So at the moment it seems every brand out there is pushing their holiday collections onto the scene and I’m a tad spoilt for choice! Fenty Beauty, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Tarte, MAC, Urban Decay and Becca are among some of the brands releasing collections that have caught my eye! The first one I delved into was the Hourglass Cosmetics launch. They launched two face palettes and a new range of refillable lipsticks. Out of the products launched I decided to pick up the Ambient Lighting Edit Vol. 3. This was my first Hourglass purchase and I was thoroughly impressed to say the least! I’m going to quickly run through the palette and my first impressions now that I’ve had a few weeks to play with it!

My new favourite palette ♥

This palette has fast become my new favourite face palette and I’m reaching for it constantly. The top row are varied forms of ‘highlighters’ but not in the blinding sense. I’ve got so many blinding highlights so I found the concept of this palette so intriguing. Individually, three of the six shades

There are two finishing powders, dim light and diffused light, and one highlight, ‘hypnotic strobe light’. The finishing powders are both matte finish and I actually am in love with them! The highlight shade is a beautiful muted golden candlelit highlight glow, more like Fenty’s metal moon, perfect for every day subtle glam. 

Close Up ♥

Full list: (1.4g x 6)

• Ambient Lighting Powder – Dim Light – a neutral peach beige powder that blurs imperfections and highlights the complexion
• Ambient Lighting Powder – Diffused Light – a soft, warm, pale yellow powder that conceals redness and gives skin clarity
• Ambient Lighting Bronzer – Luminous Bronze Light – a medium tan shade fused with Luminous Light for a softer, candlelit warmth
• Ambient Lighting Blush – Surreal Halo (NEW) – a deep berry blush fused with Surreal Light for a vibrant flush of color
• Ambient Lighting Blush – Pure Effect (NEW) – a bright petal pink fused with glimmering rose for a youthful glow
• Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder – Hypnotic Strobe Light (NEW) – a champagne powder infused with multidimensional pearly for a sublime highlight

So ‘diffused light’ is the perfect matte pressed powder, as high quality as the likes of the Charlotte Tilbury pressed powder. I’ve been loving using it to set my under eye area. ‘Dim light’ is more of a muted flesh tone matte pressed powder and it’s also great as a face powder on top of foundation. It’s limited coverage wise so don’t mistake it for a powder foundation but it adds a delicate finish, I absolutely love it!

Swatches ♥

Moving on to the bottom row, the palette offers two gorgeous blush shades and one shimmer caramel toned bronzer. The bronzer is gorgeous, perfect for adding a natural dewy sun-kissed glow without going to the trouble of liquid glow etc! My biggest obsession for this palette is definitely the blush shades though! Both are marble baked blush shades, ‘pure effect’ is a bright vivid pink that adds a gorgeous floral tone to the skin, ‘surreal halo’ is a more muted dusty rose, I’m obsessed with mixing the two shades at the moment!

Packaging Goals ♥

The palette itself is housed in beautiful rose gold chrome packaging, casing and box alike. I picked mine up in Harvey Nichols for £69. If you’re curious and want to compare the costs of buying the powders individually, travel size versions are available in some stores containing the same amount of product as the pans in the palette (1.4g) and are priced at £16-£18 each.

Bronzer – 11g – £45
Blush – 4.2g – £32
Strobe – 4.6g – £34
Diffused Light – 10g – £40

This palette is limited edition so I’m not sure if it’s still available but it’s definitely a collectors piece. If you can get your hands on this I’d 100% recommend it! 

Update 15/10/17: Space NK currently has this in stock on their website for £69 so check it out!

For those of you who may be concerned, Hourglass is a cruelty free brand, and this palette is also Vegan, and free of Parabens, Talc, Fragrance, Nanoparticles and Gluten.

Rating:     
Design : ♥♥♥♥♡
Functionality : ♥♥♥♥
User Friendly: ♥♥♥♥
Value for Money: ♥♥♥♥
Packaging: ♥♥♥

Overall rating: ♥♥♥♥♡ 

max = ♥♥♥♥♥        ♥=1    ♡=½