Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer Brick Swatches & Review

Bobbi Brown's Bronze Shimmer brick Compact is the newest addition to my bronzer/highlighter collection. It's described on the Bobbi Brown site as a shimmering, brush on powder which is perfect for creating a deep, bronzy glow. 

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick: Bronze

 Bronze is actually my second Shimmer Brick, the first was Rose which was nice, but didn't seem to show up well on my skin and mainly added quite a large amount of shimmer. After searching around online and checking out swatches of Bronze, I was confident that it would offer more in terms of colour pay-off than Rose and would possibly make a nice alternative to Dior's Amber Diamond powder. 

The palette consists of five bars or shades which can be used individually as shadows or swirled together and applied as highlighter/bronzer. The top bar is a white shade laced with gold shimmer, the second bar a pinky brown, the third is a warm bronze, the fourth is a rose colour and at the bottom there's a dark brown shade.

Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer Brick

The shades have been swatched fairly heavily in the photo below to give a good idea of what the individual shades look like. The picture below it is a swatch of all five shades blended together.

Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer Brick Swatches

As mentioned above, the individual shades can be used as eye shadows. I have tried this with a couple of the colours and they do work fairly well. The white/gold makes quite a nice brow highlighter and the darkest brown shade looks quite pretty used on the lid. I don't use them often for this purpose though because I find them to be a tiny bit too sheer for my taste. Used as a highlighter, the palette of bronzes and pinks does create a nice glowy effect on cheeks and while they are very shimmery, they're not in the least bit chunky or glittery.

The powder itself is soft and a couple of swipes of a brush over the bars is all that's needed to pick up enough colour. The shades blend together nicely and create a pretty golden bronze shade which does add a nice sun kissed glow to cheeks. The powder seems to be fairly long lasting even on my oily skin and when it does start to wear, it fades evenly

All in all, Bronze Shimmer brick is a nice product, but £30.00 seems like a lot to pay for a highlighting powder which can only be used on one area of the face. The product is just far too shimmery to be used on other areas which is a little bit of a shame. For this reason I probably wouldn't repurchase when it runs out and will probably be sticking with Dior's Amber Diamond  which seems to look more subtle than Bronze. I may even have a look around for a cheaper alternative. I've seen some lovely swatches of similar products recently which cost a lot less and seem to create a very similar finish. It is still a nice product though and if you're a big shimmer fan, Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Bricks are definitely worth checking out.

Shimmer Bricks are available on quite a few online sites including the Bobbi Brown website and cost around £30.00 for 10.3g of product.

Are you a Shimmer Brick fan?

Becca Pressed Bronzing Powder: Flamenco

At the beginning of the year I nabbed myself a Becca Bronzing powder during a Beauty Expert sale and have found myself reaching for it a lot since. The shade I purchased (Calypso) creates a nice bronzed look on my skin without looking orange-y or unnatural and the fine, easy to blend powder seems to hold up well on my oily skin too. 

Calypso is actually the darkest of the four shades on offer according to the Becca site and actually works really well on my Nc20 ish skin tone at the moment (when applied with a light hand), but would be a tad too dark during the winter months when my skin's paler. I'd actually planned to pick up a lighter colour to use on my pasty winter skin, so I was delighted could barely contain myself when I clicked on salon skincare's site last week and spotted Flamenco had been reduced to £6.00 in their sale!

Becca Bronzer

What Becca say about their pressed Bronzer

Pressed Bronzing Powder adds warmth to the skin with a subtle bronzed, shimmer effect. Its micro-fine formulation is the perfect way to add colour, depth, and contour to the face, while creating a healthy looking, sun-kissed complexion.

Key attributes

• The neutral (non-orange) tones provide a natural look and suits all complexions
• Ultra-fine micronized powder ensures a sheer and even finish to the skin
• Can be used to "even" pale skin on any area of the body that requires bronzing

Flamenco is described as a light golden bronze on the Becca site which is a pretty accurate description. As with Calypso, it contains some really fine shimmer which is barely visible on skin and creates a glowy finish rather than a shimmery or glittery effect.

Becca Bronzing Powder: Flamenco

The actual powder feels soft and smooth and it applies and blends like a dream. It leaves me with a believable, subtle colour and there is absolutely no orange in sight!

Swatches: Left: Flamenco & Right: Calypso

Both shades have been swatched fairly heavily in the above photo to give you a good idea of the colours. Flamenco is quite a bit lighter than Calypso and is slightly less shimmery.

Becca: Flamenco

All in all, I'm pleased with both of the colours I've purchased. Both are easy to apply, look natural, hold up well on my oily skin and haven't caused any problems with break outs. Flamenco would be perfect for those of you with lighter skin or for those who are just starting out with bronzer and want something really subtle and natural. I'm not sure if Flamenco is still reduced on the Salon Skincare site, but if it is, I definitely recommend picking one up! 

Ingredients (Click to Enlarge)

What's your current favourite bronzing powder?