Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer

 "If you like pina coladas.....and gettin' caught in the rain." This bronzer by Physician's Formula has completely made my summer. Not only is it light enough for my snow white skin and is fool proof to apply, but it smells like summer--kind of a savory coconut flavored sunscreen. I personally love it but it for sure has a decidedly smelly smell.

 The bronzer is housed in this cute colorful compact with a wave pattern sculpted into the powder. The powder is super soft to the touch and the perfect amount lands on your brush with a simple swirl.

 There is a powder brush (which I personally have not used and can not attest to!) housed underneath along with a simple mirror. I have never opened this in the months that I have used this product.

Bonus points for the orange croc in the bottom of this picture

The color is...not what I expected swatched. On my face it looks like a really nice neutral brown a la Benefit Hoola but a bit lighter. Obviously on my inner wrist the color is quite sandy but it really does look lovely on my skin.

This bronzer supposedly 'softens and moisturizes the skin' because of its ingredients. I don't know about that but it certainly gives a lovely lit from within glow. It can be found at Ulta, most drugstores, and even on Amazon for about $10 depending on the day!

This bronzer is really lovely and I will probably repurchase it. It does not double as a contour shade, however!

xxSJ

NARS Audacious Lipstick 'Apoline'

Everybody: gird your loins for the most perfect neutral lipstick in all of creation.

 NARS recently came out with some new additions to their incredible Audacious lipstick line. The color 'Apoline' was calling to me as the most perfect neutral lip color. I couldn't justify the steep $34 price tag for myself, so I bought this pretty lippie for my sister first (does anyone else do this???). She looks incredible in it, so I did the only other thing I could think of to get my hands on this gorgeous product--I asked Santa.
Lo and behold, I was graced by this little guy on Christmas morning. The NARS Audacious line is stunning--housed in a black, soft touch finish case with a magnetic closure, this lipstick with the NARS logo engraved on the side will certainly make you feel luxurious every time you use it.

 This satin finish lipstick is ultra pigmented while being super lightweight on the lips giving you long wear coverage and a super comfortable feel. Apoline is a warm dusty pink that is super flattering on my skin and works well with almost any makeup look.

This lipstick wears for about 4 hours through eating and drinking and softens up my cracked, winterized lips leaving a touchable, bouncy finish behind. This is definitely my favorite lipstick and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to add some luxury to their makeup kit!

Check out my other Audacious lipstick reviews!
Grace and Natalie
Juliette
Claudia and Brigitte

Check out the NARS Audacious lipstick line at Sephora by clicking HERE!

xxSJ

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Luminous Blush: Tigerlily and Snapdragon

I am a woman OBSESSED with BECCA cosmetics. I have problem skin and ever since discovering BECCA's highlighting products I feel like my skin has had life breathed into it! Recently while browsing around Sephora and touching ALL THE THINGS, I was drawn to my favorite little spaceships over at BECCA cosmetics and I saw the most gorgeous blushes ever.

L: Tigerlily, R: Snapdragon

I picked up the colors Tigerlily, a bright orange tangerine color, and Snapdragon, a vivid coral. Both blushes are part of the 'luminous blush' line with shimmering flecks running through out the blushes.

The blushes are a bit smaller than BECCA's famous highlighers, but these puppies are so pigmented that I feel they are a fair size for a blush. They come housed in the familiar UFO shaped containers with brown rubberized plastic and a silver brushed metal top. They have high quality mirrors on the inside perfect for application on the go. 

L: Tigerlily, R: Snapdragon

These colors are rich with pigment and yet are easy to blend. You need the tiniest boop of your blush brush into the little compact to pick up enough color to complete your makeup look.
Tigerlily is a vivid orange that blends seamlessly with my complexion and gives me the perfect sunkissed look. I don't think I will be able to pull this blush off in the Winter time, but I've been using it nearly everyday this Summer. Snapdragon is the perfect coral that I think is the perfect year round blush for the my skin tone. Both of these blushes leave a perfectly radiant finish that makes me look healthy and happy!

I've seen comparisons between Snapdragon and NARS' infamous 'Orgasm,' so I swatched those below:

L: Snapdragon, R: Orgasm

Similar, but not quite the same. I think Snapdragon is richer with a radiant sheen where as Orgasm is more shimmery and light in color.

These blushes are not cheap at $34 a pop, but oh my goodness they have made me a happy camper! I think its worth checking them out the next time you're in store and perhaps treating yourself if you see a color that speaks to you!

Check them out HERE!

xxSJ

NARS Audacious Lipsticks: 'Grace' and 'Natalie'

Grace

 I love the NARS Audacious lipsticks SO MUCH so I recently decided to add two bold colors to my collection. I've recently been adoring wearing bolder colors this summer and stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit. While browsing the NARS area in Sephora, I was drawn to the color 'Grace,' a vibrant red leaning coral, and 'Natalie,' a bright flamingo coral.

Natalie

 The colors look a bit similar in the tube but swatch quite differently on the skin.

L:Grace, R: Natalie

The NARS Audacious lipsticks are some of the only lipstick formulas I've found that moisturize my lips while maintaining a matte finish and lasting for hours through eating and drinking. I love that these lipsticks have the lasting power of a liquid lipstick but look gorgeous without making my lips look like a desert wasteland.

