little white truths

I've been using this bronzer daily as part of Project Dent for the last two weeks, and I've been pleased to discover that I absolutely love it - so much so that I've given it an HG tag.

Yes it's expensive, but it works so well that I'm prepared to forgive that, and I absolutely recommend it. More on that below.

I really like the packaging of this product and I'm a huge fan of the white: it looks fancy and sleek, and there's something clean and modern about it too.

I also love the shape of the bronzer and how thin the compact is, and I'm pleased to say that you get a whopping 25g of product in here - so even though this product is expensive, you get 2.5 times the amount that you'd normally get in a bronzer, and while that would annoy me with eg a blush because I never finish those, I do finish bronzers so it's nice to have the extra product to play with.

There's the compact, direct sunlight:

And indirect sunlight:

Below are light and heavy swatches, direct sunlight:

Below I've done comparison swatches alongside some other popular bronzers, being Benefit's Hoola, theBalm's Bahama Mama and Kevyn Aucoin's Desert Nights.

Direct sunlight: 

 * L-R: MJ Tan-Tastic, Benefit Hoola, theBalm Bahama Mama and KA Desert Nights

Verdict

This is a fantastic bronzer and I really love it. Note that I bought it because I needed a neutral bronzer as a replacement for Benefit's Hoola, which doesn't blend properly unless I've really powdered my face down. Thankfully it's indeed a good replacement, and I plan to pan Hoola next year because I no longer need it in my collection.

It's a powder bronzer that's finely milled and silky smooth, although in texture it's a little hard and a touch dry, and I need to swirl my brush around quite a bit in order to pick up enough product.

It smells like coconut, but it's not a strong fragrance and I'm only aware of it if I hold the pan up to my nose. I personally prefer this because I'm not a fan of scented makeup, so if you're the same, rest assured that this doesn't smell anywhere near as strongly as other fragranced makeup I've tried.

What I love about this bronzer is that it applies and blends so effortlessly on the skin. This is important for me because I have dry skin and usually opt for tinted moisturisers that have a tacky finish, and while I always set my makeup a tiny bit, I don't want to add too much powder so my skin is always slightly tacky when I apply my bronzer - and that's when something like Benefit's Hoola falls down because it won't blend unless I've chalked myself completely. This product will blend over anything. Huzzah.

I love the neutral colour and it suits my light-medium to medium, yellow-based skin very well. Often neutral bronzers can look muddy on me, but this one doesn't. It's very similar to Hoola when applied (although they look more different in the pan), and on the skin I think Hoola is slightly darker and a touch more brown (Tan-Tastic looks more rosy when swatched beside it), although on my skin they're interchangeable.

The other thing I love about this bronzer is that it merges with the skin and doesn't look like powder so it's completely natural. It also has an airbrushing effect, and while it doesn't airbrush as well as my Hourglass powders do, it's still up there. I also like that it's not a flat matte so it has some life to it, and this helps it to look less like powder and more like skin.

Overall I'm obsessed with this bronzer and I've given it an HG tag. It generally meets its claims and it's one of the nicest matte formulas I've tried, and I'm so glad I bought it because it's not as warm as my other bronzers so it's filled a gap in my collection.

Love.