Sephora X Guerlain: First Impressions!

Hello girls! Finally after ages – after my entire busy schedule I finally found time to sit and write again.  Recently, I received an email from SEPHORA Philippines and they wanted me to do collaboration with them. As you all know I am a fan of Sephora and of course I said Yes! 

I got a package from them last week and I was able to try it already (since I am extremely excited to try them too) and I just want to share with you all my first impressions for each product that I got. I got a package full of Guerlain makeup products and to be honest this is the first time that I’m going to try the brand.  If you guys didn’t know anything about the brand, Guerlain (Ger-Lan) is a French cosmetics and skincare house and it is now acquired by the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - a French multinational investment corporation specializing in luxury brands. Guerlain is one of the most famous luxury brands in the market and the price point of their products are quiet expensive but you will surely get what you pay for. 

Inside my package I got 2 Guerlain Rouge G De Guerlain - Exceptional Complete Lip Colour in the shade 77 Geraldine and 62 Georgia. I also got Guerlain Meteorites Base Perfecting Pearls and Guerlain Meteorites Compact in the shade medium. And I also picked their Multi-Perfecting - Hydrating Blurring Effect Concealer in the shade 01 Clair Dore/ Light Warm. I wasn’t able to get the Guerlain Lingerie De Peau Foundation because my shade is out of stock. By the way, I personally choose all of these products as they let me pick what I wanted to try or something I am really interested to try from the brand. 

Aside from all of these gorgeous products I also got a gift from Guerlain which is this beautiful makeup pouch. (Thank you Sephora and Guerlain!) 

Now lets take a closer look on each product.

The Meteorites line is a cult classic of the brand that is why I choose 2 from this line – the Meteorites Compact and the Meteorites Base Perfecting Pearls. Based on their website The meteorites line has a stardust technology a light-creating polymer, which transforms light invisible to the naked eye into a pure and endless glow on the skin. So it is all about glow with this line.  

Guerlain Meteorites Compact Light –Revealing Powder is housed in a beautiful silver-toned plastic compact with the daisy design on the lid. This has 10g of product in it and the packaging is very well made. It also comes with a velvet pouch which makes it more luxurious. The product is heavily scented with Violet perfume so it may be an issue to some who has sensitive nose but for me I don’t really mind it at all. 

I use this product as a finishing powder right after I set my foundation with a normal setting powder. Because this product is created to give you glow, it is not the glow that we all see on those “Instagram Makeup” those "highlights on fleeeeekk." The glow that this powder give is so subtle that it blends in seamlessly on the skin. I actually like and prefer that as it looks more natural and beautiful in person. The texture of this powder is so soft, finely-milled and it goes on smoothly on the skin as you apply.  This is actually perfect for those “Bridal glow” or just something more natural. 

 Meteorites Base Perfecting Pearls – I am so amazed on how they deliver when it comes to the packaging of their product. This is not the usual makeup base you see in the market and that makes me realize why you gotta spend a premium for it. Based on their website this base is “a skin-perfecting and anti-dullness make-up base. It gives the skin a plumpy finish while a combination of absorbent powders and a special polymer neutralizes excess sebum and helps to conceal blemishes for a long-lasting matt complexion that gradually becomes more even with each application.”

I was thinking of my favorite Becca Backlight Priming Filter when I tried this product but no they are not the same. This Guerlain Perfecting Meteorites base will not really give you the “glow” because once you start rubbing it to your skin as it dries completely it is starting to become matt but not overly matt as a mattifying primer. It feels satin-ish to my skin and I can still see multi-coloured pearlescent flecks once it is already dry. I actually like this product because it doesn’t feel greasy or drying  to my combination skin. I will do an in-depth review about this product on how it affects the longevity of my makeup and if it’s really a must have. The scent of this product is the same with the meteorites compact I have. 

Left - Meteorites Base | Right - Meteorites Compact in Medium

BLENDED

Multi-Perfecting Hydrating Blurring Effect Concealer – It is in a squeeze tube packaging that has 12ML of product in it. The Claire Dore/Light Warm shade is a little too light for my skin (NC20 from MAC as preference) so I use this as a highlighting concealer instead. This product is heavily scented as well. It is stated on their website that this concealer has a distinctive and delicate floral scent.  

It has a thick consistency and I can say that it has a full coverage as it completely covers my dark under-eye circles. Although this product tends to crease on me (even if I use a little amount of it) , I still like the coverage and how easy it blends using a damp beauty sponge. 

BLENDED 

Rouge – Exceptional Lip Colour – To be honest I choose this because of the packaging and I think this is the most expensive line in their lipstick collection. I can’t stress enough how luxurious the packaging of these lipsticks are! They feel and look luxury! 

I love that it has a mirror and it’s just the perfect size for lip-touch ups. The original shades I picked first was Galiane and Garconne but both of them was out of stock so I opted for Georgia and Geraldine. I noticed that all the lipstick shade names for this line starts with letter “G”. 

 

The shade 62 Georgia is a warm muted pink while the shade 77 Geraldine is a medium pink with a slight bluish undertone. Both of them has a slight glossy finish but has opaque color coverage. The color applied smoothly and evenly in just a swipe. After a couple of hours in my lips, these lip-colors has a great staining power that can last all throughout the day. 

