Review: Estee Lauder illuminating powder gelee- 01 heat wave

Over the last month or 2 every time I walk past the Estee Lauder counter in my local Dillards and see there Bronze Goddess collection I had to stop to swatch and play around with their limited edition illuminating powder gelee in "heat wave". So finally about 2 weeks ago I broke down and bought and boy do I have to say I am beyond amazed with how this product looks, applies, and wears.

First off I always expected the Estee Lauder gelees to have a strange texture, but it feels and applies just like a regular powder, but it has a beautiful metallic finish. The color comes across as a champagne gold and looks gorgeous on the skin as well as on the eyes. One of my favorite go-to looks is to use this all over the lid and inner corner of my eyes with some of Urban Decay's Buck in the crease and on the lower lash line. Then I will usually just add eyeliner and tons of mascara or falsies and it just looks gorgeous and very put together. I have found that this highlighter, while not advertised as a long lasting product, seems to last a good 6+ hours on me without a hint of fading. Since I bought this I have sadly, yet not, been neglecting all my other highlighters. It just gives the skin a gorgeous sheen and is the perfect thing to use with bronzer for a pretty "Summer glow". My favorite way to apply the illuminating gelee is to use my Sonia Kashuk duo fibre fan brush or to use the small fluffy brush I use to set my under eyes with. Because my skin is on the drier side I bring the highlight onto my cheek bones, forehead, nose, cupids bow, and a little on my chin. It just makes me look so glowy

I feel like this product should be great for all skin types, but if you're extremely oily you may not like this because of the extra shiny, sheen it gives to skin, however I feel if you just apply it on your cheekbones and not on the forehead or nose it should be just fine. I have combination/dry skin and I don't have any problems with how it looks or applies. One suggestion I have though is to not apply too much if you're skin is dry, or honestly this works for any skin type, but because of the metallic finish it can make skin look slightly drier. I also believe this color would work for lots of different skin tones. I'm normally so pale that I'm almost translucent, but since I just got back from vacation I have a little more color than normal and it looks great on my paler skin as well as my light/medium skin tone right now. I do think this color would be gorgeous on medium/dark skin tones as well because of the golden undertones.

(without flash)

(with flash)

This product goes for $40 (U.S. dollars) and is part of Estee Lauder's limited edition Bronze Goddess collection, So I suggest if you really want this to buy it now before it's gone. I highly recommend it.