I may be setting my foot into Clarins for their skin care line but Clarins do come out with impressive makeup line over the years. Clarins company in Malaysia used to carry both skin care line and makeup line until two years ago where the company decided to pull out their makeup line from every other normal counters and only a few high traffic counters is still selling the makeup line. However, these available counters will only be selling existing best selling products like foundations and lipsticks. The company doesn’t have the intention to bring in new shades, new collection or limited edition. It’s rather disappointing as this is the time I’m really into makeup. It’s even more disappointing when international Clarins releases super gorgeous limited edition piece such as this Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact. Well, it’s suppose to be limited edition but I still see this item for sale online. Mine is made in 2012 judging from the batch code and I only bought this a few months ago…in 2014! Not so limited edition after all 😛

The truth is, even if Clarins Malaysia is still bringing in new makeup collection, I doubt they will bring this Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact in. Let’s face it. We Malaysians are just not into bronzing or contouring the face. We lived in an Asian country that are into having the fairest skin of all, not the other way round. Being an Asian Chinese and being someone that is constantly catching up to the international trend (I do mean rebellious), I finally realized why Caucasians like to contour and warm up their complexion. The face structure indeed look more dimensional with chiseled cheekbones and jawline. I am totally hooked! You can read about how I contour my face at this link 😀

The Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact fits on my palm comfortably. I find that my fingers are able to grip onto the palette regardless the gigantic size. But then again, all bronzer palette is as gigantic as this. I bought this mainly for the prints on the bronzer so I wasn’t expected to see a beautiful inner embossed details underneath the amber plastic casing on the front. The downside of this plasticky packaging is that the surface is easily scratched. I must warn you that the top lid does feels a little bit flimsy although it closes down with a loud click.

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact is designed to set the tone for glowing summer skin with “three sheer, sun-drenched powders in one chic compact”. What you see on the outer pan is all in matte but the center part is slightly golden shimmery that aims to add some look of sunshine to the skin. Despite being perceived as shimmery, once I swirl the brush all over the bronzer, it goes on the face matte. I couldn’t even tell where did the shimmery gold went to. I believe it is there to balance out the bronzy shade.

The print of the bronzer is why I bought it at the first place. I thought it was some tribal ancient print or whatsoever but I was close. The embossed design is actually South American inspired motif. Just WOW. The print is not the only reason why I chose this bronzer. I have been reading a lot of review on this bronzer prior before purchasing. As I mainly used this to contour my cheekbones and hairline, I wouldn’t want to settle with something that gives me the muddy cast. The picture of this bronzer looked promising and not muddy at all. Even most reviews online said the same. I also like that it is made with two shades of brown instead of all brown. I would want the lighter brown to counter back to the darker brown. Okay, I made this sound so confusing. You know what I mean 😀

The challenge of taking these photos is the color. The actual color of the bronzer is not as light as what you see above. The one below is somewhat close to the actual bronzer. I had to tone the color darker. It’s not 100% accurate but close enough 😀

Now the swatch on the hand. I said earlier that I bought this because I want something that is brown enough to be used as contouring. Most bronzer leaves a muddy cast or some call it orangey. I have my fair share of buying the wrong bronzer as most of the bronzer I found here are way too orangey for me. This swatch below is also my first time seeing the color payoff in real. Before this I couldn’t bear to even swatch it. You have no idea how happy I am when I saw that the shade is indeed brown and not muddy looking. Let’s move to the scent. If you’re an avid Clarins user you will know by now that everything they produce smells heavenly. To me that is 😀 . This Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact is not exceptional either. It has a floral scent and I couldn’t stop sniffing the palette now as I’m typing this out.

Let me show you what contouring and warming up the complexion can do to your overall look. I have very high forehead thanks to my mum. Chinese believes that high forehead means good but I don’t like the broad space on my forehead. When I learnt about contouring, I didn’t contour my hairline most of the time because I’m afraid people would think I have dirty forehead. One day I decided to contour along the hairline as well and I never look back since then. This method doesn’t change the forehead size permanently but it deceive one’s eyesight tricking it into thinking that the forehead is smaller. The theory behind it is the same as wearing black to look slimmer. You darken the area to make it “look” smaller. Besides that, contouring the hairline also give a little bit of structure to my face.

Now what about the face? I no longer contour my jawline because I’m fair and I don’t have tan skin on my body so I ended up looking like I have a dirty jawline. That doesn’t look too good especially when I’m out in the sun and you can see my face clearly. What I like to do the most is still contouring the cheekbones. I don’t have slim face and this trick works especially if I have contouring on the hairline. Contouring gave my face a dimensional look, not slimmer but somehow my face does look more structured.

I realized that Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact shade is too muddy for me after using it for a good month. The shade goes on just like the swatch color but it turns to muddy looking a few hours after that and by the middle of the day, everything disappeared. To be honest, I like how the shade is for my hairline but not for my cheekbones. I need something deeper for the cheekbones. The fact that the bronzer on my face faded off completely just disappoint me further. Now what I can do is to apply more in the morning to prolong it’s longevity.

Contouring the face doesn’t mean you need to have just a good bronzer but also a good brush. I’ve tried many, fell off the “like” bandwagon and buy more brushes. My latest contour brush purchase for contouring is Zoeva 127 Luxe Sheer Cheek. This brush is meant for blush initially but it work just as good for contour. The softness of the bristle is able to give my cheekbones the contour line and at the same time disburse the contour out so that the line is not too harsh. It also contour my hairline perfectly. I really do have to give credit to the soft bristle for that.

I’m not sure how much this bronzer would cost initially as I got it for RM135 before RM30 shipping fee. I wouldn’t say it is expensive as every other bronzer is priced in such manner. This bronzer contain a good 20g of product. That amount is even more than a compact powder! So I say it’s a good product to have in the drawer.

Being an Asian, I am curious to know if you too are into contouring. I believe the culture is being pick up slowly as we speak. Would you spend that extra minute to perfect your face structure before dashing out the door?

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review. I bought the product on my own.