Overall, I adored the beauty powders, but how could I not? (And did you expect me NOT to?!) I adored them so much when they were released earlier at the PRO store (if you didn’t know, Dancing Light, Drizzlegold, and Natural Flare are all permanent in the PRO line, along with several others) that I picked up every single one of them, whew! I find that the texture of these is incredibly silky, they’re luxuriously fine-milled and have such a perfect amount of shimmer in them to highlight the face and body. My favorite was Soft Flame, because it was the most gorgeous deep pink-plum color. I also loved the 183 brush, but with two 182s, I managed to save my pocketbook from that one! Launching Studio Lights alongside the beauty powders is quite genius, because Studio Lights are creamy in texture, they’d be excellent to put on cheekbones to highlight and then set with a touch of one of the loose beauty powders for ultimate long-wear.

P.S. — Don’t forget that Curiositease also came out today, and you can see our full review, swatches, and product photos here.

Beauty Powders

Dancing Light is a gorgeous light white gold with soft yellow undertones.
Drizzlegold is a luxe bright gold color with peachy undertones–more orange than Dancing Light.
Natural Flare is a shade that is bound to be coveted by warmer skintones, because it’s a darling light peachy-pink shade that gives that ever-sought-after “glow.”
Sunspill is such a pigmented beauty powder in a gorgeous orange-coral–definitely fitting in with its name. Very lovely, would give a soft peachy glow for most skintones.
Tenderdusk is a delightful light pink, not cool like Micro Pink, but not too warm, either. It’d make a great highlighter on top of bolder blushes to add both shimmer as well as lighten a touch.
Soft Flame is my new favorite beauty powder (previously it was Peach Haze); it is the most divine plummy pink shade. This is definitely one of the powders you could wear as a blush, not just a highlighter, which makes it a multitasker–always good in my book. I’m just in love with the color itself and the bits of shimmer in it.

Studio Lights

Skin Lure is a peachy, fleshy color that I imagine would be quite lovely on warmer skintones, but probably wouldn’t work as well for incredibly light skintones (just might come out too dark as a highlighter).
Ideal Pink is a pinky color, very creamy, and it’ll be an awesome highlighter for very light skintones for sure; not to say that it wouldn’t be rockin’ on just about everybody. It’s such a subtle color of pink, and the texture is just lovely.
Smoothspice is the deepest warm brown color, and it is definitely not a universal shade by any means. I am positive you could find a way to use it on lighter skin tones if it was incredibly sheer, however I see it as a shade meant for deeper colors like NC45+. But hey, maybe you could use it as a contouring color, even though it’s warmer than I’d personally like in a contouring color.
Frangipan is a pale yellow, and I’d say this one is my favorite out of the bunch, because I find it flattering for most skin tones. It gives you such a lovely golden glow, and I could see it being used on cheeks, browbones, and even body.
Sand is not nearly as dark as Smoothspice, but it does seem more pigmented than the others. When you sheer it out, though, it’s actually very nice. I find it comparable to Natural Flare in Studio Light form, actually!

Brushes

183 Flat Buffer Brush is a ridiculously soft-bristled flat buffer brush with a good amount of firmness to it, making it excellent to apply these beauty powders on cheeks as well as body.
188 Small Duo Fibre Face Brush is great for those who want to deposit less to give more–especially if anyone is fearful of too much shimmer, this allows the user to apply and build the shimmer better.
222 Tapered Blending Brush is a brush that many use as a staple brush for crease and blending work, and it is great for those things, as well as highlighting the browbone.

Available at all MAC locations and www.maccosmetics.com.

See detailed swatches and product photos,