MAC Marine Life High-Light Powder
MAC To the Beach Collection — Marine Life High-Light Powder Review, Photos, Swatches
MAC To the Beach is much anticipated, but I think the Marine Life High-Light Powder is easily the item most coveted. With its raised seahorse pattern and metallic look, I’m not at all surprised that it sparked a lot of interest. As many of you already know, the metallic finish is just an overspray. There are two distinct colors that remain — an orange-coral and a light baby pink. The overlay is a metallic bronze, but a few swipes or sweeps and it’s gone.
Oddly enough, I really don’t feel the overspray did very much to the color, which is really a good thing. It made the color a little more orange-y and obviously imparted a more shimmery finish. Without the overspray, it’s more of a coral-pink with a smidgen of shimmer. It’s decently pigmented though not overwhelmingly so. It’s surprisingly pigmented, however, for something called a highlight.
It’s not like Instant Chic. It’s not like Hipness. It’s really not. Instant Chic is lighter, subtler, and has a peachiness to it that neither Hipness nor Marine Life have. Hipness is noticeably pinker and less intense than Marine Life.
I like it. If you even think you might like this, I would snatch it up right away–and I mean the day it goes online or in-store for sale. It will sell out. And I’m also not talking selling out in a matter of days but hours.
Bronzer Without the Shimmer with YSL
YSL Golden Sand (03) Terre Saharienne ($50.00 for 0.35 oz.) is a rich, golden tanned bronzer from YSL’s Solaris Collection. YSL is releasing three shades of Terre Saharienne that are both new and permanent — Sand (01), Copper Sand (02), and Golden Sand (03).
Golden Sand is a rich, golden bronze with an orange undertone. It has very, very faint shimmer, which translates into more of a subtle sheen that reflects light in an incredibly delicate way. This shade will work best for those of warmer and deeper skin tones, because the slight touch of golden orange in it may translate into an orange-y mess on those with paler and/or cooler skin tones. You can layer it on for an intense look or use it sheerly for a naturally bronzed look — you can see me wearing it in this look.
The packaging is classic YSL — the gold “metal” compact that flips open to reveal a large mirror and compact with YSL emblazoned in the middle. The back reveals all the pertinent information like its weight (0.35 oz.) and the active sunscreen ingredient (octinoxate 6%) — which is SPF 12. I like it for a more matte version of a bronzer — it’s not completely matte, but it’s not shimmery either. It’s also very finely milled, smooth to the touch, and easy to blend on the face.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 
- Product: 27/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re on the look out for a long-wearing, nearly shimmer-less bronzer, YSL’s new Terre Saharienne might work for you. Golden Sand, in particular, works well for warmer, deeper skin tones with yellow or olive undertones.
Availability: June 2010
Philosophy Amazing Grace Shimmering Powder
($29.50) is a soft, icy pink highlighting powder. Its packaged in a mirror-finish compact and inside is a light pink powder with the word “grace” embedded in the center. When you open the compact, there’s a mirror with the phrase, “where there is grace, there is beauty,” which is a nice touch. I just like the uplifting spirit of the Philosophy brand, and I think this is a nice reminder to have in a compact, too.
It’s a fine-milled, very smooth powder that can easily be used to highlight specific areas or dusted lightly for an all-over glow. It does not impart much color, if any–it’s almost the faintest pink-tinged white. There’s a definite sheen rather than obvious shimmer or glitter that does the highlighting as well, which is always nice in a highlighter. Amazing Grace isn’t a new, innovative highlighter, but it’s a solid one if you’re looking for something soft, subtle, and with no real color. I’d say the slight pinkness of the product does give a healthy glow to the face without actually making it a light blusher, so it works for a highlighter.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 26/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: Pretty-in-pink, Philosophy’s newest highlighter does a nice job of softly highlighting the face without going overboard with glitter or shimmer. It’s nearly colorless, which may make it a nice option for those not looking to add color to cheeks!
Availability: Sephora
NARS Summer 2010: Enchanted Cream Blush
NARS Enchanted Cream Blush
($26.00) is a new shade of cream blush launched with NARS’ Summer Collection. NARS describes it as a “soft peach,” and I’d completely agree with that assessment.
Enchanted is a sheer, soft peach with soft golden shimmer and a slight sheen. I’d like to put an emphasis on sheer, though, because I could not get it to show up on my cheeks, being around medium in skin tone (I’d say I’m on the lighter side of medium, but I’m certainly not fair). I did try to build up the color on my cheeks, but it just wasn’t working for me. On my skin tone, it ended up being more like a barely-there highlighter, unfortunately!
