Battle of the Bronzers! NARS V's Barry M

In the run up to the big Barry M bloggers bash next week, I was very pleased to be asked by Barry M to try out their new bronzer - the Natural Dazzle compact. Barry M describe this product as comparable to NARS bronzer in laguna.

As a pale girl, I often steer clear of bronzer as anything with even a hint of an orange undertone gives me that scary overdone "try-hard" look, which is definately best avoided. I tend to use bronzer sparingly as a contour product rather than a full on all over hit of colour. I also wanted to give the product a thorough test before reviewing the product, and I've now been using this for around a week.

So here they are;

NARS Laguna bronzer on the left retails for £21 for 8g, while Barry M Natural Dazzle is a much more credit crunch friendly £9.50 for 12g. As you can see, the packaging is very similar in terms of size and style, a definate bonus in my book!


On the left we have NARS laguna, and on the right Barry M Natural Dazzle. As you can see there is a definate difference in undertone, with Barry M having a more plummy tone to it, whereas side by side, Laguna does seem to have a more golden, and dare I suggest orange-ish tone?

The products swatched side by side - Right=Laguna; Left=Barry M

I then did one side of may face with each bronzer so you can have a little look as to how they compare! Yes I did look rather eccentric sporting this look - the lengths I will go to for beauty lol!

Above we have the Barry M side. Below the NARS side...

I have to say I am very impressed with the Barry M product. Before doing this experiment I heard a lot of other bloggers and youtubers talking about laguna making them look "dirty" - and to be honest I now kinda see what they mean. The Barry M bronzer is really well pigmented and easy to blend, while the plummy undertone produces a natural sunkissed look.

I also love the fact that the Barry M product is matte - this makes it much easier to use as a contour shade, producing a natural glow which doesn't rely on shimmer. In comparison, I actually felt that the NARS bronzer looked slightly orange and dirty. This was a huge surprise to me as I have always been a fan of laguna...

I have also been using the bronzer through the week as a multipurpose product, as I don't really have a lot of time on some days to get ready for work. The high pigmentation in the Barry M product makes it perfect for using to create a neutral everyday smoky eye look, and as it is layered up, more of the plumminess comes through, which adds a nice dimension to the look.

All in all - Barry M Natural Dazzle gets two massive thumbs up from me!

What do you think?