Lit by candlelight: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light

It started with Ethereal Light -- I was left wanting to try the rest. Luminous Light gives your skin a golden glow; not the sort from wearing bronzer or self-tanner, but a "oh my, you're skin is glowing." From what I can remember from my lighting class I took in university, incandescent light is produced from heat. Tungsten is a filament used for its ability to heat up to really high temperatures, at its peak it "burns"/glows brightly. If your face were to get illuminated by this sort of light source, you'd have a happy, shiny glow. Think about sitting around the fire and the way your face feels as it's licked by the heat.

For those days when you can't sit circled around the fire with your nearest and dearest friends, brush on Luminous Light.

Luminous Light

Swatch of Luminous Light

The key is to use a small amount on very specific places. Using a large, fluffy face brush, lightly dust Luminous Light across your forehead, next hit your cheekbones and then apply the remnants on your nose and chin.

illuminated by natural daylight

Some believe Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder is overrated, I just think they haven't found the shade they're after.

But who am I to say?

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light:

• $62.00 AUS / $45.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 10 out of 10 bags — It's always in my makeup bag. Whenever I apply it in the locker room, women stop and stare at the pan.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• I want to buy every brush Hourglass has on offer, but that wouldn't be very economical for me.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light

There's something there, but you don't know what it is. Something about the girl with the lit from within face; subtle, soft, quiet. The din of a lightbulb. In this review I'm not going to beat a dead horse -- Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powders have been covered, a lot and the reviews swing from love to loathe. I purchased Ethereal Light to see what all the fuss was about.

To be honest I didn't get it at first; the questions swirled inside my head: how does it work for me, what does it do and what am I looking at? Well, inner Nicole, I'm glad you asked.

"A wardrobe of six universal finishing powders that recreate the most exquisitely flattering light—from ethereal moonlight to luminous candlelight. Each powder captures, diffuses and softens surrounding light with groundbreaking photoluminescent technology."  - Hourglass

Ethereal Light is a cool, translucent powder I apply all over my face as a final step to finish my look. Things didn't click into place until I was editing pictures of myself; I found that Ethereal Light helped the camera's flash to bounce off my skin and it even minimised the shine. Initially I feared Ethereal Light would leave a white mask on my skin and even change the appearance of my colouring, but the powder's translucence worked with the colour and light.

Close up of Ethereal Light's pan (upper right) and Ethereal Light on my makeup brush (lower right)

Out of the six shades, I think Ethereal Light is probably the most user-friendly. My opinion is based on reading user reviews published on Sephora and the myriad of beauty blogger reviews. In order to see how Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powder worked for a few lovely ladies out there, take a gander at these reviews:

• Kelly of Vampy Varnish is paler than me, tried out Ethereal Light as well and stated, "As far as this shade goes, I would say it’s nice, but nothing that incredible for me."
• Karen over at Makeup and Beauty Blog incorporated Dim Light, Radiant Light and Luminous Light into one look! An ambitious and "effortless" vision. Refer to steps 11, 16 and 19.
• Kelly a.k.a. Gouldylox Reviews said, "At first, I wasn’t excited about these but now, I’m a little bit in love."
• Gummy of Gummy Vision exclaimed, "How can I say this nicely???? I can't so I'll be blunt. It sucked. It looked like I had applied bronzer over my entire face and it completely changed the color of my foundation to where it was at least a shade (or more??) darker than my neck!! Ugh." This was in reference to her experience with Dim Light.

My take away message: these powders can be thought of as a roll of the dice, one size doesn't fit all and try to to do your homework before investing in something you're uncertain of.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light:

• $45.00 USD - purchased from Sephora.

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 8 out of 10 bags – If you had asked me for my opinion last week, I would've said skip it.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• The swatch of Luminous Light over at The Beauty Look Book is breathtaking.