HOURGLASS Ambient Lighting Blush Palette Review and Swatch
There has been countless coverage on the Hourglass makeups in the blogsphere world since the brand launched several years ago, and I just wasn’t that interested until the release of the Ambient Light Powder and Blush series this year, which have quickly become their top sellers. They are beautiful and unique enough for me to decide to branch out into this new brand for me, and having spotted the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette (which is always in the status of out-of-stock) on Net-A-Porter accidentally one day, I knew that this one ought to be mine! I have also picked up their Ambient Lighting Palette which will be covered in another review.
The limited edition palette comes with two permanent blush colors that are from their individual blushes, and one color that is exclusive to this palette which also happens to be my favorite color out of the three. The texture of all three blushes are exquisite – they are extremely silky and buttery smooth to apply and blend. What attracts me in these blushes is that each blush color is blended with a different color of their signature ambient lighting powder, which warrants a multidimensional soft flush of color with an illuminating effect. This is pretty much a blush and highlighter two-in-one product, which makes this palette extremely practical and versatile to use.
Left: Luminous Flush (permanent) Middle: Incandescent Electra (exclusive to this palette only) Right: Mood Exposure (permanent)
One interesting thing to note is that these blushes tend to show up differently depending on your skin tone, and even on my NC15 I find it very interesting that the swatch varies greatly from sheer to opaque finish (as you can see from the swatch below)
Color Description from left to right
- Luminous Flush (blended with Luminous Light) has a rosey pink undertone with a candlelit glimmer. When it is applied sheer it tones down to a soft coral pink, and it builds up to almost a plummy rosey pink on my skin as a heavy swatch. I prefer to wear it sheer as a blush.
- Incandescent Electra (blended with Incandescent Light) is described as a cool peach on the website, but on my skin the pink tone is definitely more prominent. In the sheer swatch it shows up as nude peachy pink with a subtle gleam that is more suitable as a highlighter blush, and builds up to a warm pink with a hint of frosty sheen if applied heavily. Definitely my favorite as either way it is a very pretty color to use!
- Mood Exposure (blended with Mood Light) is described as soft plum on the website, but again on my skin the beige undertone is much more prominent than plum. Apply it sheer it is a beautiful illuminating soft peachy beige color, and it builds up to a bronzy beige color with a hint of plum undertone that almost looks like a bronzer to me.
Sheer Swatch
Left: Luminous Flush Middle: Incandescent Electra Right: Mood Exposure
