if MAC have this in their permanent line.
* expensive
* wish the compact has a mirror included

TIPS:
I use the dark shade to contour my nose bridge (using Sansan's angled eyeshadow brush) and the hollow of my cheeks using Everyday Minerals Angled brush or MAC 168 brush.

For the light shade I use it to highlight my T-zone (forehead, chin, nose) and my cheekbones.

ADDICTION FACTOR:
Really worth it.. Will definitely repurchase!

RATING :
5 out of 5.

Swatch

MAC Dsquared2 Sculpt and Shape powder in Accentuate/Sculpt

The contour powder looks very natural on my skintone.

*image from Temptalia.com*

Left - Bone Beige / Emphasize
Right - Accentuate / Sculpt

I think Bone Beige/Emphasize is for light skintones and Accentuate/Sculpt for light to medium skintones.

See ya next time,

Contouring and highlighting..

Just a quick post to update my blog.. Wanna share my favorite part from Kevin Aucoin's book, MAKING FACES... Its about how to contour and highlight the face.

I have a round face, so I really need to master this technique.. Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to do this everyday at work, that would be so unnatural! haha.. I'll save it for special occassions during nighttime. I'm so excited to go to Jessie Glova's makeup school hopefully next month to learn more about contouring and of course, Makeup! =)

*click pic to enlarge*

Notice the difference on the model's face?!
Contouring & Highlighting really makes a huge difference especially on photographs!

On special occasions, I just contour my nose area and a bit of bronzer on the cheekbone area and highlight the top of my cheeks, browbone & tear duct (eyes).


PRODUCTS I USE FOR CONTOURING:
Jessie Glova 28 Neutral palette ( a matte brown e/s for the nose area)
Tropez Bronzer in Malibu Peach (nose area)
ELF bronzer in Sunkissed (cheek area)


PRODUCTS I USE FOR HIGHLIGHTING:
The Body Shop shimmerwaves in Peach (cheeks & tear duct)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish duo in Natural
Ellana Hush eyeshadow (undereyes)

If you're looking for a highlighter & contour powder in one compact, you might want to try MAC's Sculpt and shape powder.

And also, don't forget to check out Nikki's tips on how to contour the nose area.
Click here.

***************

Sorry for the lack of posts. I took a leave from work to take care of my daughter coz everyone else at home got very busy. My Ama (chinese word for my hubby's grandmother) just passed away last Nov. 13 (its friday the 13th!) at the age of 87.. We're already missing her much!