I was really pleased with Gold Dust. It doesn't change your life, but it did make me sparkle, and that made me happy.

Gold Dust comes in a fist-sized plastic jar, with an eye-catching gold top. It includes a piece of plastic-backed faux leopard fur, intended to be used as a powder puff. The powder puff is pretty cheaply made, and I soon ditched it for a proper powder brush from my makeup kit. The brush did a much better job.

I had been worried a little about the scent of the Gold Dust. The description mentions that it is scented, but doesn't say what it smells like – and it's my experience that scents guaranteed to "drive your lover crazy for you" do no such thing. (All too often they drive us crazy, just not for each other!)

But the scent of Gold Dust was fine. I think the creators were aiming for Vanilla, but they missed and ended up closer to Sugar Cookie. The smell was pretty strong when I opened the jar, but it wasn't very powerful on me, and if I put it on and waited a few minutes before going to find my husband, he didn't even notice it. When we did notice it, neither of us found it especially erotic, but it wasn't unpleasant either. Personally I think they should have skipped the scent entirely, but since they didn't I'm glad it's pleasant and unobtrusive.

The shimmer itself was lovely! They picked a nice creamy gold color that I think would look pretty on almost any skin. It goes on smoothly and makes my skin look glamorous all over. It was easy to apply it very lightly, so that it created a light dusting that was hardly noticeable, or I could apply it a bit heavier and get nice shimmery skin all over. I don't think you could apply it so heavily that your skin looked metallic, so it's pretty foolproof.

I didn't notice any effect on my skin, but my skin isn't especially sensitive. The jar doesn't have a list of ingredients, which seems a little odd, though it does say the ingredients are all natural and include honey. (Honey can be a moisturizer, but I can't say I felt especially moisturized.) My hands didn't feel all dried out afterward, so that's good.

Naturally the shimmer transferred some to my husband, which made me glad the effect is pretty subtle – I could occasionally see traces of it, but it wouldn't have been a problem if we were in public.

Overall, I like this stuff. My husband is a serious amateur photographer, so I'd like to see how it looks on the camera at some point. I'll definitely be keeping it on hand for any time I just want to sparkle.

Like any body powder, this stuff can easily get everywhere, so think ahead and plan accordingly. Putting it on in the bathroom helps. I didn't really notice it sticking to my sheets, but I'm sure some of it did.