A quick tutorial on adding natural-looking colour for everyone from the chronically ill to just the mildly hungover. (Hey, I’ve been both. And unfortunately, I can therefore guarentee that the same principles more or less apply.) (Think about that the next time you go out drinking. Man.)
The shade: Rockies, despite the tangerine-coral look of the product on the Vasanti site and its description as a “beautiful coral that brightens and hilights all skintones,” is more of a bright, peachy pink than a straight-up coral in real life. It has quite a bit of gold shimmer worked into the shade, aligning it with products like NARS Orgasm in my head – because my head makes weird logic leaps like that; not actually because they’re dupes (or even close to being such).
If you ask me, Rockies is first and foremost a pink blush, and it just so happened to have been attacked by a bit of coral and a lot of shimmer before leaving the factory – not the other way around.
Vasanti Rockies swatches – lightly, then heavily.
The formula: I’m not, admittedly, the most strict tester when it comes to blushers – with fair, dry skin and reasonably small pores, a blush has to be pretty darn terrible in order to completely disappoint me.
That said, though, I did like the formula of this blush. It’s not too powdery in the pan, and goes on with just the right intensity: there’s no chalkiness whatsoever, but it’s also not so pigmented that it’s hard to work with. While I’m not personally a fan of shimmery blushers, Rockies does give a very pretty glow, blending out evenly and lasting all day.
Wearing Vasanti Rockies blush
(Rest of the face: Clinique Chubby Stick in Whole Lotta Honey, Senna Sketch-A-Brow in Mink, and Clinique Quickliner for Eyes in Charcoal.)
At $15 each, Vasanti’s blushers are a great drugstore find. If I compare Rockies to the other shimmery blushers in my collection, it can hold its own against products both in its price range (high end of the drugstore) as well as in the more expensive department-store/high-end bracket: I’d reach for this over my NARS Orgasm or 100% Pure Mimosa (both shimmery peaches) any day.
While Rockies isn’t a shade that I can see myself wearing on a frequent basis, I do think that (objectively), it’s a very solid formula at a price point that’s well worth it. Pair that with the fact that it’s a Canadian product free of animal testing, parabens, silicones, and fragrances, and I think we have a winner!
I’ve been waiting for Clarins Spring 2012 for a very, very long time. Seriously – the Gloss Prodige line has been close to the top of my wishlist since November. That all said, though: now that the products are out, it’s actually the Instant Light Blush that’s really caught my attention. It’s a blush! And it’s pink! And it’s liquid, you guys; it’s liquid!(It should probably be mentioned, though, that I haven’t yet found time to test out the glosses. So, it’s entirely possible that I’ll be tooting an entirely different horn in a week’s time.)
The packaging: Clarins’ Instant Light Blush comes packaged in what’s slowly overtaking their line: hopelessly chic, gold-accented rectangles. It looks a bit like a short, stout gloss, which (to be entirely honest) couldn’t be more perfect. It features a large doe-foot applicator, which might bug some – it can be hard to get out of the container, and I’m sure someone out there is having a minor breakdown about liquids packaging and bacteria. (Seriously, though: I know powders are sanitize-able, but who actually sprays down their personal products with alcohol every two weeks? And how dirty is your face to begin with?!)
Vitamin Pink vs. two Gloss Prodiges
The shade: Vitamin Pink is a lovely, bright, clear rose with plenty of gold iridescence. It gives a really natural, sheer pink flush, and it embodies the picture-perfect spring cheek perfectly: the gold microshimmer is small enough that it never looks “disco-ball,” but (paired with the way the Instant Light formula sinks into the skin,) it creates an incredibly believable dewiness. Basically, it’s the perfect way to pick up your skin after the long winter. (And, well, if you live in a place where winter isn’t long — don’t even talk to me.)
Swatched L-R: Clarins Gloss Prodige in Raspberry and Candy; Instant Light Blush in Vitamin Pink (heavily/blended.)
(Same swatch order, but unfocused & in direct sunlight.)
The formula: The format of the Instant Light blushes is what really gets me – though Vitamin Pink is absolutely lovely, it wouldn’t be half as addictive without being a liquid. It’s a bit like a fluid moisturizer, and blends into translucence like a dream. That being said, though, it does layer quite well! It’s a bit deceiving, with how easily the formula blends away, but you really can build it upto an impressive flush.
