Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette Review, Photos, Swatches
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette ($88.00 for 0.177 oz.) is described as a “universal illuminating powder.” It’s a pale, champagne beige with a soft, frosted sheen. The finish can get more or less metallic depending on your application method–a denser brush or a dampened one will give you a more pronounced metallic finish, while a fluffier brush will give you a softer sheen. It adds very subtle warmth, but it primarily highlights and adds sheen to the skin. Bobbi Brown Nude Glow (LE, $42.00) is more metallic, slightly darker. MAC Sparkling Rose (LE) is pinker. Urban Decay Naked (P, $29.00) has sparkles. Kevyn Aucoin Candlelight (P, $44.00) is less golden but appears similar on the skin. Becca Moonstone (P, $38.00) is very similar applied. NARS Albatross (P, $29.00) is lighter, whiter. Illamasqua Aurora (P, $24.00) is a cream product. See comparison swatches.
Per Giorgio Armani’s description, it sounds like a variation on the slightly baked, powder formula that’s been used by brands like Estee Lauder (the Gelees), Laura Mercier (Spellbound), MAC (Extra Dimension), Guerlain (Cruel Gardenia), and so on. The biggest difference I noticed was the powder’s texture felt even softer and more finely-milled in Belladonna than others–it had less of that baked consistency (almost dry). Belladonna has a soft, finely-milled texture that feels almost buttery but very lightweight. It blends easily across the skin, and it definitely yielded a noticeable sheen on the skin. On my skin, it just very slightly emphasized pores, and the powder wore well for eight and a half hours before starting to fade slightly.
Worth noting, Giorgio Armani’s is one of the most expensive highlighters at $88, but it is worsened by the fact it only contains 0.177 oz. of product–Laura Mercier, MAC, and Guerlain all contained 0.31 oz. or more (Estee Lauder’s contained 0.17 oz. as well).
Belladonna
LELimited Edition. $88.00.
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Giorgio Armani Belladonna Highlighting Palette
Beautiful! I love the floral design on the product.
It’s very prettily designed!
I like it but it’s way too expensive. There are many other good highlighters which cost less.
Very true!
I don’t care if it knocks it out of the park or not, at this price point, there’s too little product.
Yeah, I wish it had at least been 0.30 oz.!
I have too many highlighters to be throwing $88 at this. Although, I wish more brands would do smaller sizes, and a smaller price.
A wish I share, though I don’t know of any mainstream brand that’s really done that, LOL!
I was really, pleasantly surprised when I went to purchase Hourglass’ Icon liquid lipstick. I knew it wouldn’t be a color I’d wear a lot, but I still love dramatic reds for special occasions and people were raving about it so I decided I’d just buy it. Then, I saw they had a mini size on Sephora.com for $10 so I definitely got that instead of the full size. It was really just a color and formula I wanted to try out and I’m very glad I was able to do so without having to buy the whole size. (PS: I love the color but wasn’t impressed by the formula. It wore off very strangely/unevenly on me every time I’ve tried it and I can’t get it to work.) Hopefully more brands will start doing this, at least with their top-selling products.
A little of that formula goes a long way, too – I’m sure the amount in a $10 tube is plenty! 🙂
It is so stunning but way out of my price range!
It’s really too expensive given the amount 🙁
This is lovely and your skin looks flawless as usual. On a sidenote, speaking of a product emphasizing pores, can you recommend a highlighter that does not? I’m having difficulty finding one that does not emphasize dry skin (on cheek bones), and emphasize pores on the bridge of my nose. Ah, the woes of combo skin haha
I really like Kevyn Aucoin’s 🙂
I wonder why it’s called a “palette” when it’s really just one single colour. Very beautiful, though…methinks me want!
The design is lovely!
Well, after I posted my comment, I looked at the price. Like most others, I think the price is crazy for what this is. If someone gave it to me or I found it languishing in a sale bin somewhere (yeah, like either of those is likely to happen), I’d grab it but not at $88 (so probably close to $100 here in the Great White North).
That’s a good point. When I read palette I expected it to contain more than one color. It’s pretty but not $88 pretty to me. I think I’ll opt for Becca’s Moonstone which I’ve seen in person and do like.
What a gorgeous shade and the formula sounds wonderful. I’ve always thought the EL Gelees seemed great. The price tag is just way over the top though, in my opinion
With the size you get, it’s definitely one of the most expensive highlighters out there.
Umm wow lol. It is absolutely beautiful in the pan and on you! I really didn’t want to like this $88 powder but it’s so pretty
Good thing there are some dupes that are cheaper!
This is one of those brands I really have to go out of my way to find, and it’a just far too expensive to put in that effort. I happen to be going to a mall tomorrow that will likely carry this, and if it’s in-stock, I may go for it. However, if it’s not, I won’t be trying to track it down.
Looks too close to my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in Lumnious Light. I love Armani but I’d rather drop $$$ on Guerlain. At least it won’t put my enlarged pores on spotlight and I’m getting a product that has been on the scene since I was in highschool (early ’90’s).
Some of Armani’s powders are so expensive, while other products are in line with designer brands like Dior, Chanel, etc. I don’t know why!
The effect is really pretty on you, Christine!
I’m at a bit of a loss with highlighters, I will admit. They all look similar on me, so since I have one, I don’t really feel I can justify more!
Perhaps I’m just blind to the nuances 😉
I don’t think you need 1892347234 of them. A lot of them do end up looking the same, so once you find one that works, the rest are superfluous!
No related to the Highlighter, but your brows are perfection. Do you use a stencil or are they naturally perfect? I have very little brow hair and what I do have is wirey white so I have to create as opposed to fill in!
No stencil, just fill in with a thin, angled brush and powder eyeshadow (MAC Espresso and Brun right now). I have some sparseness towards the inner area on one, but they’re fairly full otherwise!
I still cringe at the price i payed for my Parure de Nuit by Guerlain, Lancome Moonlight Rose, and HOURGLASS Ambient Lighting Powder but for $100+ in Canadian hilighter i much rather dend that on two of the above any day. 😉 (or a $4 one lol )
I agree – better those than this one, IMO!
christine i would really like if you could review the new guerlain eyebrow kit
i recently saw this item in nordstrom and it caught my eye
so i would really appreciate if you could review it
it looks gorgeous on you. but at the end of the day, i barely use the ones i have, and even i can’ tell one from the other most times.
This is so beautiful Christine! Do you know when/if this will become available at Nordstrom or if it will become available again on the Giorgio Armani website? I’m worried that I’ve already missed it 🙁
I don’t know what’s up with Giorgio Armani’s website regarding this… but it should be at other retailers sometime this month.
Ridiculous price! You can get a pair of shoes for the same amount of money!