Bronzed Up!

Perhaps this post would have been better suited for when summer was starting instead of ending, but then I thought of all of you in the Northern Hemisphere who are approaching spring and summer- so I guess I am not completely out of sync! I dug out all the products I could think of that had to do with bronze, and yes, it's not a huge collection. And how is it that I do not have a powder bronzer in my makeup collection? I am looking at the Bourjois Delice de Soleil Bronzing Powder but any other suggestions are welcome. Anyways, here we have my bronze coloured products.

Dove Summer Glow Body Lotion, Bonne Bell Sunblush Bronze in Sunkissed Copper, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze, Korres Sunflower & Evening Primrose Eyeshadow in Bronze Brown,  Australis 10 Hour Wear Pencil in Bombastic Bronze, L'oreal Studio Secrets Eye Pencil in 531 Brown, Clarins Crayon Yeux in 02 Brun

I'm very certain that the Bonne Bell Sunblush Bronze cream and L'Oreal Studio Secrets Eye Pencil are discontinued, hence it is hard to find much information on them now. I did get the Sunblush Bronze 8 years ago, so perhaps it shouldn't still be my collection... oh well. Moving onto the products themselves now.

L-R: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze, Korres Sunflower & Evening Primrose Eyeshadow in Bronze Brown

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze $11.95
Not much needs to be said about this cult favourite eyeshadow cream gel. With a creamy and smooth texture, this is a beautiful everyday shade which applies nicely and stays on the eyelids. The colour is longlasting and intense and I absolutely love it. Quality is very high with a very affordable price, and these little jars of colour have even been dubbed as having a formulation comparable to MAC's Paint Pots. Definitely one of my favourite eye products.

Korres Sunflower & Evening Primrose Eyeshadow in Bronze Brown $29.95
I got this little cute eyeshadow from a part of my Korres Smoky Bronze Antioxidant Eye Collection which I reviewed here and bought for only $10 from StrawberryNET. Bronze Brown is a very wearable shade, and I absolutely love nude and brown eyeshadows (yes I am boring). Pigmentation is decent but nothing amazing, and does apply well. To the naked eye the Korres Eyeshadow and Maybelline Color Tattoo shades are very similar, but when swatched (see below) they are quite different.

Bonne Bell Sunblush Bronze in Sunkissed Copper $N/A
As I mentioned earlier, this is a very old product, roughly 8 years old. Since this was a product I didn't use very often, it still looks like it is in good condition! The packaging is quite practical, as it allows just the right amount of product to be dispensed out of the soft tube which is easy to squeeze. The bronzer cream is very pigmented, and a little goes a long way. This definitely has orange undertones so it is best used for a nice sunkissed look.

Top to bottom: Australis 10 Hour Wear Pencil in Bombastic Bronze, L'Oreal Studio Secrets Eye Pencil in 531 Brown, Clarins Crayon Yeux in 02 Brun

Australis 10 Hour Wear Pencil in Bombastic Bronze $9.95
One of my favourite eye pencils ever, I am so glad it is so accessible and affordable! I reviewed this here last year. Absolutely amazing texture, smooth and creamy and such a breeze to apply. Smudgeproof and stays on for the day! I love the colour as I'm not a huge fan of black eyeliner, and I find that brown and bronze shades are very natural looking. I find that its formulation and colour are extraordinarily similar to the Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner in Bronze (oh what a mouthful!). The Australis pencil rivals my Clarins Crayon Yeux in Brun for my favourite eyeliner, yet at a fraction of its cost. My only qualm? That it runs out too quickly and needs to be sharpened regularly (mainly due to its creaminess).

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Eye Pencil in 531 Brown $N/A
I purchased this from a clearance bin at Priceline for $4. I wasn't sure what to expect from it but it did impress me with its colour. This is a very neutral and modest shade, I can even use it for a "no makeup" look as it is very subtle. Doesn't apply as smooth as the Australis pencil but does the job. Not very longlasting and does fade throughout the day.

