Beauty Progress Report #1. Hourglass Ambient Lighting

Yet another series. But, I think these series are better than random beauty reviews. In the "Beauty Progress Report" series, I'll be talking about what I think about a certain product(s) since I've bought it. It's not a conclusive beauty review with a large BAM at the end, but more like, "hey, I'm trying to figure it out and so far..." kind of post.

left to right: Dim, Incandescent, Radiant (palette comes with a face primer)

The Hourglass Ambient Light Face Powder has been on my want-list for quite some time. I am coming to an end with my MAC Studio Fix that I've used for a little more than a year now, and I thought it was time to search for my next good face powder. Because the Hourglass Ambient Lighting has been such a hit, I was always curious to try.

The whole concept of the Ambient Lighting face powders is that without much concealing and caking, it brings a certain lighting glow to your face. Depending on the shade you get, you'll always have this lighting on your face wherever you go. So, depending on the kind of glow you want to reflect, you choose your shade. That also means that these shades are supposed to be fairly sheer, only to cause a certain effect and not necessarily "in-your-face".

Of course, I ended up buying a face palette rather than one shade that I wanted, because those girls at the beauty counters always get to me! I went into SpaceNK thinking I wanted the face powder in "Diffused Light" which is a pale-yellow powder that helps contrast the redness in skin and the oilyness. It's the less shimmery of the other shades. But upon trying it out at the store, I found it to be really pale yellow. It almost looked too pale on my skin.

My eyes was set on the Dim Light which is a more neutral beige without too much red or yellow. It seemed to match my skin quite well.

The limited edition palette that I bought came with three shades: Dim Light, Incandescent light, radiant light

Because it came for a bargain of $58 and since I had a $10 off at SpaceNK, I thought I'd invest.

So far my rating is a 2.5/5

Pretty low you say? Well, here's why.

I have yet to figure out what the hype is about. I found that besides Dim Light the other two shades work as either a highlighter or a bronzer. The shade Radiant Light is much too dark to be a finishing powder. The Incandescent Light is much too pink to be a finishing powder. Both the Radiant and Incandescent lights have much too much shimmer.

And although I knew they came with very little coverage, I felt that all it was doing was adding this shine to my face that did not look natural. And, I have to say that if you do put a lot on, it will look cakey. It isn't those finely milled powders that no matter how much you dust on your face, it'll look natural. It will build.

And for the oily-skinned, I'm not too sure how much of this shimmer looks flattering. For the price that it is, the "subtle effect" that it gives doesn't add up. Not yet, at least. If you do dust on only a little, it looks minutely nice but again, not enough for the price.

Yet, I don't want to give up just yet. The idea seems wonderful and there was one time that I wore Dim Light and received compliments for looking radiant and glowing. So, I will continue to experiment and find a way to fall in love with it. Otherwise, I might have to return this.

Has anyone tried them yet? What have been your experiences so far?