A Few of my Favorite Drugstore Bronzers! NYC Sunny, Rimmel Sun Dance & NYX Sand!

If you're looking for affordable cosmetics, you all know brands like Wet n Wild & NYC are the way to go. NYC has a small variety of bronzers, including their "Sun to Sun" Duo bronzing powder, Color wheel mosaic powder & the much sought after Sunny bronzer.

NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder #720A Sunny

NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder #720A Sunny

Sunny is a great bronzer that is sheer (but buildable), soft & blendable and offers a natural color and finish. The color is a soft bronze with no shimmer, frost or pearl. Because there is no shimmer, it's ideal for contouring & adding warmth to your face without it being very "detectable". I actually prefer this over Benefit Hoola, another popular matte bronzer, because Sunny gives my face more of a bronzed color, whereas Hoola looks a little purple/muddy on my skintone. The best part about the bronzer is, it's only $3. 

(NYC Products can be found at Target & Walmart stores. Check here for your nearest location)

A couple of my other favorite drugstore bronzers are Rimmel Sun Dance (also very affordable) and NYX Sand Blush (not pictured).

Comparison of NYC Sunny & Rimmel Sun Dance

Rimmel is another drugstore brand with very affordable products. It's a little higher in price than Wet n Wild & NYC, but lower in price than brands like Revlon & L'Oreal. Rimmel has a small variety of bronzers, called their "Natural Bronzers". There are four (4) available shades, Sun Light, Sun Dance, Sun Bronze & Sun Glow. I'm not sure if this shade is being discontinued, but it doesn't appear on the website.. although I just recently have seen it in stores. Anyone have any insight about that? That would be a bummer. 

Anyway, of Rimmel's bronzers, Sun Light and Sun Bronze are matte shades and Sun Dance and Sun Glow have slight shimmer. I've only tried Sun Light (which is extremely subtle) and Sun Dance, and I love Sun Dance. It's a sheer, coppery bronze with golden flecks. I wear it often in the summertime on my cheekbones for a healthy glow. It retails for around $4. Walgreens often has sales on Rimmel, otherwise, it's regular price is cheaper at Target or Walmart.

Lastly, NYX has a fantastic variety of blushes and bronzers. NYX Sand, isn't technically one of their bronzers, it is a blush, but the color is a shimmery golden bronze, so I would put it in the bronzer category. It may not be a great all-over bronzer because of the shimmer, but it's a beautiful bronze color for the cheeks. NYX Sand has the most shimmer of the three bronzers mentioned, and those that don't like shimmer, may not like this one. I find Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips to be too shimmery/frosty for my cheeks, but I don't find NYX Sand to be too frosty. I love the rich golden sheen it gives my cheeks. (I didn't photograph it because it's shattered - you can view it in a past haul here) NYX Blushes retail for around $6 at ULTA.

And, swatches!

Swatches from Left to Right: NYC Sunny, Rimmel Sun Dance, NYX Sand

Swatches from Left to Right: NYC Sunny, Rimmel Sun Dance, NYX Sand

Whats your favorite drugstore bronzer?

NOTD: Neopolitan Colored Nails!

Last night I had attempted to do some tape designs with nail polish, inspired by Chloe's Nails amazing designs, but it didn't really work out for me. I picked the wrong choice of a nail polish, and no matter how long I left it to dry (even after a half hour and a few sprays of quick dry finishing spray & a fast dry top coat), each time I put a piece of tape on my fingernail, it lifted my polish off and I would have to redo the nail. Orly Cotton Candy is a gorgeous color, but not a huge fan of the formula. It's the type of polish that dries like soft plastic and you can make dents in it a long time after it is dry.

So, my "tape design" was a complete fail and I decided to freehand what I envisioned. I love taupe and peach-pink together, so after two coats of Orly Cotton Candy, I applied Love & Beauty Taupe on an angle to the tips of my nails. Then, I applied a white line with a nail design pen and Wet n Wild glitter over the taupe & white line. Then, finished it off with Sally Hansen Insta' Dri Top Coat. 

The outcome was okay, I wish the lines were more precise. I'll be attempting to do this again but with a different polish, that dries faster.

Hard Candy Living Doll and Honeymoon Baked Blushes Review!

  

Hard Candy Living Doll Baked Blush

Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blushes are super soft & blendable blushes that are meant to give your skin a luminous glow, without being glittery. 

They are available in four (4) shades: Honeymoon, Bombshell, Living Doll and Pin Up. Of the four blushes, two (Honeymoon and Pin Up) are very light & are most suitable as highlights/pearly sheens for the face, rather than an actual "blush". Bombshell is a deep bronze, and is more like a frosty bronzer. Living Doll is a cotton candy pink, and is the only blush of the four that I would actually call a "blush". 

I already own Honeymoon, but I was interested in trying Living Doll. So, I ended up purchasing at the same time I purchased the Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer.

Living Doll is a light/mid-tone cotton candy pink with yellow veining. Although the color is quite cool, it doesn't seem to look ashy on my warm skin tone. 

The blush itself is very soft, and has the consistency of an average "baked" blush. In comparison to MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes, I would say they are quite similar, but MAC is a little more dense, whereas Hard Candy is a bit more sheer and powdery. Because the texture is so soft, the color blends effortlessly on the cheeks. That's the main reason I love baked blushes, powder and eye shadows & gravitate towards them when I'm shopping for makeup. 

