Lord, have I gotten me a mountain of unused bronzers - and other products which promised to make me look wickedly sexy - over the years. Very few I have bought have been used more than once, for very good reasons. The majority make me look like a ridiculous, orange, human disco ball. Far from a sophisticated, San Tropez-going wench.

I recently bought this particular bronzer only because the NYX cream bronzer stick I have been trying to hunt down is nowhere to be found. I had intitially heard that this NYX bronzer is very much like *this* NARS product. If that's the case, thought I when I was in my right mind, why spend over $40 for NARS when I can get a similar product for only a few $$? Well, finding the NYX dupe turned out to be more difficult than I thought, so I finally went ahead and bought the NARS product. Dumb dumb dumb....we know that us women ALL have a drawer of products we regret buying, even years later.

I do regret buying this product, but not because it is the worst I have ever tried. This isn't by any means on my 'most hated bronzer list', but it sure isn't my favorite either. I like it for a couple of reasons, but I also DIS-like it for more reasons than that. Firstly, it doesn't streak on me or settle into my pores, making me look like I have glowing bronze blackheads. That I am thankful for. Secondly, it doesn't look orange on me, which I find Smashbox's bronzer wheel does, as do many other brands - from low-end to higher-end - and which I really hate. Next, I do admit, it can be used for multiple things, like the lips, cheeks, eyes, etc. Lastly, it's super easy to apply and to blend with just the finger tips, or to even nicely buff it out with a synthetic foundation brush, which really gives it a nice, soft, natural look. Bonus on that point. Streaky, bacon-strip-looking-bronzer just looks SO BAD, no matter who is wearing it or at what age. Youth does not justify nor erase ugly bacon-strips, however, it can make us oblivious to them on our own mugs.

The reasons I don't like this product? I personally find it a bit oily, and *that* coupled with the amount of shimmer in it magnifies my pores. I have really come to appreciate the *very* few good matte bronzers I have found, which TRULY leave a soft, healthy color to my skin without creating shine or that word I dislike so much - GLOW. Glow in my mind usually means a woman with a look akin to a shimmering oil-slick, complete with cavernous pores and like she has OD-d on a 20kg bag of radioactive carrots. 'Glow' isn't supposed to look like that, but it more often than not does because, in our desperation to regain some smidgen of youth, we end up slapping on far too many products which promise that elusive state our skin supposedly once had.

This NARS product does not even come close to any of the matte bronzers I love, although I do not find it to be orange on my skin tone. That's a plus. However, in the summer, when you're sweating buckets and have a lot of shine going on with your face already - and god forbid you also have oily/combo skin like mine - the last thing you want is to make your schlep look like a lighthouse in the distance. A natural, healthy tone, sure, but not the shine you'd get off a newly polished chrome bumper. It just looks nasty and greasy. YUCK. It was a hot day today and this bronzer made my entire face look GREASY due to the oil in my skin mixed with the shimmer in the bronzer. Holy war-of-the-blotting-tissues! Lastly, the price just irks the hell out of me. There are now so many great products on the market that are anywhere from dirt-cheap to mid-range in cost which perfrom SO well. So why would I keep this product, when I can spend $3 to $10 versus the $40 - which I stupidly did - just to get less than stellar results? For $40 , I expect a great deal more out of a product. I feel like I just chucked nearly half a hundred bucks in the toilet, really. I did! Not a good feeling at all :-(

Prestige products and cosmetics lines like this, IMO, are losing quite a bit of steam and attractiveness to women like me who are sick and tired of overpaying for just a name. NARS. And then? Yes, NARS does have some good products, and yes I admit I do own and love some of them - especially their packaging. I also admit I too am a sucker for their marketing and slick-looking, matte-black compacts - but this just isn't a product I can justify keeping. I'm taking it back for a refund tomorrow and will continue to use the bronzers I already own until I manage to hunt down that NYX cream bronzer stick. I can spend the money I save on the new bag or the spectacular new pair of shoes I saw today and am lusting over. Or both, as they are *both* are priced far lower than this over-hyped bronzer.