Hourglass Swan Palette and Dusk Quad Reviews

Posted on September 18, 2025 by ghekate

Today’s post will be a review of the Swan Palette and Dusk Quad, plus I will show some mock ups of the DIY custom palettes I’m considering making using the Ambient Lighting Powders.

I already reviewed the Fox Palette, so if you wish to see more details about that one, please click HERE.

If you’d like to see even older Hourglass Palettes, I have a list HERE with the links to all of them.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked- Swan (in Deer Packaging)

The Swan Palette comprises of Color Palette 2, generally known to be geared towards those with medium skin. I will admit the reason I bought another palette after Fox was because I could not let that beautiful Deer Packaging go. I like the original Swan design, but I felt an even stronger pull towards the Deer. So, I needed to put something inside it. I contemplated going for the Fox color story again, but I thought it might be more helpful for review purposes for me to choose Swan’s Color Palette 2 and see just how many shades I could get away with using. Plus, the blushes all looked pretty. So that’s what I did, and it’s not the first time either! I own the Owl Palette from 2023 that holds the Leopard color story, and I’ve gotten a surprising amount of use out of it!

DIM LIGHT (Finishing Powder) – This is one of the most frequently repeated shades among the Ambient Edit palettes, but thankfully only my second time getting it. It’s the lightest finishing powder Hourglass makes that I can pull off if I use it lightly, and if I’ve stayed out of the sun enough. At the moment, it’s a bit too light for me to wear with my regular foundations, but I have been successful in using it to lighten some of my foundations that are too dark or too orange right now.

In my review of the Fox palette, I mentioned that the quality seems better than it has been in the last few years. The powders feel softer and less dry. Out of curiosity, I felt my older Dim Light Powder from the Leopard Palette compared to the newer one, and this year’s feels the tiniest bit silkier. When I swatch them, the shades are identical, but when I rub them into my skin, I can see slightly more of a cast from the older powder. I hope my photo helps, but it’s a bit difficult to try and demonstrate the results from a sheer finishing powder on the skin.

This change probably won’t make much difference on someone with a light skin tone, but it works out better for me. Realistically though, I’m going to stick to using Eternal Light or Desert Light instead. So, Dim Light might be ignored by me when I open this palette.

GOLDEN HOUR (Highlighter) – This is a new shade for Hourglass and I feel it is one of the more refined highlighters they’ve made. There’s no avoiding that this is quite beaming, but it doesn’t look as crazy on me as I expected. In swatches, it is clear that Golden Hour is lighter than Divine Strobe Light, but it blends into my skin so well that I feel I can pull off Golden Hour even better.

Darker highlighters are obviously going to look better on me, so I don’t foresee myself using Golden Hour very much. However, it’s nice that I could if I wanted to. Since the quality is great, I think most people who like intense highlighters will be happy with this one.

*This photo demonstrates my best efforts at applying a sheer amount of Golden Hour to make it work. It is incredibly easy for it to look beaming and intense if that’s what I wanted.*

NATURAL BRONZE (Bronzer) – It’s no surprise that this doesn’t work for me as a bronzer. I can just barely see a cool-toned tinge on my skin in person (it’s invisible in photos). Hourglass finishing powders can be used as bronzer, so the reverse is true as well. However, because Natural Bronze leaves a slight grey tone on me, I cannot use it for either purpose. I’m fine with that considering it’s the only truly unusable powder for me out of six.

One of the complaints a lot of people with a lighter skin tone have is that Hourglass bronzers tend to lean too warm/orange. So, I wonder if this particular color will make the majority of customers happy. It is apparently not a new shade, but I don’t know where else it has been.

LUMINOUS CORAL (Blush) – I really like this color! It is a little darker than Ethereal Flush, and warmer than Coral Haze, which makes it my favorite of Hourglass’ coral blush shades! It’s vivid enough to pop on my cheeks without looking clownish and it doesn’t require too much effort building it up.

SUNSET FLUSH (Blush) – This blush has the Nars Orgasm effect on me: a slight tinge of pink may be seen when I face forward, but a gold sheen is all that shows when I turn my head towards the light. I could use this as a highlighter, but I prefer how it looks as a blush topper for Luminous Coral and Mauve Fusion.

