This is number 3 of 4 in the Summer Bronzer Series where I post a bonus review every week in the month of July! The links are in blue to Part 1 and Part 2.

Laura Mercier Bronze Color Infusion in 40 Riviera

There was a lot of buzz surrounding this product within the first few weeks of being released, but so many bronzers have launched since then that have maintained their hype for longer.

What appealed to me is the ability to use the sculpt side if I’m in the mood for something matte or the glow side if I want some luminosity. I go through phases of wanting both, so a product like this seemed brilliant. It can be a staple in someone’s collection, so long as the colors are a good match. For example, I cannot use the glow side by itself because the base color is light on me, in addition to the way light reflects off of it. I can still use it as a highlighter, plus mix both halves of the compact together to create a glowy bronzed look, but if I found no use for one of the two products, then it would be the same as using an individual bronzer anyway and lose its advantage over single bronzers. I hold this product in high regard, but neither half is impressive enough on their own to enter the top 30 of my ranking list, but the combination could.

There can be quite a bit of kickup, so I never swirl my brush in here. I use some of my smaller light-medium density brushes if I want to use each half separately, or the Sonia G Smooth Buffer to pick up product by tapping the brush into both sides.
In order to continue being able to use them separately or together, I try to reserve putting my brush into the top half of the pan for mixing, but sometimes I forget.

The matte side feels soft, is pigmented, and blends nicely (though I have some that are even more blendable). It becomes one with my foundation and can look quite natural.
The shimmer side is finely milled with very tiny shimmer specks that are subtle enough to remind me of my favorite set of Guerlain meteorites. Despite how refined it looks to my eye, when light shines on it, it emphasizes texture a little more than I prefer.
It’s like a subtler powder version of the Glossier Solar Paint, which I decluttered for the same reason. Both formulas have synthetic fluorphlogopite in common, which is an ingredient that can look stunning in products, but I think the brand used too much of it in here, especially coupled with mica too. Basically, the color is subtle, but the reflect can be intense.
Since my texture isn’t too bad on the top of my cheekbones, I still don’t mind using the glow side as highlighter. It’s just when I use both sides of Riviera as my bronzer that I feel it looks beautiful, but I also just try to ignore the fact that the bumps around my face are more pronounced.
The swatch section shows some of the shimmer particles in Riviera (Glow) compared to Fara Homidi’s Roma, which has a lumi-matte finish. Roma doesn’t draw the same kind of attention to texture on my face.

One other thing to note about the shimmer is that if one’s face is too dry, it has a harder time adhering. On minimal makeup days, when I’ve skipped foundation and my skincare was dry to the touch, the glow side that I used as highlighter would disappear in under two hours. So, I had to start either spraying my face to give it something to grip onto, or only using this product on days when I’m wearing foundation. Then I no longer had issues with longevity.
The matte side was long lasting in every situation.

Another customizable product released this year was the Givenchy Prisme Libre Bronzing and Sculpting Powder. In my review for it, I mentioned that time would tell whether I would embrace the customizing aspect or revert back to using my individual favorites. The reality is that I only used it about three more times after the review. That was a great product, and so is this, but I foresee myself also setting aside this bronzer in favor of my individual bronzer and highlighter holy grails.
I’ve come to realize that trios or other kinds of face palettes rarely get used by me for long. The only exception has been the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit palettes. Even my Sephora Collection Microsmooth Multi-Tasking Baked Face Palette that I used for a few years has taken a back seat to the Hourglass ones.
Since the Laura Mercier Color Infusion is a duo, there is still hope it won’t be wasted in my collection!

Before we end this, I do want to point out that I’m surprised this release hasn’t gotten more hype. Right now, people are still raving about the Fara Homidi bronzer in the shade Bois for being a fair skin person’s dream bronzer in terms of color. To me, this range from Laura Mercier doesn’t have standard colors. Riviera is listed as a neutral, but it’s a bit pink on me. The lighter shades, in order, are described as peachy bronze, rosy bronze, and caramel bronze. The darkest shade would be a blush on me because of how red it looks, but at least it’s something I haven’t seen before.

This bronzer is nice, but not a necessity for someone with a large bronzer collection already.

That’s all for today! Thanks for reading!

-Lili ❤