Clarins – Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact (Limited Edition)

UPDATE: I apologize for my MIA status, but being on a month-long holiday will bring out the lazy in the best of us! This beauty blogger seriously needed to recharge her batteries & spend some quality time with the family … but now I’m back! Ok…that’s out of the way, so let’s get down to business!

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As mentioned above, I have been away on holiday, but way before my departure, I began ~~struggling with~~ thinking of my “travel makeup essentials”. Experience has taught me that I usually bring way more cosmetics than I’ll ever need or even use, and that I’ll inevitably end up buying new stuff to bring home anyway, so this time around I decided to experiment with packing just the bare minimum. Another consideration, is the fact that I wasn’t planning on tanning my face at all, but still wanted the skin there to match the rest of my body: enter self tanner (see my previous review on Vitatanz here) and a bronzing powder to the rescue!

When I saw the first promos for the Clarins Summer 2013 Collection, my jaw dropped at the sight of the bronzer – the size of it! The gorgeous shade! THE PATTERN! Looking more like an artifact found at an ancient Mayan site than a cosmetic product, it was definitely love at first glance for me, and I knew that THIS beauty was going to be the star in my travel makeup kit.

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – ingredients list

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact (US $35.00 for 0.70 oz) – An ultra finely-milled bronzing powder in medium and slightly deeper tan hues, with a smaller shimmer core at the center, housed in an oversize compact of semi-transparent amber coloured acrylic – in direct light, the gorgeous pattern of the bronzing powder can be just glimpsed through the cover. The versatility of this powder is many-sided; applied with a fluffy brush and a light hand, and even those with the fairest skins can pull this off with ease. Using a denser brush and slightly more pressure, makes this the ideal shade for anyone with medium to slightly darker skin tones. Meant to be swirled together to produce a multi-dimensional tone, the powder itself applies relatively matte, although there is the finest sheen that can initially be seen at certain angles – not enough to stand out, but enough to add the most gorgeous glow to the skin. There is a gentle glimmery overspray seen prior to initial use and while that soon wears off, you still get that soft glow effect with continued use. By using a smaller headed brush, you can bypass the highlight segment entirely, but its effect is so naturally subtle, that there’s really no need to NOT include it.

Once applied and as the powder begins to meld with your skin’s natural oils, something beautiful happens: the colour seems to develop into a smooth tan shade and gives a totally realistic sun-kissed look — in other words, exactly the effect I was looking for. Lasting power was quite impressive as well, going way past the 10-hour mark on me, and only fully coming off when I would remove my makeup at the end of the day (and after marathon shopping expeditions!).

Then there’s the size of this compact: with such a wide diameter surface to work with, even your largest brush will be able to pick up an evenly distributed amount of product, all of which helps to make your application that much smoother and even-toned.

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – seen in natural sunlight

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – side view of raised detail

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – seen with flash

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – with flash, macro

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact – swatches shown left to right: highlight, bronzer & blended

Last word: I was right: this powder was indeed indispensable for me this past holiday, as I was able to maintain a seamless tanned look between face & body, as well as dialing up the intensity of the bronzer as my tan deepened. The fact that it lasted until I removed it, all while looking even better as time went on, was another huge (and totally unexpected) plus for me as well. Another major bonus was the price – I swear I thought the counter girl made a mistake when she told me that this bronzing work of art cost $35.00. The downside? There’s a couple – namely that this was a limited edition product (Clarins, if you’re reading this, make this permanent STAT) and for those with sensitivities, you should note that talc is the first ingredient (which probably accounts for its finely-milled texture and the seamless way it binds with your skin). Other than that, I can honestly say that this has to be one of the BEST bronzers I’ve ever worked with — and my arsenal is huge, so that’s saying something!

You may still be able to snag one of these at a Clarins counter near you – definitely worth hunting down and in my case, back-up worthy!