Lumière Sculptée de Chanel Highlighting Powder ($72 for 13g/0.46 oz) is the star product of the Chanel Holiday 2011 collection and in my mind the star highlighter of the season. This highlighter comes in a large black compact with an angled brush. The embossed pattern is a beautiful work of art and is simply to die for. In the compact I initially saw a luminous beige soft gold but depending on how the light hits the palette, you can see soft flashes of pearly pink. Do note that the beautiful sparkle that you see in the first photos is only a sheer layer overspray. Had the beautiful shimmer been consistent throughout I would have deemed this back-up worthy. Underneath (what the real product is) is still luminous and glowy but much more subtle and subdued. Swatches, comparisons, and descriptions below. First a few shots of the palette. As you can see when the light hits the sparkle the palette seems to just glow from within.
Once the overspray is removed this is what you see:
Still even with the overspray removed, you can get a beautiful pearly shimmer (this is applied heavily):
Comparisons to some other highlighters with multiple comparison shots so you can see the difference in shimmer. The Lumière Sculptée de Chanel Highlighting Powder has the most finely milled luminescence. The others either have more frost or a bit more sparkle. I love the complexity of the Chanel because it’s not a pure champagne, gold, beige or pink but rather a mix of all the colors. Still it manages to be soft and refined.
Overall thoughts: I wish the overspray wasn’t an overspray but I still really love this. On my face the palette looks chalky on first swipe but blending gives a beautiful subtle glow. This one blows Guerlain’s Holiday 2011 highlighter out of the water but I still prefer the ones I have in my current stash. I prefer the Pearl Glow over the Lumière Sculptée de Chanel Highlighting Powder but I still really like the new one for holiday. I highly recommend you try this in person before deciding to pass. On my skin the Lumière Sculptée de Chanel Highlighting Powder is very sheer simply because of my skintone. I suspect on darker skins there will be more of a contrast and show up better. On fairer skins I think it will be beautiful as well. I actually prefer this one on the eyes as an eyeshadow because it shows up better for me.
For holiday I’m not even going to look at Cle de Peau’s (the price point is pure insanity) but I am curious to see what the MAC Glitter and Ice Shimmer Powders will look like. Guerlain’s pressed highlighter is nice but not a must-have due to the sheerness. Bottom line I think Chanel’s is the best so far for this season.
