| Review | Giorgio Armani Beauty Neo Nude Collection - Nude A-Contour, Blush, & Highlight


| Review | Giorgio Armani Beauty Neo Nude Collection - Nude A-Contour, Blush, & Highlight

As soon as the promo pictures of this collection scrolled onto my Instagram feed, I immediately fell in love and knew I had to have some of this new collection! I mean the whole concept of this collection has me completely smitten! This collection is intended to provided the ultimate "no-makeup makeup"! The products are supposed to be effortless, natural, glowing, and fuse seamlessly with the skin! How amazing does that sound??! 

This collection consists of the lightweight Neo Nude powder foundation, Ecstasy Lip Balms, the Nude A-Contours, Nude A-Blushes, & Nude A-Highlights. I elected to pass on the powder foundation and balms, as I am not a huge fan of powder foundations and sheer balms. However, the water-based face products more than intrigued me, especially with the promise of flawless fusion. With the stunning baby pink spring inspired packaging and the unique new formula, I couldn't resist. There are very few brands who do effortlessly chic and polished makeup, as well as, Giorgio Armani. Their Eye Tint are some of my favorite effortless lazy day products, check out my review on them here and my lazy luxe look using one of them here.



PACKAGING & APPLICATION

The Nude A-Contours, Nude A-Blushes, and Nude A-Highlights retail for $38.00 USD and are available at Giorgio Armani, Nordstrom, and other retailers. These liquid face products are beautifully packaged in a soft nude beige ombre tube, the same shaped tube as the Lip Magnets. If this packaging doesn't make you dance and swoon, you are a strong person! The packaging just looks so clean and natural! The applicator for all of the products is a rounded-point doe foot applicator. Meant for easy swipe-on application and on-the-go portability. 

The does-foot applicator is PER-FECT for application of these products! For your contour, you can get very precise and because the tip tapers, your contour will taper as you draw it toward your mouth! It also applies the perfect amount of product, so you don't end up with a muddy blog on your cheeks. You can turn the applicator to the side or use the tip for contouring the nose! Seriously, this is perfection! For your highlight, its the same situation, you can get more by using the flat side of the applicator or, for precision highlighting down the bridge of the nose, under the eyebrows, and the cupid's bow use the tip pf the applicator! I don't think this applicator is as crucial for the blush but overall, this application method is so quick and convenient.  





SHADES

The A-Contour comes in 2 shades Light and Dark. I went with the Dark shade knowing that these colors often cater to a light to medium skin tone. I did buy everything online blindly because they were not available in stores and no swatches had been posted yet. The dark shade is perfect for my medium skin tone, I don't see this working for anyone much darker than me though. I hope they will come out with more shades because I really do think this product is phenomenal! The contour shade is a perfectly cool taupe shade that blends out to be extremely natural but has a potent effect!



The A- Highlight comes in Light and Tan. Again , I went with the Tan shade because I am tan and the color also appears to be a slightly cooler shade. Frankly, I'm tired of companies making highlighters catered to medium to tan skin tones always a gold shade! This one is pink-champagne shade, which is perfectly neutral. It doesn't lean too cool or too warm and makes your skin look very naturally glowy. It gives the effect of healthy and naturally glowing skin, like you have been working out and drinking lots of water. It just makes your skin look so beautiful and polished! 


 In direct light, so you can see the reflect
In indirect light, you can see it is very subtle

The A-Blushes come in 5 shades ranging from peach to a deep raspberry. I couldn't decide on a shade, luckily, I didn't really have to because what ended up happening was these were all sold out online but Nordstorm's Customer Service very kindly helped me track one down! Luckily it was in a shade I was already considering purchasing, in 53 Fuschia! I'm glad I was able to get one of the brighter/deeper shades because I had a feeling these were going to be on the sheer side and I didn't want the blush to not show up on my cheeks. This pink looks quite dark when dotted on the cheeks but as promised, it sheers out to be a beautiful flush! It really makes me look like I have been running, just a very healthy flush! 