This blush is sheer with a light coat, and can built very easily. I wasn't at all disappointed with the color payoff. The finish is quite frosty, but I personally don't mind frost on the cheeks as long as it's not too frosty, where it will give my cheeks a silvery/gray cast. It's ultimately up to you preference wise. I know there are people who hate MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes because they are frosty, but I love them and wished I owned every one of them.. haha!

This is the color swatched heavily on my hand so you can see the color well. With a much lighter hand, this color is very nice on the cheeks for a pink glow. 

I figured since I own Honeymoon as well, I'd swatch both. Honeymoon is a light, frosted peach with pale purple veining. It doesn't show up prominent on my cheeks, so I like to dust it over my blushes to add a peachy sheen.

Left: Hard Candy Honeymoon, Right: Hard Candy Living Doll

Here are both colors swatched on my hand. 

Left: Honeymoon, Right: Living Doll

The only downside with the blushes is, they aren't very long lasting. Within a few hours, the color has faded drastically. Next time I wear Living Doll, I'll apply a creme blush prior as a base and see how that works. I'll also wear it in a FOTD to show you how it looks on my cheeks very soon!

Here is Rocky today enjoying the weather outside. Yesterday he turned 6 months old.. :) He's looking extra shaggy, so I'll be setting up an appointment at the groomers sometime this week.

♥

Clarins Auto Bronzant Intense Self Bronzing Tint Review!

Clarins Auto Bronzant Intense Self Bronzing Tint

Ever since I started paying very close attention to the products I put on my face, and recognizing which products irritate my skin, I noticed that the SUN Labs Spray I was using, breaks me out. I've been using SUN Labs for the past 5 years with no problems, but when I used it recently and woke up to a few blemishes, I went on the search for a tanning product that won't irritate my face. I'm not sure if the current bottle I have of SUN Labs is a different formulation (or if it's old), because my bottle is paraben free, and when I search for SUN Labs, I'm finding bottles that contain parabens. There are also formulations that don't contain fragrance, and mine does. I'm going to have to look further into it. In the mean time, I came across Clarins self tanning products, which have very positive reviews.

I took a look at the ingredient list, and it's quite short in comparison to other brands of tanning products. A shorter list, is always a good thing (less chance of irritations).

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Alcohol, Dihydroxyacetone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Butylene Glycol PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Erythrulose, Fragrance, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract, Tocopheryl Acetate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, CI 15985/Yellow 6, CI 19140/Yellow 5, CI 17200/Red 33, CI 42090/Blue 1.

 Active Ingredients:

-Improved duo of DHA (now at 8%) and Erythrulose: Promotes a rich, tropical color.

-Vitamin E: Protects against harmful free radicals.

-Aloe Vera: Keeps skin soft and hydrated.

-Cocoa: Maintains radiance.

There are some ingredients that may be problematic to some, If you are sensitive to Fragrance in products on your face, this can possibly cause irritations, as Fragrance is listed pretty early on in the list. Castor Oil may bother some & it also contains Alcohol early on as well, some of you with dry skin may find it drying. So, moisturizing is key.

I was really excited to try this stuff out, and I tried it the same night I purchased it. The directions are to apply with a cotton pad over your regular moisturizer, avoiding your hair line. So, I went on with my regular skincare routine (cleanse, bha, moisturizer) and I put a little bit into my palm and smoothed it over my face. Then of course, washed my hands very well. The self tanner itself, is a golden brown liquid. It absorbs quickly with a light golden color guide. Nothing greasy, nothing frightening, so you can most likely get away with it during the day with a light coat. I love that this doesn't have the typical self tanner smell. It doesn't have a chemical scent, nor does it have the "cherry almond" scent of other popular self tanners. It's a very fresh scent, kind of hard to describe. I would describe it as the way my hair would smell after I left a salon that deep conditioned my hair. haha, that "salon product" scent.

The following morning after I've applied this, my face is tinted a light golden brown, with no irritations. In fact, I've been using it all week and haven't had one pimple. I've only used it over moisturizer, so I can't say how it works when it is absorbed into dry skin. I'm sure the tan would be deeper on dry skin, but you can also build the color within a few days. Color generally doesn't last long on my face. I would say this has average lasting power.. around 2-3 days. I do though, wash my face 2-3 times a day, which makes it fade faster.

I usually apply it, like mentioned, with my hands after I apply a moisturizer. I have also applied it with a clean, synthetic blush brush (natural bristles will stain) & a self tanning mitt. They all work fine. I haven't used a cotton pad, because I don't own them, but I prefer other methods, as cotton tends to soak up product and get on your fingers anyway - so why not just use your fingers to save product.

What I really love other than what I've mentioned is that you only need a very small amount of product. I literally put 3-4 drops in my palm and it gives me good color. For a deeper tan, I could of course use more, but I've been going a little but lighter lately (as some of you have noticed) with my self tan.

The price is $33 for 4.2oz, which some of you may find very expensive. Yes, it is expensive, but it is comparable to other higher end self tanners. For example, St Tropez Mousse is $30 for 4 oz. SUN Labs differs because you can find it all over the net for cheaper, but at ULTA an 8 oz bottle is around $37. So, SUN may be half the price.. but I think Clarins is a good investment (for me at least) and I believe it will last me a while. It's meant for your face and decollete (neckline), so it may not be something you'll use every day, and when you do use it, you'll be using small amounts.

Overall, very happy with this, and I'm very pleased to have found a product that will keep me golden, without the breakouts.

Have you tried this or other Clarins self tanning products? The only other Clarins self tanning product I've tried in the past was the Auto-Bronzant Special Visage Tinted Self Tanning Face Cream spf 15, which I didn't care for at all.