Thursday, June 3, 2010

Milani Powder Bronzer in "Medium" (Review & Swatches)

Repurchase: No
Price: $5.99
Product: 7.5/10
Value: 9/10
Packaging: 4/10
Overall Grade: B-
I picked up this Milani Powder Bronzer in "02 Medium" on a whim while at CVS. It comes in 2 other colors: Radiant and Light. I've been looking for a glowy bronzer with more "sheen" than shimmer but nothing matte. I just want something that'll give me a glowy, fresh, dewy type of look. Here's how this went..

The Packaging: The case is typical -clear plastic lid with gold text. All of the bronzers were already scratched up (in the store) so that's no good. I don't like scratches on my products. There's no mirror but I don't expect many drugstore products to have a mirror anyways. The back displays the color, bar code, ingredients, and size (.35oz/10g)

The Product: Now inside, the bronzer is nowhere near typical. There's a gorgeous "floral pattern" that I thought would disappear rather quickly but to my surprise, it hasn't yet (I've been using this for 2 weeks straight.)
The actual bronzer itself contans silver glitter. I did want a bronzer with shimmer since I expected it to give me a nice "glow." The weird thing is, swatched, the bronzer is so gorgeous. I can see the beautiful bronzey color with shimmer but wearing the bronzer, it looks so flat that it almost looks matte with random glitter particles if you can spot them. Another weird thing is when I apply it, it just disappears on me. This is not a light bronzer either -but it completely disappears unless I add a lot -so it is buildable. When I add more, I get some color but it's more "brown" than bronze and to me it works more as a contouring shade than a bronzer. I wanted "glow" but I got "matte" and "sculpted" instead. The product completely rubs off after about 4 hours with no primer. I'm sure it'll last longer with a good primer.
There's not smell that I can detect but this does make my sensitive skin a bit irritated. After it's first applied, my skin feels itchy but after a couple minutes, it goes away. This happens with many powder/face products though as my skin is very sensitve. (I'm not docking points for this since it happens with most products for me.)
The Color: Bronzed brown with reddish undertone and silver glitter.

Swatches..
Above (no flash): Milani Powder Bronzer in "Medium" (This most resembles the actual color)
Above (no flash) in natural light: Milani Powder Bronzer in "Medium" (Actual color is darker)
Above (with flash): Milani Powder Bronzer in "Medium" (Displays the glitter. Bronzer does not have much of that "sheen" shown in the picture)

Overall: This isn't the bronzer that I've been looking for as it felt like more of a contouring product than a bronzer and that's why I gave it a B-. One reason to that is most likely the color I chose. Medium was the darkest and brownest shade so maybe I should've gone with "Light" or "Radiant." I in no way mean to say that this is a bad product -I just expect a bronzer to be more about bronzing than contouring.. right? Also, the shimmer kind of tricks you because you'd expect it to be glowy or semi-shimmery but instead, it's nearly completely matte on the face. I really do think this would be good for contouring as it is buildable (but sheer if only one layer is applied) and almost matte.

So do I recommend this? If you're looking for a cheap, matte bronzer and have medium or light skin, maybe try this bronzer Radiant or Light (I haven't tried these colors but in the store, they were noticeably less brown than Medium.) The color Medium that I bought might work for those with darker tones. If you want a more "glowy" bronzer, skip this. For those looking for just a nice contouring powder, give it a try! =)

6 comments:

  1. I know everyone talks about Nars Laguna but I recently got it and love it! great review!

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  2. Oh I've never tried Laguna yet -I've only swatched it in the store. I've been trying to find a budget friendly bronzer but I do love NARS blushes and eyeshadows. =P Thanks for the recommendation.

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  3. Have you tried the Jane one, I've heard really good things about that one although I haven't tried it myself....

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  4. Nope I haven't.. I haven't seen a Jane display in sooooo long. I usually got to CVS or Walgreens but I'll keep a lookout for it if I go to a Rite Aid or something. I reallllly want a cheap glowy bronzer. =P

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  5. I have tried Bonne bell glimmer bronze in gold n glitz and Rimmell natural bronzer in sundance (I think). Both give a nice glow but you should be light handed with your application.

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  6. This is really a nice and informative, containing all information and also has a great impact on the new technology. Thanks for sharing it, Psychic Medium

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