MAUVE FUSION (Blush) – Although this blush is lighter than Amethyst Haze from the Fox Palette, it has enough pigment to look extremely bold with enough layers and a dense brush. In swatches, Mauve Fusion looks fuchsia-pink and Amethyst Haze looks magenta-pink. On my cheeks, Mauve Fusion looks like a normal pink blush. I still think it’s pretty, and between the two, I do think Mauve Fusion looks the most purple on my cheeks. However, I find Mood Flush to look like a truer mauve. Perhaps Mauve Fusion will look different on other people with a different undertone than mine (and a different ratio of color marbling in the blush).

Overall, the Swan Palette colors work pretty well for me. Luminous Coral and Golden Hour were my favorites, but Luminous Coral, Sunset Flush, and Mauve Fusion combined are the real standouts.

As much as I like this palette, I don’t love any of the powders enough to say that I’d have been missing out if I skipped getting Swan. However, I don’t regret my purchase when the goal was to have Deer Packaging, and I ended up with five usable products to boot.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Quad – Dusk

As you might already know, Hourglass released five curated quads in May 2025, plus the option for US-only customers to choose 4 out of 24 Ambient Lighting powders to put in a custom quad.
In my Window Shopping Hourglass post, I said the smartest move would be for me to wait and see if any of the shades I want will end up in one of the deeper holiday palettes I planned to buy anyway. This was my plan, but I kept thinking about the Hourglass Barney’s Volume III Palette that had my two most sought after shades (Lucid Glow and At Night in the “edit” size), and how it was never restocked. So, that compelled me to get the Dusk Palette in its final restock, which sold out a minute after I ordered it. Considering At Night did not make it into this year’s holiday palettes, I really don’t regret my decision. Plus, I got a discount on it.

I’ve had this quad for quite a while, but I figured the start of the holidays would be the best time to review it.

SUBLIME FLUSH (Blush) – I knew this blush would look cool-toned on me, and potentially ashy. Sometimes this shade doesn’t look too bad on me if I mix it with other blushes, but it’s really not for me.

MOOD FLUSH (Blush) – I have to build up this color quite a bit, but I love this blush. It’s a duplicate shade for me, as I already own and depotted one out of the Sculpture Quad, but that just means I can keep one in two different custom palettes of my own making.

OASIS GLOW (Blush) – I knew the chances were high that I couldn’t use this as a blush on my skin tone. I wanted this shade as a subtle highlighter, and that’s exactly how I’ve been able to use it.

AT NIGHT (Blush) – I own this in the full-size, but wanted it in the smaller Ambient Edit size to be able to put it in custom palettes. I love the one that came in the Dusk Quad because I have a larger section of deep red marbling, making it easier to get more of that dark color and less of the tan-beige color. This means it’s even deeper and requires less building up, so I’m very pleased.

I have been content to leaving this quad as is, as a blush/highlighter palette. However, with the additions of Fox and Swan, I’m feeling even more of an impulse to rearrange one or even two Ambient Edit Palettes!

Have I Achieved Creating the Perfect Palette Yet?

**2015** – Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, **2016** – Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, **2017** – Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 3 Palette, **2018** – Ambient Lighting Edit Volume 4 Palette and Unlocked Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, **2019** – Ghost Ambient Lighting Edit and Ghost Ambient Lighting Blush Quad, **2020** – Sculpture Ambient Lighting Edit Palette and Sculpture Ambient Lighting Edit Quad, **2021** – Ambient Lighting Edit Universe and Ambient Lighting Edit Universe Unlocked, **2022** – Butterfly, Elephant, and Tiger Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked, **2023** – Jellyfish, Leopard, and Snake Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked, **2024** – Dragon, Evil Eye, and Lotus Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked, **2025** – Deer, Horse, Swan, and Fox Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked.

With this year’s launch (and my purchase of the Dusk quad), I have procured nearly every shade from Hourglass that I’ve wanted from the beginning of the launch of these palettes until now. Iridescent Coral is the only one missing, but it would likely be another highlighter shade on me, so I’m giving up on it.

I have experience depotting and rearranging these myself, which is great considering the brand still hasn’t made that option available to those outside of the US. I could continue to wait for this to happen, but there’s no telling when they will roll it out internationally, when they will use 6-pan palettes instead of quads, whether the palettes will be made of tin instead of plastic (which is more ideal for depotting without ruining the packaging). So, I am feeling a bit impatient when I see that creating my perfect palette is now within reach! My biggest obstacle at this point would just be procuring the right magnets and trying to depot the powders old-school style without my Z-Potter.

