Hello everyone!
I’m looking forward to ending 2020 with a blog post about a product I’ve been trying out for the past few weeks. This review will be on the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Face Palette- Sculpture which is quite a mouth full.
Hourglass comes out with these face palette’s every year and I’m always so curious about them but could never justify the price, which is $80! I finally bought mine during the Sephora sale this past Fall, I believe I had 20% off my total purchase and figured that was the best I could do at Sephora. I have one of their individual face powders and love it, I love setting my skin with them to give myself a subtle glow while still setting my makeup at the same time. I knew I would like the face palette I just wasn’t sure if I would use all of the powders enough to justify the cost.
Product Overview- The face palette is back with three of their best-selling shades along with three exclusive new shades that give you a glowing complexion. There are 2 powders, 1 highlight, 1 bronzer and 2 blushes to give you everything you need to create the perfect light wherever you go. The powders are vegan and free of sulfates and parabens. Each powder is .04 oz and as mentioned above, the palette at full price is $80. In my opinion, the most important thing to know about these palettes is how to use it! Inside the box is a mini pamphlet that explains how to use the different powders but I’ll provide the explanation from the website below as well:
HOW TO USE IT:
Finish: Apply Diffused Light or Dim Light finishing powder all over the face.
Bronze: Contour along the temples, hollows of the cheeks and jawline with Natural Bronze Light.
Blush: Apply Mood Exposure or Vibrant Flush to the apples of the cheeks.
Highlight: Apply Glistening Strobe Light to the high points of the face. Can be used wet for a more intense highlight.
Packaging/First Impression- Hourglass has beautiful packaging for their products, and this face palette is no exception! I love the gold color and the unique dynamic shape of the palette, it’s definitely a product I’d put on display because it’s so beautiful. The only downside of the packaging is that it can get pretty dirty, fingerprints definitely show up on the outside. When I opened the palette for the first time, I was wowed by the beauty of it but I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed in the size of the pans. Since this was a product I wanted so badly for a long time and maybe because of the fact that it’s $80, I was surprised to see that the pans were much smaller than what I was expecting. Especially since I own an individual face powder, I was taken aback by how much smaller the pans in the palette were.
Application- I use this palette exactly how Hourglass instructs in the pamphlet and on the website. I use the brighter powder, defused light, for under my eyes and the pinker shade, dim light, to set my face. I really do believe they provide a nice glow to the skin and helps make your makeup look flawless. The bronze shade, natural bronze light, is beautiful and really gives you a natural glow with just a little bit of sheen. The color works on my skin tone but gives me a more subtle bronzed look. I can build up the product for a bit more coverage but that’s about it. I love both blushes, I usually mix them both together and apply them to the outer edge of my cheek bones. The deeper blush, mood exposure, is more a matte blush with a light sheen which just provides such a nice natural look and pairs well with most eye looks. The coral blush, vibrant flush, has a bit more shimmer in it but when I apply it, it’s not like I have specks of glitter my face. Also, don’t be scared of the color! You can definitely go in with a light hand and have it not come off as pigmented as you think. And the highlight glistening strobe light is beautiful, it looks a little dark in the pan which saddened me when I opened it for the first time but when it’s applied, it definitely comes off lighter. I have not tried it wet yet but will after reading that it is a possibility on the website.
Overall thoughts- Overall, I am glad I bought the product and am proud that I use all the shades! I definitely recommend getting it on sale if you’re able to otherwise it is a bit expensive. The packaging is beautiful and definitely sturdy enough for travel. The pans are a bit small and can be a little difficult to get your brush in the shade you want to use unless you’re using a small/medium brush. For me personally, I use a big fluffy brush when applying bronzer so I just have to be more careful accessing the bronzer so I don’t accidentally dip in the surrounding powders. I do think these powders work and provide a beautiful affect on my face. My skin in the above picture looks really healthy without looking like there is powder on my face, it’s pretty amazing. I was skeptical using the lightest shade under my eyes because I was worried it would make them look older but it doesn’t, it makes my skin look smooth and less dry. I don’t really think a product like this exists anywhere else in the market. The only real con is that if you’re darker in skin tone than me, I don’t think any of these face palette’s will work for you unfortunately. Hourglass is notorious for not creating larger shade ranges in their powders but as of today, I heard they are coming out with a new face palette that should work on deeper skin tones!
Last week Sephora was having an amazing sale randomly and shockingly, two of Hourglass face palette’s were on sale. This face palette was on sale for $56 and the smaller four pan Mini Ambient Lighting Edit- Sculpture was on sale for $40, which is normally $58. I’m currently testing this out and will do a review on this shortly! But it’s important to note that Sephora really can have good sales on high end makeup, even Hourglass! So next time you have your eyes on one of these palette’s but don’t want to pay full price, keep checking back because you’ll never know what you may find!
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Thank you!
Michelle
Makeup Michelle 