Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer in Medium

Having really been into anything that carries too much shimmer, but loving bronzer for as long as I can remember, it's always been one of my personal cosmetic-missions, to find the best current bronzer (mostly matte) on the market and this Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer in Medium* has met my summer bronzing criteria perfectly. 

As mentioned in the name, this bronzer is apart of the fabulous limited edition Bronze Goddess Collection ands sits in the range amongst two of my current favourite products; Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent and Pure Colour Illuminating Gelée in Heatwave. Homed in a large panned tortoise shell compact, which is reminiscent of so many of my sunglasses so screams summer to me, this product is so lovely to use and I love how it warms my complexion up. I'm usually all about the contouring with bronzers similar to this, but I find that the tone of this bronzer works better on me to create warmth to all over the face, usually applied in a three motion through my temples, cheeks and jawline and then down the centre of my face focusing on my nose and top centre of my forehead. 

The finish of the powder is what I would describe as mostly matte. It carries a small amount of shimmer, but nothing crazy and only enough to create a light reflecting finish, rather than a glitter ball one. I really like how soft it is to the touch and how it sits on the skin and find it doesn't apply too heavy which is great, although it is buildable should you want to add more colour to it. 

Something I really like about the range, is that it is available in four shades; Light, Medium, Medium Deep and Deep, which is great as I often find brands that only offer one shade of bronzer don't always compliment all skin tones.

This limited edition Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Powder Bronzer costs £30 for 21g and is available along with the rest of the collection online and in  Boots, Selfridges, House of Fraser and Debenhams.

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Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact

At the beginning of last month I posted about the Clarins Summer Splendours Collection and mentioned the launch of this Summer Bronzing Compact*. It was instantly my favourite piece of the collection and over the past month I can honestly say I've reached for it most days.

I'm very much into the bronzed look anyway and have been for as long as I can remember really and this compact offers a really lovely tone which I find really complimentary and super wearable.

Like the rest of the Splendours Collection, this bronzer has been designed taking inspiration from the South American Ancient Ruins and has Aztec detailing running through both the outer packaging and the pan, which is extremely beautiful and well designed.

The shade isn't a standard block of colour like most bronzers tend to be and is in fact made up of three different tones; two Bronze Terracotta shades and a Golden tone centred in the pan, that has a subtle shimmer running through it. I tend to try to avoid the shimmer as much as possible and just swirl my brush through the outer edges, although I must admit, with a little bit of shimmer it is really pretty and helps to add a lovely glow. 

The compact itself is pretty massive and has a diameter of about 11cm which holds a fairy big pan and mirror, which personally I love. It's not super handbag friendly, but nevertheless I love it.

This Clarins Summer Bronzing Compact is limited edition and costing £30 it is available to buy online and at Clarins Counters in Boots, Selfridges, House of Fraser and John Lewis.

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Sisley Phyto-Touches Sun Glow Pressed Powder

I'm very much a bronzer girl and have been since the likes of Bronzing Balls were introduced to me at school. Whenever I browse a make up counter, the brands bronzer is normally my first point of call and when I saw this Sisley Sun Glow Pressed Powder* I was overwhelmed by the duo of shades and enticing packaging.

This compact is made up of two separate shades, a light Peach toned beige that I would describe as more of a finishing powder and a super pigmented Golden Bronze shade that appears to carry quite a heavy shimmer but actually translates quite subtle and more of a soft and gentle sheen.

Sisley advise to use the lighter, larger shade all over the centre of the face and the smaller Bronze shade on your nose, cheekbones, forehead and chin, as I would anyway to contour.

I personally don't find I use the lighter shade as often as the darker and if I could change one thing about this product, I would have them swap places for size.

I really like the glow that the sheen from the product gives and find it helps the bronzer to look a little more natural for the day time wear and more effective for evening looks.

I'm not sure on the scent of the product; similar to other Sisley products it is quite perfumed and a bit too mature smelling, but I can put the scent aside for the quality of the product itself.

The packaging is absolutely beautiful and I would be lying if I said it isn't what caught my eye initially. With a brushed effect metal packaging, it is about four and a half inches in length and holds a full size mirror which makes it the perfect of my make up bag.

I don't find I use this as my day to day bronzer, but it's definitely one I reach when I'm putting in a little more effort with my make up, for evenings out etc.   

This Sisley Phyto-Touches Sun Glow Pressed Powder is available in two colour variations; this Peach and Gold duo as well as a darker Honey and Cinnamon, which I would love to try.

At £62, they're certainly not the most affordable bronzers on the market, but as with all Sisley products, it is lovely quality and a nice treat.

Sisley is available to buy in Liberty, House of Fraser, Harrods and John Lewis. 

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Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer in Sable Beige

 

I saw this Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronzer in Sable Beige* back in the Summer when it was launched and absolutely fell for it and so when I was recently given the opportunity to order a couple of products from the online perfumery Perfumes Club I very quickly added it into my basket .

There is no doubt about it that I didn't really need another bronzer, but this as I am sure you will agree, is such a beautiful looking product with fantastic detailing and the seven striped shades throughout the pan are all really nice and complimentary. They're completely to my taste and so I really couldn't pass it up. 

Blended together, the colour pay off on the skin that this gives after just a slight swirl in the pan is beautiful and although a lot more subtle than most bronzers I tend to use, this does give the nicest glowing sheen whilst warming up my skin at the same time. With the ever such slight amount of shimmer that this contains, it works absolutely perfectly on me, brushed over the cheekbone area either on its own or applied lightly over another product.

