| Review | Hourglass Ghost Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

| Review | Hourglass Ghost Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

Every holiday, Hourglass graces us with their luxurious ambient lighting powder palettes. This year, they came out with a beautiful blush quad to have us glowing through the harsh and dull winter! While the palette is called "ghost" there's nothing ghostly about this skin-brightening blush palette! With all the holiday releases, teh real question is, "Is this palette a must-have"? Keep reading to find out!

PRICE & PACKAGING

The Hourglass Ghost Ambient Lighting Blush Palette retails for $58.00 USD and is available at Sephora and other retailers. The palette is packaged in a lightweight plastic compact with a highly reflective top. While I like what they were going for in the packaging, I just don't think it translated as well. The translucent "ghost"-like bottom portion of the packaging looks cheap and reminds me of makeup packaging from a toy. The highly reflective top portion looks a little more luxurious and chic but it is prone to getting fingerprint smudges all over it. 

SHADES

The shades in this palette are different but don't vary wildly. There are two warm shades and to cool shades but the shades won't work as a blush for all skin tones. Particularly, if your skin tone is on the deeper end of the spectrum. I always find with these face and cheek palettes that they never really cater to tan to deep skin tones. Last year was probably the best face palette they had ever come out with for a medium to tan skin tone but even then, I felt that deeper skin tones would still have a hard time using it. This blush palette is another one that caters more to a fair to medium skin tone but it really doesn't work for anyone deeper. I feel like I'm on the borderline of it almost most working for me. For reference, I am a MAC NC30-35.  The shades included are:

Surreal Effect (top left) - This light bright cool-toned pink shade is ideal for a fairer skin tone because of the tone and light coloring. It reminds me of a bubble gum pink shade 

Brilliant Nude (top right) - This shade is in the permanent range and has been on my radar for a while but it really mostly suits a fair skin tone because it lacks pigment. This shade is a very light warm toned nude shade with a strong golden shimmer throughout. On a medium to deep skin tone, this will make a beautiful subtle golden highlighter. However, I wish it had more pigment so that other skin tones can have a nice nude blush.

Lucid Glow (bottom left) - This shade is a warm peachy shade that has a warm golden glow but unlike Brilliant Nude, the shimmer isn't apparent. This shade will work for most skin tones and it provides a very fresh flush to warm skin tones. This shade will show up very well on a medium to tan skin tone. 

Infinite Flush (bottom right) - This shade is a beautiful warm mauve shade with a soft pink glow. The shimmer is very soft and undetectable on the skin, leaving an ethereal glow to the skin. This shade is beautiful on a medium to tan skin tone, leaving a very noticeable but natural flush to the skin.

FORMULA 

I have always been a HUGE fan of the ambient lighting powder formula! The formula is exceptionally smooth and silky. It glides onto the skin effortlessly and blends into the skin like a dream without enhancing texture. The formula also seems to blur and perfect texture on the skin with its unique smoothing formula. The beauty of this blush formula is that it applies so softly and looks like a true from-within-flush. The luminosity in these blushes is very soft and creates a very natural and ethereal glow to the skin. These blushes don't swatch well and appear to be soft and dusty but the formula surprisingly adheres very well to the skin and will last on average 8 hours or more. The soft texture is really nice because it makes the formula very easy to work with and ensures the blush applies evenly every time. The pigmentation may seem too soft and light in the swatches but it can be built up very easily on the skin without looking heavy. I actually prefer this very buildable formula because it prevents a heavy-handed application from looking overdone. There's really nothing negative I can say about this formula, it's truly a unique and phenomenal blush formulation.




FINAL THOUGHTS 

While I am a huge fan of this formula, I have an even bigger problem with the shade selections. These shades are much too soft to work for a wide range of skin tones. It really caters to a fair skin tone and even for a medium skin tone like myself, I find the shades being bordering on too light when I have a light tan. I will say that I really love the two bottom shades in the palette, Lucid Glow and Infinite Flush. They are both very flattering and unique shades that warm and cool skin tones will enjoy. Additionally, they are the two shades that show up the best on my medium skin tone. I feel that if all the shades suit your skin tone than this palette will be perfect for you and I would highly recommend it! If you are finding some of these shades too light on your skin tone, it is better to pick individual shades that will suit you, than buying this palette. I must say, I am a little disappointed at the shade selection because last year they came out with a palette that suited a range of skin tones from fair to tan very well. I was hoping to see this trend continue into this year but both the face palette and this blush palette seem to mostly cater to fair skin tones. That being said, I'm still enjoying this formula and the shades in this palette. I don't have any regrets about getting this palette and I plan on getting some good use out of it.

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