Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette

 Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette - $58.00US / $67.00 CDN

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette was a limited edition palette back last year containing three hourglass lighting powders.  You can now find this palette with no problem at your nearest Sephora as it is considered part of their permanent collection.  Hourglass also has these powders (with the exception of incandescent light) in single form that come in seven different colors.   

While two of these lighting powders are part of their permanent collection, one is a limited edition shade that can only be found in this palette.  The three beautiful shades that you will find in this palette (from left to right) are  Dim Light (neutral beige toned color), Incandescent Light (a slightly shimmery pinkish beige color) and Radiant Light (slightly shimmery golden beige color). 

These powders come in a beautiful shiny dark brown case.  Because these lighting powders come in a palette, you will not find these powders to be of the normal single standard lighting powder size.  Nonetheless, I have no complaints about the size because there is more then enough powder to be found with each color.  

Since these powders are so finely milled, its best to exercise caution when handling this palette.  Many people have stated that they have accidentally dropped this palette and have had it shattered to a million pieces.  Hourglass even makes note at the back at the palette the word "fragile".  So for traveling purposes, make sure to secure these properly in your suitcase to avoid any damage.  These are quite expensive so putting these in your everyday purse is a no no as well due to the risk of you dropping your handbag.

All three powders leaving behind a beautiful, natural and candle light sheen when applied. Even though some have a slight bit of shimmer in them, its not enough to make you look like a disco ball. They leave more of a sophisticated looked on your face which means it can be worn either day or night. Since they are finely milled, you don't need to be too heavy handed to pick up color. These powders not only work as highlighters for your face but you can also use them as overall setting powder. You can get at least 8-9 hours of wear with these lighting powders and probably more if worn with face primer. These lighting powders had very little to no fallout and applied very smoothly and blended well on the skin.

One thing to keep in mind about these lighting powders is that they are not universal and do not flatter all skin tones. Those who are of a darker complexion may not have some of these colors appear on their skin. Its best to buy these in person and swatch them on your skin in other to see if they work with your skin tone. Others have also mentioned that those with to light of a complexion; the lighting powders may standout to much and not look natural. So again, check these out in person. They are very expensive and worth buying if they can blend well on your skin.

Now let's talk about the colors. These shades are very beautiful and Hourglass did a great job incorporating these three into one palette. Dim Light (the left shade) is a beautiful neutral beige tone color with no shimmer sparkle at all. This one can be used with no problem all over the face as a setting powder. It blends in well and if used as a highlighter you will see it pop with just the right amount of highlighting effect you need. Incandescent Light (the middle shade) has a bit of shimmer sparkle to it and works great as a highlighter for those who really want it to show without looking over the top. Because these powders are finely milled, you won't see the shimmer effect pop up to much during the day (which is good for work makeup) and on the skin it will appears very sheen. This color has a slight pinkish tone to it but nothing so pink that it affects your actual skin tone. Radiant Light (the left shade) has a slight shimmer to it as well but is more of a golden beige shade. This one works well to appear on almost all skin tones. This color comes across more of a bronze color and can be used to give your face an overall bronzy effect. You can also use it as a highlight but keep in mind it might appear a bit darker on those will lighter complexions.

These powders have been made to work well with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette. I truly love this palette and love the fact that I can get three great highlighters/setting powders in one without having a drawer full of them. Though they are a bit pricey, but for the quantity and quality you get from this ambient lighting powder palette, the price is more then justified.

Well there you have it! My review on this palette. Let me know if you have tried this palette and what you think of them!


Keep Smiling!

Dayana

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Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette Graphite (Smokey)

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette Graphite - $58 US / $67 CDN

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So lately I have been on an Hourglass high.  I mean come on, can you blame me?!  Have you seen their cosmetic line? It's incredible! And with that, so is the price!! Eh!!  But if you can get past that, trust me you will truly appreciate that the majority of their products are really worth your time, money and face!

Back in November 2014 I saw that Hourglass had release a new line of eyeshadow palettes that were ONLY being sold at Barney's NY.  At that point in time they had only released the Infinity palette and others were to come.  I was quite disappointed that Sephora did not have these items in store or online.  I was very tempted to order from Barney's when I heard that it would be coming to Sephora in the New Year.  And being a loyal and I mean loyal Sephora VIB Rouge member (where I won't buy a single thing anywhere else if Sephora sells it) I decided to sit on my hands and mouse and wait.  When January rolled around, one night Youtubing I came across Wayne Goss stating that Sephora had released the palettes on January 11, 2014 online to VIB Rouge members ONLY.  So of course I jumped at the chance.  I noticed not only did they have the palette online and still available, but there were a total of seven of them!  

I started looking at each color palette and realized just how beautiful they truly were.  Furthermore, Hourglass is the first company to make palettes where their eyeshadow colors were not stuck in pan like circles or squares.  Instead these palettes literally represented a work of art.  A picture canvas where each color flowed seamlessly and effortlessly into each other.  I was actually taken by the beauty of these palettes and their "modernist" design which is something I have never seen in a makeup palette...ever.

As I explored their seven range color palettes, I did notice one thing.  A lot of their colors looked very much alike in each palette.  That really threw me off as I was excepting a different range and variation of color amongst each palette.  And while I can't deny the colors are stunning and beautiful, I just couldn't see myself buying more than one palette or a single palette that carried very generic earth tone colors.  That is until I saw the Graphite palette.  One look at this palette and I was left speechless!  I normally buy very earth tone/nude palettes and hardly venture out into colors.  However while there was no denying that this palette was a nude/earth tone palette, nonetheless it had a pop of two colors that I didn't seen in the other palettes.  First that splash of brown gold was just beautiful and then their blue/grey/teal color was exquisite.  I realized this was a smokey eye palette right away and bought it.

