The Essence Light Up Your Face Luminzer Palette is $5.99 and worth every penny. When I first saw the palette on Ulta, I’m not gonna lie, I gave it the side-eye. I suspected it might not wear on me long and that my oily skin would slay it in a matter of hours. I also thought it would just be loads of glitter on my face. Happily, I was wrong on both accounts.
My skin type
My skin is oily. Around 3 pm everyday, especially when I am wearing makeup, I need to powder or blot. I’m less oily when I use sunscreen or primer or both. I have scars on my cheeks from acne and from damaged pores, something I was mistaking as large pores. 😞
What it’s supposed to do
It’s basically a highlighter. I am not a huge fan of the “glow” trend; I just don’t find it practical in my everyday lifestyle. While I like the way it looks to the eye and on others, I certainly can’t walk in to work like that. I’m more of the subtle highlight person.
Formula
Nude
The shade Nude in this palette is my favorite one to wear. It’s barely got any glitter, but provides that subtle highlight I was talking about. I wasn’t convinced the color would work for me after I swatched it, but as it builds, it reminds me of the middle shade in the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette (Incandescent Light?). I didn’t have to do much to get it to blend. It’s definitely one of those “as the light hits your face” type of highlighters, something I find pretty hard to come by for my skin tone.
Rose
Rose was the most powdery of the bunch. It also seemed to have the most shimmer, although Golden-beige has just as much. It’s an ok shade, but probably too cool for my skin tone. I also found that it made my pores more noticeable.
Golden-beige
Golden-beige is the warmest of all three and I do quite like it. It’s pretty shimmery but I like the color more than that of Rose. You don’t need much to get the glow you see in the photo above, and you can certainly tone it down. Like Rose, I did find that my pores were more noticeable to me.
Performance
All three shades out-performed my expectations. By the time it was time to clear up the oil, the highlighters were still shining away. Overall, all of these last over eight hours on me.
Where to indulge
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