Illamasqua Beyond Powder In Epic

If ever a cosmetic was appropriately named it would be Epic, one of Illamasqua's Beyond Powder highlighters. It's truly a thing of beauty and needs to be swatched to be believed. There's two shades in the range - OMG, a champagne shimmer which is probably way better suited as a highlighter on my pale skin, and Epic, the warm bronze shimmer you see before you. I blame Tanya Burr because she was wearing a stunning metallic eyeshadow in several vlogs, and I had that craving that only beauty fans will understand, the one where you simply must know what someone is wearing. Just before I nearly caved and started harassing her on Twitter, she mentioned in a video that she was wearing Epic on her eyes instead of using it as a highlighter, and I knew it must be mine. 

You get SO much for your money, this is a really chunky block of highlighter. It's 'beyond powder' because it's baked for an ultra fine texture that feels incredibly soft. It's glittery, but again, it's very fine. I don't mind glitter on my eyes, in fact I will pile it on willy nilly. But I'm not so keen on glittery cheeks, that being said - when you blend it out the glitters just reflect light and it just looks like a sheen. In the swatch below I've shown it swiped on and also blended, and I think you can see what I mean about the shine. It's just glowy. I also like the way Epic is sometimes pale gold, sometimes rose-gold, depending on how the light hits it, as you can see in the swatch, and it looks so good on the eyes when this happens. 

For medium to dark tone skins Epic would be one heck of a highlighter, and I really want to try the much paler OMG for popping the cheekbones. However, I bought this as an eyeshadow, and I'm super pleased with it's awesome metallic shine, perfect for a simple wash of colour on autumn days when I want to look as wide awake and radiant as can be. You're truly epic, Epic.