Burberry Summer seemed to arrive late this year. I think they kind of missed the boat in terms of garnering excitement along with the other Summer collections, but that certainly didn't stop me from immediately marching to the nearest Nordstrom when I heard it had arrived!

For the most part I knew I wasn't going to be interested in the cream/powder shadow trios, but wanted to check them out nonetheless. I would have wanted the trio with the eggplant looking cream shadow, but I knew the bright blue wasn't something I could pull off. I went with my first instinct and skipped those. Then I was interested in checking out the Fresh Glow powder/highlighters. I thought I would get the lighter shade, but upon swatching found it looked super frosty on my skin. At some point I'd like to go back to re-swatch because I was in kind of a hurry and am pretty sure I did the swatching too heavy.

For shucks I swatched the darker color that looks like a bronzer. The SA told me it's actually a highlighter and I was surprised. In the promo pics and in the pan it looks too dark to be a highlighter. Ooooooh, mama...it was love at first sight!!

**No press samples. All items were purchased by me. Affiliate links included.**

Burberry Fresh Glow Luminous Highlighting Powder in 02 Golden Radiance, $48/.35oz @ Net-A-Porter.com, us.burberry.com

This comes in the classic Burberry packaging. This is the packaging since Burberry changed everything to in house. I can't tell a difference between this and older packaging I have on hand, which is a very good start because I think we have all been worried what this transition would bring...

This also comes with the Burberry check pouch and a thin brush. I think this brush is too dense and applies product too heavily, but I don't think I've ever used a brush that came with a product.

Aaaaah...and look at the beautiful sun shining down on this lovely creature...

This highlighter is soft, silky, super smooth and imparts the most beautiful and amazingly natural glow. It's running neck and neck and neck with Kevyn Aucoin's Celestial as my favorite highlighter - but I'm allowed two favorites right?!! I didn't understand how something with so much color would be good as a highlighter, but that's exactly what makes it look so natural looking...it blends in with my skin tone instead of masking or competing with it.

It did take a few tries to get the application right. At first I was applying too much and thought it only looked good if I was wearing bronzer or more neutral blushes. Then it took a few tries to get the brush right, but I finally realized the Suqqu Cheek Brush is perfect! It is small, uber soft and the complete opposite of dense...in other words it has an the ability to deposit the most subtle hint of product. And that's the key with this product...less is more. I barely touch the brush to the pan and then very lightly pat onto my skin.

Someone asked on Twitter if this was similar in color to Burberry Earthy blush and guess what...it is! They have similar tones, though in real life the highlighter is a smidge darker and a bit more complex. The highlighter is almost like a mix between Celestial and Earthy and for that reason I think it would be suitable for so many skin tones.

Swatch time!! I took all of these in full outside sunlight because anything indoors didn't do it justice :-) The top swatch is heavy, the bottom is lighter...though keep in mind even the lighter swatch is more than I apply.

I love this highlighter!!! Swatch it and see what you think :-)

***Edited*** I forgot to mention that I did try to use the Burberry Fresh Glow Luminous Highlighting Powder in 02 Golden Radiance as a light bronzer but couldn't quite get it to work. A Model Recommends just came out with this video where she uses it as a very subtle bronzer...and I'm not sure that I would quite call it a bronzer look anyway, but rather a hint of color to warm up the face? In the video she is actually wearing the same color in YSL Touche Eclat foundation (B30) that is my match, so I think I'll try to use her technique. She is just wearing this on her cheeks and nothing else - I had been trying to wear this + blush. When I tried before I think I was using too much, and I'll try a different brush also. I like this video a lot because she also is wearing one of the Summer Burberry palettes :-)