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.

 

 

Standard Illamasqua packaging – beautiful! I still love the pinched shape, it's so elegant.



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.



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?

 

Quickie Review: Soap and Glory Bright Here Bright Now

 

I picked this up on a buy two, get one free Soap and Glory offer a good while ago and it was a surprisingly good little find. I do like a bit of Soap and Glory, I must admit. Their scrubs and shower gels last for ages and are pleasingly enormous to boot!

Rather annoyingly, I believe Soap and Glory have changed a lot of their packaging, so if you’re looking for this in store, I think it’s now a white plastic tube. I actually prefer this sort of ‘metal’ tube as you can get every last bit out.

Bright Here, Bright Now is a soft golden champagne colour in a fairly thin, lotion-like formula which claims to  be ‘brightening, illuminating and radiance-boosting,’  have a ‘tightening and lifting effect’ and that it ‘minimises fine lines & wrinkles, moisturises, smoothes & energises.’

There are really mixed reviews of this product online, which as with any ‘skincare’ item is probably to be expected. The comment I’m seeing most is that it’s balling up/flaking off. It does have silicone in it, so you’re going to want to check what other products you’re using it with it, but I’ve never had that problem when using it at all and find it glides on easily and my foundations play well with it. The tightening claims though? Nah. I never buy into those claims past a temporary effect anyway, but I’ve certainly not noticed anything. However, I do find it lightly moisturising which is a bonus and I really, really like the brightening effect that it has.  I use it all over the face except the T-zone, and have even ran a little down the centre of my legs and my décolletage as well. It’s very subtle, and one of those things that someone else wouldn’t notice, but I do personally notice it and I really like it. Being so subtle on the face, it’s really hard to capture in photographs….

…See? You’d have no idea I was wearing it, but rest assured*I* did! A nice subtle illuminator is a mini confidence booster.

I’ve become really accustomed to wearing an illuminator under my foundation and this has become my go-to. I’ve been wearing it with Revlon Nearly Naked or Dr Jarts BB Cream for the last couple of months, and I’m interesting to see how it plays with Revlon Colorstay which is my winter foundation of choice.

For £12 this is a nice little product, and a nice find when many high street illuminators seem to be very pink! I really recommend this little lovely for winter, and if you keep your eye out in Boots, Soap and Glory are quite often on offer.