Hourglass Illume Creme-to-Powder Bronzer Duo in Sunset

Hourglass cosmetics describes their new Illume Creme-to-Powder Bronzer Duo as:

A multi-purpose crème-to-powder duo featuring a bronzer paired with a blush or highlighter. The bronze shade imparts a natural golden glow, subtly defining and contouring the face. Accent colors of sheer rose (Sunset duo) or champagne beige (Bronze Light duo) warm and illuminate the complexion. Illume’s luxurious vitamin-enriched formula blends seamlessly onto skin without blotching or streaking.

So, the bronzer duo comes in two shades, Sunset, which I have, is a duo of bronzer and a warm pink blush.  The Bronze Light duo contains the bronzer (same shade as the Sunset duo) and a champagne beige highlighter.

Originally I picked up the Bronze Light duo because those were the product reviews (and raves) I'd seen.  I glanced at the Sunset duo, but I mistakenly thought it was just a deeper version of the Bronze Light.  When I got home and realized that the Sunset duo actually contained a blush as opposed to the Bronze Light's highlighter, I immediately exchanged Bronze Light for Sunset.

Let's face it, I'm going to get way more use out of a blush than a highlighter. Sunset is it. ;)

I will admit up front that my expectations for this product were high.  I had seen several YouTube gurus whose opinions I respect and generally agree with, rave about this product.  (Though both of them did review the Bronze Light duo.  You can see GossMakeupArtist's review here and Josh Collier's review here.)

I also felt like I had a good handle on how this product should perform.  I already have the Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel gel bronzer, which I love.  Like the Hourglass creme-to-powder bronzer, the Chanel bronzer isn't great for contouring.  I think it leans too orange on my skintone for that.  But for that summer, sun-kissed glow without the sun damage, it's great, even on my pasty pale skin.

(sunlight)

(daybulb)

As for the cream blush, I feel like I've seen a hundred different cream blush formulations and I was curious to see Hourglass's take.  I really like the formula a lot.  It is incredibly pigmented and while it goes on smooth and creamy, it dries down to a powder finish very quickly and has fantastic staying time.  I got a solid 8 hours out of it before it started to fade at all.

(sunlight)

(daybulb)

Overall, I really, really like this product.  As usual, the hourglass packaging is so sleek and luxurious feeling.  There is a lot of product.  The product performs fantastically well and it's paraben and cruelty free.  It's a total win, even at this price point.

Hourglass also touts the following benefits for the Illume line:

• Shades illuminate the skin while delivering year-round bronze color
• Stays fresh on skin all day without blotching or streaking
• Vitamins A and E provide moisturizing and antioxidant benefits
• Compact features a mirror that swivels 360°
• Free of oil, wax, parabens, phthalates, sulfates and fragrance

The Illume Creme-to-Powder Bronzer Duo contains 11 grams of product and retails for $40 wherever Hourglass Cosmetics are sold.  (I got mine at Sephora).

Overall: 10/10

Flower Beauty Creme Blush in Pure Petunia and Peach Blossom

I picked up 2 of the new Win Some, Rouge Some creme blushes from Flower Beauty.  There are 6 creme blush shades in the line.  I picked up BL1 Pure Petunia which is a bright blue-based pink and BL2 Peach Blossom which is, as the name suggests, peach.

These cream to powder blushes are the only individual blushes in the Flower line.  There is a blush/bronzer duo available that contains a powder blush, but as far as I can tell, you cannot buy the powder blush individually.

Despite looking really orange in the pan, Peach Blossom is indeed a soft peach that leans a little pink.

(sunlight)

(daybulbs)

Pure Petunia is a bright blue-based pink.  You can see the difference in the swatches below.  In certain lights it looks very blue based and in others, more neutral.  Mostly, I felt like it was neutral on me.

(sunlight)

(daybulbs)

I appreciate that Flower Beauty is really trying to use current cosmetics formulations, especially at this price point.  My experience with drugstore type cream blushes is that they can be really watery and almost waxy.  The Flower Beauty cream to powder blush definitely emphasizes the powder part of that claim.  While the blushes definitely aren't powder blushes, the formulation is very powdery.  That can make them a little difficult to blend out (which I really don't want in a cream blush since it messes up my base).

The colors are pretty.  While they look very vibrant in the pan, it's not difficult to get a subtle wash of color from them.  The formulation does have good staying power.  My cheeks don't exactly eat blush, but I do often have fading after a day of wear.  These wore for probably a good 6 or 7 hours before I had noticeable fading.  

The formulation is also easily buildable once you get the first layer down.  I had the best luck with application using a small stippling brush (either the E.L.F. or Sonia Kashuk ones).  These products do definitely set, unlike some cream blushes.  And once set, they do have a powdery feel on the cheeks (though I don't think they look powdery).  They do not, however, look dewy on the cheeks.  So, if you're gravitating toward cream blushes because you want a dewy finish, these probably aren't the blushes for you.  Once set, I found that they had a rather matte texture.

I am really hit or miss with the Flower Beauty packaging and the creme blush packaging is definitely a miss for me.  The lids on the blush are convex, solely to make it look like there is a lot more product in the package than there is.  It means they won't stack.  And the actual product well is not very wide at all, but deeper than a lot of other cream blush packaging.  I don't know, the packaging on this product just really bothers me.  Obviously, you may not have that issue.

Overall, I do really like these blushes.  As far as drugstore cream blushes go, I think this is my favorite formulation.

The blushes contain 4g of product and retail for $7.98 at Wal-Mart.

Overall: 8/10