Face Off

Anyone else have a thing for do it all face palettes? Here are two new ones to my collection and a rundown of my thoughts on them!

Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look in a Palette (£49)

I finally caved and bought my first Charlotte Tilbury products about a month ago after seeing this palette online. I had held off buying any CT products up until now because the prices are extortionate but I love palettes like this as they give you the chance to try a few products from the brand in one go so I bit the bullet and ordered it! First things first this, the palette is small, smaller than it looks! It is split into different steps so steps 1, 2 and 3 are for brightening, enhancing and smoking out the eye, step 4 is for bronzing, steps 5 and 6 are for a swish and pop of blush and step 7 is highlight.

 I have to say that I am disappointed by the eyeshadows – they barely show up on my fair skin and the first two aren’t different enough in colour for me. They are super finely milled though, blend well and don’t crease – you just can’t see much of a contrast between the shades!

As well as this, the blushes are not as pigmented as I would like them to be and the size of the pans is disappointing – they are the same size as the eyeshadow pans and I would have preferred smaller eyeshadow pans if there was a way to make the blush pans bigger. Again the formula feels lovely and they do always say it’s easier to add than take away which is definitely something to stick to when it comes to blush!

Onto the positives - I LOVE the bronzer and highlighter. Way more than I thought I would! These are meant to be the same shades as the infamous Bronze and Glow which I don’t have to compare but I do know that I absolutely love this combo! I’ve been using the bronzer under my cheekbone to contour as well as over the high points on my face for a bit of an all over colour and it’s so subtle but noticeable if that makes sense? It looks very warm toned in the swatch but on my face it looks so natural, I love it!

I’ve then been using my Morphe fan brush to very lightly highlight my cheekbones and I love the effect, super subtle as I use a light hand but I’m sure you could go heavy handed and still look amazing!

This is more than I would usually spend on a palette this size considering pan size but the quality of the products is lovely. I do wish there was more variation in the eyeshadow shades though and this palette might not be an option for those with darker skin as you do have to build up quite a lot of product to see a result but it does hit the natural beauty term it’s aiming for on the head.

I ummed and ahhed for weeks before splurging and it is limited edition so not available at the minute but who knows, it could make a reappearance in the future – and hopefully with some new darker shades!

Stila Perfect Me, Perfect Hue in Light/Medium (£28)

Unlike the CT palette, this is one that does come with different shade variations! The one I have is Light/Medium and you might have seen it featured in my last wishlist post. I wasn’t actually planning on buying it, however, Cult Beauty had a GWP (I’m a sucker for offers and the last 2 have been amazing!) so even though basically everything I needed wanted was out of stock I still found my basket full and this was in it!

Now I’m not a massive fan of the Stila products I have tried in the past – the lip glazes and In the Light palette being massive disappointments for me - but when I saw these Perfect Me/Perfect Hue palettes I got heart eye emoji’s.

l-r: Artistic (base), Dazzling (highlight), Ambitious (lid), Spontaneous (crease), Mischievous (liner)

Five eyeshadows and 2 blushers for £28 seemed like a decent price point and once I had a swatch I could feel the quality! The shadows are silky soft with good pigmentation although again I wish there was more of a mid-tone shade option instead of two very light shades. The shimmer colour (Ambitious) is not as warm toned/orange in real life as the swatch and I don’t normally wear shimmer during the day but this is nice and subtle and quite golden.

l-r: Charming, Angelic

Again, this palette is smaller than I was expecting and the packaging was plastic so it feels a bit cheap, I was expecting it to be metal for some reason, I think because of the colour of the casing, but I can’t fault the formulation! The blushers are lovely and pigmented too and I love that they are both matte shades.

Overall, I really like both palettes for different reasons but I find that with the Charlotte Tilbury palette, I am reaching for mainly the bronzer and highlighter and passing on the eyeshadows in particular. The Stila palette is much more affordable and I love the fact they have thought through a range that caters to more than one skin tone.

So those are the two newest face palettes to my collection, have you tried either? What did you think?

Danielle xx

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