Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick Pink

More subtle than our Shimmer Brick but with the same overall brightening effect of our finishing powder, this formula creates a lit-from-within glow plus a hint of pretty pink. Use it just on the cheeks for a soft blush or all over the face for veil-like luminosity. The best part: this pink pairs perfectly with the season's nude and navy shades.



Brightening brick in Pink was limited edition and part of the Navy and Nude collection. It is on the same page as legendary BB shimmer brick but was supposed to be more subtle. I noticed it while walking by the Bobbi Brown counter and I had to turn around go back and swatch it. It was so beautiful under the store lights. Shimmer shimmer bling bling! This is a glitter bomb. I have no problem with glitter and shimmer- the more the better but in this case I have to disagree with description that this is more subtle than popular Shimmer brick. Shimmer brick does have more shimmer and is more opaque in color, while Brightening  brick is more sheer , more like a setting powder but it has large glitter particles. It does brighten nicely and you can dust off the glitter if it bothers you. This is more your "night out" product. Can't really say it's office friendly.

It comes in a standard black plastic square packaging. Honestly I do not like BB packaging it's bulky and plastic feels cheap. It also includes decent size mirror.

Size comparison - left brightening brick right shimmer brick

In a daylight, without a flash or direct sunlight it actually doesn't look that shimmery/glittery. Whenever I use it I mix all the 4 shades together. I am to lazy to try to use certain squares more than the other ones. If there is too much glitter on the skin I tried to dust it off with a fan brush.

Heavy swatches of the each separate color

Lightly dusted with MAC 188 brush. Taken indoors with a flash

 Same thing but taken in natural daylight

Overall it's nice product for shimmer lovers. I am not too crazy about it and most of the time I will reach for some other highlighter. I loved the idea of brightening and this does that especially over pink blushes it gives nice look, but I think I would be better of I picked some other brightening brick from their line . I think they had a Nude one that would work better for me.

MAC Adored Mineralize Skinfinish

MAC Adored mineralize skinfinish was part of Tropical taboo collection released back in June 2013. I never got back to this piece of beauty to review it until now. Unfortunately it was limited edition (as almost always with MAC) but hopefully they will repromote it. Adored is described as a coral with light beige pearl. It is honestly one of the most beautiful mineralize skinfinishes MAC has released (trust me I have too many of them). It is perfect for light and medium skin tones. 

Adored might work as a very subtle blush for light skin tones or lightly dusted as a highlighter. For medium skin tones this would not show up enough to be worn as a blush but as a highlighter I think it would look great - or even as a blush topper. I can see this looking great over darker or brighter coral/peach blushes.

I love MAC mineralize skinfinishes and use them probably more than any other product. Darker ones I can use as a blush while lighter I like to use as a highlighter or over other blushes/ bronzers. 

It has finely milled powder, very soft and easy to work with. These can be applied with pretty much any brush - I usually use duo fiber ones like 188 or 187 depending on how much I want to apply. Some of the Mineralize skinfinishes are more glittery but most have more of a fine shimmer. Some have metallic sheen (if applied too much).  I will try to review more of these from my stash. 

Look at that shimmer! <3

A while ago I was asked to make comparison between MAC Lightscapade, Soft&Gentle and Adored  (left to right in the photo)

February and March 2014 hauls

I can easily use my birthday month as an excuse for excessive shopping... Anyway life became very difficult again and as always I had a need to shop like there is no tomorrow. I never get any gifts for my birthday from other people - or rarely ever so I decided couple of years ago that I will start treating myself. 

First up my MAC fix - small haul including re-promoted Perfect topping - unfortunately not as good as original release. Why oh why does MAC do this? Lately they have been promoting some amazing old products. Well actually they would create completely new product and just use a name of the old one. So irritating. Old Perfect topping was very unique and I was so excited to be able to buy it again. I am not saying new one is not nice but it's not the same as the original. 

Mineralize blush in Petal power - This one is stunning with it's beautiful golden sheen. I can't wait to review it. I can see myself wearing it often especially during warmer months. It sold out quickly but I can tell you this is back up worthy.

 Dior amber diamond <3 My first ever HE makeup purchase. Long long time ago I think it was 2007. I still have it but I bought another one when I realized it was gone completely. I know it got discontinued a while ago in EU but was hoping it will stay permanent in the US. Well since they are coming out with two new shimmer powders they got rid of Amber diamond. I will never forgive you Dior!! So I went on a hunt trying to find it and thankfully local Nordstrom had two left and shipped one to me.

Now my real birthday haul from Ulta. I restocked on some skincare. My skin is terribly dry, like a dessert. I decided to switch to Tonique confort (btw I love it! what a pleasant surprise) from my Tonique radiance (will go back to it when this never ending winter ends). Also wanted to try hydrating mask for a first time - let's see if it will make any difference, I am not big believer in masks.  Binefait UV is my choice for this summer when it comes to sun protection. Previous two summers I used clinique and shiseido and I loved both, but wanted to try something new.  Juicy tubes are one of my favorite glosses and I added Hallucination to my
collection.

Second part of my Ulta : OPI avoplex oil - buying it for the second time. When I originally got it I did not like it at all. Lately I have been using it often and it is great when applied right before I make nail swatches. Great for on the go to. Clarisonic cashmere cleanse will replace my sensitive brush - can't wait to try it! CK one mascara is birthday gift from Ulta. I have never tried anything from CK one line but I have heard some amazing things about their foundation. Too faced revamped they Natural eyes palette and I had to buy it. I am huge fan of the first one. It has been my mostly used palette of all the eyeshadows and palettes I have (reviewed here).

