REVIEW: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette
So... I've nearly bought this more times than I could count, but every time I had it in my hand or my basket something made me stop. I think part of it was because I was afraid that if I spent the money I'd end up regretting it or find that it wasn't as good as everyone claimed it was. I would imagine that I'm not the only one who has felt this way about this product. It is, after all, over $60CAD, and that's nothing to sneeze at. Anyway, I ended up with money and gift cards from the people who birthday spoil me and there was no way that money wasn't going to end up being spent at Sephora. I mean, really. And this was the first thing in my hand. I thought about putting it back, like the other times, but there was no way. This was coming home with me this time.
SPOILER: THANK GOD IT CAME HOME WITH ME....
You can talk all the shit you want about the price... but when you buy a luxury product, it's going to be luxurious from top to tails... And the top and tails of this feels luxe and amazing. I love the packaging of this palette. How could you not, really? The metallic chocolate tone of the packaging feels very chic and the shape makes it feel sleek. I love that the latch is to the right side of the palette rather than in the middle, it feels like a detail that makes it special. Like I said, I think that these are the kinds of things that luxury brands have to take into account when it comes to their packaging.
Inside the packaging, you find the three different powders that are included in this palette as well as a large, sturdy mirror. Again, can I just say how gorgeous it is? Now, based on pictures I had the idea that each powder was going to be a little bit larger, but they are actually fairly small. Now, I'm certainly not complaining about that, but I think it's important to let people know that there is a significant size difference between the full size powders and the ones included in the palette. Still, I feel like this is a good value because each of these powders seems to have a different use. As to the quality, I feel like I almost don't even need to mention it. They're beautiful, soft, and surprisingly easy to use.
Dim Light, Incandescent Light, Radiant Light
Dim Light - This is actually the shade that I was most excited about and probably the one that I'm most likely to hit pan on first. It's actually very near my skintone and I've found that my personal favorite way to use it is to lightly set my undereye concealer and then lightly dust over my cheeks to disguise some of the texture issues that I have. This, like the others as well, requires a light hand. It could go a little too glowy if you're not careful, but a light dusting just gives a subtle glow and smoothness to the face.
Incandescent Light - This nearly white shade is the one limited edition shade in this palette. I find that this works best used in very much the same way as a traditional highlight. A subtle dusting over the higher planes of the face is really all you need. It's also really, really beautiful in the cupid's bow. I've never actually been a huge fan of traditional highlight because I've always felt that it's just... too much, but I find that this gives the kind of glow I've always wanted with traditional highlights but have never been able to achieve.
Radiant Light - Now this shade was definitely the one that I figured wasn't going to get much use at all, particularly after swatching it. In fact, this shade is probably the main reason why it took me so long to buy this palette. That said, it's actually really gorgeous when used with a fluffy brush. I've mainly used it to top my matte bronzers, just to give a little bit of glow to those areas. It's very subtle, but it definitely makes a difference.
I think the biggest thing that I can say about this palette is that it's all about a surprisingly hard hitting subtlety. I think that if you really try to make it show up on your face, you could end up looking like a disco ball, but when you use it lightly and in strategic places it gives you healthy, glowy skin without really looking like makeup so much. Every time I've used this, I've really felt like my skin looked great and have even gotten a few compliments - and trust me, I've spent the last week sick as a dog, so my skin has definitely not been naturally looking good.
My biggest problem with this palette is hardly a problem at all - It just makes me want to buy the rest of the powders and put them to use as well. Yes, it's that good. This gets my highest recommendation, for sure.
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