Review: Flower Cosmetics Blush and Bronzer Duo

Flower Beauty Blush/Bronzer Duo in Gloriously Golden

This compact was the most expensive item I picked up early this week from the Flower Beauty collection by Drew Barrymore, ringing in at $9.98. The color I have is Gloriously Golden. The closest thing I have to this duo in my collection is the Elf Blush/Bronzer Duo.  The Elf duo is very cheap at $3.  I love the bronzer in it, because it is light but very buildable, so I can use it all over for a quick layer of color or I can target it to specific areas for contouring.  The blush in that duo is a disappointment though.  It's very shimmery and very light and doesn't show up on my skin tone at all (I'm around an NC30 in MAC cosmetics for reference).

I picked this up based on a review from that I saw from Emily of Beauty Broadcast where she compared the blush to Wet and Wild blushes.  I love Wet n Wild blushes.  They are super pigmented and super wearable.  Heather Silk has been a staple of mine since I started wearing makeup.  So I was really excited to give this blush a try.

What I look for: 1) pigmentation, 2) blendability, 3) wearability. I went with one of the lighter colored duos because I wanted a bronzer that I could hopefully use for an all over wash of color right now with my paler winter skin, but I also want to be able to build it up to be a contour color for the hollows of my cheeks and around my forehead.  I also don't have a light pink blush like this one, as I tend to gravitate toward darker shades, so I thought this would be a fun duo to try.

Packaging

The packaging is shaped like a flower and has some cute rose gold detailing. Sadly, the thing that I find is most missing from the packaging is a mirror.  I don't normally take blush and bronzer with me in a purse, but if you do, you'll need a separate mirror.  The lid closes with magnets and feels very secure while not being really hard to open (I'm looking at you, Revlon Nearly Naked Pressed Powder!).  This packaging won't mess up your nails trying to get it open.  

Color Selection
There are 4 duos available: Beachy Keen, Gloriously Golden (the one I'm reviewing), Shimmering Goddess (check out emilynoel83's review of that one on youtube; importantly she notes that despite the name, these colors don't have shimmer), and Sunkissed & Single.  This one is the second lightest toned duo available.  I think that from what I saw in the store, there's something for every skin tone.  Really solid color selection for only having 4 duos.

Look and Feel
The colors are shimmer free, which is important to me.  They felt very buttery soft when I used a finger to swatch them.  I've even used the bronzer as an eyeshadow crease color because it's soft enough to be blendable in that small space of the crease.  When you use a brush in the product, you will get a little bit of flaking in the pan, and you'll pick up some excess that needs to be tapped off.  But the flaking is certainly not to the point where you'll be making a mess in the compact.

The blush is a classic pink.  This is Barbie's blush color.  The brown is a warm sable.  From looking at pictures online and having swatched it in stores, it definitely reminds me of Nars Laguna, but I don't own that bronzer so I can't directly compare them.

Swatches
The lighting was terrible on the day I swatched these! It was super cloudy all day, so you'll have to take my word for it that the swatches looked better in person. First I dragged my fingers down the blush and bronzer once.  Then, I rubbed that finger sample on my hand.  I had to switch hands, so yes, that's my left hand in both pictures. I forgot that I needed a clean hand to hold the camera with and I'm right handed..so there's no funny business going on, just me forgetting that I'm right handed!

Application
Light hand, light hand, light hand! I have two blush brushes, one with more dense bristles than the other.  Generally I prefer to use the one with more dense bristles because it picks up more product.  But with this blush, I use the less dense brush and only tap it in the blush once and tap off the excess. Yeah, it's that pigmented.  You really need to be careful, especially if you picked up one of the duos with a darker blush and bronzer.  But the blush blends out very well.  I find that with a light hand and good blending, I get a very natural pink glow that looks like I just came in from a chilly walk.

The bronzer is much the same, although on my skin tone I'm not as careful with this bronzer. It's a bit light for me but it is buildable.  I'm definitely going to pick up a darker duo. I love that it is truly matte.  It's so hard to get a pigmented bronzer without shimmer at the drugstore. But this one is!  Try it, I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

Staying Power
I've worn both the blush and bronzer everyday since I picked them up and I've never had an issue with fading or oxidizing on the skin.  These will stay true to color until you take them off at the end of the day.

Bottom Line

I think it's pretty obvious!  I'll be buying more.  I love the pigment, blendability, and matte finish.  At $10 for the duo, you're getting a lot of product, basically a full sized blush and bronzer for $5 each.  I would put these up against high end blushes and bronzers for sure.

Be sure to check out my review of the Flower Beauty Lip Butters! And don't forget to follow me on Twitter so that you know the minute I post my Flower Nail Polish review!