I got this 5 shade bronzer as part of the Beauty Snapshots kit at Shoppers Drug Mart just recently. The entire thing, including this product, a full-size lip gloss (nothing special), an eye liner in a very nice dark earthy-green shade (nice but nothing spectacular), a 5 full-size eye shadow palette (crap - see other review) and a tube of Photo Finish Targeted Pore & Line Primer (also crap) for $54 tax. It would have been a very good deal if I loved all the products. Or if I loved even 1. Unfortunately, I do not, which would include my disappointment with this bronzer. The eye liner is not bad, but I could get several for the $54 I shelled out for this box-job.

Firstly, I kind of expected this to be close in tone to Halo To Go in Medium, which I have been using for more than a year now and absolutely LOVE. I even tried them side by side in the store on the back of my hand under their fluorescent lights. Looked similar. Big mistake. Even with the 5 tones in it which look like they COULD be flattering to almost any skin tone, when I put it on at home, it still came off as far more orange in color, as opposed to bronze or even a contour shade. Not even peach. Orange! Very close in tone to a lot of the cheap, crappy bronzers you might find in Walmart, which I could have picked up for a couple of bucks.

Secondly, it's a little too shimmery, although not as bad as those big tubs of MAC bronzer which magnify EVERY pore in your face - a former purchase I seriously regret. NOT a good look. And due to the low quality pigments used, it is very easy to get a streaky bacon look. THAT little feature was not advertised on the box. Thanks Smashbox.....us gals really appreciate that. Wet n Wild has a nicer bronzer than this one. And it ain't no $54....

In addition, there is far FAR too much talc in this brand. Talc is a cheap filler that is comedogenic and can cause pores to become plugged, leading to acne. For the life of me I cannot think of anybody who hopes to break out in acne when they purchase a new cosmetic product. Women are funny that way, yes? As a result, I started to notice my skin becoming bumpy in my cheek area after trying to use this for a couple of days. I tried and tried, mixing it with different light shades to get this sucker to work. It was a no-go. Between the bumps and the orange color, I decided this was definitely not for me.

Anyhoooo.....I'd give this one a big fat miss for all of the reasons above. I will be taking the entire kit back as I will get very little to no use out of any of the products in it, including the bronzer. I expected so much more after the love affair I've got going with Halo To Go, which is beautiful, natural and gorgeous. I'd rather have some NARS or Urban Decay products than this.

Lastly, a big thank you to my husband for putting his photographic skills to use. I'm married to the best guy in the world, although he still cannot understand my obsession with cosmetics haha :-)