Hello
gorgeous!
I
just found new lovely goodies: Mary-Lou Manizer and Autobalm California Face
Palette from The Balm! The Balm is a drugstore brand, I think, which has
gorgeous vintage packaging, like Benefit Cosmetic, that I really love! Enough
with the review at first sight, I’m gonna get right into it!
The Mary-Lou Manizer – 590.000 VND
The Autobalm California Palette – 390.000 VND
MARY-LOU MANIZER
The
Balm
Highlighter/
Shadow/ Shimmer
Firstly,
let’s go over the packaging. The packaging is cute with a good-sized mirror,
but doesn’t have brush in the compact, which is quite inconvenient and the
quality of the compact doesn’t seem very good. It contains 0.30 oz/8.5g which
is huge, I don’t think I’m going to need to find any other highlighters in
quite a long time.
I
love this highlighter from The Balm because the warm champagne color
compliments my medium skin tone with yellow undertone very well (in shade MAC
NC25). Actually I think this golden shimmery highlighter would look good on
most skin tone from fair to darker, especially for warm and yellow undertone.
That’s probably why there’re so many other beauty bloggers talking about it.
The color is buildable and isn’t so intense, so I think it’d be great for any
makeup look, from casual everyday to special event.
Speaking
of the color, I’d like to bring into a quick comparison with the Cindy-Lou Manizer. In my
opinion, the color of Mary-Lou is more flexible and easier to match variety of
skin tone. On the other hand, the Cindy-Lou has a gorgeous shade of peachy pink
hue which can also be used as blush for those who has a fair complexion. But I
find it a little too dark for a highlighter and too pale for a blush. If you
have a fair complexion, it is pigmented enough to use as a blush, but I think
it would be too shimmery for one, especially day wear. So, after all, the
Cindy-Lou is just no good for a medium complexion with yellow undertone like
me.
This
is a multitasker, I brush it lightly over my brow bones, inner corner of my
eye, down my nose, on my cheek bones, and a little bit on the cupid bow. The
result was amazing, it gives my skin a gorgeous healthy glow. If you love the
luminous, dewy skin look, you need to try this out.
The
formula is very easy to blend in, using finger or brush to apply, both are
great. Because of the soft and buttery formula, a little goes a very long way,
but you may overdo it. I’ve also read some reviews said that the powder is easy
to break, but I didn’t drop it once, anyway I guess need to be careful. So I
think this highlighter isn’t very travel-friendly.
AUTOBALM CALIFORNIA PALETTE
The
Balm
If
you’re looking for an all-in-one palette, there you are, this Autobalm
California Palette got it all, this is just exactly what I want! The Autobalm
California and Hawaii Palette are two new items for Fall 2014, which is also
available on www.kohl’s.com.
Surprisingly, they’re Kohl’s exclusive, so I’m not sure if these are available
anywhere else. (Due to some technical problems, I can’t access to www.kohl’s.com, so I will linked above
another stores in the UK. And I don’t know why those palette are nowhere to
find on the official site of The Balm)
About
the packaging, still the vintage style from The Balm. The packaging design is
shaped like a driver license which is very fun and interesting. This palette is
made of hard paper – I think – which make the palette lighter, easier to bring
along and would be a good item to travel with.
This
face palette has 4 shades: blush, highlighter, and 2 other shades for eyes. But
actually, to be creative with makeup, you can use the blush and highlighter as
eye shadow. I’d love to use the blush as eye shadow for a spring makeup look.
About
the formula and texture of the powder, they’re soft and pigmented and easy
blend in.
Blush
I
love the bright coral pink shade of the blush, not too pink not too orange.
This blush shade would be great for a natural everyday makeup look with neutral
tone. I’ve been obsessed with it ever since I bought this palette!
Highlighter
This
highlighter has a beautiful shimmery light pink. But I think I’d still prefer
the Mary-Lou Manizer, because its texture and color are more intense and
pigmented. Anyway, the shade of this highlighter is more appropriate for day
makeup look.
Eye shadow
It
has two shades of brown: matte light brown and gold shimmer dark brown.
I
tried the matte light brown on my eyebrow, it gives a very natural looking
eyebrow, not too harsh like using the eyebrow pencil, but it doesn’t define
your eyebrow very much. I’d also love to put it on the crease of my eyes to
give it a little definition.
The
darker brown would be great to use as an eyeliner. You can also take a little
bit of this on the eyesocket for a smokey eyes look. But be careful not to
overdo it, otherwise it would be too dramatic and overwhelmed. With the eye
shape like mine – Asian eyes – the dramatic smokey eyes look just doesn’t
really compliment my eye shape, so I’d prefer to use this gold shimmer dark brown
as a liner.
Overall,
these are two goodies from The Balm that I love so so much!
Hope
my reviews could help you take a closer look of these two lovely items. I’m
working the next blog post, sneak peek for you guys, it’s going to be another
makeup look. So stay tuned for the next blog post, it’s gonna up real soon!
Many
thanks for reading my blog!
Love
yourself more and always be beautiful.
&
Have fun shopping!
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored blog. I only recommend products
I use and I personally think are good having tried them on myself, so I
can’t guarantee that all of those products I recommended will suit you. I
suggest you test products out on yourself before purchasing.
