13 Ivory

Make Up For Ever 13 Ivory Star Lit Powder ($21.00 for 0.04 oz.) is a light-medium gold with warm undertones and a sparkling, metallic finish. I noticed some more obvious sparkle/micro-glitter in this shade, but it didn't look overtly glittery on the skin. It seemed so metallic that it made the cheek area appear smooth rather than emphasizing the skin's natural texture.

The texture of the loose powder was still incredibly silky and finely-milled, despite some of the larger shimmer/sparkle in it. It had semi-sheer, buildable coverage dry, and it was fully opaque with a lightly dampened brush. What I noticed was that opaque coverage was definitely achievable with dry application, it just took more product initially. I did, however, find it more blendable when I used it dry, particularly when I used it as a cheek highlighter. The color lasted for nine hours as a highlighter on my cheeks and eight hours on my lids as an eyeshadow. This shade also showed up well over a few different types of lipstick finishes (not just matte lipsticks).

The Star Lit Powder is supposed to be an "ultra-fine" loose powder that can be used to "highlight eyes, lips and cheeks" either wet or dry to "customize intensity and luminosity." The powder was finely-milled, smooth, and very soft across all the shades I tried in the range, and the pigmentation was mostly opaque even dry, though damp application made it more concentrated and adhere strongly to wherever it was initially applied. Overall, I felt a little went a long way, so even though there was not much product in the container, it would still take many uses to finish it.

It took a few applications to figure out the best way to apply it as a highlighter on cheeks, as the opening is rather small and the product quite concentrated, so I often found myself with very strong, distinct stripes of highlight across the cheekbones that took some buffing to blend and diffuse out. It was better to lightly tap the brush in the opening, and then dab it in the interior of the lid, which had the effect of diffusing and dispersing the loose powder better throughout the brush. This yielded a glowing effect that still produced higher coverage but took the work out of blending it out. On the eyes, it was easier to get full distribution onto a brush, as eye brushes are smaller, but if you wanted a sheer wash of color, I would recommend the same technique as I used for applying it as a cheek highlighter with a fluffy eye brush.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview, which is a detailed review of the range as a whole.

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