The Balm Mary Lou Manizer

Highlighter Review

Hi Divas!

The Balm Mary Lou Manizer is one of the most iconic highlighters in the beauty universe. It is almost everybody's ride or die highlighter. While I was using this beauty one fine day, I saw I that I  hit pan on it for the first time. I was like hold the phone! I didn't even review this on my blog yet and I already hit pan on this gem. I need to get my life together and do a review ASAP. Luckily I took blog pics way in advance when I first received it. I found them in the archives of my phone and I can now do a thorough review. I know that there are thousands upon thousands of reviews regarding this product, but I want to add my 2 cents as well. Before I start my review I want to say thank you to Tasneem for gifting me this product along with some other goodies for my birthday back in the day. You can read her blog CityGirlVibe here. 

The Mary Lou Manizer comes in the most cheekiest packaging you will ever see. It's a mugshot of a woman with a retro feel. She probably got arrested for being too damn fine! Or her highlight was blinding everyone and she became a danger to society. Either way, she is not apologetic about anything! She is shinning bright like a diamond. This naughty compact comes with a good size mirror and 8.5g of product. It's a perfect size that can be placed in your handbag. The plastic casing is quite sturdy as well. I have travelled with this compact to the Middle East and it really stood the test of time in my suitcase. It's slim and cute. Definitely one of the favourite things in my makeup bag.

What makes this highlighter so amazing is that it's a three in one product. It can be used as a highlighter, eyeshadow and all over shimmer product. The highlighter has a smooth almost buttery texture. It's not tacky or chunky. It has a silky appearance and glides on the skin without accentuating large pores or scars. The shimmers are so finely milled that it is not grainy or powdery either. The colour is described as a honey toned pigment. Honey tones look beautiful on all skin types. On my skin it gives a gorgeous golden glow. It has a luminous glowing from within shine. It is really stunning on the cheekbones. The result is a crisp illuminating pigment which diffuses light and gives a warm glow. When used as an eyeshadow you can seriously layer on the product. I love that you can build as much golden intensity as you want to. When used with a good eyeshadow primer the luminizer can knock any golden eyeshadow out of the park! Things to note about this compact as well is that it is talc free, paraben free and cruelty free too. How can you not fall in love with this?!

As I have mentioned above, the Mary Lou Manizer is perfect for travel. I have travelled with this compact many times and used it has a highlight and eyeshadow in one. Above is one of my signature looks when I want to look glam but have minimal products available. For my travel glam look, I usually place my favourite bb cream all over my face and fill in my eyebrows with a pomade. I then warm up my crease by lightly dusting a blush and bronzer all over it. To add some glam I place the Mary Lou Manizer all over my lids with a eyeshadow brush. I really pack on the colour for an intense shimmery look. I then add liner and my favourite mascara. For my face, I dust some Mary Lou Manizer on my cheekbones and add some blush and bronzer. I also run the highlighter down the bridge of my nose and on top of my lipstick for a more defined glam look.

I am absolutely in love with this highlighter. It is such a great investment and will last you a really long time. I love finding products that I can travel with and that can be used for more than one purpose. Let me know below if you have used this highlighter. I now know why this is everyone's holy grail makeup product ;-)

Lots of Divalicious Kisses
Xxxx

 7 Deadly Sins of Beauty

Hi Gorgeous Divas!

 

I want to take a break from beauty reviews and do a fun makeup tag. I found this one on Youtube and thought it would be perfect to do it on my blog. Beauty products are very subjective, as what might work for you might be and look terrible on me. I remember back in high school my friend and I were playing with her mom's makeup one day after school. We found this really bold blue mascara and decided to try it and see if it will match our blue school uniforms. I will never forget that day. I looked like an absolute clown with that blue mascara on my eyes topped with a bright red blush on my cheeks. We both laughed so much at how crazy we looked. From that day on I vowed to never touch another blue mascara ever again. Lol, I definitely stuck to my promise. Blue mascara is an all time deadly sin for me. Do you have certain products that make you cringe when you think about wearing it? Please let me know below! ;-)
I hope you enjoy my answers to the 7 Deadly Sins of Beauty Tag. Here we go...

1. GREED: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?
My most inexpensive beauty product is a yellow eyeshadow by Essence. I paid R22($2) for it as it was on sale. It has really great pigmentation, so it was quite a bargain. My most expensive beauty item is my eyeshadow palette by Guerlain called Ecrin 6 Couleurs Tailored Harmonies. You can read my review here. This palette retails for about R1100 ($100). Super duper crazy expensive!

2. WRATH: What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product has been the hardest to get?
The product that I have a love hate relationship with and is the most hardest to get is my actual foundation shade. Foundations are usually too light or too dark for my complexion. I always have to mix foundations to get my perfect shade. That is why I have always used BB Creams as they oxidise to my skin tone throughout the day.

