I wonder if Marc Jacobs has ever opened a coconut… He likes coconuts, obviously, because there’s a bunch of new products in his makeup line that are coconut inspired and have coconut water in them, but has homeboy actually ever opened a coconut? I hope he has! And I hope you have at least once, because it’s weirdly empowering. Girl, we’ll get to Marc’s new coconut bronzer and highlighter in a second, but let me just tell you that I opened a coconut this morning for the very first time — used a hammer to lay the beat down on that husk! — and when that bad boy finally cracked open, I was like, “YES! I opened a coconut, motherf*ckers! I CAN DO ANYTHING.”
It felt really good. LOL! Anyway, just your daily fruit diversion. 🙂
Marc’s got some new coco-nutty products, and they’re all about tans, glowing and summer skin.
O!Mega Bronzer Coconut Perfect Tan
The new bronzer is kind of ridic because of the price — $49!! I know. Think of it this way, though: at least it’s cheaper than Tom Ford’s.
It’s called the O!Mega Bronzer Coconut Perfect Tan because it smells like coconuts (it’s not overwhelming or faux-sweet), but looking at the ingredient list, it doesn’t appear to have coconut in it.
Hmm…
I’ve never tried the original O!MegaBronzer in Marc’s permanent line, but I’ve read that this new one is supposed to have the same formula. It’s LE and has different packaging (crisp summer white!). It also has a different undertone, which is less warm and more neutral than the bronzer in Marc’s permanent collection.
So many bronzing powders claim to be neutral but lean cool and taupe, and when they’re on my warm-toned skin, something about them doesn’t look right. Ya know? They look muddy and kinda dirty, like I accidentally swiped the wrong shade of foundation on my cheek and left it there.
But this one is truly neutral. It’s supposed to be universally flattering on warm and cool skin. Unusually, and I mean that in a good way, it has absolutely no orange, gold or taupe tones in it. The color is a spot-on match for tanned skin.
It blew me away the first time I wore it. As I eased out the edges with the new bronzing brush (we’ll get to that in a moment), my skin looked progressively better and better until it looked like I’d just gotten back from a day at the beach
I’ve heard through the grapevine that this has already sold out a few times on the Sephora website and can be tough to find, and I can see the reason behind the hype. It perfectly mimics the color of sun-kissed skin. On top of that, the powder grains are almost imperceptible.
That said, Marc and I’ll have to agree to disagree about the whole universally flattering thing…because if I were at my end-of-summer deep bronze goddess lusciousness tan, this would be way too light for me to do any real bronzing. So, if you’re a deeper shade of brown than I am, swatch it first if you can.
Leave it to me to go off on a bronzer tangent for 10 minutes, my goodness. But damn, it’s so good!
The Bronze Bronzer Brush No. 12
OK, focus, Karen. There’s also a limited edition bronzing brush in this collection with a white handle to match the white bronzer’s packaging. It’s $78…which is, again, crazy ridic.
Do you need it? Um…well, probably not, but I will say this for it: even though the price is a complete turnoff for me, the brush feels weighty and sturdy in my hand, and the size of the brush head is perfect for me. When I lay the base of the brush head just beneath my cheek bones, the tip of the bristles (which are synthetic, by the way) hit the top of the apple of my cheek, so it places the bronzer exactly where I like it to go.
This mofo… It’s beyond precise. I mean, it’s also obnoxiously expensive, and I don’t want to like it, but I kind of do. I also know that I could use it every day.
If you want it, you gotta go to Sephora, though, because they’re the only place that carries it.
Dew Drops Coconut Gel Highlighter in Dew You
The $44 golden peach liquid highlighter, which has coconut water for moisture, is also new, and it’s now part of the permanent collection. It’s super shimmery when it comes out of the pump so it looks kind of scary… I was frightened by it at first.
But the more I work it into my skin, either under or on top of foundation (you can also mix it into foundation), the more the pearl effect softens, so IMHO it just looks better and better as you go.
It’s a very specific kind of highlight — shiny and glowing but not shimmery, glittery or frosty — so as far as highlighters go, it’s less flashy and more natural-looking, which is my favorite kind of highlight.
If you want, you can crank up the shine by patting more of it on, because it also layers well (but resist the urge to apply too much, because it’ll make any dry spots on your skin look drier).
Re(cover) Perfecting Coconut Setting Mist
The $39 Re(cover) Perfecting Coconut Setting Mist is another coconut-related item that’s been in the Marc Jacobs line for a while, but I just got around to trying it meow.
I think it smells good, like coconuts, but I don’t see a difference in the longevity of my makeup when I use it. I’d probably skip it.
Under(cover) Perfecting Coconut Face Primer
I’d also skip the coconut face primer, too. I use primer to blur my pores and lock down my makeup, and this doesn’t seem to do either for me.
It behaves more like a makeup-prepping light moisturizer, if you’re looking for something like that, but if you want more of a hardcore face primer, holla at me in the comments. Tell me your skin type, and I’ll give you a few recs.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I love this collection by Marc Jacobs! I’ve been using all of it and enjoying every single product. I didn’t purchase the brush but remember it was so soft and impressively big! Tan Tastic works well on my skin, way better than the regular Omega Bronzer which wasn’t as golden toned. Thanks for the review, I can add a link to my views on the line too, in case you’re interested :).
Glad you’re into the bronzer! It’s amazing.
Gurl you make sound like a caveman, when we open coconuts we use a machate and a rock to open them, it sounds less modern than with a hammer.
I don’t understand why brands keep saying a base product can be universally flattering. Come on, I can’t use some stuff just because of the undertone and don’t get me started about products for brown or black people.