Clarins Crayon Yeux in Brun $36
I got this eyeliner free from work so calm down, I didn't buy it for the exuberant $36! Creamy, pigmented and glides on beautifully- what could I not like? It is slightly less shimmery than the Australis 10 Hour Wear Pencil so it makes it perfect for everyday wear. It also doesn't run down as fast as the Australis, which is something you'd hope for, especially in a high end pencil. To be honest I don't use the foam end at all for smudging, but being a smudgeable pencil, it isn't smudgeproof like the Australis. Phew that was a lot of "smudge" in one sentence.

Dove Summer Glow Beauty Body Lotion in Medium to Dark $6.95
Lastly, here is the Dove's offering for a gradual tan moisturiser. Easy to apply, smells a treat and gets the job done. Just make sure you exfoliate and don't pack on the lotion thickly... as you can get orange patches! Back in the day when gradual tan lotions were very popular, I remember the Johnson's Holiday Skin Lotion which was the leader in its market. I'm not sure what has happened to it, as a Google search doesn't bring much up. I haven't used this lotion in years, and don't plan to. Not sure what to do with it...

L-R swatches: Maybelline Bad to the Bronze, Korres Bronze Brown, Bonne Bell Sunblush Bronze, L'Oreal Studio Secrets Eye Pencil Brown, Clarins Crayon Yeux Brun and Australis Bombastic Bronze

After these swatches, I'm thinking that this post shouldn't even be called "Bronzed Up"! Oh well, too late now. Just look at Bad to the Bronze compared to Korres' Bronze Brown! What a huge difference. Bad to the Bronze looks more of a shimmery taupe than a bronze while the Korres is more true to a bronze. Bonne Bell's Sunblush Bronze in Sunkissed Copper is the most bronze out of everything else! See what I mean about its pigmentation? That was only a very tiny dollop of product too. L'Oreal's Eye Pencil is far from bronze, Clarin's Brown is less bronze than Australis' Bombastic Bronze and is less shimmery too, although it isn't perfectly depicted in this photo. In reality, Bombastic Bronze looks more appealing than Clarin's Brown when swatched.

Phew what a post, I don't usually do "long" posts due to laziness. But there you have it, my bronze products.

Have you tried any of these products before? What do you think?

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Review: Korres Smoky Bronze Antioxidant Eye Collection

I swear I wasn't meant to write about Korres products in two posts in a row but I've been too lazy to take pictures of my other recent buys! One day as I was browsing through StrawberryNET I came across what I thought was a great deal- an eye collection by Korres which included two eyeshadows, a small tube of mascara and an eyeliner pencil. I kept telling myself that I did not need this collection but I convinced myself that $10 for 4 products was great value. So there it was, this Korres Smoky Bronze Antioxidant Eye Collection was in my shopping cart.

The Korres Smoky Bronze Antioxidant Eye Collection ft. my floral t-shirt :)

Sunflower and Evening Primrose Eyeshadow in Brun and Bronze Brown
The two eyeshadows in this collection were from the Sunflower and Evening Primrose range- a velvety, easy to apply pressed eyeshadow with sunflower and evening primrose oils that care for the delicate eye area. The two shades I got were Brun and Bronze Brown.

L-R: Brun, Bronze Brown

The retail price of these cute eyeshadows are $29.95 a pop in Australia, from kitcosmetics, so I must say I am very pleased with the price I paid for the eye collection with these in it! The photo above I have to admit is quite misleading, the colours of the eyeshadows are a little off and I tried my best to capture their true shade but it was difficult given the lighting- but both these shades appear much lighter than they actually are. The texture was nice, no fall out and easy to apply. In terms of pigmentation, they were just decent, nothing really amazing.

L-R: Bronze Brown, Brun

L-R: Brun, Bronze Brown single swatch- a better representation of the colours. Also forgive me for this bad photo, I am yet to master taking pictures of swatches!

The Brun shade actually worked well as an eyebrow filler, the colour was perfect for my eyebrows! I quite like Bronze Brown as it is a nice wearable, neutral shade. The formulation is nice, albeit I wouldn't spend $29.95 on them.

Provitamin B5 & Rice Bran Mascara 3.55mL in Black
I have far too many mascaras to be used but a small travel sized one will always entice me! Described as an easy-to-layer, creamy mascara for volume, extra length with provitamin B5 and rice bran to to strengthen the lashes and intensify the colour for a rich finish, who could resist? The full size of 9mL retails in kitcosmetics for $35.95.

