Hourglass is one of the brands that I reach out to almost daily. Their powders are one of my favorite formulas. Hourglass came out with two new limited edition palettes this holiday season. I know I am late but I ordered them from Sephora last week and posted my haul picture on Instagram and asked for which product you want me to review first. The hourglass palettes were the most asked for. So here I am with the review and swatches of both the palettes, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 and Hourglass Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Palette.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 Palette
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 Palette features three best-selling powders and three new exclusive powders for a flawless complexion. The palette is travel-friendly. It can be used for a day or night look with the six shades in this palette. The packaging is a limited edition rose gold case that looks very luxurious. And the size is perfect for travel as well as looks great on the vanity. The three best-selling powders included in this palette are Ambient lighting powder in Dim Light, Diffused Light, and Luminous Bronze Light. The new powders are Ambient Lighting Blush in Surreal Halo, Pure Effect, and Hypnotic Strobe Light.
The powders are formulated with Photoluminescent Technology. This technology captures, diffuses, and softens the surrounding light for skin. As a result, the skin look softer, younger, and lit from within. The shades in this palette are an amazing option for day-to-night looks. That is, to finish, brighten, contour, and highlight the skin in a single compact.
The shades are described as (From top to bottom in the swatch below):
Dim Light – a neutral peach beige powder that blurs imperfections and highlights the complexion
Diffused Light – a soft, warm, pale yellow powder that conceals redness and gives skin clarity
Luminous Bronze Light – a medium tan shade fused with Luminous Light for a softer, candlelit warmth
Hypnotic Strobe Light (New) – a champagne powder infused with multidimensional pearly for a sublime highlight
Surreal Halo (New) – a deep berry blush fused with Surreal Light for a vibrant flush of color
Pure Effect (New) – a bright petal pink fused with glimmering rose for a youthful glow
I already have a full size of Dim Light and Diffused Light. I reach for Dim Light as a finishing powder on most of the days and Diffused Light comes into the picture during the evenings as a setting powder for me. The powders are finely milled, blends seamlessly into the skin, and never look chalky or extra. The staying power is really good, I do not need to do touch-ups and they keep everything on the face intact. Luminous Bronze Light is supposed to contour hollows of the cheeks, and forehead.
The shade is a bit lighter for me to be used as a bronzer. On the other hand, it does work well to give that sunlit glow to the face. It always works nicely on my medium tan skin tone as a blush. The new Ambient Lighting blushes are to be used on the apples of the cheeks with that natural glow. Ambient Lighting Powder in Hypnotic Strobe Light works great as a highlight on the high points of the cheeks, bridge of the nose, cupid's bow, and bridge of the nose. It can also be used wet to get a more intense effect.
The texture of all the powders in the palette is smooth and very soft. As mentioned before, the quality is amazing as the full-size products I own from Hourglass. They give a very natural glow, the lit-from-within kind of glow. It does not emphasize my pores or imperfections. The staying power is good, so, all in all, a very good option if you have not tried anything from the brand or if you are looking for a compact version of Hourglass powders to keep in your bag or for travel.
Hourglass Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Palette
Hourglass Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Palette is a limited edition palette with metallic strobing lighting powders which provide the brightest highlight to the skin. The texture of the powders is very smooth and velvety. The formula is highly concentrated and is great for high points of the face. It gives a reflective, vibrant glow based on skin tone and needs. Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Powder in shades Absolute Strobe Light, Pure Strobe Light, and Lucent Strobe Light are included in it.
Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Powders are formulated with intensely concentrated, multifaceted pearl particles in varying sizes and refraction levels to give the most reflective glow to the high points of the face. This concentrated formula uses Photoluminescent Technology to intensify the way light reflects on the skin. The shade description is as below:
Absolute Strobe Light – a soft pink metallic pearl powder for a captivating highlight
Pure Strobe Light – a pale gold metallic pearl powder for an exquisite highlight
Lucent Strobe Light – a rose gold metallic pearl powder for a magnetic highlight
I have used these with my fingertips as well as a highlighting brush to apply it on the high points of my face. That includes the top of cheekbones, bridge of the nose, and cupid's bow. For a subtle or less intense effect, I use the sponge. As with the other powders from Hourglass, the formula is very smooth and velvety. It blends in very easily and is quite pigmented. I know this will not be something that I will reach out to every day or every other day. But I am surely going to reach this for the parties, especially the Indian parties where I need something this intense to match all those Indian dresses and their details.
Where To Buy Hourglass Cosmetics?
- HourglassCosmetics.com
- Nordstrom.com
- NeimanMarcus.com
- LookFantastic.com
- FeelUnique.com
- SpaceNK.com
- HarveyNichols.com
- Bloomingdales.com
- Sephora.com
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