Lisa Eldridge recently released what seems to be the start of her Seamless Skin range, the first products of which are the Elevated Glow Highlighter and the Enlivening Blush. The brand previously only had lip products, and because of my love for their truly special textures, I knew this wasn’t a launch I would want to miss out on. That being said, I picked up one shade of each product that I thought would best suit my skin coloring and preferences.
This brand definitely falls more into the luxury category, and the pricing reflects that. The Elevated Glow Highlighter retails for £27.00 (~$37 USD) and contains 13 mL/0.43 oz. The Enlivening Blush retails for £24.00 (~$33 USD) and contains 15 mL/0.15 oz.
PACKAGING
Both the mailer containing everything as well as the box packaging of each products is fully recyclable, yet still feels substantial and high quality due to the thick paperboard. The logo and font stating the product and shade names are in a metallic gold, while the more detailed information (such as ingredients and place of manufacture) are contained on the box backs in black font. The box for the Elevated Glow highlighter also contained an additional insert in order to best protect the product during transit.
Moving onto the components themselves. The Elevated Glow highlighter comes housed in a decently weighted frosted glass bottle with a matte gold cap, and the shade name is found via a sticker on the bottom. Maybe an inconsequential detail for some, but I really like that there isn’t so much information on this product’s labels that the shade name is hard to read. The highlighter has a doe foot applicator – and quite a beefy one! – that contains a sort of “well” inside, allowing for it to hold quite a lot of product with each removal from the bottle. You can see this in the photos below, which depict the amount of product on the tip of the doe foot upon first removal vs. subsequently swiping the product on my hand.
The Enlivening Blush, on the other hand, has quite different packaging. It comes housed in a plastic tube with a needle nose applicator. The product shade is found on the back via a sticker, but you can also see the shade inside via a small window in between the length of the tube and the applicator cap. I appreciate this detail in general because I have so many products where you have to open the component to see what’s inside, but it’s especially nice if you have more than one shade within this range as well.
FORMULAS
Elevated Glow Highlighter
The Elevated Glow Highlighter is designed to be a glowy makeup/skincare hybrid that delivers a “subtle lifting, tightening, and smoothing” effect. It has a thin, liquidy, fluid-like texture that has just enough body to not run and is absolutely packed with tiny pearls. Upon application, the product spreads effortlessly across your cheeks, and I would say that after approximately one minute or so, you can feel it setting down. It almost seems to create a flexible film on your skin, but not in a bad way – just in a way where you know it’s not really going to move from that spot. In addition to – and maybe because of – the film-like set, the product is easily buildable if you want to further bump up the luminosity in any specific areas. As for the skincare properties, my skin did feel ever so slightly smoother after applying it, but I don’t know that I personally would fully support the stated claims.
The pearls within the product provide a really stunning, classy (if you can apply that term to a highlighter) glow to where there’s certainly a difference in the way your skin shines but doesn’t leave a metallic finish. In indoor lighting, you just look like you have healthy, bouncy skin, though I could visualize the pearls being slightly visible in direct sunlight since they’re technically multicolored and absolutely packed in there.
When it came to selecting a shade to purchase, I agonized between Crystal Nebula and Cosmic Rose. Because of my skin coloring, I feared that Crystal Nebula might be too golden, while Cosmic Rose might be too deep. In the end, I selected Crystal Nebula, and after having the opportunity to use the formula, I think either would have worked. The fluid texture of the Elevated Glow highlighter makes it so that the base color is more sheer than I expected. That being said, it doesn’t perceptibly alter the color of my skin where it’s been applied, but I’m glad I chose Crystal Nebula because it was already more golden and a step deeper than some of my other highlighting fluids. (I’m currently planning a future post comparing this product to my other highlighting fluids, so keep an eye out for that!)
Enlivening Blush
The Enlivening Blush is also marketed as a makeup/skincare hybrid, touting a skin-like finish that has the same smoothing/blurring and lifting properties as the Elevated Glow Highlighter.
Firstly, dispensing this product was more of a challenge than it ever should have been. I really had to squeeze the tube in order to get the product moving and had to reposition my hand to work the blush through the tip. It almost felt like there was air stuck in it preventing movement of the product. Once the blush finally pushed through the tip, I realized how thick and stiff the initial texture is, such that it entirely keeps its shape after dispense. However, the moment you touch it, it almost transforms into a weightless gel-mousse hybrid, quite unlike any other makeup product I’ve ever worked with. It spreads out over your skin with incredible ease and no patchiness whatsoever. The edges almost blend themselves and in such a way that you really can’t differentiate where your blush ends and base begins. I found that the finish was very skin-like, largely taking on the texture of the products underneath, but definitely did slightly blur such that my cheeks looked a touch more velvety.
As for the pigmentation, it’s intense. The pigmentation level makes me wonder if the tube was designed to limit the amount of product you dispensed simply because you really need so little of it, but I’d rather get a little too much than it be difficult to get enough out! Anyways, I’m so glad I heeded Lisa’s warning about using the tiniest dot to start. In the photos below, you’ll see the amount I dispensed for the swatch vs. how far that amount of product went – and I could have kept going. I would never advise putting this directly on your face but rather kind of patting it on the back of your hand first and working from there. Using that technique, the shade Pink Soap was a beautiful pairing with my skintone and truly looked like a subdued natural flush. Fingers worked beautifully for application, but I could also see this product working well with a brush.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have very high expectations for Lisa Eldridge’s products, especially because of her reputation and work, and even so, I’m blown away with each new release. Her brand not only represents a heightened level of elegance to me but also a certain attention to perfected details that always make me confident that I’ll have an overwhelmingly positive experience using the products. These new products only further bolstered my impression, giving a truly lovely appearance with little effort. They’re incredibly easy to use and are nearly foolproof – just take note of the blush pigmentation first. My only gripe is how difficult it is to dispense the blush.
At the beginning of this post, you may have noticed that I said she has started her Seamless Skin range. This is because she has already hinted at foundation and concealer in the works, and after testing her first two complexion products, I will be (not so) patiently awaiting others. I would truly love to hear your thoughts on these products below!