Nars Bronzer - Laguna

Yes I caved, I bought it.  As well as being an avid lipstick junkie, I am partial to a bit lots of bronzer. I have tried various high street bronzers by all different brands, but Nars Laguna Bronzer is the beauty community's most hyped bronzer, so naturally when ASOS decided to have 20% student discount before Christmas I couldn't say no. 

I don't know how to say this, but, here goes. Initially I was so disappointed with this particular shade and could not understand the hype. The bronzer generally is beautiful, it's Nars I didn't expect anything less to be honest. The texture is so lovely, so smooth and it blends amazingly on the skin to give a natural finish. Though there is shimmer that runs through the product in the pan, it doesn't transfer onto the skin.

Left: Laguna    Right: ELF Contour

The only reason for any disappointment is probably my own fault. Laguna bronzer is normally used as a contour shade and is the reason why I purchased it. For those of you that are not familiar with this term, contour is where a shadow is created in hollows of the face to scalp and shape the face to make it look thinner and define bone structure. I like a really dark, defined contour which I blend out, I found that Laguna did not give the full effect that I wanted. As the swatches show Laguna is so light compared to it's ELF 'dupe'. (Which is the bronzer I am currently using for my contour.)

I really love the quality though, definitely my favourite bronzer for longevity and finish. The packing is nice, sleek, black compact with a massive mirror which is handy. The outside can get a bit grubby after a while as any dirt or makeup does seem to attach itself to the rubber packaging. 

 I now use it all over my face and it warms up my complexion beautifully. I use this sometimes during the day as it is so easy to work with, but mainly in the evenings as I know it is one of those products that always looks good.  I do really like this and do appreciate that the quality that Nars Bronzers have is amazing. I still cannot quite fathom as to why this shade has become so big, because I don't believe that Laguna perfectly suits as many people as there is claiming that it does. I do definitely want to check out other shades, but I will go to a Nars counter before purchasing next time. Hopefully they will open a counter near me soon, not too close actually, I wont have any money left.