Continuing Obsession: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders

There are a few things in my makeup collection that I love enough to own in (almost) every shade. And yup, I’ve already posted about these a couple times before (here and here). Since then I’ve picked up another shade (I’m only missing Luminous at this point), so I wanted to do some more/better swatches and add some thoughts on them.

Top: Mood, Diffused, Ethereal
Bottom: Dim, Incandescent, Radiant

Left to right: Mood, Diffused, Ethereal, Dim, Incandescent, Radiant

These are still my favorite finishing powders – they’re light and pretty much invisible on the skin. Even if they don’t magically erase every imperfection – they don’t quite disguise all the scarring on my skin – they just make my skin look better. Not all the colors are created equal though, so I use them in different ways.

Mood – I use this one as an all-over powder, especially if I have a foundation that’s a tad too yellow. It’s a little more glowy than the others, so a little extra on the high points makes it a good highlighter.

Diffused – This is my newest addition! It’s slightly yellow-toned so it’s perfect for hiding a bit of redness. It has visible shimmers when swatched, but isn’t shimmery at all on my face. It looks a bit dark swatched heavily, but I think this shade would work well on most skintones.

Ethereal – This one is the palest and most matte, so I like it for a winter all-over powder. It doesn’t look chalky on me even in the summer, but I could see that happening on darker skin.

Dim – If Ethereal is winter, Dim is summer. It’s a peachy beige that would probably add a little too much color to very light skin, but for medium skin it adds a perfect glow.

Incandescent (LE) – This one from the Ambient Lighting Palette is probably the most shimmery, so it gets restricted to highlight-use-only. It’s a little too shimmery for daytime, but it’s my go-to highlighter for evening.

Radiant – I have to admit this is the one I’ve used the least. It’s very, um… golden. It was already fall when I got the palette so I haven’t had much need for a bronzey shade, but I can see myself using this in place of a bronzer as the weather gets warmer.

So my current favorite? I’d have to say Diffused right now, but we’re still in the honeymoon phase. That one and Dim have gotten the most use, but I try to spread the love around!

Which one is your favorite?