Basically, you didn’t even have to read this review – you just had to give the title a glance. You need this; you really, really do! I’ve spent years blending fluid moisturizers with liquid lipsticks, cream lipsticks, and cream blushers to get exactly this effect, but Clarins pulls off liquid blush flawlessly (and with the added bonus of cute packaging.) At $28 CAD, yes, this is on the pricey side. The Instant Light blushers are still cheaper than a NARS powder blushers (if only barely), though, and I’d reach for this over Orgasm any day. The shimmer is so much more refined, and there’s something just so about this liquid formula – it really does create a lit-from-within flush. Here’s to hoping for a few shimmer-free Instant Light blushers in the future! Bonus points if there’s a berry shade ;) <
The one-day pre-sale is here. Will you be trying Benefit’s newest powder? (I’m waiting ’till I can see it in-store first – but it does certainly look pretty!)
What do you think? Love it? Hate it? I’m loving the swatches that I’ve seen so far, but I don’t know about $28 (& even more in Canada). It looks like a great blush, but not a phenomenal one! Benefit, I dare you to prove me wrong.
I believe Hervana comes out “officially” in January (Dec 26th for Sephora), but please correct me if you have more up-to-date info!
The eyeshadows: The tokidoki Vegas palette includes four eyeshadows, described on the Sephora site as “pearl white, pearl grey, iridescent purple, and pearl dark purple.”
The pearl white is pretty standard (if any of you picked up last year’s Sephora BI birthday set, with Aspen Summit, I’m pretty sure it’s similar), and the iridescent purple is fairly “normal,” too – reminiscent of FaceFront Retro-Robotic Violetta, a shimmery mid-violet with red (rather than blue) undertones. (Think MAC Star Violet, but more pigmented.) They’re good shadows, medium pigmentation and blendable formulas, but they won’t blow you out of the water.
The other two shades (the two on the right), though…
In the top right is the pearl grey, which is just – wow. It doesn’t look all that special, but it swatches absolutely gorgeously. For a grey, it has quite a bit of yellow pearl (and violet-y undertones); the end result is sort of… mushroomy. I know, it doesn’t make a ton of sense right now, but just – look at the swatches! (It’s prettier visually than textually, and–like many great taupes–even prettier in person.)
And, finally, the dark purple. It’s not as unique as the grey, but it’s still well worth having. It’s a bit boring in theory, but it’s perfect in execution! I’m sure my fellow violet-lovers will understand when I say that purples are often pretty in the pan, but end up swatching too black, or too blue, or just too boring, you know? This one is a truer purple than most, though, which is definitely something I can appreciate.
tokidoki Vegas palette swatches – four eyeshadows, then the blush heavily/lightly
The blush: Described as a “soft bronze pink,” the blush in the Vegas palette made me think of NARS Orgasm right off the bat. Upon comparison, though, I can see that I was way off: they’re far from dupes, with Orgasm being more shimmery, less pigmented, and quite a lot more peach. More importantly, though, I’m a little concerned for the Sephora+tokidoki team – because whoever wrote up the blusher description is clearly struggling with language comprehension.
All of the three words apply, but it’s not a “soft bronze pink” blush. Colour-wise, the blush is pink. Period. It’s a strong, clear pink, and it happens to contain a healthy dose of gold shimmer, but that doesn’t interrupt the overwhelming pink (read: non-bronze)-iness of the shade. The formula is quite soft, so make sure to “dab” your brush to pick up colour; don’t sweep or push.
But, the blush, overall – it’s soft (in terms of texture), and bronze (in terms of shimmer), and pink (in terms of shade). However, it’s certainly not a “soft bronze pink”!
Top row, L-R: Clarins Miami Pink, Clinique Smoldering Plum
Bottom row, L-R: NARS Orgasm, tokidoki Vegas blush, generic 10 palette (leftmost shade on the top row of the palette)
For a measly $10USD/$12CAD, I cannot recommend this palette enough. The quality of both the eyeshadows and the blush is quite surprising, and though I’m very much not into the tokidoki packaging and branding, I’m willing to forgive it. I like the thin, lightweight cardboard packaging, I love the shades included, and the price tag & paraben-free formula are just the cherries on top!
I’m hoping that they’ll add another few Arte Palettes to the tokidoki lineup, but it would be nice to see a matte blush in the next one – this shimmery pink is a bit too in-your-face for me. Nonetheless, it’s a great, cheap palette, and it’ll hopefully make its way into quite a few stockings this December!
