Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight Review

Hey lovely ladies,

Anybody who has heard of Kevyn Auction’s makeup line, would have heard about his sculpting powder in the shade “medium.” It has an iconic following and for a reason. It has been around for years and is still by far the best contour product in the market, and for a variety of skin tones. While most other sculpting powders are nothing but bronzers, this one is truly a sculpting product. I have been using mine for close to 3 years and it has barely got a dent in it. So, with all the cream and powder contouring palettes hitting the market (read Kat Von D, Anastasia Beverly Hills), I too wanted to get onto the bandwagon. However, if you know me, you know my aversion to contour palettes. If you don’t know why, please check my anti-haul post from a couple of months back. So, while if I did want to experiment with a cream product, I was unwilling to buy a palette. Since I have oily to combination skin, which doesn’t always work well with cream products, I didn’t want to go overboard. So, I tried these small Kryolan Dermacolour refills in lighter and darker shades to work as a contour product, which was a dismal failure. The texture of those do not work for oily skin! So, while browsing Sephora, I saw this creamy duo from Kevyn Aucoin and I was intrigued and also readily bit the bullet – it’s Kevyn Aucoin, right? Let us find out if that was the right thing to do! Just a quick head’s up – the Creamy Glow Duo are actually lip and cheek products which come in 4 variants. The variant #1, #2 and #3 are bright blush type shades while duo #4 is the contour and highlight shade.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight full

Product Description:
Get the perfect flush with this lip and cheek color duo. Shades can be used alone or mixed together to achieve the desired look. Cream formula glides easily for a streak-free application. Non-greasy. Long-wearing.
How To Use:
Apply to cheeks with finger or The Foundation Brush for a smooth and streak-less application.
Dab onto cheeks and blend upward and outwards

Pro Tips:
1. For Duos 1,2, & 3, use brighter shades on apples of cheeks, and darker shades slightly below apples to create added dimension.
2. For Duos 1,2, & 3, use both colors together on apples of cheeks to create a whole new blush color.
3. For Duo 4, use cream candlelight to highlight cheekbones, and medium sculpting cream in hollow of cheeks to create higher looking cheekbones.

Ingredients:
ingredients

Price:
$28 for 4.5 gm.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight details at the back

My Experience with Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight:

Packaging: The first thing which hits you is the size of the compact. It is exactly the same size as the sculpting powders and the celestial powder (Candlelight and Starlight). Meaning, it is small, about the size of a slightly large eyeshadow single. I felt like that each time I received one of the above-mentioned powders. It still hit me when I got this one because this was a duo! So, you can imagine how small that sculpting pan really is.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight packaging

Having said that, I would like to make two points here. One, I have been using his powder products for a while, especially his sculpting powder which I use fairly regularly, and I barely have a dent in the pan. That’s how pigmented and impactful the product is. Two – you have to remember that Kevyn Aucoin is a high-end brand. I would rather have a small pan from him at $28, which I may take one day to finish than have a huge pan at $65 – $70 with triple the product and not being able to make even a dent in it and it is just spoiling. Don’t we always say, wish the likes of Tom Ford made blushes in smaller size and accordingly priced, so we could try more of them – same perspective!

The products come in individual pans – 1/3rd is the sculpting product and 2/3rd is the highlighting product.

Shade: Like I have mentioned earlier, the Creamy Glow Duo are actually lip and cheek products which come in 4 variants. The variant #1, #2 and #3 are bright blush type shades. While duo #4 is the contour and highlight shade, so the sculpting shade is Medium and the Highlight shade is Candlelight. The reason I was able to pick this product, that I have both the products already in powder form, and I do really enjoy both of them.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight texture

The cream version of sculpting medium looks darker in the pan than the powder version. However, it swatches lighter than what it looks in the pan. It still leans quite cool, but maybe a little less grey than the powder version. It works well for my medium skin tone, gives a very natural-looking shadow at the desired places. I bet it would work as easily for lighter skin tone as well. For fair skin, I would suggest to try before you buy. Sadly, the shade is not likely to show up on deeper skin tone.

