I went to my local CVS (forget Walgreens!) and found myself staring at a wall of Physician's Formula bronzers. (Excessive? I'd say so.) Settling on 1 bronzer was a difficult, confusing task. I'm not kidding.
You've got Cashmere Wear™ Ultra-Smoothing Bronzer, Magic Mosaic® Multi-Colored Custom Pressed Powder, Summer Eclipse® Bronzing & Shimmery Face Powder, Shimmer Strips Custom Bronzer, Blush & Eye Shadow, Powder Palette® Multi-Colored Face Powder, Powder Palette® Mineral Glow Pearls... the list goes on and on.
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| Told 'ya |
I ended up with Happy Booster™ Face Powder and Bronzer. (They got me with the promise of happiness!... not really.)
This bronzer promises to "promote a feeling of happiness by mimicking the effect of Endorphins and helping protect the skin from environmental stress." Um...ok. (I hope you don't really believe that.) It was priced $14.49 at CVS with a $3 coupon, coming to $11.49 - half the price of MAC.
I purchased the shade "bronzer". The color is nice - dark enough to get color with one sweep, but not too dark on my fair skin. This is the darkest shade offered in the Happy Booster line. I'm not sure that it will show up on darker skin. The application is smooth, not streaky and it blends well. It does have a slight sweet smell that I like, but others may find unpleasant.
It's not a perfect replacement for MAC bronzer though, it sits on top of your skin more than MAC, which may have to do with going from a mineralized powder to not. Also, I don't like the one pink heart. I don't see the point of adding pink to your bronzer - it's too small to use by itself as blush, but it's too big to ignore. I just sweep my brush around the whole palette and blend the pink in with the bronzer.
pro: the half moon brush that comes in most Physician Formula bronzers fits perfectly into a MAC blush. Handy to keep at your desk or in your bag for an unexpected makeup emergency situation. (i.e. after-work date, networking event, drinks with the girls, etc.)
