Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Wardrobe Review

This is just pure luxury.. On all levels. I brought this from Mecca and I must say amazing customer service I think it was only 2 days from when I placed the order to when it arrived and I had emails along the way saying it had been shipped etc. so of course I ripped into it with excitement when it arrived. (Cue harps playing) the case is just beautiful and I instantly feel special it is a mirrored dark chocolate brown with hourglass printed in gold to one side. I must say when I got fingerprints on it I had to carefully polish them off because it shouldn't have fingerprints on it it's too beautiful.

I open it up and in front of me there are 3 shades In 3 square shaped domes. There is also a mirror inside that runs the width of the palette. The Shades I have never seen before. At first glance I thought all three would be too light and I thought I had just wasted $89 but how wrong was I once I used it. The three magics are:

Dim light which is the medium colour out of the three. I do find it quite pigmented and I was worried I'd look all glittery I like using this very lightly all over like a bronzer. It definitely gives a healthy glow look to my skin I'm surprised at how little you actually need to use.

Incandescent light is the lightest shade out of the three it's a peachy kind of tone. I love this one and once applied my skin looks healthy, glowing and flawless. Yay there is hope for me even if it is with a bit of trickery!!

Radiant light is the darkest of the three shades and the one I use the least. It is basically a setting powder with no pigmentation so it doesn't really give that "glow" I have dry skin so I stay away from anything that is going to be matte and sadly this one makes me look drier (sobs)

All of the powders feel like velvet so soft and smooth. They are all so so fine I find them easy to apply using a powder brush. A very firm staple for me and I wished I brought some sooner. It's magic on my skin not only does my face look good.. And less noticeable flaws I feel good too.

I've been using this for the past month, and have found it to be the perfect addition to my makeup routine in the mornings. If you're like me, and you enjoy a bit of faffing around with makeup in the morning, then I'm pretty sure you'll be into this too!

The powders are lovely and soft, and a little bit goes a long way. I like to layer each different powder over the top of my makeup to finish things off, and have found that it never makes my face look caked in powder, which is perfection!

My skin is combination, so I do find that it can make me look a little on the shiny side if I'm not careful, but that can easily be fixed by patting it into the skin once you're done.

I've travelled with mine a couple of times now, and it is still in tact, but I am very careful with my makeup in general, and I like to keep it close by when I can. In saying that, don't do what I did and dig your finger nails into it!!! Obviously this was unintentional, but still...it happened, and it happened very quickly on a couple of occasions!!! Major sad face as it now has a couple of dents out of the middle powder!

After seeing so much hype about this product, I had to go and try it for myself, so I trotted into Mecca in Newmarket and had the lovely ladies try some on me. My girlfriend who was with me was amazed at how it instantly changed my skin. It is just amazing, it seems to blur all those tiny imperfections and gives you a glowy filtered look. I love all three colours, and tend to mix them together to get a custom look for my skin colour. The packaging is luxurious looking, and smooth, and its one of those products that look good on the outside as well as the inside. Its a bit on the expensive side, but its definitely going to be a staple in my makeup kit from now on. Go on buy it, you won't regret it!

There is only so much hype a girl can take before she cracks and gives a product a go. Although, in all honesty, I'd put Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powder Wardrobe on my 'Christmas present to myself' list as it's not cheap. But when a Trade Me auction comes up and it's half the price and the trader says she can't recall using it ever, but maybe once or twice - you grab that auction by its beautiful horns and you hit the 'buy now'.

It arrived, and with shaking hands I gripped and ripped it to reveal a beautiful chocolate/maroonesque reflective palette, with 'HOURGLASS' written simply on top. I opened the palette, and even though I knew what to expect, three mounds of colour and a big mirror - I still had a 'really? Is this actually as magical as they say?' moment, because while the three mounds are nice to look at, they don't appear to be anything special at first glance.

The palette consists of three different lights... Dim - which is a lovely light beige colour, and works well with my skin tone, so I use it as a finishing powder. Incandescent - this is a light shade that looks more shimmery to me, so I use it as a highlighter on top of my cheekbones and down my nose. Radiant - this is a bronze shade and I use it in the areas where I'd usually use bronzer, or lightly over top of bronzed areas.

So while it's not much to look at, once applied there's a heck of a lot to love. It's like, ABRACADABRA, your skin glows, as if a veil has been placed over it to hide your imperfections, to make you look fresh again. I seriously thought I was imagining it, that it was a case of The Emperor's New Clothes, so I made The Husband watch me apply it and his face got all 'what!?', and he said it made me look more youthful. He couldn't believe a powder could do that, heck, neither could I, but the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder does exactly that. It makes you look like you've filtered yourself.

Best of all, you don't need a lot to achieve this, a dab and a sweep - a few of those if you're dusting your whole face - and you're good to go.

This product is expensive, but it's so worth it. I can see it'll be forever before I hit pan, and the result it gives - luminous youthful skin - is utterly sublime. Go without your favourite treat and save up, sell your firstborn, ask family and friends to pay you to mow lawns/clean toilets/babysit kids - you need this in your life, and if you're anything like me you won't regret it.