Left - 62 Georgia | Right - 77 Geraldine

Left - 62 Georgia | Right - 77 Geraldine

If you are into luxury brands of makeup, I definitely suggest trying Guerlain as they offer reality good products. My faves are the lipsticks and the Meteorites compact! Have you tried them too? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comment section.

Products used:
Guerlain Lipcolor in 62 Georgia
 Guerlain Meteorites Compact in Medium
 Guerlain Meteorite Perfecting Base Pearls
Guerlain Hydrating Blurring Concealer in 01 Clair Dore

With Love,
Anne

DISCLAIMER: This is a sponsored post. This post contains my genuine thoughts and recommendations. MakeupbyAnneBismonte uses affiliate links and and voucher codes, which allow me to receive a small commission with your purchase. Your purchase helps to support makeupbyannebismonte blog! 

REVIEW: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette

This palette launched 2 years back I think during the holiday season and it is one of the most coveted / hyped-up products of 2013. It is meant to be a limited edition from Hourglass but it is now part of their permanent collection because Hourglass got a huge volume of demand out of this palette.

It took me years to finally decide getting this palette I have so many highlighters (one of my obsessions) and I am really curious how these powders work.  It is supposed to be a limited edition palette from hourglass but now it is already part of their permanent collection, you know me I do pass on limited edition product (okay sometimes I don’t but most of times I do) . Now the question is, is it worth the money? 

This palette is a trio of their ambient lighting powders but a tad bit smaller than the regular ones. It has DIM LIGHT, INCANDESCENT LIGHT, and RADIANT LIGHT. 

The palette has 0.116 oz/ 3.3 g (x3) amount of product while the full size individual powders has 0.35 oz.  The shades dim light and radiant light you can buy them in full sizes while the incandescent light is only exclusive to this palette. This palette cost $58 in Sephora website, the individual powder cost $45 and the travel size individual powder cost $22. I paid Php 3,500.00 for this palette and that is after taxes and the shipping rate is already included. If you come to think of it the palette is already a deal for its price since the full size cost Php 2,100.00 here in the Philippines (after taxes and shipping rate included).  

Packaging is very elegant looking and has luxurious feels in it. It is a mirrored type of packaging that gets finger prints in it but that doesn’t really bother me and I actually prefer that because it’s easier for me to clean compared to a rubberized type of packaging that can get messy after a while (i.e. NARS and LORAC PRO packaging). It is really perfect for travel and you get a decent size of mirror which I think is pretty useful. 

These powders are meant to be highlighters according to Hourglass but I don’t want to call all of them highlighters since most of the shades are skin-toned and can be used as a setting powder. It sounds scary to me when they say, “It’s a highlighter that you can dust all over your face” or “A highlighter use to set your foundation”. *insert silly face here* Like really? I’m thinking of a Disco ball right now.

I’d like to call them finishing powders with a very subtle sheen – really subtle that you can’t even notice a difference but when the light hit your face you’ll get that multi-dimensional luminescence glow. None of these powders are frosted or glittery, if you want some highlight on point these powders might give you that but which extra effort like you have to wet the brush and build the powders on your face. This is not even close to a BECCA  SHIMMERING SKIN PERFECTOR which for me is the Goddess of all highlighters.

Let's take a look on each shades.

DIM LIGHT - It is described as a neutral peach beige powder that blurs imperfections and highlights a radiant complexion with the perfect balance of warm and cool tones. I think the effect will vary depending on your skin tone. I’d like to use this powder as finishing powder by lightly dusting it all over my face right after setting my foundation. It is my favourite shade in this palette.

INCANDESCENT LIGHT – According to hourglass it is an opalescent pearl powder that brightens the complexion with a celestial glow. To me it is a straight-up highlighter that I use to give me some “dewy-ness” I use this above my cheek bones, tip of the nose and cupids bow. The shade is very similar to MAC soft and gentle  which I really love  but Incandescent light has this subtle sheen that you wont be able to see the shiny bits on your skin compared to mac that has chunky glitters in it. So if I love soft and gentle, I love love love Incandescent light because of its subtle-ness. We want everything natural don’t we? 

RADIANT LIGHT – Described as sun-kissed golden beige that enhances the overall complexion with believable, subtle warmth, and also extends a summer glow. In short it is a light bronzer and I seldom use it. I think it is not warm enough to be a bronzer and I barely see it on my fair to medium skin. 

HOW TO USE:

1. Dust Dim Light all over your complexion.
2. Add Radiant Light as your light bronzer or on top of your usual bronzer.
3. Finish off by applying Incandescent Light on the tops of the cheekbones, under the brow bone, the tip the nose and your cupid’s bow to brighten the whole look.
*Results will be dramatically different if you have different skin-tone. 

SWATCHES: 

(L-R) DIM LIGHT, INCANDESCENT LIGHT, RADIANT LIGHT

I would like to say that I really love this palette; I’m enjoying it so far. I’ve been using it exactly 1 month and 2 weeks now from the day that I got it and I can really see the difference of it to other highlighters however BECCA OPAL is still my top 1 favorite highlighter because mama loves highlight on fleeeeek.

Going back to the question, is it worth the money? Well, if you're looking for a versatile palette, then this is a good buy for you. It expensive but the quality you pay for is definitely there. For me it is a must try, but if you have a huge stash of highlighters and bronzers it is not a must have. If you get what I mean. 

What are your thoughts about this lovely Hourglass Palette? Share it below. 

With Love,

Anne