Simple brush

To be honest I haven't tried this mascara yet as I have quite a few others to finish off first. I have a feeling it might not be anything special, but don't take my word for it until I try it.

Eyeliner Pencil in Black
Last item from the Antioxidant Eye Collection is the smooth cedar wood pencil. The key ingredients are 100% natural based, rich with herbs and vitamins with a lead diameter of 4mm. This surprisingly retails for $29.95 from kitcosmetics and I'm definitely face-palming at the ridiculously inflated Australian prices for cosmetics. From an instant look, I knew I wouldn't be too fond of this eyeliner- purely because traditional eyeliner pencils smudge like mad on me, no matter how much primer I put on beforehand and however much I surround it with concealer.

Simple black eyeliner pencil

After a trial, I indeed was right. Smudged like crazy and gave me panda eyes all day. Disappointing, and to think this eyeliner is retailing for basically $30 is insane! Application was terribly, dragged across my eyelid and pigmentation was mediocre. Nothing really good to say about this eyeliner. A much better option for a black eyeliner choice would be the Revlon's Grow Luscious Lash Liner which is absolutely creamy, super pigmented, doesn't smudge and retails for $23.95 which definitely can be cheaper if you buy it on offer.

Despite being on the fence about buying this Smoky Bronze Antioxidant Eye Collection, and the disappointing eyeliner pencil that was included, I am still quite satisfied with the purchase as the eyeshadows make the $10 I paid for (an otherwise quite expensive collection) worthwhile.

Have you tried any of these Korres products? Any tips that I can do to make the eyeliner pencil work?

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Review: Korres Lip Butters

I finally got my hands on the much coveted Korres Lip Butters about a month ago from StrawberryNET- a trio pack with the shades Mango, Pomegranate and Guava. After seeing many reviews praising these little pots of buttery goodness, I just had to have them!

Retailing for $18.95 in Australia, I definitely wasn't too eager to pay that much for one small pot of lip butter no matter how great people said it was. I had a look around, and considered the $11.90 price for each pot from asos. But luckily I did pick up a great offer from StrawberryNET and got these three for $18!

L-R: Pomegranate, Guava, Mango

Described as a buttery lip balm that melts on the lips, the Korres Lip Butters offer a beautiful tinted finish,  hydration and a healthy shine. Each flavour has its own individual scent and colour which I love! The whole range includes Quince, Wild Rose, Jasmine, along with the three I have, Pomegranate, Guava and Mango.  My favourite from the trio I have are Mango and Guava, and then Pomegranate. This is probably mainly because of its butteriness- Mango and Guava seem to be much more thicker in texture and melt into the lips much better than the Pomegranate which I find quite strange! These lip butters definitely moisturise the lips well and lasts quite well. In terms of scent, Mango wins, but I quite love the scent of Guava too- it doesn't smell like guava, but a vanilla-like scent. Poor neglected Pomegranate! I absolutely love the cute packaging of the lip butters too- adorable little pots- although I agree with everyone else that it is not very hygienic to use (imagining dunking dirty fingers into it, ew!).

Mmm buttery, colourful goodness

Guava- smells like vanilla!

Mango- smells like mango! :P

The Pomegranate hadn't been touched yet in this photo!

In terms of colour pay off, I wasn't really expecting much and was not too fussed about it. Guava provides a creamy sheen to the lips; Mango, a beautiful coral colour; and Pomegranate, a pretty pink. I would have loved to have the Jasmine lip butter too (a sheer pink) but I think three of these lip butters are enough for now!

Overall, I am very happy with these Korres Lip Butters. They deliver creaminess and a nice sheen to the lips, while keeping them hydrated as well as smell amazing! It doesn't hurt that they are in cute little pots which are presented beautifully too. Another plus side is that Korres makes products which are environmentally friendly and have formulations based on natural ingredients. I was so impressed with these beautiful lip butters that I went and purchased the Korres Lip Butter Glazes which I will review soon, keep an eye out for it!

Have you tried the Korres Lip Butters? How about other products from the Korres range?

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