Incandescent Electra from the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Incandescent Electra is the exclusive blush shade from the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette, and definitely a motivating factor for me in buying the palette.  I love a good peachy blush, and this one looked like it would work quite well with my fair but warm complexion. 

Each palette is unique and can vary in the blush to powder striation, and mine has a predominance of the peach blush to the Incandescent Ambient Lighting powder.  This makes me happy, as Incandescent is more of a highlighting powder and I prefer a lower shimmer content in my blushes.  This one is quite lovely.

I find the finish of all the Ambient Lighting powders and blushes to be skin enhancing, and they really perform well on my oily skin.  I can still see mostly intact pigment with the blushes at the end of the day, which is not always the case for me.  These are probably the longest wearing powder blushes I've experienced.

It's a toss up for me if Incandescent Electra or Mood Exposure is my favorite from the Ambient Lighting Blush palette.  Indeed, they are similar in tone, with Incandescent Electra leaning slightly more peach and Mood Exposure more terracotta.  Electra also has a higher shimmer content due to the Incandescent Ambient powder, but it still falls comfortably within my acceptable shimmer level (NARS Orgasm would not, for example).

I'm quite happy with my Ambient Lighting Blush Palette ($58).  The formula totally works for me, and I'd love to see another palette with some of the other shades and perhaps another exclusive color.  The palette is currently listed as limited edition (although Hourglass did that with the powder palette, but then brought it back as permanent), and it's currently showing as out of stock at Sephora.  You can still get it from Hourglass, Net-a-Porter, and Space NK, however.

Mood Exposure Ambient Lighting Blush by Hourglass

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

I think the Ambient Lighting blushes ($35) are something you either get, or you don't.  Or more likely, it's a matter of personal preference/skin chemistry/complexion color/yada yada yada.  Personally, I love them, which is way I picked up my third one in the form of Mood Exposure.  Approximately 2 weeks or so before Hourglass released their Ambient Lighting Blush palette, which also contains Mood Exposure plus two other colors.  Palms face.

Yeah, I ended up getting the blush palette too, I like them that much.  But that's okay, as each blush is slightly different depending on the ratio of the soft plum blush to the Mood Light powder combined with it.  The full sized compact I received has more of the plum blush, whereas the smaller Mood Exposure in the blush palette has more of the Mood Light powder.  It did make a slight difference in the color intensity between the two.

Mood Exposure is described as a soft plum, but it leans distinctly warmer in tone to me.  Perhaps if you combined the orange pulp of a plum with the skin, that would capture the color better :-)  Regardless, I've been reaching for this blush a lot, as the skin enhancing soft glow and excellent wear on my oily skin continues to impress me.

In fact, the Ambient Lighting Blushes have joined Estee Lauder Pure Color blushes as my favorites.  I hope they release more colors!

Radiant Magenta Ambient Lighting Blush by Hourglass

I'm a big fan of the Ambient Lighting powders, so when Hourglass released the Ambient Lighting blushes, I knew I'd get at least one.  I waited a while so that I could read reviews and decide on the color, which turned out to be Radiant Magenta.  Was it worth the wait and $35?

For me, absolutely!  Radiant Magenta is a mix of bright pink blush combined with Radiant Light Ambient Lighting powder, which gives a golden coral pink glow.  No two blushes will be the same due to variations in the baked powder striation:

Just like the Ambient Lighting powders, Radiant Magenta provides a healthy looking luminosity to the skin.  The color leans warm in spite of the cool pink blush pigment, as it's tempered by the golden Radiant Lighting powder.  I find lightly swirling my brush picks up plenty of color, and intensity can be built up without looking cakey.  Yes, there will be powder dust kickup evident in the pan, which is why a light touch works best. 

This is the kind of finish that makes your skin look better, which is the magic of the Ambient Lighting powders.  Hourglass calls it "Photoluminescent Technology", or optically transparent particles to amplify the color to a multidimensional level. 

Click to enlarge and see glow

Call it whatever you want, the result is a lovely finish that is incredibly long lasting on my oily skin.  In fact, I'd say this is a great blush option for oily skin.  At the end of the day the color is still there and I don't see the disintegration of makeup that is common for me after 8-9 hours. 

Dust kickup

Of the six available colors, three look very close in color (Luminous Flush, Radiant Magenta, Vibrant Poppy) in the reviews I've seen.   Two more look better suited for pale complexions (Dim Infusion, Ethereal Glow).  which leaves one other (Mood Exposure), that I may pick up at some point in the future.  The Ambient Lighting blushes are proving quite popular and only Luminous Flush is currently in stock at Sephora, no doubt a result of the recent BI/VIB sale.  I'm sure they'll be back soon.