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| Illamasqua Gleam Cream in Aurora |
I love illuminators! When Illamasqua brought Gleam Cream in Aurora out with the latest collection, Generation Q, I decided I had to add it to my highlighter/illuminator wardrobe ;-) It seemed at least a bit different to all my other illuminators/highlighters (one day I'll do a photo of them all together, it's a bit embarrassing actually how many I have).
And I was right. It is different to the rest of my (cream-based) highlighters :-)
I don't want to call this a "dupe" post as it really isn't, it's more of a share-the-love and a comparison post.
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| Illamasqua Gleam Cream in Aurora is fourth from the right... |
Swatches as follows:
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna - bright white with shimmer (frost)
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Seaside (LE, Mac Me Over Collection) - soft peach rose (frost)
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Shell - soft pink beige with shimmer (frost)
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush - soft peach with icy shimmer (frost)
- NARS The Multiple in Copacabana (metallic shimmer)
- Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Crème in #02 Rose Gold (pearl shimmer)
- Illamasqua Gleam Cream in Aurora (pearl shimmer/metallic)
- MAC Pro Sculpting Cream in Naturally Defined (satin)
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Fawntastic (LE, Stylishly Yours Collection) - shimmery light beige (frost)
- MAC Cream Colour Base in Pearl - pale gold with icy shimmer (frost)
Described by Illamasqua as an iridescent champagne cream compact containing pearlescent pigments, that's a pretty accurate description. It's a soft cream-ivory-almost-gold-peach champagne that looks like a beautifully natural highlight on most pale-to-medium skin tones. It's not frosted or glittery, it's a properly grown-up highlight.
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| Jemma Kidd Rose Gold, Illamasqua Aurora, MAC Naturally Defined, MAC Fawntastic, MAC Pearl |
Before swatching, I would have thought it resembled my Jemma Kidd or one of the MAC Cream Colour bases in either Hush or Shell, but the closest I have to it is MAC Cream Colour Base in Pearl (but this doesn't have the golden-peach tones that Illamasqua Aurora has).
The iridescence/pearlescent nature of this little lovely is quite difficult to capture here without flash, but rest assured that it looks gorgeous on. It can be built from a lovely sheer subtle highlight to quite an-almost-metallic high-shine highlight. For some visuals, see the Generation Q collection on the Illamasqua site (from which I've taken these pictures):
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| Illamasqua Generation Q images... How utterly gorgeous are these! |
This is a cream product and as such, I haven't found that it sets at all. I also find that can look quite subtle in real life while on the other hand it photographs very strongly; so use a light hand if you're using this in a photography situation, or you'll run the risk of looking greasy as opposed to naturally glowy. I like to wear this as a normal day highlighter, and keep my more metallic/shiny/powder ones for night...