Neat and new to Me
Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and new to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.
I’m not gonna say that NARS Albatross Highlighting blush is the most exciting beauty bird to have ever soared above the oceans and the forests. I mean, it’s not a peacock or a toucan.
Quite frankly, that stark white scared the crap out of me for years. “Albatross is for the birds!” I used to think every time I saw it.
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Buuut, not so much anymore.
I tried it again in one of those Sephora makeup classes not long ago (the one on highlighting and contouring) on the recommendation of one of the instructor artists.
I said that I wanted to try a highlighter other than the usual suspects (a BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, Bobbi brown Shimmer Brick, hourglass Ambient), and she suggested shimmery yellow gold Albatross.
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I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently ever since.
Now, if you’re big into super glittery highlighters, you might want to keep flying, because yellowish golden Albatross doesn’t have giant flecks of glitter in it. It’s not one of those powder highlighters, but that’s one of the reasons I like it.
It’s just less muchness, if you know what I mean.
It is shiny, however — even more than the hourglass Ambients — but it isn’t as shiny as the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors. The finish is right there in between, right there in the sweet spot. It catches more than enough light to be noticeable.
The emphasis is on yellow gold, by the way, as this has a surprisingly intense yellow undertone. You can’t really see it in the pan, but it’s there.
If your skin is warm toned like mine and plays well with yellowish golds, you might just love it, but if your skin tone is cooler than mine with more pink, you may feel that it clashes and looks kind of funky monkey.
You never know unless you try.
At $30 for a pan with a compact and a mirror, Albatross isn’t economical (it’s $21 for the pro Refill pictured at the top), but I think you get a lot of glow for the price since it’s heavily pigmented. I apply a small, controlled amount to my upper cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose with a tapered eye brush, then use a big fluffy powder brush to blend it in for that subtle highlight I like.
Wearing NARS Albatross down the bridge of my nose and on my upper cheekbones
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You can find Albatross soaring high above the permanent collection now at NARS boutiques, stores and online.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen