Hourglass products aren’t available in Singapore, so before I left for LA a friend asked if I could check out the brand’s range of Ambient Lighting Blushes and report back. This is for you Min, so I hope you’re paying attention!
Hourglass makes 6 blushes, which are blends of varying blush pigments marbled into their famous Ambient Lighting Powders. Aren’t they just gorgeous?
I shamelessly swatched them all early one morning at Sephora, and took photos of them in different lighting conditions to show the results. This was taken indoors under artificial lighting:
And this was taken just outside the store in natural light.
Here are my thoughts on the various colours:
Ethereal Glow: The lightest of the bunch, and in my opinion a total waste of time. It took heaps of it to show up even slightly pink on my skin, and when it did it was powdery. You’d have to cake this on for it to show up…it’s almost more pink-hued highlighter than blush.
Mood Exposure: I was surprised by how much I liked this one! It appeared positively muddy in its case, but on my skin it was a deep berry colour. I actually think it’d be flattering on a wide range of skin tones, and with its earthy undertones I could see this used as transitional contour colour.
Dim Infusion: I felt like this was the trickiest colour to work with. It was so close to my skin tone that unless I was super precise in my application, chances are I’d look like I was just wearing the wrong shade of foundation. If only it were a more saturated peach colour, it’d be perfect.
Radiant Magenta: In its case, this was the prettiest of the bunch and was super pigmented too. If you like cool blue-based pinks or have a darker skin tone that can carry this hue, it’s a lovely choice. Sadly, my pale yellow skin tends to look better with warm blushes. Boo.
Diffused Heat: I was hoping to like this one, but found it a tad too shimmery in real life. Strange, because the regular Diffused powder is quite matte. Still it’s a lovely, universally flattering colour and would look great on anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of a sheen on their cheeks.
Luminous Flush: My favourite of the lot. It looked quite similar to Diffused Heat but was comparatively matte in its finish, which I liked. Colour wise, it mimicked naturally rosy – or flushed – cheeks so I could see it being perfect for no-makeup makeup looks.
As always, these are just my opinions and based entirely on what I felt worked and didn’t work on my skin. If you’re buying online without the ability to test these out for yourself, I’d say Radiant Magenta, Diffused Heat and Luminous Flush would be the most foolproof choices, with Mood Exposure being a good option if you’re already comfortable with earthy berry tones.
