IS IT A DUPE? THEBALM MARY-LOU MANIZER vs. HARD CANDY ‘TIKI’ vs. WET N’ WILD ‘RESERVE YOUR CABANA’

  You guys seem to really like the ‘Is It A Dupe?’ series, and today I’ve got a great one!

We’re going to put ‘theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer’ up against two different drugstore highlighters, and see if they’re dupes! Our contenders today are the ‘Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer in Tiki’ and the ‘Wet N Wild ColorIcon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana’.

 

 Mary-Lou is a staple in the collection of almost every beauty blogger/guru, and when I had some Kohl’s store credit around Christmas, I decided to take the plunge – and I’ve had both the ‘Hard Candy’ and ‘Wet N Wild’ products for some time now, so it just seemed fitting to put them up against each other for comparison!

Let’s get started!

THEBALM MARY-LOU MANIZER ($24 / thebalm.com) 

  

Meet Mary-Lou Manizer, a seemingly innocent honey-hued luminizer that catches everybody’s eye. This highlighter, shadow and shimmer diffuses light so your skin looks softer and younger while adding a subtle glow.

This is an absolutely beautiful product, and I love that it’s so versatile – a highlight, an eyeshadow – you know I love a product that can multitask!

First though, can we talk about the packaging? It’s your standard round compact with a mirror inside, and Mary-Lou’s super glam mugshot on the outside – I. DIE.

The formula itself is a super creamy pressed powder – a pale honey/gold shade with notable shimmer, flattering on fair skin tones, which is hard to find! This would be great on any skin tone if applied properly, but it’s difficult to find something so complimentary to my fellow ‘Snow White’ gals.

If I had one complaint with this product, it would be that if you look closely at your skin after applying it, you can see the teeny tiny micro glitter in it, which tends to sit on my skin and accentuate my pores – not enough for me to get rid of it, of course! But it’s there. But just take a look at how beautifully this swatches!

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HARD CANDY SO BAKED BRONZER in TIKI ($9 / Walmart)

  I’ve always said that this is not a bronzer – I don’t know where they get off calling it a bronzer, because even on my super pale skin, it’s clearly a highlight!

This comes in a white plastic compact with a clear top, and a silver stamping around the top of the lid, so you can see the product inside. Like most ‘baked’ products, this is a smooth, dome shape, and honestly, I was surprised at how smooth and creamy, let alone pigmented it was when I first swatched it.

It’s a nice pale but slightly warm golden shade, reminiscent of ‘Champagne Pop’ by BECCA cosmetics and Jaclyn Hill. It blends over the skin beautifully, builds well, and is just as versatile as Mary-Lou – I’ve used this to highlight, as well as a nice pale wash of shimmer on my lids for minimal makeup days where I just wanted to glow! Check out the swatch next to Mary-Lou.

Left: Mary-Lou Manizer – Right: Hard Candy Tiki

 

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WET N WILD COLOR ICON BRONZER in RESERVE YOUR CABANA ($4 / Walgreens)

  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I didn’t expect much from this product, and even at a whopping $4, I was hesitant to even bother trying it, but I’m glad I did!

This is yet another ‘bronzer’ that is very obviously a highlighter! C’mon drugstore brands, call a spade a spade, will ya!?! Either way, it’s packaged similarly to the ‘Tiki’ product in that it comes in a (very large, actually) round compact, with a clear plastic dome shaped lid, again allowing you to see the product inside. And there is a lot of product! For $4 this is an amazing value!

When you initially pick up the compact and just look at it, it looks like a chalky, light colored powder – “what part of this is ‘highlighting’?” one might think – but you guys….oh you guys…..when this hits the skin, it does something. Something gorgeous. While it’s the least shimmery (not necessarily a bad thing!) this is a great office or school appropriate, every day highlight – it’s not too over-the-top. But you can still tell that it’s there. It’s perhaps the lightest and coolest of all three products, but the effect it gives – it’s like you’re glowing from within; like you’ve been drinking your water and eating your fruits and veggies. You just look so healthy! Check it out next to the other two.

 

Left: Mary-Lou Manizer – Center: Hard Candy Tiki – Right: Wet N’ Wild Reserve Your Cabana

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So which one is the better dupe? I’m going to have to say…..Hard Candy So Baked Bronzer in Tiki!!

Oddly enough I’ve seen many claims that the ‘Wet N Wild’ product was the Mary-Lou dupe – but if you look at the three swatches together above, ‘Reserve Your Cabana’ is significantly lighter than the other two! They’re all beautiful, and I use all three on a regular basis, depending on how much highlight I’m really looking for that day – but I’m going to keep hunting to see what our ‘runner up’ (I hate the word ‘loser’) is actually a dupe for, so stay tuned for that!!

Have you guys used any of these? Which ones do you love? Leave me a comment below!

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LOTS OF LOVE!!