A Stinge & A Splurge

I've said before, some things you can stinge on, and some things you can't. For instance, lipstick is never great to stinge on. Texture matters, and like it or not, texture is something that is lacking in drugstore brands, to the degree that you are actually wasting money instead of saving. Ten dollars on a crappy lipstick you'll never use it ten dollars lost. With bronzer, however, you can stinge - and you should stinge. Untill you get to the 40-100 dollar bronzers, they are mostly comparable in quality, whether it's a ten dollar one or a thirty dollar one. Therefore, why spend 20 bucks on a bronzer when you can get a good one for ten? That would be silly. 

Hard Candy Bronzer (in shade Tiki)

Lately, with spring coming around, I've been looking for a bit more colour in my makeup, and have been using a bronzer to give my face a bit more pizazz and luminosity. I've been using an illuminator all over the cheek and then sculpting the undersides of my cheek bones with a bronzer. But I hate the bronzer I have. It's a loose powder one from Faces, it was pricey, and it's so hard to work with. I always get too much powder on the brush, because it's loose, and it makes a great big mess and it's never a precise job. Powder went all over the place, and the smallest puff of air sent it all flying.

So, completely fed up with this bronzer, I went out and bought a new one. Hard Candy so naked bronzer is cheaper, it's a joy to work with, and it has so much going for it. The pressed powder is just yielding enough to get a nice amount on the brush without really fighting with it (some powders are so compressed that they don't want to go onto a brush)and without getting too much each time either. The colour is great because when you look at your skin in direct light, your skin isn't coloured or stained a different shade, but in different lights, you still get that wonderful shadow that makes the cheekbones look quite prominent. It gives the face a very dynamic look. It also has a golden cast that I like a lot, it's very cute and whimsical without being crazy-golden.

Clinique Chubby Stick

The splurge that I'm gonna show you isn't toooo splurgy. It's the Chubby Stick by Clinique. This is semi-sheer lipstick/lipbalm with great texture and a nice colour range. This shade is Mega Mellon 04. It looks like a pencil, but it twists like a lipstick. The texture is really great - this is the moisturising one (there are two different types). It's thick but not gooey, and it feels wonderful. It's like a lip balm.

The Chubby Stick goes for just under twenty dollars, but it's worth it. I take good care of my lips, religiously balming them every night before bed, and this type of lip product keeps the moisture in during the day. Usually, my night care is enough, but there are dry days, tough seasons, and this keeps them looking perfectly soft and healthy, with a nice rich colour that's bright but not too punchy. Very flattering with most skin colours I should think.

Here it is on.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

A.