Bronzer | Hooked On Beauty

Bronzers for Every Budget

January 28, 2011 by carissa Leave a Comment

How to you plead to the felony count of not applying enough color to your face? Guilty as charged. Even I sometimes neglect to add this all-important bronzed finish that peps skin up and gives it a glow. If you don’t have one, you should – it’s worth the investment and the few extra seconds it takes to apply

Wet N Wild Mega Glo in Starlight Bronze $4

This seemingly simple bronzer beat out a few others with a much larger price tag because of its balanced gleam-to-color ratio. It’s soft but builds easily without an orangey look even in daylight.

NYX Cosmetics Bronzer Powder $15

Even if this bronzer weren’t fantastic (which it is) I’d buy it just for the cute picture on the face of the powder. It offers a delicate glow making skin (on the face or body) look fresh and alive.

Too Faced Sun Bunny Bronzer $28

Too Faced does bronzing well. They have a whole category of bronzers for the skin that give an easy golden look without any orange or streaks. I like this one because of the two different intensities, the lighter I use for framing my face, and the darker I use on the center of my face, neck, and arms.

Filed Under: Bronzer

Bye Bye Summer, Hello Bronzer; Too Faced Aqua Bunny

November 2, 2010 by carissa 1 Comment

Bronzer in the fall? Yes, it’s when you need it most right? Too Faced Aqua Bunny is one of my all-time favorite bronzers for a few reasons. First, it isn’t shimmery a big plus when you’re bronzing. Second, it’s a creme-to-powder formula so it’s easy to apply and blend but then sets like a powder on the skin. Best of all, it doesn’t change color because it’s water-resistant so it stays the same intensity and hue throughout the day.

It comes with a brush that’s actually worth using and not a total throw-away like many brushes that come with color in a compact. It’s a light, almost feathery brush that has a narrow row of bristles, it doesn’t pick up or lay down color too harshly. It’s perfect for creating high cheekbones by blending the bronzer along the hollows of cheeks (blush goes on the actual cheek bones above). It also perfectly places it down the bridge of the nose and around the hairline, everywhere a bronzer should go.

Summer’s gone, you’re pasty again, use a bronzer.

Too Faced Aqua Bunny

Filed Under: Bronzer, Found at Sephora

Beauty on a Budget; Wet N Wild

August 30, 2010 by carissa 1 Comment

Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers, Cover Girl foundations, Rave hairspray, I’ve been using drugstore cosmetics since I was a kid. I’ll never be the girl who uses only exclusive lines, the brand doesn’t mean anything to me as long as the product passes the test. Even though they’ve been around forever, Wet N Wild is proving lately that good cosmetics don’t have to come at a high price. While not everything in the line can be stellar, there are a few that I really like and are well worth the price.

Who doesn’t love a pink gloss? MegaSlicks gloss in 564A Cherish is the color I like because its luminescence glows like a frost but catches the sun like a shimmer, and the thick formula clings to lips without bleeding out.

Its shimmery particles blend into the color so they don’t stand out on the lips. You won’t see sparkles, just a dynamic looking $2 gloss.

Mega Glo Face Illuminator ($4) is even a hit over at TotalBeauty.com with its reviewers. This is one of the most versatile radiance builders I’ve used because you can easily build its intensity from slight to more pronounced and it’s easy to blend.

Here’s a medium amount of it (in 341 Blushing/ Rougissante) to show how it reflects light. I like the pinky shade used over blush or on top of cheekbones.

I was more than a little surprised to like their Mega Liners as well as I do. They last a really long time and have a fantastically fine brush so even a total eye liner novice can easily glide the color on.

Get a colored liner into your routine, they have some fun wearable shades like 864 Plum which I’m wearing right now with a nude shimmer shadow. Check out the waterproof version ($4) which uses a stiff-tipped applicator to easily apply a formula that doesn’t move or fade.

Color Icon Bronzer is so super rich that it doesn’t hold back. really the only thing wrong with this $4 compact is the stiff little brush that’s included. Ditch it for a big fluffy one so you can place the color where it needs to be and buff it until it’s the right shade for your skin.

‘Cheap’ is not a bad word. Explore the world of budget beauty.

Filed Under: Bronzer, Drugstore Finds, Eye Liner, Lips

Too Faced Tanning Bed in a Tube Self-Tanning Lotion

June 8, 2010 by carissa Leave a Comment

Tanning Bed in a Tube from Too Faced really nails a perfect self-tanning lotion. They used a ton of carmel color and flecks of gold to give a rich bronzy color that mimics a real tan like no other. Its shimmery golden base serves as both a guide so you can see where you’ve applied it, and as an instant bronzer so you can enjoy some color right away. What about the scent you ask? It’s sort of delicious. It’s a light, tropical pina colada that never gives way to that old familiar self-tanning developer smell that we all know too well.

I knew it was the real deal when a girl who I was tanning (I do airbrush spray tanning) asked if it was difficult to spray the airbrush tanner on myself and I had only used Tanning Bed in a Tube twice that week. Yeah, it looks that good.

A glimpse of the carmel lotion.

Too Faced Tanning Bed in a Tube

Stumble It!

Filed Under: Bronzer, Found at Sephora, Self-Tanner

How to Use a Bronzer

May 30, 2010 by carissa Leave a Comment

I think bronzer is amazing. I also think most women should be using one. Let me go a step further and say that most women are using bronzers the wrong way.

If you’re using a bronzer all over your face, or as a blush click HERE to read my tips on how to correctly apply a bronzer so you can get your glow on.

Stumble It!

Filed Under: Bronzer, How To

Mmm… Products That Work as Great as They Smell

May 13, 2010 by carissa 1 Comment

Admit it, you’ve bought something based on scent alone- we all have. I love the idea of leaving behind a slight, sweet trail whenever I hug someone or walk by which is always better than a full-on blast of perfume. Here are a few things that I think smell amazing enough to buy on scent alone (good thing they work well too.)

Philosophy’s wildly popular Pure Grace fragrance is now available in a moisturizing Buffing Body Wash. It’s a cleanser with tiny grains that exfoliate your skin so gently that you can use it daily. Pure Grace captures the smell of clean like just-washed cotton sheets, and soap and water, it’s the ultimate non-fragrance fragrance. Using it all over in a body wash leaves just enough of the scent behind so your skin smells fresh and clean all day long.

Hair absorbs and holds scents really well, I can usually tell what someone is using when I hug them or if they flip their hair near me. Styling products are the last thing we use on our hair so their scent will stay the longest. I not only love the light, whipped texture of S-Factor’s Spun Satin which can be used to style wet or dry hair, but the smell of it literally makes my mouth water. It’s sort of a less-than fruity scent with a hint of sweet something that reminds me of everything I loved the smell of when I was a kid.

There are so many multi-use products out there now, which is great news for both your wallet and bathroom counters. Sothys Soins Soleil Cellu-guard Iridescent Tanning Gel creates a luminous golden tan with SPF 8 and skin soothing ingredients to fight free-radical damage. It doesn’t smell anything like a self-tanner, in fact it smells like the beach. It has a little bit of a coconut, pineapple thing going on like a more delicate version of tanning oils with a smidgen of old school Banana Boat sunscreen scent. trust me, it sounds weird but it’s a combination that just works. Every time you smell your skin, you’ll be reminded of trips to the beach.