This Chanel bronzer does come in two shade variations; Sable Beige which is suitable for Olive complexions and Sable Rose which is better for fairer tones and although I don't necessarily have Olive skin, I do prefer the shades in this as I'm definitely into more Bronzed tones than Pinks.

The Perfumes Club offers an extremely varied range of both, cheap perfumes and cosmetics. The cosmetics category, where I found the Chanel products also offers other brands such as Estee Lauder, Sisley, Yves Saint Lauren and Guerlain at reasonable prices. 

The overall experience using the website was pleasurable and the fact that you can use both Paypal, Money Transfer and Card means it is super accessible. 

The postage and packaging is £6.90 which is a factor that I must admit, was slightly off putting at first, although I think justified in the prices of the products and the very speedy three day delivery from Spain that I experienced.

This 15g product costs £32.82 and is available here. 

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Hourglass Illume Light Bronzer Duo

This was a purchase that I decided to get on a little bit of a whim. I was wandering the counters of Liberty and when I started my Hourglass swatches, I was kind of sold on this immediately. 

Hourglass Illume Light Bronze is a Bronzer and Highlighting Duo, which is a beautiful cream to powder finish that blends out incredibly well from a rather dark shade that actually appears quite Orange toned in the pan to as bronzed or barely there as you want. I've never normally been a cream product fan, but this really does work so well applied with both a brush and even your fingers. 

The highlight is perfect applied with your fingers, and blends out to be incredibly subtle and flattering. 

I apply it to my upper cheekbone, down my nose and the tiny amount of excess product that remains on my finger, dapped lightly onto my cupids bow.

The application of the bronzer seems to be where most questions surrounding this product lay, and quite frankly it's a dream. I've surprised myself with this and can't quite believe it, but I haven't touched Nars Laguna, my usual go-to powder bronzer for what seems like such a long while now.

I use it on the areas I most like to contour, for best effect with my finger to below my jaw line, underneath my cheek bones, on my temples and then use the remaining product ever so lightly down the sides of my nose. 

You can go as heavily as you like, but the heavier you go, the more you will need to blend. I personally like to apply as light a product as possible as you can then build it up if necessary. 

As you can see in the first picture, this does look pretty scary and if any one was to see you with this unblended they may get a slight fright but once you blend it out with, again, with your fingers or a brush (I use my Real Techniques Stippling Brush) this turns to the most incredible powder finish product and sits on your base perfectly. It sticks around all day long, and doesn't fall or go patchy which is perfect for me as believe it or not, I can be extremely lazy when it comes to touch ups.

I really do love this product. I love the fact that it's a cream to powder finish, I love that it's so easy to blend, I love the shade it turns on the skin and of course, I love the crazy 360° mirror function which my dad says is like a cool mobile phone! Oh dad! 

Added benefits of this product are that it contains Vitamins A and E to provide moisturising and antioxidant benefits and it's also oil, fragrance, wax, sulphate, phthalate and paraben free. The product alone sold me, but for the slightly excessive price tag these factors may help you in your decision. 

As I mentioned, it is a slightly more pricey product at £40 but if you are after a little treat for your make up bag, I think this is worth a shot.

I picked this up in Liberty but I know it's also available in Space NK, Sephora and at Hourglass Counters. 

What do you think of this product? Is it something you would like to try?

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Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel- Bronzing Make Up Base

I recently mentioned that I finally took the plunge and purchased Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel, more commonly known as Chanel Bronze Universal.

I have wanted this for ages, but it was near impossible to get hold of one due to the fact that I think they were in the process of redesigning it. Fortunately, I finally did and I don't even know where to begin with how much I love this product. It's easily my favourite product of the year so far.

Before the product even comes into it, this has the most delightful, beautiful packaging and before I even apply it I feel a million dollars. The look, the feel and the Gold Chanel logo taking centre stage turns this from a good product into such a luxurious product and I feel so incredibly happy to finally own it.

Taking it out of my make up bag makes me smile- sad right?

I have read so many reviews on this product, both good and bad. The most common negative comment on this product seems to be that people have found it quite difficult to use and were disappointed by that. I was a little hesitant because of this, however I still gave it ago and luckily from the offset I seem to have been able to use this with ease. Maybe thats because I did know what to expect or maybe I am just lucky.

It's a cream, mousse like formula and can be used on it's own or with other products, both under and on top of your foundation. I personally like to use it as a bronzer on top of my foundation.

I have tried quite a few brushes to apply this, but my favourite at the moment is most definitely my Real Techniques Buffing Brush. 

The smallest amount product is needed so I would suggest not going overboard and thinking you need more than one swirl of the brush. I did once, which was very silly as quite frankly, I want to prolong this product for as long as possible and thats just wasting it.

I apply this to my regular bronzer three- under my jawline, on my cheekbones and my temples just after my foundation has been applied. I find using it this way, it applies so smoothy and blends like an absolute dream.

It works well with all of my foundations, though I do prefer it with Nars Sheer Glow.

On the skin, this product looks like how a bronzer powder would, though not as dark as some I've tried and a lot more dewy which for the first time ever I am really loving.

Being a Chanel product, this is a little more pricey at £29 for 30ml but it is a seriously beautiful product, it looks amazing and I imagine it will last a long while. To justify the purchase, I got it at the Chanel counter in Boots with the use of some Boots points. 

Are you tempted by this product or even just by the Gold Chanel?

xx

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