Hourglass Ambient lighting- Luminous Light

On my restricted budget, I've allowed myself one major beauty purchase each month, and this month I took a hop, skip and a jump onto the Hourglass Ambient Lighting bandwagon.

Beautiful. Isn't it?

I purchased the shade 'luminous light' from Mecca Cosmetica, purely on a whim (alliteration gets me every time:P). To paraphrase from the website description, the Ambient Lighting Powders are quite simply meant to be setting powders which imitate the effects of certain types of lighting. They claim to 'Brighten the skin's appearance and conceal imperfections, pores and wrinkles', and they retail for a whopping $59. 

Luckily for me, I'm only a youngin' and I don't have many pores'n wrinkles to be hiding. I do have imperfections a'plenty however and was kinda excited to see how this would work on my skin.

First things first: THIS IS NOT A SETTING POWDER

'Luminous light' has insubordinate amounts of glitter and frankly if used as an all-over-the-face setting powder, it will transform you into a disco ball. If you like that look, go for it, if not, stick to highlighter-esque usage. 

A simple swatch

And a slightly-more-blended-in swatch

Now I know what you're thinking. From the above photos, it doesn't really seem to be super glittery. BUT that is because these photos were taken in natural lighting. So I suppose on a warm sunny day this may work as a subtle, slightly glowy all over dusting of goodness, but in my bathroom mirror, all I see is the sheen of sunlight-exposed vampiric skin. Serious Cullen flashbacks.

Personally, I do like to use this as a eyebrow/cheekbone highlight, and I find that on these parts of the face the 'luminous lighting' aspect can really be a helpful boost to your skin's appearance, but applying this on blemished or 'imperfect' areas to me seems entirely counterproductive, because it just kinda draws them into focus.

All in all, I can't say that I'm ecstatic about this purchase, but it definitely does add a lovely radiance to the high-points of my face. I think maybe I went for the wrong shade in this range, but to be terribly honest I can't see myself shelling out another $59 for one of these babies:P

Have you tried any of the ambient lighting powders? If so, which ones, and would you recommend them?

Let me know xx

~Risa~