The Celestial Powder in Candlelight by Kevyn Aucoin
I Bought This March 27, 2013 | Highlighter, Makeup, Reviews
I want to French kiss the person who first came up with illuminating highlight powders. Yes, my obsession with highlighting powers is still going strong. They make my face look so amazing; it’s like I’m walking around with my own light tech crew. Because of my fixation, it was really only a matter of time before The Celestial Powder by Kevyn Aucoin ended up in my hands, and now that I have it, I’m never letting go.
The Celestial Powder promises a surreal, ethereal look with a soft, angelic shimmer. It only comes in one color, aptly named “Candlelight,” which is packaged in an elegant, reddish-brown compact that reminds me a bit of cherry wood. The compact opens to reveal a shimmering nude powder, a lovely, universal hue.
I apply this powder with a small blush brush to the tops of my cheeks for a glowy highlight. The effect really does resemble candlelight. The powder achieves this effect via a very fine, glowing shimmer that is in no way chunky or glittery.
The tone of this powder is not as warm as the more gold-based shimmer I get from my Estée Lauder Illuminating Gelée Powder in “Heat Wave,” but the effect is similar. This is a huge relief since this powder is part of a permanent collection, as opposed to the Estee Lauder gelée, which is limited edition.
Before: This is my makeup without The Celestial Powder
After: This is my makeup with The Celestial Powder. Look at that glowy highlight!
The one drawback it has is that because it’s a straightforward powder, the texture is a bit dryer than a gelée. This doesn’t effect how it looks on my face, but it does mean I see quite a bit of excess loose powder gathering in the crevices of the compact. It’s not that big of a deal, but it makes me a little sad that I’m losing that little bit of product.
If you’re a fan of highlighting powders, or if you’ve just been thinking about trying one out, I highly recommend The Celestial Powder. Its soft neutral tone is suitable for all skin tones, and it’s extremely easy to work with.
Where to Buy
The Kevyn Aucoin Celestial Powder is available at Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman, where it retails for $42. However, I picked mine up from this Amazon seller for $31, which is a stellar deal! My only complaint is that although it qualified for Amazon Prime shipping, it took three days to get here instead of two. For some reason, the seller used SmartPost to ship this item, which generally takes 100 years to get anything anywhere. Still, three days isn’t the worst by any means, and the item arrived brand new and in perfect condition. It’s definitely worth dealing with SmartPost for the $11 savings on the price.
Skin & Tonics Rating
Performance: 5/5 – Beautiful highlighting effect that really does look like candlelight, long lasting, no chunky glitter
Quality: 4/5 – Sleek package design and great quality powder. I do wish the formula was a little less dry so that I wouldn’t lose so much powder when running my brush through the compact.
Value: 4/5 – At $42, it’s on the pricy side, but the pricing is on par with similar quality products and there are deals to be found.
Overall: 4.3/5
Follow me on Instagram:
This post contains affiliate links. Shopping through these links help support this site! Read full disclosure for details.
