IT Cosmetics Hello Light Powder Illuminizer

My love affair with IT continues. Hello Light Powder Illuminizer ($24) grabbed my attention with its description, which left me with a "wow." Then I applied it. That elicited a double wow.

Anti-Aging Radiance Pressed Illuminating Powder With Hydrolyzed Collagen, Peptides, and Drops of Light Technology

How could something so pretty offer my skin such a bounty?  Even though IT Cosmetics says Hello Light is a colorless, translucent powder, on my skin it's a subtle golden illuminating sheen - much more exciting than colorless powder.

Natural radiance and a youthful, vitality-filled glow are just an airbrush away. An anti-aging powerhouse for naturally pretty, lit-from-within skin, this innovative formula is all about the look of vitality, radiance, and illumination without glitter or shimmer. The formula is infused with micronized pigments of light, plus skin-loving ingredients including peptides, hyaluronic acid, hydrolyzed collagen, silk, and vitamins A, C, & E. It's free of all of the ingredients that make skin appear older or caked, such as talc.

Antioxidants hydrate, condition, and nourish your skin while warding off free radicals all day long. Even better for anyone who has combo or oily skin, the Hello Light Illuminating Powder absorbs oil and shine while blurring away the look of pores, and fine lines without settling in them. This powder is a perfect finishing step for the look of lift and illumination. The convenient compact makes it easy for you to brighten, hydrate, and awaken your skin all day long. You know how we get the drabs around 3:00.

I took photos of the powder in full sunlight. I swatched heavily at the top of my arm with a sponge-tipped applicator,and then I applied the larger swatch with a kabuki brush (the larger swatch wasn't particularly heavy). With all due respect to my friends at IT Cosmetics, you'll see that Hello Light is anything but colorless. Check out my arm and you'll see the kind of divine glow this power provides.

Without any shimmer or glitter - as advertised - it lights up my face. The gold gives me warmth at a perfect time of year. I imagine it will do the same for those with warm-toned complexions, adding its golden glow.

It is translucent. You can see the always-clear veins in my skinny arms, but you can see the sheen it adds. No offense to the lovely reader who suggested in an e-mail that I might use the part of my arm closer to my elbow, like Karla Sugar used for swatches, to hide my veins. My arms look like this all the way to my elbow - a nurse's dream. They look like toothpicks. Sorry, gals, I just don't have enough flesh. I try to eat enough so that I don't look skeletal. Actually, I need to do some exercise for my abs, but I have no energy after dragging my bad knee and back around all day.

Enough about me. I love this illuminating powder! I have tested three of the products IT Cosmetics sent me, and I love all three. How on earth did I overlook IT for so long? I know you think, as I do, that beauty bloggers should be intimately familiar with all brands, so how could I have been "aware" of IT without realizing that the company makes fabulous makeup at an equally fabulous price point. I hear something new is in the mail to me, and I can't wait to show you.

Did I tell you about IT?  IT Cosmetics works with leading plastic surgeons to infuse cutting-edge anti-aging technology into innovative, high-performance color cosmetics. A favorite line of both celebrities and beauty editors, IT Cosmetics has several award-winning products and has been featured in hundreds of leading magazines and television shows. Also, IT Cosmetics was honored with the much coveted 2011 Cosmetic Innovator of the Year Award for "Most Innovative Company" by ICMAD, along with several other prestigious awards and Editor's Pick honors at leading prestige beauty magazines. Even more exciting, IT has partnered with the American Cancer Society’s Look Good, Feel Better program, and for every Brow Power pencil sold, one is donated to the LGFB program, to help women face the effects of Cancer with confidence. Their philanthropy makes me even more excited to explore their brand.

I don't usually assign scores to makeup - opinions are so subjective - but if I were to give Hello Light Powder Illuminizer a score, it would be an A+. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go outside and convince a woodpecker that the trim on my house is not fair game.

Photo at top courtesy of IT Cosmetics; other photos by Best Things in Beauty