Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Review! Lorac Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder in Spotlight

Lorac Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder in Spotlight has been on rotation in my makeup bag for a while now.  It is another perfect example of why I like to test a product for a while before handing out an opinion on it.

To put this in perspective, I currently have over 40 reviews started and in draft form.  I take pictures first, then swatches, then I try it out.  Then I try it again, and again, and again.  I record my thoughts as I go along, updating all the drafts as I drift from product to product.  sometimes I find myself reaching for a particular item with persistent regularity.  Those items get my highest marks.  Then, sometimes, a product will be left in my makeup bag, to be trialed several more times, but the trials end up being for the sake of trialing, and not because I like the product.  Lorac Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder in Spotlight falls into the latter category.

Here was my preliminary analysis, after wearing it for a week:

This powder is the exact shade of my skin, so it doesn't do anything for me as a highlighter.  This would not work for ultra-pale girls.  Since I can't use it as a highlighter, I have been using it as an eyeshadow.  The cream eyeshadows I have tend to fade by the end of the day, and the results makes me look tired.  I tap my big, fluffy powder brush into this, and then pat it over my entire lid (with my eyes closed), just patting it on.  It brightens up my eyes, and adds a bit of tawny color.  The result makes me look more awake.

Because it doesn't work as a highlighter for me, and it will probably take me a little bit of forever to use all this up with the way I use it, I don't plan to re-purchase it.

Then, it sat in my makeup bag, making appearances as a end-of-the-day brightener for my eyeshadow.  I found it rather annoying, actually, to have such an expensive product feel like such a let-down.  I had purchased it as part of a sample set from Sephora, so this size is more of a deluxe trial size (at about half the full-size), but the full-size product is $32.  Every time I saw this little compact, I would frown at it, like a disapproving instructor.  It came in a sample set of blushes, highlighters and bronzers, so I expected this to be a highlighter.

Then one day, the revelation...  This is an all-over illuminator, not a highlighter.

After wearing my makeup for the day, I was getting ready to go out for a bit that evening, so I was touching up my makeup.  I was feeling too lazy to start over, but I had a few red spots I needed to cover.  I grabbed this, and dabbed it on with a cotton ball (I had just washed all of my brushes before I noticed the redness).  It covered them all right up, flawlessly.  I started patting it under my eyes to boost my concealer, and it was like magic!  I looked SO rested!  I swept a bit over my cheekbones, and I looked even more fresh!  I came to the conclusion that I was trialing this product mostly during the morning when my makeup was fresh, or only using it over my eyeshadow mid-day to look more awake.  I don't think it really stands out on freshly applied makeup, especially since I aim for a dewy look; this powder just ended up looking like a setting powder when used on fresh makeup, and not a shine-a-spotlight-here highlighter. 

Now I'm using the powder to set my undereye concealer, and to touch-up any redness that might crop up during the day.  I am so glad that I left this powder in my makeup rotation, and it had a chance to show what it can do.

Before:

After.  It's very subtle, and applied over fresh makeup.  Also, this picture was taken with a bit more natural lighting, because otherwise it looked exactly the same as the "before" picture:

I can see myself re-purchasing this once I run out.  

The shimmer captured the flash, so this color is much lighter than it is in real life:
This color is more true-to-life:

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