Nars Laguna illuminator & Becca Topaz-> bronze battles

A bit late to have a review/comparing battle in Autumn, I know. Still, I have readers around the world living in perinially summery countries, or living in the Southern hemisphere delightfully having their spring now, or just people like me who sometimes feel a bit too pasty...

So here it goes...I will size up two liquid bronzers: my Becca Topaz Shimmer Perfector SPF 25 and the NARS illuminator in Laguna.

NARS illuminator Laguna & Becca skin perfector Topaz

I bought them in the beginning of June this year. I was planning to go for Fraxel CO2 laser treatment for the first time. I also noticed that I wouldn't be allowed to have a tan or even a fake tan for 2 months, so I had to sample in some seriously good products that would avoid me getting 'are you ill?" remarks.

Eventually, my dermatologist disadvised me against Fraxel before summer. I wanted to explain to her that I shun the sun like a superpale redhead wearing floppy heads when needed and safeguarding my skin with Japanese skincare but she thought I would be better of doing in Autumn. That's a different story, but I still have my bronzers that come in handy when I don't want to fake-tan and I still look too ghosty for Dutch aesthetics in winter.

So Becca Topaz and NARS illuminator Laguna:

This time I am not going to say they look like twins. They don't even look related looking at the bottle. Becca is a bronze cooler shade whereas NARS has some orange tones.

This difference is even more noticable when looking at the blobs of product:

No doubt about the fact they differ when applied thickly or by blobs.

left: Becca Topaz - Right: NARS Laguna

Strangely, sometimes really different products have the tendency to go somewhat similar on the skin.

Haven't you noticed that before with some cosmetics products, e.g. BB creams or foundations?

In this case, these two liquid bronzers kind of have a similar effect on my skin, even though they look totally different on first sight.

When you spread them out a little, they already become this morphy bronze.

(sorry for this picture: I always find half-unblended bronzers look a bit dirty on the skin but I wanted to show you 1. the difference that starts to dissapear 2. ALWAYS blend blend blend your liquid bronzer)



left: Becca Topaz - Right: NARS Laguna

 And in totally blended form they look alike:

click on picture for better view of flecks/sparkles/hues

I intentionally skipped some skin underneath to show you I used liquid bronzer on my pasty skin.

Conclusion:

• They are convincing bronzers that look like real bronzy skin. Both NARS and Becca.
• Both NARS and Becca contain some flecks or sparkles. Becca is the least sparkly and most natural
• They are effective in faking a temporary bit of a tan that you can wash of when you want to, HOWEVER, both have some flecks that are noticable in stark sunlight, so they are not super-natural looking like a (fake) tan can do on itself
• Becca has SPF 25 in it, being a bit better against sun-rays
• NARS illuminator is created for body and skin, still they have similar coverage
• Amazing how two totally different shades look so similar in effect
• Becca has a pump-bottle and NARS a flip-open tube. I prefer Becca for it's pump bottle.
• Becca is more expensive but has more in the bottle as well.

Availability/Price:

Becca Topaz is available on the BECCA website <here>  for 50ml/1.7 fl oz $41.00.
NARS illuminator is widely available, eg on HQhair <here> 30 ml/ 1.0 fl oz  for £21.50 or KissandmakeupNY <here> for $29.00 or various Sephoras throughout the world (not the Netherlands, yet)