If the warm rays of summer sun are making you think you need to assess your makeup look for the change in seasons, you’re not alone. My neutral brown eye look is looking, well, rather tired and I think needs a shot of summer warmth to it. This range is perfectly timed, then. The Colours of Brazil Summer collection from Clarins draws inspiration from the world’s sexiest nation in a range of bronzers, shimmer oil, and fresh eye colours.
The range, pictured below in my garden against warm bricks and summer blooms, instantly warms the skin with natural-looking, sun-kissed colour.
Eyeshadow Palette $87
First up, a beautiful eye colour palette in warm Colours of Brazil Summer shades, with a pop of electric blue. What I like about this is the extremely wearable taupes and browns in the larger sizes and a pretty coral too. The bright blue is the new black this summer, so replace your black eyeliner with this bright blue and attract attention to your eyes. Makeup tip: Line the bottom lashline, rather than the top of your eyelid. The blue is a cream texture eyeshadow, and the four shades are wet to dry eyeshadow (ie more pigmented when applied wet.) My only comment would be I’d have liked the darkest shade to be a bit deeper as it’s pretty close to the other brown shade, but I can see how they’re trying to keep this light as it’s a summer collection.
Colours of Brazil Summer Bronzing Compact $67
This palette first strikes you with its terracotta lid through which you can see a South American pattern. Open opening the compact, you find the same pattern embossed on the bronzer powder itself – very cool. There are five shades to warm your complexion that will suit all skin tones. There’s a small square of gold powder (I’d have liked this to have been a bit bigger, but use a fine brush) that adds luminosity to the face on cheekbones and even eyelids.
Simply blend all shades together with your powder brush and get a beautifully sun-kissed look with shimmery lights. The powder contains Light-Optimizing Complex which is soft-focus pigments combined with pearls to minimize the look of lines on the skin.
THREAD PICK
My pick is the Clarins Shimmer Oil for face and body $61. It is a shimmering and nourishing body oil you can also use on the face, made up of a blend of fragrant essential oils of mandarin and grapefruit, ylang ylang and tonka bean scent the skin with sunny notes.
It does three things: it looks shimmery, it hydrates, and it is lightly scented.
It nourishes skin using hazelnut oil, and Vitamin E. Its first ingredient listed (ie the majority volume) is caprylic/capric triglyceride which Paula’s Choice website gives a Rating of Best; “Derived from coconut oil and glycerin. It is considered an excellent emollient and skin-repairing ingredient in cosmetics due to its mix of fatty acids that skin can utilize to repair its surface and resist moisture loss. Caprylic/capric triglyceride can also function as a thickener, but its chief job is to moisturize and replenish skin.”
Megan Robinson
7th December 2014
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