Congratulations to those who have made it to the middle of the week. I have something super pretty for you today. Bobbi Brown recently released Brightening Bricks in six colors. Those are multi-purpose cheek and face products to use as a blusher, bronzer, highlighter or anything else you see fit. They are very different than Bobbi Brown Shimmering Bricks, the shimmer in those are understated but super pretty. Against all the odds, #2 Coral stole my heart, today it is all about it.
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| Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
The compact is made of a sturdy plastic and feels heavy and luxurious. Also thumbs up for the magnetic closure, which I think nowadays more luxury brands should embrace. I started finding click closure fitting more to low to mid price range products. There is no brush included in the compact, which doesn't bother me because I prefer having more space for the product instead of a brush I would never use. The compact has 0.23 OZ/6.6 g of product which is a generous amount compared to most of the blushes in the market.
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| Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
Although #2 is called Coral, there are very pretty neutral pinks in it. Once they are all swirled together, the resulting shade is more of a terracotta, orangy coral because of the mid-toned copper shade (#2) which is more pigmented than the other shades. If you swirl your brush on the top row, you can use these shades as a soft shimmery bronzer. Bottom row is more coral, less pink with a very sheer highlighter (#4) thrown in. #1 and #2 are most pigmented, #4 and #6 are most sheer. #4 has some shimmering particles which you can keep away easily if you want less of those. I usually use small cheek brushes and apply my blush with circular motion slowly building up. The pan is large enough so that my brushes can easily pick up individual shades but if you are used to larger brushes, you might end up touching 2-3 shades at once.
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| Close-up: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
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| Swatch of individual shades: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
Here is the resulting shade if you swirl your brush on all the shades. I believe this shade will be especially pretty after getting a bit of tan. At the moment I am very pale so while applying this, I went over it with one of the pink shade to make it matching more to my skin tone. The good thing about these blushes is that you can customize it by applying a bit more shimmer, a bit more pink by using a smaller cheek brush.
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| Swatch of all the shades together: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
While I was swatching Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral, I was very surprised with how pigmented shade #2 was. This shade is also not too pink so I decided to give it a go and apply it on my eyes. I added a touch of MAC Brun on the crease, highlighter and mascara. I have then swirled my brush across #1,#5 and #6 and applied it on my cheeks. I have also added a touch of #4 as a highlight as marked below.
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| In-action: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
Here is the breakdown of the other products I used for this look:
Complexion:
Clarins Teint Multi-Régénérant Foundation #108 Sand
Clarins Instant Concealer #02
Rouge Bunny Rouge Diaphonous
Eyes:
Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral, shade #2
MAC Brun (crease)
MAC Nylon (inner corner)
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil Demolition
Chanel Le Volume Mascara #10
Burberry Effortless Eye Brow Definer #2 Sepia
Cheeks:
Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral
Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder
Lips:
Tom Ford Lip Conditioner Bitter Sweet
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| FOTD: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
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| FOTD: Bobbi Brown Brightening Brick #2 Coral |
Final thoughts: I love the concept and the resulting product alike. Shimmering Bricks were lovely as highlighters but a bit too shimmery to use elsewhere. Brightening Bricks offer numerous possibilities of application and can be tuned for different occasions and lip colors. I am definitely going to check them out once they are on counters. I am eyeing Tawny or Pink.
Availability: Bobbi Brown Brightening Bricks are already released in most of the countries. The official release date in Germany is February but I haven't seen them in store nor online yet. They should be available any time now. I have also noticed only four shades (Pastel Peach and Tawny are missing) are released in North America but some countries get six.
What do you think about the concept or split pan blusher/highlighter?
Disclaimer: The product in this post is sent free of charge for my consideration.
I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and solely my own.