3. GLUTTONY: What are your most delicious beauty products?
What a strange question! I would have to say my EOS and macaron It's Skin lipbalms. They both smell good enough to eat. I adore my Too Faced Chocolate palette as well. Read my full review on it here. The palette smells exactly like chocolate and all the eyeshadows are named after decadent chocolate bars. Yum!!

4. SLOTH: What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?
In my skincare routine I used to always skip using toners. I would wash my face and apply cream afterwards. I could never find a toner that didn't burn my face or leave a residue. As I have gotten older, I realise how a good three step skin care routine is essential for healthy and glowing skin. I found a Korean toner that worked for my face and am using it religiously.I love using Clarins toners too, as they are very gentle on the skin.

5. PRIDE: What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?
This is a hard one to answer as I don't have one particular product. I have too many! Lol. I think mascara and lipstick gives me the most self confidence. I love accentuating my long lashes and full lips. If I have these two products on my face I feel that I am ready to take on the day.

6. LUST: What beauty product has the sexiest packaging?
It would definitely have to be The Balm Nude Dude palette. You can see my review here. It has six sexy naked men covered by eyeshadows in all the right places. Hell YES!!! ;-D

7. ENVY: What items would you most like to receive as a gift?
 I adore eyeshadow palettes and holiday makeup sets. Holiday gift sets always have the most fun and pretty packaging. I enjoy opening up pretty gifts and having fun goodies to play with.



Thank you for reading Beauties!
Much love.
Xxxx

 (The sexiest palette I ever owned!)

Hi Divas

I want us all to take a moment and admire the hotties you see before you in the photo below. This has to be the sexiest palette I have ever owned. What more could a girl ask for? Pretty vibrant eyeshadows along with gorgeous half naked men, yes please! ;-) I received this palette as a gift from a beauty blogger Tasneem. You can view her blog CityGirlVibe here. This sexy palette called Nude Dude is by the fun makeup brand The Balm. Their packaging is always very playful and cheeky. This is a spin off palette from the very popular Nude Tude palette. I must say I enjoy the Nude Dude palette so much more than the Nude Tude, not only for the cute guys, but for the warm and pigmented eyeshadows this palette has to offer. The palette comes in a rectangular cardboard box with a large mirror and a mini makeup dual end brush. There are 12 eyeshadows in the palette. Each handsome guy is covered by two eyeshadow pans at just the right places with fun eyeshadow names that probably describes the guys personality. My mom and I actually had fun choosing which guy my sister and I should go on a date with, Lol!!!

The eyeshadows are Fearless (matte skin tone shade), Fabulous (Shimmery yellow gold shade), Flawless (matte medium brown shade), Faithful (warm gold/bronze shade), Firm (satin golden brown shade), Fit (satin copper shade), Flirty (pink/plum shade with golden glitter undertones), Feisty (warm mauve matte shade), Friendly (deep purple shade with brown undertones), Funny (satin burgundy shade), Fierce (deep marshy green shade with specks of gold glitter) and finally Fine (chocolate brown with fine specks of gold shimmer). There are 3 definite matte shades which are Fearless, Flawless and Feisty, that are perfect to use as transition shades or all over the lid and in the crease. My favourite matte shade is Feisty as it is a beautiful mauve colour that really warms up the eye when used as a transition shade. There are 6 definite lid shades ranging from Fabulous (a bright yellow gold) to the darkest which is Fierce (a deep marshy green shade) perfect to create a smokey eye. The shades Friendly and Fine are the darkest in the palette and work best as crease eyeshadows.

This palette reminds me a lot of the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. The shades Faithful, Fit and Firm, match up with the shades Half Baked, Chopper and Snakebite from the Naked 2 palette. I love the shade range and versatility of the Nude Dude palette. You can create many glam looks as well as everyday neutral looks from one palette. My absolute favourite shade from this palette is Flirty. It is a pink eyeshadow with golden and plum undertones. It is so unique and I haven't seen this type of shade in a palette before. It would look amazing if used it for bridal makeup. I think the variety of gold, copper and pink shades make this palette a perfect option for wedding makeup. Whether you are a guest or part of the bridal entourage. This is a great palette to travel with too as it comes with a large mirror and a mini brush. The palette is not bulky at all and can be packed flat into the smallest travel bag.

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In the photo above I used Fearless all over my eye area up to my brow bone. I placed Feisty as my transition shade and deepened up my crease with the eyeshadow Friendly. I placed the yellow gold shade Fabulous all over my lid and on the inner corners of my eyes. I dusted Firm on my bottom lash line to warm it up. These eyeshadows are very vibrant, easy to blend and look amazing on the eyes. The only problem I have with this palette is that the pans are very small. It wouldn't take long to hit pan on the eyeshadows if you are using this palette everyday. Besides that I really love this palette and would recommend it to anyone who is found of the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette too. Plus who doesn't love looking at half naked men while doing your makeup?!




Hope you found this review helpful
Divalicious kisses
Xxxx