Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Beige - Swatches and Review

Seems like I cannot get enough highlighters in my life so I added another one to my collection haha. Seems so logical I know :P.

I have been a makeup "junkie" for a few years now and I have never given any of the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks a chance and I have no idea why. But better late than never right!?

A couple of days ago, I purchased this beautiful thang from my local Nordstrom and I knew I would love it! 

The golden/beige toned highlighters work best on my skin because of my olive/tan complexion. When I saw this in a recent YouTube video by Amanda Ensing, I knew I needed it in my life. 

When I approached the counter, the SA asked me if I wanted to swatch it or bite the bullet. In my mind I was thinking, "GUUURL I knew I loved it, it's just coming home with me tonight" hahaha. I'm crazy I know ;).

What I love about this Beige Shimmer Brick is that all the shades in the compact are neutral toned so they would look good on a variety of skin tones. And there is a gradient of a very pale golden beige to a bronze. The shades are not too dark so a mixture of all of them would compliment someone in the medium skin tone range. I would stick with the top two for the paler girls and the bottom three for everyone else :).

The compact is elegant and pretty. I must admit that there is excessive packaging but nothing that would stop me from buying it ;).

*Mine came a little crooked haha but it opens and closes fine so I don't have any issues with it (yet).

Here, above, I have the swatches for you. Bottom of my arm is the palest of the shades and working up to the top with the darker, bronze shades.

The swatch at the very bottom is a mixture of all the shades.

All the shimmer bricks are intense. If you want a subtle highlight, I do not think this will be the product for you. But if you want to be glowing and getting your J Lo "on", consider the Shimmer Bricks!

Recently I have been all about that noticeably intense highlight, thanks a lot Amrezy. So this is right up my alley :). For me personally, I LOVE this product and I can see myself reaching for this product a lot during this summer months for that glow :).

What are some of your favorite highlighters? Let me know in the comments.

Hope you are all well,
Bianca :)

Update:
I thought sun light would help my photos but I didn't realize how greenish it looked until after I posted my initial review so here is another pic of the swatches!

The swatch all the way to the right is all the shades combined :)

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Apricot - Review and Swatches

Lately, I've been a sucker for highlighters and I heard about this one from Amanda Ensing on YouTube. She mentioned how this Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick would be a high sheen, shimmery, gorgeous highlight that really compliments medium/tan skintones (hey, that's me!). 

I was never one for Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks or much of the range to be quite honest but my interest for the brand has grown in the past few months. And I'm glad I have because I have loved every product that I have purchased from this brand.

So, back to the highlighter, the shades within this product are gorgeous! *drools*

I purchased this bad boy at Nordstroms for $42. I am not 100% sure it is limited edition but it's still on sale since I was last on the Nordy's website or check in stores :).

The packaging with all Bobbi Brown products is a shiny black with the writing in white. 

They range from a white gold to a golden peach to a straight up bronze and into the peachier shades. All together, it makes this light golden peach shade that adds a lot of life back into the skin and looks so beautiful.

One thing I love about this product is that it is multi-purpose. This doubles as a eyeshadow "palette" and a sexy highlighter.

Here are the swatches of the Shimmer Brick. On the farthest left is the top shade and goes all the way to the right with the darkest of the peach shades. The last two swatches are of all the shades blended together. One swatch has more of the darker shades and the farthest right swatch has more of the lighter shades of the Shimmer Brick.

All in all, this is one heck of a highlighter. It is a touch powdery when you dip your brush into the product but it is not powdery once it is on the skin. I think this will be my go to highlighter for the summer since it is so intense and beautiful paired with peach and pink blushes.

I think I'll be purchasing the Beige Shimmer Brick next, I heard it was a close dupe to MAC's Whisper of Gilt (which I still regret never buying!!).

Anyways, have a great day/night and talk to you all soon!
Bianca

Tom Ford Unabashed Eye and Cheek Palette for Summer 2014

Well isn't this a thing of beauty?

This is the new and highly coveted Tom Ford Eye and Cheek palette in Unabashed. This is the first palette Mr. Ford has come out with in terms to combining both eye and cheek products. And I am hoping for more palettes like these! 

