Guest Blogger Review of Laura Mercier Body Bronzing Makeup {Beauty Monday} {Beach in the City}

I am so happy to introduce you today to The Curator of the Makeup Museum blog. Please be sure to check out the Makeup Museum blog as it captures so well where makeup meets art and design. In the meantime, The Curator reviews Laura Mercier’s Body Bronzing Makeup, which sounds like a great product to keep your summer glow into fall.

While my primary interest is collecting and displaying beautifully designed makeup, I actually wear it every day. The fall collections are hitting counters now, but I’m still interested in getting my summer glow on. I have bronzer for the face covered pretty well (Benefit Hoola, Nars Laguna and Armani No. 1 are wonderfully natural looking for my pale skin) but I’m always in seach of new products to alleviate the pastiness of my legs and arms. Lately I had grown tired of self-tanner – the shaving and exfoliation beforehand, the slow, careful application to avoid streaks, and the wait for it to dry had become very tedious. I also wasn’t crazy about the smell. I decided to try to find a product that would leave me bronzy but without the time commitment and odor of self-tanner. Enter Laura Mercier’s brand new Body Bronzing Makeup, a body bronzer that’s applied like a moisturizer and easily washed off with soap and water.

This is truly an ingenious product. I can slap it on hastily without worrying about streaks and it dries instantly. When I first squeezed some out of the tube I thought the shimmer might be over the top, but once applied it gives a subtle sheen, not disco-ball glitter. The color itself is just what I was looking for. I didn’t want anything too dark for fear of it looking really artificial (or worse, orange) and this provides just a hint of natural color to my skin. The cherry on top is the heavenly coconut scent – Laura’s signature Almond Coconut.

If this product sounds awfully familiar to you, you may have tried LORAC’s TanTalizer body bronzer. I managed to find a sample packet of this and, given my love of pitting similar products against each other, felt the need to compare it to the LM. There really is no difference in color or texture. I tried one on each arm and they looked almost exactly the same. {See below, the top comparison picture is with flash, while the second one is in natural light}

I say “almost” because I noticed that the shimmer in the LM was just a smidge finer than LORAC. I also felt that the Laura Mercier stayed put just a little better. During my scrupulous bronzer testing phase I was chilly in my office and put a sweater on. After I took it off at the end of the day, the TanTalizer seemed to have rubbed off a bit whereas LM’s was pretty much intact. Another difference between these two products, obviously, is scent. LORAC’s has no discernible smell, at least to my nose, so if you’re sensitive to scent you may want to go with this. If, however, you’re in the mood for a tropical, slightly sweet coconutty aroma, definitely give the Laura Mercier a try. Finally, according to Sephora, Laura Mercier’s version is limited edition (not sure why you’d make a body bronzer LE – why, why?!) and is a bit pricier than LORAC ($38 for 5 oz. for LM vs. $30 for 5.7 oz for the LORAC). So if you’re watching your pennies and don’t want to fall in love with a limited edition product knowing that it won’t be available on a permanent basis, these may be other reasons you should go for TanTalizer. Personally, though, I’m willing to fork over the extra money for that delicious coconut scent!

You can learn more about the Curator and the Makeup Museum at the Makeup Museum blog.

Beach in the City is a seasonal feature about bringing the beach to the city even when you can’t take a vacation.

Product photo courtesy of Laura Mercier. All other pictures courtesy of the Makeup Museums.