Coming to “Candlelight” in cream, it is an off-white beige shade. It is light enough to give my medium skin a required lift. When blended, it looks quite natural, not natural as in barely visible, but natural, in comparison to the glow from “the sky look,” which people prefer nowadays. Though, if you layer powder highlight on top of this dream highlight, you will get that glow also easily. There is no micro-glitter, it has a barely there, extremely fine shimmer, which I had to look very close to see. On the surface, it just looks like a natural glow. This would look absolutely stunning on your body and not just the face.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight full

Application: Coming to the application, there is no brush or applicator with it. One can use their finger tips or a synthetic brush to apply it onto the skin. I prefer the former when using it on my cheeks, but latter, when using on my nose – just to get a more precise application. Post application, I use my Beauty Blender to effortlessly diffuse the product to give natural-looking shade and light onto the skin. The sculpting product will go wherever you play your contour products – hollow of your cheeks, jaw line and your nose (depending on whether you need it). The highlighting shade would go on the high points of your cheek, cupid’s bow and your nose (if you are contouring it too).

Texture:  This was the make and break for me – cream product on oily/combination skin. The texture is beautiful. It is emollient enough to not skip during application and glides on smoothly. However, not so creamy that it blends away into nothing, which is one concern that I generally have with cream products (unless they have a cream-to-powder formula). It gives them a nice, soft contour and a light but evident highlight. It does not accentuate texture on my mature skin.

Pigmentation: Pigmentation is good. As I have mentioned earlier, sometimes a cream product can just disappear when you start blending it. This does not do that. Pigmentation is clear, but still very natural looking. It can easily be built up or diffused.

Longevity: The product gives decent wear time, about 7 hours or so in cooler weather. In summers, this disappears faster because my base itself disappears. However, one can always use this as base for a sculpting/highlighting product in powder finish to go on – this is a regular practise used by makeup artists to provide longevity to makeup.

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight swatch on hand

FOTD: In the FOTD, I have done a very dewy makeup look. So, my foundation is MAC Face and Body, with sculpting and highlighting products from this duo palette and Becca’s Beach Tint Souffle in Papaya/Topaz as blush. I am not wearing eye makeup – doctor’s orders!

Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo Sculpting Medium Candlelight on face

Pros of Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight:

  • A duo of Kevyn Auction’s iconic products – the sculpting medium and candlelight highlighter- in cream form.
  • Shades will work perfectly for light to medium to slightly tanned skin.
  • Shades are realistically easy to work with and look natural when applied.
  • Both shades are extremely easy to use.
  • The cream formula is emollient enough to apply easily and not so creamy that it melts away to nothing while blending.
  • Easily blend-able.
  • Good pigmentation.
  • Decent wear time.
  • Did not break me out.
  • Does not accentuate texture of my mature skin.
  • Good quality packaging.
  • Easy to travel with – extremely compact.

Cons of Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight:

  • One product will not fit all skin tones.
  • The compact is fairly small.
  • I wish the contour product and the highlighting product were in equal quantities.

IMBB Rating:
4.25/5

The product is a reflection of the quality I have come to expect from Kevyn Aucoin. I know I maybe biased when it comes to him. Honestly, if I had a choice to get my makeup done from any one professional makeup artist, his name would make to the top of the list for me!! Unfortunately, that won’t happen, ever! However, when it comes to my reviews, I do try to keep them off my personal biases and prejudices. See, I did the whole review without throwing shade at any “Celebrity Contour products” which looks more like a s*x toy than a contour stick!! What all people have to do to sell products!! 😉 *Oh No!! I thought we would make it through without reference to my (abbreviated) name-sake!!” I guess that ship has sailed! 😉
Do I Recommend Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight?
If your skin tone fits into the bracket mentioned earlier and you want to try a cream product, I would  definitely suggest this creamy glow duo.

Kevyn Aucoin Candlelight The Celestial Skin Liquid Lighting
Kevyn Aucoin The Sensual Skin Tinted Balm
Kevyn Aucoin Starlight The Celestial Powder
Kevyn Aucoin The Celestial Powder Candlelight
Maybelline Cheeky Glow Blush in Creamy Cinnamon
Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Sculpting Powder Makeup SPF 10
Rimmel London Coral Glow Kate Sculpting Palette
Tom Ford Brow Sculpting Kit and Skin Illuminating Powder Duo 01 Moodlight
Rimmel London Kate Sculpting and Highlighting Kit 001 Golden Sands

IMBB RECOMMENDS

2 thoughts on “Kevyn Aucoin The Creamy Glow Duo #4 Sculpting Medium Candlelight Review

    1. Thanks Rati! I rarely go for soft vibe coz i have to load up on powder constantly – oily skin and humid weather don’t make friends! Enjoying the winter – or rather, Mumbai’s version of winter! 🙂

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