Which -Lou am I?

TheBalm highlighters are VERY popular and when they hit the Retailbox website, they sold like hot cakes. I seriously struggled to decide which one to get and asked myself, "Which -Lou am I?".

Luckily while I was undecided it was my birthday and two of my friends spoiled me to both Cindy-Lou Manizer and Mary-Lou Manizer (lucky me!). I haven't yet featured these on my blog and decided to start going through my makeup stash to share a few of my prized products.  Let's start with probably the most famous of the highlighters, Mary-Lou.

Mary-Lou is a honey coloured lumizer.  This highlighter is formulated to diffuse light so that your skin looks softer and younger.  It also adds a glow to your skin.  A very light pat of your highlighter brush is all that is needed. This stuff is so good at catching light and giving your face a warm glow.

Each of the Manizers is designed for a specific purpose.  Mary-Lou is a Luminizer while Cindy-Lou is a contour product - a traditional highlighter (if I can call it that).

Cindy-Lou is an all-in-one product. You can use it as a blush, highlighter or even as an eyeshadow. This is a pink highlighter that illuminates the skin and is perfect for those days when you need to brighten your complexion. I tend to reach for this when my skin is looking dull or just when my mood isn't at its best.  I find this to be uplifting and just puts some life back into my face.

Here is a side by side comparison of Mary-Lou and Cindy-Lou products, to help you decide which on you prefer - if you are purchasing these as highlighters.

Overall, I love these two products but I tend to use Cindy-Lou a bit more than Mary-Lou because I just prefer the pink hue. It is also nice to use as an eyeshadow and adding a touch to my cheeks just perks my skin up. Mary-Lou is the one I reach for when doing a brown smokey eye or when I go out in the evenings.  To me, Mary-Lou works better as a highlighter.  The one thing that I do find a bit difficult with these products, is blending it into the skin, because they are very powdery.  But as long as you are light handed, you are able to build up a natural look that you best like.

I don't own Betty-Lou but if you are wondering what it is, it is a bronzing product that adds warmth and highlight to your skin.  So the question of "Which -Lou am I?" is now easily answered, the Manizer range is a trio of products that can be used together to create a completely contoured look. However, you can use any of these as highlighters, depending on the look you like.

These highlighters are both available on the Retailbox website for R399. This is very reasonably priced for a highlighter that is this good quality.  I compared the RetailBox price with the Balm website, with the current exchange rate these retail for R415 in the US ($29).

Big Hugs,
Charlene XXX