 Lancome added another product to their Visionnaire line. So excited to try Visionnaire blur! I wore it today with Lancome teint miracle foundation over it and first impressions are that this can easily become my all time favorite primer. Makes skin super smooth and silky without heavy silicone feeling. 

 NARSSisist eyeshadow palette. They pretty much hit it out of the park with this one. Lately NARS has been killing my wallet. Selection of their best eyeshadows all in one palette. What morec oould one NARS fan ask for? <3
I love the looks Lauren created with his palette http://www.lcmakeupblog.com/2014/01/fotd-using-new-narsissist-eyeshadow.html  http://www.lcmakeupblog.com/2014/01/arabic-eye-inspired-fotd-with.html

Giorgio Armani blush number 10 has been sitting on my wishlist for months. Or maybe a year? I keep delaying to buy it but when I found out that they will discontinue it and come out with new line of blushes I had to order it right away. I am sure it sold out quickly among it's loyal fans. It is very pretty shade for light skin tones. Not to beige not to pink with subtle shimmer. Why do companies discontinue such a classic products? This is my first Armani product.

Couple of new fragrances. I needed another one like I need hole in the head. Manifesto was such a surprise. I have tried it many times on the blotter and it was just ok, not worth buying. It has this annoying top note. I liked how it smelled on other people. Couple of weekends ago I sprayed it on my skin just for fun even though I already had perfume on... First it completely overpowered what I had on, it had amazing staying power and smelled better and better as timed went by. It is extremely sweet, yummy and sexy at the same time.

I have been eyeing Valentina for over two years. I remember trying it when it came out and I liked it right away. Simple, feminine, soft. Easy to wear and great choice for springs. Main reason I did not buy it was that staying power is not so great. It's not terrible but not as good as I would like it to be. Well I broke down and finally got it. I will make sure to use it often this spring. 

Finally I treated myself with one of the best perfumed body lotions out there - Prada Infusion D'iris. I've had small bottle long time ago and loved it. It smells exactly like the perfume which I find is very rare, mostly ancilery products smell similar with some added "plastic" scent to it. I assume it's hard to recreate the same scent used in actual fragrance and transfer it to body lotion, shower gel etc... And huge plus is that it is actually very moisturizing which is almost never the case with this type of body products. Only thing I find annoying is that there is no pump. Seriously for 50$ body lotion they could at least put a pump on that bottle! I used Infusion D'iris EDP 4 years ago and brings beautiful memories back on our vacation to Hawaii. Can't wait to use it again this summer! 

My picks from MAC Magnetic Nude collection - Fairly Precious and Oh My Darling

There was a big hype since info was leaked about Magnetic Nude collection. MAC fans were excited about new and repromoted extra dimension items - skinfinishes, blushes and eyeshadows. When it comes eyeshadows I was never interested in them especially when they went up on a price and made product almost twice smaller. When blushes were previously released I skipped them all - everyone complained how they are not pigmented, that texture is awful etc... money saved. Superb skinfinish is probably one of those MAC items that everyone is crazy about. It was released twice already as limited edition and it was sold out super fast. It never really got my attention. Finally with this collection I decided to go to counter on the day of release and try it. Meh... Nothing special really. I do not think it would do anything for me so I skipped. But I ordered Fairly precious online since I could not resist the description - peach with dimensional pearly sheen. Sign me up for anything peachy! 

Officially it's described as "liquid-powder highlighter with prismatic reflections  that sculpts, highlights and models the face...". OK it's not really that dramatic :) 

Texture is so hard to describe. I am not a big fan. It feels to hard, not creamy enough and I have a feel that I need to scratch with brush over it to get anything to show up. I am HUGE fan of regular Mineralize skinfinishes who are supposedly shimmery whereas Extra dimension are metallic. That's the main difference. I feel that EDSF do accentuate pores and are not for everyone. 

Color is really pretty peach and it looks more peachy and warmer when applied on skin. In the pan it looks cooler and more beige toned. I do not mind this since I like anything warmer on my cheeks. It can be applied over the blush or on it's own but I do not think it gives enough color to be worn as a blush only unless you are ghostly pale (that's pretty much where I am right now).

Is it must have? Not really. Could I skip ? For sure. It's just ok I am not really crazy about it and there are so much better highlighters out there. And it's very dupable. 

After seeing a post on thebeautylookbook about her purchase from this collection I had to order lipgloss too even though initially I wasn't interested in the color (I have only seen temptalia's swatches that were nothing special really). Oh My darling looked so beautiful in Sabrina's photos I could not resist. Overall I really like MAC ligplasses and have plenty of them (keep planning on reviewing and swatching them for a while).

Oh My darling is a pale yellow pink with multi-colored shimmer, you can see in the photos below green and gold particles. It's pretty sheer but can be worn on it's own or over another pink lipstick. It's a nice color for spring. Not unique but I am to lazy to try to dig out dupe which I probably have. I love MAC glosses for different reasos - huge selection of colors, some are sheer some opaque, creamy or with a shimmer. Texture is really thick and sticky - I know that not everyone likes it. And it has light vanilla scent. 

Fairly precious actually reminded me that I already own one EDSF and that's Definitely Defined - review of this one has been sitting in my drafts for months. They are similar but DD is not so peachy, it has more silvery beige tone to it. Enough difference to justify having both (not really LOL ). 

Left : Definitely Defined, Right : Fairly Precious

Left : Definitely Defined, Right : Fairly Precious