You Brighten Up My Face!

Face highlighters are great.  They can give you a more refreshed awake look, if you place it under your eyes.  It can also help with contouring areas like your nose to give it a smaller or thinner appearance.  I've been kind of experimenting with two highlighters this summer.  One is by Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and the other is by Bare Minerals.  Both brands I love.  I use a lot of Bobbi Brown's lip and eye collections.  As for Bare Minerals, I cannot live without their foundation and mineral veil.

I like what they both do for me just about the same.  It really comes down to convenience. Bare Minerals has a great highlighter called "Exquisite Radiance".  The name speaks for itself.  Its a very subtle and light mineral that you apply with a small contoured brush.  It goes on very smooth and gives you a nice bright eyed look when you put it under your eyes and works great with contouring your nose when you brush it down the middle (on the bridge of your nose). As you know, with minerals, it can get kinda messy in your makeup bag. Carrying it around in your purse might not be the right option. 

The really wonderful thing about the Bobbi Brown Highlighter is that it's a pen.  Well more like a thick marker.  It's very convenient to carry around in a tiny purse when you go out or to just throw into your gym bag or purse.  To use this, you merely click the bottom of the pen a couple of times until you start to see the highlighter creme in the brush.  You can either take the brush directly to your face or what I like to do is take my finger and swipe some off the brush.  Then I'll dab it under my eyes to brighten or I'll dab around the apple of my cheeks (after blush and bronzer of course) to give my cheek bones some definition.  You can also put it on your nose to create a contour.

They are similar in function but in a different price point from one another.   Bobbi Brown sells it on their site for $32.00 and in 3 colors Rose(I use), Opal and Bronze.  Bare Minerals "True All Over" Face color is what they use as a highlighter (they don't call it a highlighter but its use is basically similar). On the Bare Minerals site it's $19.00.  What I did was opt for the Bare Minerals Bare to Color Guide Warm.  I opted for this because I got more bang for my buck and I just LOVE Bare Minerals. This was $39.00 and came with the following:

• Prime Time^TBrightening Eyelid Primer (luminous golden sheen)
• Zany Eyecolor (soft tarnished gold) (size: small)
• Round the Clock Waterproof Eyeliner in 10 PM (burnished mocha)
• Exquisite Radiance All-Over Face Color (size: small) (This is what I use)
• Mini 100% Natural Lipgloss in Apricot Nectar
• Double-Ended Precision Eye & Cheek Brush (I use this to apply the radiance)

You can go either way, I happen to love both.  It all depends on the occasion.  

This is the wonderful double sided brush I use that comes with the Warm Collection Warm Collection

Bobbie Brown Highlighter Pen in Rose $32.00 Bobbi Brown

Bare Minerals Exquisite Radiance from the Bare Guide to Warm $39.00 Bare Minerals