This is my very first Hourglass product and yes the main reason for buying it was due to the high cult status it has achieved across the blog/vlog world of beauty it seemed like a too good to be true and the packaging is beautiful. So of course I got sucked in to buying it, but it does now take prize position on my table.

The cutest of this palette isn't in your face, it's subtle with its burgundy glossy dark plastic casing that is quite thick, to the really tight closed opening that requires both hands to open it as its sat on the side of the palette and is designed to blend into the shape of the case with its jutted out edge. Inside the hinges make it slightly stiff to open but not in a "oh my god its going to break" way but it is in fact the quality of the hinges and the design which is just a luxurious item. You feel 100% pretty and more important just holding it. The large mirror is almost borderless so you get a decent size if you use the mirror which would be handy when travelling as you won't need to take a handheld one with this. The 3 powders are slighty domed but still squared in their seats, which has them raised in the middle and the colours that are delicated swirled with hints of silvers and gold through them just gives it a one of a kind effect as if it was made by hand for you.

Formula of the powders seem slightly chalky to begin with but after the first application it seems to remove the top layer and reveal a delicate cream/powder softness but not crumbly texture that blends effortlessly on your face. These are not overly pigmented and you won't get a highly intense highlight effect but it creates an almost romantic glow and brightness to your face when used in a way to give you a more healthy, younger appearance.

In the palette you get: Dim Light - which is the first on the left, the slightly soft beige powder works for my skin as a bronze blur, to help me get a slight contour effect on my fair skin

Incandescent Light - The middle glowing pearl white that is the most used and is sinking fast!! it brightens and makes my face appear more youthful and even looking.

Radiant Light - the 3rd powder which is a more golden brown shade, to be honest I barely touch this shade as it can look too murky on my skin, but I have found that it works nice if applied lightly as a blush topper

It is just a luxury feel, elegant edition to my makeup collection and although I don't use all 3 of the powders it is totally worth it for the limited edition incandescent light, as it is only available in this palette at that time.

Imagine if you could walk around every day in the perfect lighting - it isn't going to happen, but this product can help.

I've used incandescent & dim light as subtle highlighters and the warmer radiant light as a highlighter and all over face glow giver.

These powders are super fine... super duper fine. and it doesn't take much to load up a brush.

I'm also very in love with the packaging. The mirror in this is huge. However, I am aware that the powders can break easily and for that reason, this splurge product comes with me in my carry on luggage (ok, all my powder makeup tends to end up in my carry on!)

Actually, Dim Light is another that I would recommend over other parts of the face.

If I'm honest I only bought the for the palette exclusive 'Incandescent light' as it is so gorgeous as a highlighter for the tops of the cheek bone and under the eye brow. It is the most natural highlighter for this purpose I have ever come across.

I didn't think I was going to like or use the other two shades 'dim light' and 'radiant light' but after talking to a girl at Mecca i decided to give them a shot.

Apparently dim light is good to use all of the face as a settling powder, personally I do not think it is good enough to use as a setting powder therefore I only ever use it on my cupids bow to define my lips and I do believe it does it nice job of this.

I do use radiant light over the top of my bonzer and I think it gives my skin a more natural glow which I love, it is extremely subtile so good for every day to day wear and harsh lights.

Overall I don't think i'd buy the palette again as I really only use incandescent light and I wish they would release it individually.

The word subtle is splashed across a lot of the online reviews for this product and being chocolate skinned; I wasn't too sure if that would work for me because I love the sparkles in life - in a BIG way :-) But after reading BR's jessickaxnz awesome review I walked out of Mecca with $89 less in the bank (you have been warned haha).

For me this is the perfect setting and finishing powder WHEN I wear minimal makeup (i.e tinted moisturiser, bb cream). It creates a soft "subtle" (there we go haha) glow that still looks like my skin. When I wear full makeup (i.e foundation) I do find it harder to see the benefits but that's mostly due to my skintone and the ongoing drama with looking ashy as opposed to the product itself.

I use my powder brush to apply the product and notice that a bit of powder does kick up so there's some wastage. I don't tap off any excess when applying to minimal makeup because there's no danger of looking like Casper due to the light texture.

I use Radiant Light to set and finish my face while mixing Dim Light and Incandescent Light for my highlight. Dim Light alone is barely noticeable on me so I go a little crazy with it because when you spend that much money you want to use EVERY shade haha.

The reason I think this is worth the money is because I haven't come across any other setting or finishing powder that looks like skin on my skintone and doesn't scream out to the world that I have pores *covers my face*.

If you're after that soft glow from within I highly recommend going into Mecca and sporting the shades on your face for the day to help you make your final decision :-) Do I think it's worth it? $89 well spent.

This product was definitely worth the money. It has everything you could need. It has a shade that I use to set my foundation, a shade to highlight and give you that glow and a darker/warm shade that I use to warm up my skin. I personally love this product because I use every shade, you know how in some face palettes you use most but never touch one, that is the opposite in this case. All the powders are very universal. I mix the two first colours to set my foundation sometimes and it gives you the most natural satin/dewy finish, but it looks as if you want it to be like that, not that you're oily. I love this product, I will re-purchase for as long as I can.