As you can see, the Ivory and Gold packaging is still going on, resembling the original Private Blend lipstick packaging from back in the day. So fans of Tom Ford are loving it right now because it is so sleek and simple.

*ahhhh* It's so beautiful!

So it comes with three eyeshadows and two cheek products.

Eyeshadows - top to bottom: the classic TF glitter is the top shade and it looks like a champagne coloring with a touch of taupe. The only way I can describe the undertone of that glitter shade is taupe...I can't put my finger on it. It's really gorgeous! Next, it's a classic and true gray taupe matte shadow. MonsiieurAlex mentioned that it's the closest dupe to Chanel's Notorious contour/blush powder from a few years back. So if you are a pro at contour and missed out on Notorious, this would be a cool multi-purpose shade. And finally...the star of the palette...the bright cobalt blue. It is also a matte shadow. When you swatch and apply it, it turns into a bright teal color. So if you want true to pan opacity, you would have to pack it on.

 *drooling*

Here, I took pictures from three different angles and different lighting to get every angle position to show these shadows as best as possible.

The texture of these shadows are AMAZING and so soft like all TF shadows I've come across. I have yet to make a look with these...when I do I will post on my Instagram :)

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I'll do my best to answer it as best as possible.

I purchased mine at my local TF counter in Nordstrom. As of right now, Neimans and Saks are doing in store purchases online...They have put that on their website. *it might change*. Demand for this palette is insane. With all the hype around it thanks to social media...A LOT of people pre-ordered it! I know I did :}. Nordstrom doesn't even have this palette online but the rest of the collection is available.

It retails for a heartbreaking $95 haha. I justified it because it was a birthday present to myself :P. *reason enough riiight?!* ;)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this! Any questions, feel free to ask.

Have a great day/night,
Bianca

MAC Magnetic Nude Collection - Mineralize Skin Finishes - Superb & Fairly Precious

Hi everyone! I'm here with a SUPER exciting blog post. It's on the MAC Magnetic Nude MSFs in Superb (repromote) and Fairly Precious. Not going to lie, when I saw the email from Nordstrom saying they had it on sale I jumped out of my bed and bought these haha. I didn't want to wait but I've had horrible luck with highly anticipated collections from MAC (I'm looking at you Rihanna...). So I wanted to post pictures and swatches as soon as I got off of work. Hope you enjoy!!

Temptalia says "described as a “soft peachy nude.” It’s a champagne beige with a little hint of rosiness and a champagne metallic sheen." Safe to say, it's just gorgeous!! :)

Superb MSF

Close up of Superb MSF

Superb - Warm toned lighting

Superb - Florescent/"day light" lighting

 Temptalia says "it is described as a “peach with dimensional pearly green.” It’s a light-medium, peach (that leans a little orange) with a warm undertone and a frosted sheen." Personally I don't see any green haha. It seems to me it's a peach color with a smidge of orange. 

Fairly Precious MSF

Close up of Fairly Precious MSF

Warm toned lighting - Fairly Precious MSF

Florescent/"day light" lighting - Fair Precious MSF

SUPERB VS FAIRLY PRECIOUS - swatch side by side (Left: Fairly Precious ~ Right: Superb) on both pictures.

Review: UM THESE ARE AMAZING. Need I say more? haha. They feel super soft and super blendable so if you don't want an obvious or noticeable highlight, you can blend them out and it will leave your skin with the most beautiful sheen. I'm glad I picked both of these up, I was half worried they would be similar or that I couldn't get away with having both haha but they are different enough that they worth it (for me at least ;) ). 

I recommend calling any MAC or MAC counter to see if they have hold items for you (or make an appointment for the "release party") as they will be released in stores December 26th, 2013. This is a collection that people will run out to pick up the MSFs so get to it ;). I ordered mine from Nordstrom so check their website to order if they have items available. This is a fairly big collection (which MAC collection isn't.... -_-) so there is a lot to choose from if they have it in stock. 

These MSFs retail for $30 USD. So they are pricey but they are huge and you get a ton of product. 

Did you pick anything up from the collection? If so, do tell in the comments :) Or if you have any questions, feel free to ask them down below!

Hope you enjoyed my post on the MAC MSFs from the new Magnetic Nude collection and hope you are having a lovely holiday season with your loved ones and friends <3.