Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder v. Ambient Lighting Blush

TGIF, beautiful people! I'm pretty pumped right now because I received my camcorder yesterday in the mail, and the quality is way more bomb than I even expected. It has all these cool features I didn't even know about, like partial color picture, wi-fi connection, control through my smartphone, etc. Basically what I'm saying is that I'm jittery about using it, but I won't have a change until Sunday evening or Monday. SO, expect a video by Monday or Tuesday. WOOO! Here it is, the beauty itself...*cue drumroll*

Okay, I'm on a tangent, because this post is about something else, something also totally exciting! Hourglass products. Which is basically Heaven in makeup form. That's really all you need to know. There are a few things that I have totally been loving lately. I first heard about Hourglass through Estee Lalonde because she absolutely loves their brow pencil, but ain't no way was I spending $35 on a brow pencil. I don't love my brows enough to do that. Then, I heard about their ambient lighting blushes through one of the cutest youtubers ever, CoffeeBreakWithDani. I heard about their ambient lighting powders through Kathleen Lights and Allana Davison. These are youtubers that I religiously watch, and pretty much anything they say I'm just like "yes, master". Seeing these blushes will pretty much have you sold, because they are beautifully marbled, it's like a double piece of art and piece of makeup. Now, let's talk about Hourglass and why they created this whole Ambient Lighting shabam.

There are a lot of great makeup products that don't transfer well on camera. Some setting powders are great, until the flash goes off, and then you look like a ghost on film. So, Hourglass created a bunch of blushes and powders to make skin look flawless, in person and on screen. There are different kinds of lighting powders, and they each do different things. 

There are 7 Ambient Lighting Blushes, each which are marbled with a different Ambient Lighting Powder. So, in the blushes you'll see two colors, one of which is the actual blush, and one of which is the lighting powder. These two together create a beautiful blush with a flawless finish. The colors are Ethereal Glow, Dim Infusion, Luminous Flush, Radiant Magenta, Diffused Heat, Mood Exposure, and Incandescent Electra. The blushes come with a beautiful gold compact with a mirror, and 0.15oz of product.

There are 6 Ambient Lighting Powders. Each of these shades are a tad different, and meant to do different things in the light. Here is Sephora's page for the powders, which lays out each shade, their color tones, and what they are meant to do. The colors are Ethereal Light, Diffused Light, Dim Light, Mood Light, Luminous Light, and Radiant Light. These powders come with a darker compact with a larger mirror, and 0.35oz of product, significantly more product than the blushes. For a limited time, Dim Light is being offered at Sephora as a travel size of 0.049oz for $22 (not worth the price and amount of product difference in my opinion). 

As you can see by the names, there is one of the powders marbled into the blushes. For example, Ethereal Glow will have Ethereal Light marbled into the blush. If you want a set of these blushes and powders to give them a try, for a limited time Sephora has the Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, with three powders and three blushes, but the compact is quite small, so keep that in mind. 

When I first looked into these products online after hearing all my favorite people talk about them, I was repulsed by the price tag. But, after swatching the products, realizing how gorgeous they are, and having a gift card, I thought I might try them. And I absolutely love them. They really do give the skin an amazing finish that no other blush has ever given me, and they have awesome lasting power, which I wasn't expecting. The powders don't look like powders on the skin, they just look like my skin. They don't feel heavy, look powdery or cakey at all. And, a bonus, the packaging is absolutely stunning, and the product itself is beautiful. The powders are so finely milled and so pigmented, that a little goes a long way, and the price tag is definitely worth it. Using these blushes, I use half as much product as I do my other blushes. I will admit to having more than one of Hourglass' blushes, because I fell for them so hard. I have just one of the Ambient Lighting Powders, the one in Luminous Light (Kathleen Lights recommended this one as a highlighter), and I love it. While these powders are meant more as an all over the face powder, Luminous Light gives the most subtle, glow from within on my upper cheekbones instead of the BAM IN YOUR FACE kind of highlight. I love that it looks so much more natural, and like it's your own skin shimmering. 

I purchased these from Sephora online, and when I was looking into getting one of the blushes and the powders, I wasn't quite sure about the size difference, so that's really what this post is meant to be about. While 0.15oz and 0.35oz is a large difference, I wasn't sure exactly how large the compacts would be, and how they would compare in size. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show you guys the difference in their sizes in case you have been debating the purchase as well. The Ambient Powders are much, much larger in size than the blushes, definitely worth the $10 increase in price. So, here are some comparison photos of these beauties!

Mood Exposure blush (left), Luminous Light powder (right)

Also featured in these photos is the Hourglass Ambient Powder Brush. This brush is meant to gently sweep the lighting powders across the entire face. I got this brush for highlighting my upper cheekbones, and for contouring. I am in love with this brush, probably more than any brush I have. It is so great for contouring because it is short and stout, and you can really get in there to blend and sculpt your face. You can also use a lighter hand to lightly sweep highlighting powder down the center of your nose and upper cheekbones. The brush itself is incredibly soft, and the structure of it is amazing. It also came in a little velvet pouch for traveling, HOW FANCY!

Alrighty guys, I know that was a long one, thanks for sticking with me. I'm just super excited about these powders, and once I have my video making on point, I'll probably do a video with all my blushes and swatch them for you guys! Would you be interested in that?

What are your go-to blushes and highlighters? Do you have any Hourglass products?