Hourglass Archives - Page 4 of 5

Mini but Mighty: The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette shines!

December 4, 2015 Paris B 23 Comments

This must have been one of the most anticipated palettes for the Christmas season! I remember when pictures first leaked out, it generated such a frenzy amongst the beauty community. Can’t deny it’s a thing of beauty though.

It’s the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit palette, a handy palette containing 6 useful powders to give your visage a lovely healthy glow.

While I had my earlier doubts about the practicality or usability of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders, I must confess to being a fan once I tried one in Diffused Light. For me, it not only acts as a finishing powder, but also as a setting powder and I’m pretty happy with it for living up to its promise of bathing my skin in a diffused light.

I’m also happy with the Ambient Lighting blushes of which I now own erm… quite a few, although I only shared my thoughts on Radiant Magenta previously 😛 I picked up the blush palette from last Christmas, which you will see in the pictures here, but didn’t blog about it, because by the time I had it, it was sold out everywhere.

Nonplussed, I decided I’d have to buck up and share my thoughts on the Edit palette before it too sells out (Limited Edition!) although I think it might be around for a while due to its price. So, here is what I think!

For Perfectly Defined brows, take a look at the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Brow Pencil

September 4, 2015 Paris B 30 Comments

Not long after I found my holy grail (HG) brow pencil, my brow-pencil-seeking radar picked up a similar looking product from Bobbi Brown. Life’s funny that way. When it rains, it pours! You wait for a bus for an hour and suddenly 3 show up. Or you search and search for your HG brow pencil and just as you find it, another pops up for consideration!

As luck would have it, one of the Bobbi Brown Perfectly Defined Long-Wear Brow Pencil found its way into my hands, and I took it for a long long spin. Almost 2 months. I just had to figure out if I might replace my HG brow pencil with something available locally.

The Bobbi Brown Perfectly Defined Long-Wear Brow Pencil comes in 8 shades, and mine was Mahogany, which is described as a “mid-tone ash brown”. This implies that it has a slight grey tone, which is something I favour as I feel it’s more natural and flattering.

This is also a retractable, slanted brow pencil, as you will see below, and comes in a very handy packaging and size with the pencil at one end, and a spoolie brush at the other. But did it replace my HG?

For when I want a Diffused Light to bathe my skin, I reach for the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder

June 29, 2015 Paris B 31 Comments

I remember when the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders first hit the beauty scene. Gawd! Everyone and their mother was raving over them like they were the best invention since sliced bread! Ok, I don’t think sliced bread is that great an invention, if I’m to be honest LOL!

But you know how it is right? When everyone is going on and on about how these powders give their skin that je ne sais quoi ethereal glow similar to that of Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings, man, I was champing at the bit to get my paws on them! Glow! Who doesn’t want elven glow?!

But I ran into a snag. 2 snags actually. First, Hourglass cosmetics is not sold here in Malaysia. Second, the powders come in different shades, that serve different purposes and you really have to get it right if you want to appreciate its effects best.

So, that lust for this product eventually died away. When I was down in Melbourne window shopping with Tine 2 years back, I managed to see these powders up close and in person. The conclusion? I was left feeling wanting. I mean, I know Tine enjoyed using her Mood Light, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it somehow. Perhaps the tanking RM vs AUD helped me in my decision. So I passed.

But as you can see, I did eventually end up with one which I purchased from SpaceNK a while ago. I shop a lot at SpaceNK as you can tell LOL! 😀 And while my choice of Diffused Light was a bit of a stab in the dark (erm… no pun intended!) it’s turned out to be a product I thoroughly enjoy using and am happy to rave about. Yes, I’ve joined the ‘gang’ 😛

With the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil in hand I’ve found my Holy Grail

June 22, 2015 Paris B 35 Comments

When I first started taking care of my brows and enhancing them through the use of brow pencils, I jumped in straight into the deep end. It was the Shu Uemura Hard Pencil 9 that made me appreciate the importance of a good brow, and I never looked back. It was so good, I even reviewed it twice, right here on the blog! A first, even for me.

What I liked about it was the very user-friendly angled point, or as Shu Uemura will have you believe, sword point, that makes pencilling in the brows quite a breeze. The problem however, is that I never got the hang of sharpening it myself. Yes, Shu Uemura boutiques and counters offer this sharpening service for free and I availed of it for years on end. But my last few experiences at the counter left me wanting. My pencils will go in a certain length, and when I return to collect them, inches have been sliced off. I’ve seen the sharpening at work first hand, and even tried my hand at it and I can safely say that it doesn’t take inches off each time, unless it breaks, or you’re incompetent like me. So I got pissed off, and decided to look elsewhere.

I wanted something with the same angled shape, but that didn’t need me to entrust it into the hands of another, whether competent or incompetent, to get it into that shape. I looked around for a bit, tried a few different retractable options here and there but one day, after reading raves of the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil, I decided to have a go at it on one of my Net-a-Porter orders.

I didn’t quite know what to expect if I’m to be honest. I also wasn’t sure which colour to pick since we don’t have an Hourglass counter here and I wasn’t even sure of what the colours would look like. Sunny of Mostly Sunny’s review helped me with that, but I eventually bit the bullet and went with Soft Brunette.

Ladies and gents, meet my favourite-est brow pencil. Ever. Pricey for us hapless Malaysians and our sh-Ringgit, but so good, I haven’t looked or thought about looking elsewhere since I got it almost 10 months ago. It’s SO. GOOD! 😀

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