Moving forward,I have two doubts:
-If my skin breaks out awfully with coconut oil, do you think coconut water can also make my skin crazy?
-About primer recs, I have combination skin, that is really dry around my mouth and my T-zone gets easily shiny. I know I probably should use two different products but in fact my main problem is the longevity of the products I put over my face like foundation or blush.
Haha! The closest thing I have to a machete is this sword that my husband keeps underneath the bed. LOL! I couldn’t make this sh*t up. It’s from his martial arts days and he keeps it there just in case we have unexpected intruders.
I GOT THAT COCONUT OPEN THOUGH!!!
Also, not sure about the coconut water. If you’re unsure, do a patch test on a small section first. I would assume that coconut water would be OK, since it isn’t oil (I’ve read that a lot of people react to coconut oil).
Do you have access to Smashbox? Their Photofinish series does well with oily skin, dry and combo skin. Only thing is they’re silicone primers. Not sure if your skin likes the ‘cones?
My dad has a big adjustable wrench in the car just because of “safety” and we also have two machetes in case of intruders, so you aren’t the only one.
I’ll patch test when I find a product with coconut water. And yes I have access to Smashbox but jury is still out about silicones making me breaking out; I think it’s probably a yes but I don’t know because I can wear foundations with them without problem but some primers have make my skin breakout immediately and somes don’t so maybe my problem is an specific type of ‘cone.
Hi, just thought to quickly join in and say… It’s so shocking to me how many face products (of any class, really – serums, creams etc) contain coconut oil, or some derivative of it (as far as I know, even ingredients with ‘capryl’ in them are actually coconut-based, e.g., caprylic acid…). It really makes me wonder why brands do this, seems to make no sense since people quite commonly break out from coconut oil. :/
As for the silicones, I also am…reasonably sure they were messing up my skin. They apparently form an ‘occlusive’ layer over the skin, which acts as some kind of barrier. And no wonder… This is why they work as a primer – they smooth/fill the nooks and crannies on the surface of your skin, and foundation goes on more smoothly (and very few primers are *not* silicone based – or foundations, for that matter). Some argue this barrier actually helps protect skin, other say to the contrary, it just traps bacteria, sweat, sebum and dead skin cells inside the pores – leading to breakouts. Since I have been religiously avoiding silicones for a few months, my skin definitely looks better than usual. Hard to say the silicones were definitely the cause, but also not tempted at all to go back to using them. Dunno, maybe that wasn’t exactly news, but hopefully something in there was helpful!
Gawd. What an essay. 😛
An insightful essay! 🙂
Oh my god I just spit out my water, hahaha. “Yes! I opened up a coconut mother**ckers, I can do anything!” I love this 🙂
I concur!!!! I went directly to the comment section because of this – I adore you Karen!!! I never know what is going to come out of you — and this is exactly why I love your blog! Of course there’s the totally honest reviews…. it all sums up to: YOU TOTALLY ROCK Karen!!!! : )
Keep on keepin on!!
Gina and Gracie!!!!
I absolutely am so glad I found you on Bloglovin! Totally love your feed and Coconuts! Haha
Oh my goodness, I love anything coconut scented! And the Dew Drops highlighter is so pretty!
Hi Karen! First of all, I love your blog. Can you please recommend any good silicone-free bb creams or similar with SPF ? I’ve been using Bare Minerals BB primer and though I love the way it looks I think it might be causing blackheads :-/
Hi Martyna,
I’ve read that the Physicians Formula Organic Wear BB Cream is a good silicone-free bb cream choice. Hopefully you’ll be able to find a shade that works with your skin because the shade selection is limited.
You guys ever tried the Inika Certified Organic BB Cream? It’s full of goodies in terms of ingredients. I quite like it. Not sure about exact SPF tho, but it does contain some titanium dioxide, which filters sunlight.
Thanks a lot Karen, I’ll give it a try! :))
I never opened a oconut, but don’t you need a sowrd or something like that? So it is dut in half and the water is not going anywhere? Or am I missing a trick?
I’d love a non-silicone primer rec for combo skin!
Hey there. Me too actually! The only one I know about is L’Or from Guerlain, which as far as I can remember, was super light and water-based. Not sure if this primer is targeted for combination, but rather for dry skin… Been struggling to find anything else…!
Hi Amy and LK!
The non-silicone primers I tried and liked at BECCA Ever Matte and Too Faced Hangover.
I’ve also been wanting to try this spray by Skindinavia but haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’s supposed to be great!
http://skindinavia.com/products/the-makeup-primer-spray.html
Hmm, started googling these primers, I didn’t know them! The Skindinavia one would worry me a little – the very second ingredient is alcohol, so it might be too drying for me to risk it… The Too faced one actually sounds pretty good! Tho that too has some coconut stuff in it here and there – so depends if people tolerate it? I’d probably avoid this one too I guess. Picky me, tsk tsk. The Becca one, however, might work out – gonna watch out for it next time I am in need of a primer. Thanks, Karen! 🙂
Thanks Karen! Happy Friday (oops that’s tomorrow, but not for long right?!).
desperately waiting on my Sephora shipment for this bronzer. I saw this on another blog on Monday, and she’s pale like me, and I fell in love. gawd – $50, but my old bronzer is looking muddy and orange (its v old) so i neeeeeeed this!
I just ordered the bronzer yesterday from the app because I heard it was back in stock. I tired a sample of the setting mist but hated it because it left my face feeling sticky.
For primers, I prefer Benefit Porefessional or one of the Too Faced primers (except eye primer and that’s Nars all the way). 🙂
I like the bronzer. I tried the primer and was not impressed at all.