FORMULA & FINISH 

These are described as having a "watercolor" texture, which sounds so light, natural, and beautiful! You will see in the application photos, how the formula fuses with the skin and makeup. I decided to create a no-makeup makeup look using Armani Beauty products so you can see how you can easily create a natural look. I started out with my base of Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, concealed my under eyes, applied my brows, applied some Armani Eye Tint in Camel Smoke, and added some mascara. I also lightly powdered the skin in these photos, you can powder your face or leave it unpowdered, the product performs well either way! Another thing to note is I used a synthetic brush to blend in each of these products but fingers will work well too!

Now for the contouring... 


Blending the contour into the cheekbones
Contour on one cheekbone (the left) and not the other. Can you tell the difference?
 Adding contour to the temples and jawline
Contouring the nose is super easy with this applicator!
Contour complete, do you see a difference? Subtle but it's there!

The contour has a light texture and it is quite opaque when initially applied to the skin but blends out so naturally and looks like real skin! It contains no shimmer but the very blendable makes it look so natural on the skin. It really is juts naturally enhancing and makes me look like I was born with amazing bone structure!

 Applying highlighter from the wand. I also applied some to the bridge and tip of my nose.
Blending highlighter with a synthetic brush 

The highlight looks very healthy and natural. It isn't too shimmery or glossy but a perfect in between. Like I has said before, it looks like really healthy and hydrated skin. It's one of those highlights that will trick the eye with it's texture and finish and make everyone say " wow... you have really good skin!"

 I like dotting it on the cheeks.
A close up, so you can see the texture of the blush. 

The blush is has a very sheer formula and blends into the skin like a stain. It really fuses with the skin to look like a genuine natural flush! It really makes me look fresh and healthy, like I just went on a run! The color is very buildable but expect some of the lighter shades may not work for my medium skin tone. I recommend layering the color up because it will really last throughout the day! 

All of the products blend out very easily and can be blended with fingers or a brush. The miraculous thing about this formula is that it can be used over powder! The Neo Nude Collection actually comes with a powder foundation, so when I applied these products, I powdered my face after applying my foundation. The formula of these products glides on and blends in beautifully with powder products! It fuses with the powder instead of creating patch and uneven spots. I am so impressed with this innovative new formula! When you place over powder, you will get more of a satin finish to you products. Over unpowdered bases, you will get more of a natural skin-like look with a bit of glow. 

A swipe of a sheer Armani Ecstasy Lip Lacquer...



The finished look... 




What do you think? Natural, glowing, sheer makeup... yes or no?

WEAR-TIME

These products on my normal to dry skin type, last for 8+ hours over unpowdered liquid bases or over a powdered base! It wears beautifully throughout the day, just creating this enhanced skin illusion that is so stunning! I do notice a bit of fading but it faded very naturally, you can't tell you have makeup on your face at all the way these products wear. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am so incredibly impressed with these products! I have never felt so happy looking at the finished product of my no-makeup makeup look! I feel confident and beautiful but I don't feel like I look different or like I have too much makeup on. I just feel like me but enhanced and comfortable in my own skin! The products last a very long time on the skin and they are so effortless and easy to use! The applicators are absolutely perfect for precise placement of the product and the sheer formula really becomes part of your skin! If I has to recommend one product, it would be the contour! The contour has the perfect tone and the applicator works so well to sculpt the face but it still looks incredibly natural! The highlighter and blush are both beautiful but they are products that I have seen before. The highlighter is not particularly unique but still very pretty and same with the stain-like blush. I have to say, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these products! They are just so fool-proof and easy to use! I like to carry these little tubes around with me for touch ups! 

Shop the Giorgio Armani Beauty Neo Nude Collection: 

3 Comments

  1. Oh my wow! I think I need each of them! How gorgeous is the highlight on you! and the finish look is just stunning, the perfect makeup no makeup look!
    xx
    Lyna
    www.beautybylynmed.com

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  2. Great review ^_^ what lip shade did you use?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! The lip color is an Armani Ecstasy Lacquer in shade 101 but it's now discontinued... you can probably find a similar sheer sparkly gloss.

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