L: Natalie, R: Grace

On me, Natalie has the perfect amount of orangish coral to be perfectly wearable on my complexion. Since I'm newer to rocking more bold colors, I love colors like this that are bold but still wearable. Though Grace is described as a bright coral, on me this color is a perfect red. I love these types of reds that are rather ambiguous....is it pink? Is it red? The world may never know...and it doesn't matter because its beautiful. 

L to R: Claudia, Brigitte, Natalie, Grace

 I think these two lipsticks are the perfect colors to add to my Audacious lipstick collection! The one con about these lipsticks is that they are $32.00 which is definitely on the pricier side. However, for someone like myself who struggles with finding lip perfection, I think adding some select colors to my collection is well worth it!

Click here for my review of Brigitte and Claudia!

Find NARS Audacious lipsticks HERE

xxSJ

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in 'Opal'

I recently received Becca's Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in the color 'Opal' and have been trying it out with the most skeptical of eyes thinking to myself, can this product really be THAT good? Well, yes, ladies and gentleman. It can be.

Becca's line of highlighters exploded in the past couple of years made famous mostly by Jaclyn Hill on Youtube. These highlighter powders are somehow creamy to the touch and go on your skin effortlessly giving you a luminous and lustrous glow I thought only to be achievable by professional makeup artists on photo shoots. 

The sleek little compact is made of a brown rubberized plastic with a brushed metal top and Becca tastefully stamped into the design. Closed, it looks like a little UFO! Open, it looks like heaven. The compact comes with a large, high quality mirror on one side and is filled with 8g of beautiful product on the other. 

The color Opal is described as a 'golden opal pearl' and I find it has quite a bit of a purpley peach tone to it.  Here is the compact compared to my other powder highlights, Becca's Rose Gold and Mary Lou-manizer by The Balm: 

Top left: Opal, Top Right: Rose Gold, Bottom: Mary Lou-manizer

As you can see, Opal nestles right in between the super light gold champagne color of Mary Lou-manizer and the more vibrant Rose Gold. All three powders are ultra soft and give fantastic color payoff with just a light dusting, but I think Becca's powders take the cake as far as being creamy smooth to the touch. They also last all day on my skin.

L to R: Opal, Mary Lou-manizer, Rise Gold

I recommend this product if you're looking for an amazing highlighter. I think these highlighters are mature skin friendly as long as you have a delicate touch. They will breathe life into dry skin as well as accent dewy skin beautifully.  These highlighters are $38 for 8g of product which is definitely steep, however, keep your eyes on websites such as Hautelook and Overstock.com for when you can find these products heavily discounted!

Check out this product on Sephora's website HERE!

xxSJ

Urban Decay 24/7 Liners vs NYX Slide On Pencils

Urban Decay's 24/7 Eye Pencils are award winning for being silky smooth during the application process while also being waterproof and lasting for FOREVER. The pencil also comes in a ton of beautiful bright and vibrant colors:

The brand touts that one is sold every 7 minutes....say what?!! The only downside of these awesome pencils is that they are $19. That is STEEP for an eye pencil, even if it is award winning...so I found something else I wanted to compare them to :) Introducing:

The NYX Slide On, Glide on, Stay on & Definitely a Turn On Waterproof, Extreme Shine Eye Liner. Mouthful but oh well.  I have heard that these little beauties are comparable to the UD eyeliners except they are only $8 (when not on a NYX sale) so I did a little experiment while I was at Ulta to compare:

I did the best I could in matching some colors from the NYX collection with comparable colors from UD's collection.  The NYX lines are on the left while the UD is on the right.  As far as application, NYX pencils went on my hand as buttery smooth as Urban Decay's. Now for colors: Only some of them can be considered legitimate dupes. That blue for instance...my goodness that blue.  The bright blue on the left is 'Azure' by NYX while the blue on the right is 'Electrify' by UD....they're almost an exact match. Also the browns looks pretty good. On the left is NYX 'Golden Bronze' and on the right is UD 'Lucky.'  Some of the colors are noticeably more pigmented like the blacks (which are probably the most important of the colors).  The left is NYX 'Jet Black' and the right is UD's famous 'Perversion,' the blackest black can get. The silver colors ended up being quite different after application, but I think NYX's silver color beats Urban Decay's silver that they offer (the two swatches on the right). That's NYX's 'Platinum' if you're interested in a bright silver, while the right is UD 'Gunmetal' if you're looking for a slated gray silver.
I did one last test while the swatches were on my hand. I took my fingers and did the unthinkable....I scraped down my skin trying to get the swatches to smudge:

Smeared. So, so smeared. I don't know if the picture picked it up as well as it did in person, but the Urban Decay swatches stayed put while the NYX swatches are the ones that smeared...sad day (and 'smear' is now a very weird word having typed it so much. huh.) I suppose that's what the extra $10 is what you're paying for with UD.  They truly are waterproof and will last you ALL DAY LONG.  I mean, look at that black! It didn't go anywhere and I pressed pretty hard into my skin to get the colors to move, and Perversion was staying put.

The final verdict: If you need a basic eyeliner like a black, plum, or brown, go with Urban Decay.  An investment in something you wear nearly everyday is worth it because you won't have to worry about touching up or checking to make sure your eyeliner isn't traveling all over the place.
BUT: if you need a colorful blue, green or silver, I'd say save your money and go with NYX. They've proven to be pigmented and if you're not planning on wearing the color for an extended period of time then the smear factor isn't a big deal.

I hope this review was helpful to you all!
Let me know: What do you think of Urban Decay's 24/7 liners? Are they worth the hype?