Worth the $$$? Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Quad Ghost Review

I had a little bit of holiday burn out this year because there were so. many. holiday releases. They started back in August, and it only recently started winding down… right before the new releases of the new year hit us. This holiday season I only purchased two limited edition items: the Diptyque holiday candles which I reviewed last week and the Hourglass blush quad which I am quickly reviewing today! Similar to the Diptyque candles, I bought this on the day it was released so I’ve had some time to really use it and solidify my thoughts.

Price, Availability, & Value

$58.00 for 0.16 oz via Hourglass, Sephora, Nordstrom, Space.NK , Beautylish, Bloomingdale’s, & Bluemercury | Cult Beauty & Net-A-Porter for non-US peeps.

Two of the shades are completely new, one was in a previous palette, and one is available in their permanent range. Each pan is the same size as one of Hourglass’s travel sized blush which retail for $24 each. The $/oz is a good value when you compare them to the Hourglass travel sized blushes, but not so much when you compare them to their full-sized blushes which are .15 oz and retail for $40.00. For this palette, you are basically paying $18 for 0.01 oz more of product.

That said, if you want four different blush shades, this is a more affordable option vs buying four full-sized blushes. It’s easy to get swept away in $/oz comparisons, but it’s also important to remember how much product you will actually use. A lot of product at a cheaper $/oz doesn’t mean much if the initial investment is a lot higher/ if you won’t be able to use it all up.

Packaging

This year’s collection was a love it or hate it sort of thing. While the outside of the palette had a silver, shiny finish, the interior was semi-translucent plastic which a lot of people hated. Personally, I don’t mind it 🤷‍♀️The palette isn’t particularly hefty, but it is sturdy and comes with a generously sized mirror. And it clicks shut!

Application + Blendability

My preferred method for applying powder blush is with a brush, but for the sake of this review I tried applying it with a dry sponge and with my fingers. Unsurprisingly, it applied the best with the brush. With my fingers, I wasn’t really able to pick up the product. And with the sponge, it was really hard to blend out.

With a brush, they apply pretty seamlessly. They’re not super pigmented so you won’t be looking like a clown upon first application. They’re blushes that you can build up with layers to adjust the level of pigmentation you want. There’s a slight shimmer to them but I don’t think it translates to glittery on my skin. Rather, it gives a glowy finish to my skin, without emphasizing my texture or pores.

I don’t own any of the single Hourglass blushes so I can’t compare these apply to their permanent line.

How Do They Wear?

Because I have textured skin and large pores, I’m wary of a lot of shimmery blushes and face powders in general. They have a tendency to emphasize one of my least favorite features. I don’t find these too be too glittery for my skin! Brilliant Nude has the most shimmer out of all 4 shades, but because it’s such a light shade, it still ends up looking very subtle on my skin.

All four shades do show up on my medium/ tan skin tone. I also like how the palette is laid out— I can easily swirl my brush into two, three, or even all four shades to mix ‘em up. I’ve yet to find a combination of colors I don’t like. Even when mixed, they blend seamlessly and don’t turn muddy. If you have a dark skin tone, I’m not sure if all the shades would show up on you, especially brilliant nude.

My wear time didn’t really vary much, regardless of whether I wore it over foundation/ tinted moisturizer or not. Similarly, setting powder and mist didn’t affect the wear time either. I would say I got a solid 8 hours of wear whenever I used this, and after that it faded away within a few hours. At least it had the grace to fade away evenly— no patchiness here.

If I want a longer lasting powder blush, I have better luck with Surratt and Laura Mercier.

Swatches

Is It Worth It??

I think this is worth it with a few caveats. It’s worth it if you like blushes with a glowy finish, don’t mind splurging for brand name + packaging, and have a skin tone where these will show up.

It’s disappointing that time and time again, Hourglass comes out with palettes geared towards those on the light/ medium end of the spectrum. They’ve been making holiday palettes for over 4 years now yet have yet to make one that would work for people with dark or deep skin tones. As they came out with two holiday palettes this year, it would have been nice to have one that catered to those they had previously overlooked.

All 4 shades do show up on me, and I love the luminous finish as I don’t own anything similar. Overall, this is a pretty palette that I’m happy to have on display on my vanity AND also actually use. I also like that the pans aren’t ginormous because I have a higher likelihood of panning these. For me, it was worth it!