I can see this being really lovely and soft on fairer skin tones, and I think it would work well on both cool and warm skin tones. Cool skin tones will find this works as a soft peach that doesn’t turn orange, while warmer skin tones are easily complemented by peachy colors.
The formula itself is soft, creamy enough to melt into skin but not so creamy that it slips around. It dries down quickly and blends easily onto skin. I find that NARS Cream Blushes last me three to four hours before fading a bit. I like using them as bases and using a setting powder or powder blush on top to set and prolong wear to about six to eight hours.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 25/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re looking for a way to prolong the wear of your blushes, you may find these cream blushes work well alone or as a base for your powder blushes.
Availability: Nordstrom
Make Up For Ever Smooth Talker (13) HD Blush
($25.00) is a soft, pale petal pink. This is a very, very cool-toned pink that looks and applies quite sheerly. On my skin, it makes me look a little corpse-ish, but I can imagine it looking incredible on my fairer friends. It reminds me a bit of MAC Well-Dressed blush but in a cream form.
I’ve reviewed the HD Blushes in the past, but to recap: the formula is smooth, creamy, and applies easily. It dries down quickly so you don’t find it migrates while you wait, but it gives you enough time to blend it out. The formula is fantastic with its creamy feel and long-wearing finish. The packaging itself could use a little tweaking, as the pump delivery system inevitably pumps out much more than you need.
For more on HD Blushes, check out my original review!
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 29/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: If you’re looking for a way to prolong the wear of your blushes, you may find these cream blushes work well alone or as a base for your powder blushes.
Availability: Sephora
Lancome Summer Riviera: Temptingly Bronze Bamboo Bronzer
Lancome Temptingly Bronze Bamboo Bronzer ($45.00 for 1.41 oz.) wins the award for the prettiest product of the summer. (I would say year, but I suppose that’s just a wee bit premature. But let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised…) This is a collector’s item for sure, even though the bronzer itself is certainly lovely, there’s just no way for what’s underneath the design to compete with the intricate, woven pattern you see first.
Often during the summer, Lancome releases a specially designed, limited edition bronzing compact (more like compact disc…). This is not your ordinary bronzer, because this is about five times the size of the average bronzer (which is around 0.30 oz., while Lancome’s weighs in at 1.41 oz.). The compact is about the size of a music CD and half an inch thick and in a soft-glossed bronze plastic. Inside is a large-sized mirror (goes with the territory!), and then the holy grail of overlays.
But sadly, yes, as anticipated, all of the prettiness you see is an overlay. The subtle metallic gradient is an overspray that disappears once you start working your way through the bronzer. This is why I say it truly is a collector’s item, because there is no way to salvage or preserve the gorgeous-ness that is the design if you actually intend to use it. There is still a subtle shimmer-sheen to the bronzing powder, so it’s not entirely matte underneath.
The bronzer itself is a soft, silky-smooth sheered down bronze with slight orange undertones. It’s sheer enough that it’s great for those who are new or otherwise afraid of bronzer and going overboard. You won’t end up looking like an Oompa Loompa with this one! I do like that you’ll most likely never run out of bronzer with this compact.
I’m sure some of you are going to wonder why does this product still earn high marks even though the design is an overspray–that’s because it’s a known quantity with the bronzer, it’s not supposed to. It’s like pretty packaging on the inside instead of a funky compact, whether that makes you sad or not!
Can I just say that I would have died if Lancome had made the design go all the way through? I received this one as a press sample, but I’m probably going to buy another one, just to stare at and drool over–and this is something I never do. I’ve long since gotten over “ruining” designs and the like on products, but this one, I hesitated. I snapped a zillion photos, showed the boyfriend, and then said, “In the name of all that is beauty blogging…” and went to town. But I pouted the whole time!
Ahh! Just dreaming about a wickedly metallic, glowy deepened bronze that faded across to a brightened gold bronzer AND went all the way through makes me sigh inside. Who’s with me? Tell me I’m not alone!
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 27/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 5/5
Recommendation: If you love bronzer and use it frequently–but want a subtle bronzer–Lancome’s ginormous bronzers aren’t a bad way to go. If you are a collector, the design on this is difficult to pass on!
Availability: Lancome