 Reading online I realized that some people had a number of complaints about these palettes.  Some said that it had a lot of fallout, others that it didn't blend well and yet others just didn't like the shade range.  I'll be honest, does it have a bit of fallout? Yes, yes it does.  I can't and won't lie about that.  However because these eye shadows are very powdery, you don't actually need to rub your makeup brush hard in order to pick up color.  A slight tap will pick up more than enough color for your eyes.  I also noticed that the matte eyeshadows had the most fallout while the shimmer shadows had little to none.  With my shimmer shadows I experienced literally no fallout!

 Are the colors not that pigmented? Yes its true some are not.  However the majority of these shadows are matte and normally matte shadows, while they can be pigmented are not very vibrant compared to shimmery shadows.  Also, a lot of these colors are the same per palette so you will have this pigmentation issues on the same color (or almost same colored) shadows.

Do they have issues in blending? That depends.  It depends on how much product you put on your eye and what type of brushes you are looking to blend them in with.  I found that while they weren't the easiest to blend, however I have handled a lot worse.  So this was really not a big deal.  Moreover all the colors in each palette are made to blend with each other (color wise) with no problem.  So for me, it wasn't something I couldn't tackle and it blended well into my eyes.

The main ones in my opinion that have a vast difference in colors are the Graphite palette and the Olive palette (show above).  Both these palettes have a mixture of shimmer and matte shades with different colors that are not found in the other Hourglass Modernist palettes.  I honestly prefer these two palettes and can't wait to buy the Olive one.  I like the fact that these two palettes have three different shades in each palette that are not similar to the other five palettes and allow you to make different looks.

The ONLY issues I have with this palette is the price in comparative to the size. Both the Ambient Lighting powder and blush palette retail for $58 US  and $67 CDN.  However they are both the same size.  Nonetheless this palette is significantly smaller than those two palettes and it retails for the same exact price.  Now don't get me wrong, I didn't expect these eyeshadow palettes to come in the same quantity of the other two palettes.  That would just be overkill in the amount of product these palettes would have.  However for the fact that it is a much smaller size I would of excepted the price to be at least $10-$15 difference in reduction and its not.  

I truly love these palettes and would recommend them to anyone who is not heavy handed, willing to blend and understand the difference with pigmentation amongst shimmer and matte! While yes the price tag is high, but isn't everything that looks like a work of art?!

Keep Smiling

Dayana

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette - $58 US / $67 CDN

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette is a limited edition palette containing three Hourglass blushes.  Two of these blushes are part of their previous permanent collection and one is a brand new shade.  This palette came out in October 2014 and constantly sold out online on Sephora.   The three shades you will find in this palette (from left to right) are Luminous Flush (a champagne rose blush infused with Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light), Incandescent Electra, (a peach blush infused with Ambient Lighting Powder in Incandescent Light) and Mood Exposure (a plum blush infused with Ambient Lighting Powder in Mood Light).  

The blushes come in a small gold like case.  The blushes are much smaller then their normal single size blushes.  So don't except three large blushes in this palette or you will be disappointed when comparing them to their normal size.  The casing is very beautiful, but its prone to smudging with fingerprints.  And if dropped, I can truly see these blushes breaking which has been noted by a lot of users who have had this misfortune happen to them.  I would not recommend this palette for traveling purposes due to this reason. Hourglass has also noted at the back of the palette the word "fragile".  So handle with care.  

All three blushes are amazing for application and blending.  They are highly pigmented and a little truly does go a long way.  If you dip your brush to hard into these blushes or pick up way to much powder, you will notice it with one swipe on your face.  It will give you clown like makeup if you are to heavy handed.  However, if you apply lightly, you will get the most beautiful blush application on your cheeks.  Due to it being infused with their Ambient Lighting Powder, it helps to not make pores look enlarged, does not leave behind a shiny or oily finish and truly works to give you a beautiful flush glow.  You can get at least 8-9 hours of wear with these blushes and probably more if worn with face primer.  I found that each blush is very appropriate to wear for either day or night.  These blushes had very little to no fallout and applied very smoothly and blended well on the skin. 

I was concerned that Incandescent Electra (the middle shade) would appear to peachy on my skin.  However I noticed this was not the case at all.  It appeared more of a coral color that wasn't to over the top and with the Ambient Lighting Powder infused it just looked marvelous.  Luminous Flush (the left shade) was a beautiful champagne rose color that looked very natural on the skin.  Mood Exposure (the right shade) was a very plumly color that if applied to heavily can look to dark on lighter skin.  However it leaves you such a nice plumy glow that blended beautifully with my bronzer when applied lightly.  So go easy with this color.  These colors are very versatile and can work with just about any skin tone.

Nonetheless, I will say this.  No two blush palettes are alike.  Even the website states this as well.  Moreover since these blushes are infused with Ambient lighting powder, you will end up getting a different mixture of color in each blush palette. As you can see from the two pictures above, some have more Ambient Lighting Powder then blush, while others have more blush then the lighting palette.  I would advise you buy these in person and take a look at the palette before heading to the purchase counter.  I have heard some reviews of people who were disappointed because the blushes did not apply correctly due it being more lighting powder then blush color. I took a chance and bought mine online.  However it was risky based on warnings of many.

Besides this small draw back, I would for sure recommend this palette if you are looking to try out new blushes but don't want a draw full of them.  They are pricey but truly some of the most beautiful blushes I have ever tried!

Keep Smiling!

Dayana

 

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