Makeup dressed up as food? Beauty Bakerie clearly understand me. I’ll admit it. I have a slight weakness for quirky, gimmicky beauty, although it’s coupled with a good dose of cynicism after many purchases that were all looks and no substance. Beauty Bakerie, whose entire line of products centre around food based puns and packaging, had me on two counts – one for having a range of delectable sounding highlighters which are one of my beauty weaknesses and two – for dressing it up like a tub of ice cream. Oh and the brand are vegan and cruelty free for bonus points.
Beauty Bakerie landed on ASOS a few months ago and I was intrigued as I knew virtually zero about them so was thrilled to get the chance to review something and gives us both a heads up. As you can see, this is kind of adorable and also pretty generous, with a considerable 13g of product for around €36 (compared to the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors Pressed at 8.5g, and Hourglass at 10g). There are 5 shades in the range and all are loose with a shimmering finish that’s relatively strong and vibrant. We’re not talking Hourglass levels of subtlety here, these babies want to be seen. I’m not the best with strong highlighters even though I’m pretty addicted to them, but I’ve been diligently slapping this on my cheekbones and seeing how it fares.
While the outside packaging is all sorts of cute, it doesn’t feel that practical. I have to mention the fact that as this was sent to me to review, I didn’t know which shade I was getting and for the life of me, I couldn’t find the shade name anywhere on it. It took both me and my hubby about 20 minutes to figure out it’s written in very, very small writing underneath. Anyway, this is Frosted Illuminator. Also, the cardboard lid is hard to remove and there’s actually a guide on top telling you to tap the lid and remove it slowly to stop a ton of highlighter going everywhere. The first time I used it and took off the lid, there was highlighter all over the inside before I’d even pulled off the plastic cover sitting snugly over the sifter which was a little odd, but when I looked up some YouTube reviews, this seemed the same for everyone. The cardboard sifter inside is ok, it doesn’t let out enormous amounts of product but it still feels a little lightweight and can create a shitstorm of glittery goodness if you’re not careful.
The highlighter itself feels the smallest touch gritty due to the micro glitter but apart from that it’s pigmented and smooth and spreads very easily. You only need a small amount to get a lovely effect so this would last you a couple of years unless you’re consuming it like I do with regular icecream. I have to say, when I swatched this, I figured I’d hate it on but I was wrong. The finished effect looks summery and shimmery in a bronzed type of way but still manages to work with my skintone. From a few feet, it looks so beautiful on and gives a serious sheen, but up close you can see a lot of golden glitter. This may not bother you but I really dislike glittery highlighters for the most part as my skin is a pain in the ass to begin with and glitter generally doesn’t help matters. A little smidgen of micro glitter can be ignored but loads of glitter I can see easily drives me insane. Where you stand on glitter will be up to you but this meant I immediately moved it to night time only. And at night time, it is perfectly gorgeous and the glitter seems to disappear. You can use it all over the body and for summer holidays and tanned skin, this would rock. For a pale girl living in Ireland who wants a highlighter that’ll look natural in direct sunlight, it’s not the best choice for me. It’s so nice in photographs and at night time that I don’t want to give up on this, but it’s a frustrating little product.
All in all, it’s a very interesting introduction to a brand I’ve never tried before. Personally, I think the concept is cute as a button, the packaging needs upgrading, the price could do with being a bit cheaper and the highlighter itself is incredibly pretty on but has a big dose of glitter which drives me mad. Whether you’re cool with that is up to you.
If you’re low on glittery goodness, the Beauty Bakerie So Icy Highlighters are available from ASOS here
*This review contains samples but it also contains no b******t
So girls what do you think of this ice cream inspired baby?