You know when you hear a LOT about a brand you've personally never tried, then get really excited when you finally own a product from that brand? Well this is what happened with the Illamasqua Gleam Highlighter in Aurora - my first ever Illamasqua product!! When I opened up the package I did take a moment to admire the quirky, black packaging so synonymous with Illamasqua before getting to the highlighter inside.
The Gleam Highlighter is a cream highlighter containing "lustrous pearl pigments" to create a light reflecting glow on the cheekbones, browbones, cupids bow and inner corners of the eyes. The shade Aurora is described as an iridescent champagne (there is also a Supernatural shade, which is described as a warm bronze). Whichever shade you buy, the Gleam Highlighter costs £20.00.
This is one of those products that you almost don't want to use as it's just looks so pretty in the compact. The champagne shade leans more towards gold than nude, however the gold tone is more subtle once blended, leaving a light glow with some very fine shimmer. Although solid in the packaging, when you apply the formula it is so creamy that it is a dream to apply and blend with fingers, though it does dry quickly so I wouldn't recommend being hasty with blending this one! I tend to use it just on my cheekbones to bring some radiance to that area of my face. In terms of wear time, the Gleam Highlighter begins to fade after about 5 hours, which isn't much different to what I get from my No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter. I have only ever used two highlighters so I don't know whether this is an average sort of wear time, but of course my oily/combo skin may play a part in this.
This is one of those products that you almost don't want to use as it's just looks so pretty in the compact. The champagne shade leans more towards gold than nude, however the gold tone is more subtle once blended, leaving a light glow with some very fine shimmer. Although solid in the packaging, when you apply the formula it is so creamy that it is a dream to apply and blend with fingers, though it does dry quickly so I wouldn't recommend being hasty with blending this one! I tend to use it just on my cheekbones to bring some radiance to that area of my face. In terms of wear time, the Gleam Highlighter begins to fade after about 5 hours, which isn't much different to what I get from my No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter. I have only ever used two highlighters so I don't know whether this is an average sort of wear time, but of course my oily/combo skin may play a part in this.
All in all, the Illamasqua Gleam Highlighter in Aurora is a beautiful, good quality glow-giver. For the price it would be nice to have a longer wear time, but you get a good amount of product in the compact and I don't use much, so it should last for ages. You can find the Gleam Highlighter on the Illamasqua website here.
Have you tried the Illamasqua Gleam Highlighter in Aurora? Which Illamasqua products do you love?
Beauty Bird xx
P.S. This post contains a PR sample. This does not affect my opinion of the product.
Sounds and looks beautiful! Everytime I see Aurora I imagined Disney princesses - but then again they do have nice skin!
ReplyDeleteDanniella x
www.famousinjapan.co.uk
I know, I love the name Aurora! It also reminds me of a Foo Fighters song :-) xx
DeleteThis looks fab! x
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful isn't it! xx
DeleteThis looks absolutely beautiful, wow that swatch xx
ReplyDeleteBeautyqueenuk xx
The swatch just shows it's not just pretty in the compact, but pretty on the skin too :-) xx
DeleteI NEED a highlighter asap, this may just have to be the ONE am looking for!
ReplyDeletelovely post!
zara xx
zaras-bowsandpearls.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks Zara! I'm glad I may have helped you find the one :-) xx
DeleteLooks lovely Sasha! I like the sound of Supernatural! xx
ReplyDeleteI think Supernatural is more warmer toned compared to this one. Looks lovely from the swatches online xx
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