Physician's Formula Butter Palette: Review and Swatches

Hello!!

I have a lot of thoughts about the new Butter Palette from Physician's Formula. What prompted me initially was the idea of having high quality face products in my collection that also came with a fragrance, all for less than the price of one of these full size individual products. At Walmart one can purchase this for $12, but because my Walmart always seems behind with these releases, I bought it off the PF website for $14.50. Not in love with that price difference, but whatever. I was excited.

So how did I fare with this palette?

1.) Fragrance: I enjoy the coconut smell of this- it's not as creamy and sweet as my Lavanilla Vanilla Coconut Rollerball. But scent wise I think it is very similar to the scent of the Sol De Janiero Bum Bu cream product, just not as intense.  I like it.

2.) The palette itself:

• Bronzer (light/medium): To be honest, this does not smell the same as my previous full size of the Butter Bronzer. Not only that, the powder itself seems a lot more stiff and I am not getting a whole lot of color pay off with this.
• Natural Glow Blush. This is basically a highlighter-blush. It's pigmented enough, and can be used for a more subtle, easy glow.
• Full Moon. This one is the winner for me, and makes everything worth it. I have never tried their butter highlighter formula before, but I was shocked when I touched this. It's creamy, but does not crumble when I press my finger lightly on top. This is a really elegant golden sheen. I thought the highlighter from BH Cosmetic's Zodiac Palette would be a color dupe, but while they are similar they are not the same. (I like the Butter Palette one better)
• Galactic: As pretty as this one is, it is pure glitter on your face. It is a striking look, and can be pretty, but I want to use this on my eye lids as a glossy look and see what happens. I don't know how much use I'd get with it on my face. 

Can you depot?

Yes, with a depotting spatula. I already depotted the blush quite easily, but I am keeping it with the palette. 

So, let's do pros and cons, excluding the fair price of it.

Pros:

1-Limited edition highlighter shade in Full Moon is gorgeous. It glides on the skin and stays there, and does not emphasize texture. 

2- Fragrance is nice and is sure to appeal to many different preferences. 

3- If you are careful, you can depot. 

Cons:

1- This is not the same Butter Bronzer. If you buy this hoping to try the formulation of the BB, prepared to be disappointed. 

2-The blush is not really a blush, but a third highlighter shade

3- packaging is bulky

4- Galactic is highly shimmery, and I feel I could only use it on special occasions

5-packaging of cream products (open palette, no lid) might speed up drying them out.

Overall, I think this was a fun release, and though I don't agree with everything PF decided to do with it, I will happily use it this summer. 

On to the pics:

BH Zodiac Highlight (l), PF Full Moon (r)

Galactic (far right)

Battle of the (Budget) Bronzers

Hi all! As I continuously evaluate my collection and assess and re-assess all the products within it, I decided to break down the three bronzers I have. Two are "cult status" bronzers, and one I found quite by accident.

Though the title of this post is Battle of the Bronzers, I am not going to rank them, but rather explain the pros and cons of each.

First, lets look at some pictures. I will warn you ahead of time that the Butter Bronzer is not as aesthetically pleasing as it once was...

In both pictures the order of bronzers are: Shiseido Oil Free Bronzer in Light ($10), Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer in light ($14), and NYC 10 Hour Bronzer in Sunny  ($5).

Let's begin!

The bronzer by Shiseido was the one I bought from Amazon, at a steeply discounted price. On me, it leans a little red, and is of a far more stiff and pigmented formula than the Butter Bronzer. That being said, I think it does provide a more realistic looking "sunkissed' effect on my skin than the Butter Bronzer. Its formula also makes it quite long-lasting. It seems to have a slightly luminous finish.

Moving on, I can see why Butter Bronzer is cult-status. It is a pleasure to apply to the face. The major drawbacks is the bulkiness of the packaging, and the fragility of the formula. You cannot travel with this. My picture above displays a depotted Butter Bronzer (in the compact case for Mary Loumanizer), clearly damaged. Like the Shiseido bronzer, I find that it has a slightly luminous finish, but it gives a soft wash of color that makes application fool-proof. I don't want to like BB as much as a I do.

Last is the NYC bronzer in Sunny. This bronzer is formulated with kaolin, and to me that is quite evident due to the smell of the product. Not to say that it is a bad smell, but my first association is chalk. That being said, the product does not have a chalky application. It's color is closer to the Shiseido bronzer, but more matte, and easier to apply because it is not as pigmented.

All three bronzers are enjoyable to use/useful in their own way. I just bought the NYC bronzer, so I still have to continue testing it out. The packaging claims that it lasts 10 hours on the skin, so that is something I will try to pay attention to as I wear it throughout the day!