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Thursday 6 March 2014

Illamasqua Gleam Highlighter in Aurora

I love me a highlighter but I haven’t used a cream or liquid one for a very long time – not since Benefit discontinued their Moonbeam highlighter and I swore never to buy from them again (lies!). But everyone I know who has tried Illamasqua’s Aurora has raved about it, so I thought it was about time I gave it a go.
 
Illamasqua Gleam in Aurora
 
Standard Illamasqua packaging – beautiful! I still love the pinched shape, it's so elegant.

Illamasqua Gleam in Aurora Swatch

Aurora is a pale 'beige champagne iridescent' cream – there’s not too much pink or too much gold/yellow in it, so it should a decent variety of skintones from pale to medium. This is swatched heavily on the left and blended out on the right.

Illamasqua Neutral LOTD 2

All Illamasqua products except my mascara and eyeliner – Illamasqua Neturals Palette, Skinbase in 03, Sangers lipstick and Touch lipgloss, Eyebrow Cake in Peek.

As you can see, it’s a really subtle effect on the skin – you’ll have to zoom in to see properly, but I’m just wearing the highlighter here – no blush or contour. In my opinion, a highlighter usually *should* be subtle. I love a strong look, don’t get me wrong, but most of the time, you probably don’t need a strong highlighter (or contour, but that’s another post in itself!) at all. The soft glow you get from this product is still beautiful and gives you a lovely dewy look. If you wanted, you could certainly build it up more, like in my swatch above, but it is quite an emollient feeling product so bear in mind that if you do build it up, that may affect the longevity. With a normal light application though, this lasts pretty well - better than most cream blushes I’ve tried - so I’m not afraid to wear it to work or on a busy day when I won’t have time to touch up. It feels very lightweight on the skin and the formula is very thin, but it doesn’t feel greasy or like it’s sitting on top of your foundation, ready to smudge and smoosh everywhere. It really is a fab formula!


It’s not a super cheap product at £18.00 , but the finish in my opinion is well worth the money. Definitely one to check out if you’re near an Illamasqua counter soon, and like all products, if you get the chance to test it on your face, do.

What are your favourite champagne highlighters?
 

1 comment:

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