COMPARISON: Estée Lauder's Heat Wave vs Bronze Goddess

Surprise at the end... check it out ;)

Heat Wave (obscene amount of money on eBay)

This is my holy grail, I-will-love-it-forever highlight. I had my eyes on it for so long before I finally caved and bought it for a sickening amount of money on eBay. It comes in Estée Lauder's typical packaging for highlighters and blushes (which is a stunning gold case btw). 

It closes very securely and can sometimes be hard to open but at least you know that it won't pop open during travel! It's not a chunky formula but rather has very fine shimmer that can definitely be built up due to its intense pigmentation. When applied lightly it gives a beautiful glow and is super long lasting!

As you can see in the pictures below this powder catches a slight rose tone but that is not at all how it appears on skin. At the bottom of this post I'll have swatches and you'll be able to see how unapologetically gold it is. I don't see any slight rose tone when it is applied to skin. 

On a side note - that texture that you see on the bottom part is where I've been sticking my brush into!! I'm trying my best not to mess up the design so I've stuck to only that corner.

Bronze Goddess, Limited Edition ($40)

I'm going to review this individually and at the end I'll compare it to Heat Wave. This powder is very finely milled yet you don't get a lot of kick up when you place/swirl your brush. The tone is a gold leaning towards copper and even catches a slight pink hue in certain lighting. 

It is very pigmented and I am reminded of the ambient lighting powder in Incandescent Light every time I use this (with a brush or with my fingers). The powders feel very similar and both give a natural, healthy looking glow. Due to it's copper pull, I can see this powder darkening the skin tone of those with very light skin tones.

I personally am disappointed by this powder when compared to Heat Wave. Estée Lauder should have put a different design on this compact because it completely fooled everyone into thinking Heat Wave was being rereleased. Heat Wave is stunning and I think of it as an ultimate highlight (for my light-to-medium skin tone). 

When you compare the two powders Bronze Goddess simply falls short. If you want a natural, beautiful highlight then Bronze Goddess is an amazing option but if you are looking for a Heat Wave dupe then this is not the right product for you. 

Left: Bronze Goddess. Right: Heat Wave

BUT I think I may have found a dupe for Heat Wave.. Check out these swatches below. I just received my Nars Dual Intensity Blushes and of course I start swatching like crazy. I realized Jubilation has a very gold toned highlight on it's left pan so I decided to put it next to Heat Wave andddd.... I think it's a dupe!!! They are both very shimmer-y, gold toned and pigmented!!! I'm going to have to compare these on the face plus how long they last but I think it's a winner folks.