budget friendly makeup Archives

Current Favourte Powder Bronzers

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Soft & Gentle

Such a cult favourite and I never once regret purchasing this, I have used it so many times over the past few years & it still looks like new. Its such a pretty highlighter that can be used for a subtle glow or built up to be more intense. Its a peachy, warm tone with gorgeous champaign shimmery sheen and it reflects the light to give you that healthy look. Its not subtle so don’t get this if you don’t like shimmer, you can use a light hand but the shimmer is still going to show up.

Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Starlet Mosaic

This baked highlighter is very shimmery, so no muted glow here! I love the four individual colours and have often used them as eyeshadows but they’re great to swirl your brush through all of them and it gives the most pretty peachy, bronze glow. I use this on my cheekbones for a beautiful highlight and it brings warmth and glow to my complexion.

MeMeMe Shimmer Brick Bronze

MeMeMe Shimmer Stack in Bronze

This isn’t as finely milled as the other products in this post but the colours and pigmentation are beautiful and intense. This gives the cheeks a bronze glow that instantly warms up your look. You get 5 colours in the stack and they can be used individually as eyeshadows and I think they work very well like that but I do prefer to sweep my brush across them all and use it as a glowing bronzer. It does have a metallic finish so you are not going to get a subtle finish with this but its such a good way at warming up a look and making your skin look fresh, healthy and glowing. This is like a holiday in a bronzer. Oh & this product has a really big mirror which is very handy, but I have so say the packaging feels quite bulky and I tend not to travel with it. I need that extra space for lipsticks.

Soap & Glory Wonderbronze

This is a very pretty multi shade bronzing highlighter, its great at giving your skin that sun kissed look without having been in the sunshine. I just swirl my brush round all the colours and apply it with my duo fibre brush, using this type of brush I find I don’t pick up too much product on my brush as I like to use this product more in the day time so I try to keep it quite subtle. Its lovely and lightweight and I find this lasts a really long time on my skin. When the colours are mixed its very similar to the MeMeMe offering but just slightly more peachy.

Essence Sun Club all in one Bronzing Highlighter in Sunglow

Without a doubt Essence is my favourite budget beauty brand, their product selection and quality is incredible and they always bring out the cutest limited edition ranges throughout the year. I have quite a few cheek products from them but I just love this bronzing highlighter, its so compact and easy to travel with. I like the see through packaging and you get 9g of product for only £3.50, total bargain. This has a slight coconut scent which always reminds me of holidays and it gives you a gorgeous sun kissed glow. Its a lovely copper with a little pink in there too. I am obsessed with this & Its always in my current makeup stash! Favourite Powder Bronzers

Primark PS Love Bronzer

This Primark offering was also a complete bargain & its not bad at all, I wouldn’t say it has the best staying power but I use this when I am only going out for a couple of hours & generally during the day. It hasn’t got enough of a glow for me to use at night but as a budget friendly offering its quite good. Although if you can get hold of any of the Essence bronzers then I would recommend those first. This PS Love bronzer gives a touch of warmth to the skin as well as a slight highlight, its quite subtle compared to the rest of the ones I have mentioned but I think thats because the pigmentation isn’t as good.

Bronzer Swatches

Laura Mercier / Soap & Glory / MeMeMe / MAC

Have you tried any of the bronzers I have mentioned and what bronzer do you reach for most often?

I’m quite familiar with Essence makeup as I lived in Germany for a number of years, where it is a very popular affordable brand. It has a huge following in Europe and since they first launched a couple of years ago in the UK they have created quite a buzz. Essence are known for having very on trend collections and as I said a very affordable price point. I have written about their UK launch if you’d like to read about it.

I thought I would share with you 3 of my current favourite products.

These three powder cheek products from Essence are all gorgeous, I have two blushers and one bronzer to share with you and they’re all perfect for creating Summer makeup looks. Let me know which one is your favourite of the three.

First up is Blush Up in Heat Wave £3.50 which is just the most gorgeous peachy pink, I love that this blusher has a ombre gradient effect and you get 3 different shades going from a stunning orange to a pretty pink. You can either swirl your brush to pick up all three shades or delicately sweep your brush down one shade to pick up that specific colour. I think the colours are pretty either way they’re pigmented and blend nicely too. Not too powdery or chalky and all three colours are matte so no shimmer in this at all.

Another of the Blush up Blushers in Pinky Flow £3.50 has the same beautiful ombre gradient effect as Heat Wave but this one is a trio of pink shades from a deep pink to a light soft pink. Pinks blushers are always a favourite of mine and this one doesn’t disappoint, this really brightens up my makeup look and gives my skin a gorgeous healthy flush. This lasts about 6 hours on me, so I think a good amount of time & as with the previous blush its easy to blend and nicely pigmented. I am a huge fan of these two blushers & I like the packaging, its clear & simple and the product looks really pretty too.

There is no shimmer in this blush either but the lightest shade of pink does give a highlighting effect on the cheek, which looks really flattering.

Lastly, the All in One Sun Glow Bronzer* gives you that healthy sun kissed illuminating glow. It has such a lovely mix of shades and it also has some shimmer in it too which I like & its not too OTT just a hint. This bronzer gives a subtle warmth to your skin and is the perfect way to pretend you have been on a Summer holiday without leaving the country. I have also used these individual shades as eyeshadows & they work really well, especially for a bronze smokey eye.

Essence can be found online at www.wilko.com & in a selection of their shops.

Let me know if you have tried anything from Essence and have any recommendations for me.

Products that are marked with an * have either been sent to me for my consideration or I’ve received at events. I’m under no obligation to review them on my blog. However if I do, the reviews are 100% my own.

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