Below is a mock up of the first concept palette I decided upon, which I gave the name Panda for no reason other than to wish it into existence. I’d love a Panda design in next year’s Hourglass Palettes!

CONCEPT PALETTE: “PANDA”

Eternal Light (Finishing Powder) – Lotus, Permanent Shade
Solar Glow (Highlighter) – Fox
At Night (Blush) – Dusk Quad, Permanent Shade
Mood Flush (Blush) – Sculpture and Dusk Quad
Mystic Flush (Blush) – Snake
Solar Bronze (Bronzer) – Snake

When it comes to choosing the best shades for me, as a person with a medium-deep skin tone, I think I’d put Eternal Light in any palette to be on the safe side of working for me, but Desert Light poses a very tempting second option.

There are plenty of pretty highlighters from Hourglass that I can make work, but the newest one from Fox is the clear winner. Solar Glow would be in any version of my ultimate palette, but if I made a second custom palette, there are a few blushes I use as highlighters that I’ve come to enjoy enough to put in the running.

My two bronzer contenders are Solar Bronze and Solar Fusion with one being my best shade match and the other being similar to that with an added sheen. At times, Solar Fusion will be too light, so the Solar Bronze would need to be in my alpha palette (Panda).

At Night is one of my favorite blush shades of all time, so a perfect palette would be incomplete without it. Mood Flush is typically my second favorite. It works alone as a subtle blush, but also pairs well with At Night. Mystic Flush is the most pigmented and easy to blend of the medium-dark pinks, so that’s typically my third blush option, but Sunset Glow is such a similar color that I go back and forth as to which I like more.

Desert Flush, Luminous Coral, and Ethereal Flush are the next ones that grab my attention the most from the blush swatch photo in the Luminous Coral review section. Truth be told, I haven’t been wearing Desert Flush because I’ve gotten more sun this year and that shade is really only usable for me when my skin is at its lightest. Luminous Coral is brand new, so I’m not fully committed to moving it around. Ethereal Flush is one that I keep forgetting about since it’s in my palette with lighter shades (Owl).

Speaking of lighter shades, Mood Exposure also shows up as a solo blush, depending on the time of year, but I also like using it to calm down punchier blush shades. So, I could see myself adding it to a custom palette as well.

Mood Exposure on the cheeks.

It wasn’t until this week that I started to question whether I should put all of my favorite Hourglass blush shades into one palette considering At Night and Mystic Flush can sometimes look alike. I need to have blush variety, but the colors should be the ones I wear most often. I considered placing Canyon Heat instead of Mystic Flush for the greater difference between shades, but ultimately left it as is.

The more I look at the Panda Concept, the more interested I am in making it.

CONCEPT PALETTE: “RABBIT”

Mood Exposure (Blush) – 5 Holiday Palettes, Permanent Shade
Lucid Glow (Blush as Highlighter) – Fox, Ghost Quad, Sunset Quad, Barney’s Volume III
Desert Light (Finishing Powder) – Fox
Luminous Coral (Blush) – Swan
Canyon Heat (Blush) – Fox
Bronze Fusion (Bronzer) – Fox

Since Desert Light and Bronze Fusion were close to matching my top picks, and Luminous Coral is the best of the corals, I decided to create a second mock up called “Rabbit.” The majority of shades in this one are from Fox, and while I might’ve been content to leave that palette as-is, rearranging them might help me get even more use out of them.

Lucid Glow and Oasis Glow are my top two blush-as-highlighter products from Hourglass, but Lucid Glow has more shimmer impact, so it won out. I did contemplate putting Infinite Strobe Light, but it’s just easier to keep Lucid Glow within the Fox Palette to minimize the amount of depotting I have to do.

For a similar reason, I’m leaving in Canyon Heat. It’s too new for me to know if it can top my other favorite blushes, but I’m still looking to have variety. This is the best of the oranges.

I could use Mood Flush a second time, since I have two now, or Sunset Glow to act as a duplicate for Mystic Flush, but I want to see how well this arrangement can do first.

It’s a little ironic that Mauve Fusion and Amethyst Haze didn’t make it into either of my theoretical custom palettes, considering they were the two blushes I was the most excited to see this year. They both have the potential to rise up the ranks though. I just need more time with them.

At this point, I can finally say that I don’t need additional Hourglass powders. I have all the shades I want. However, it’s not even about the powders anymore. I enjoy collecting them and whether I end up loving or hating the offerings, it’s one of the most exciting makeup events of the year for me to talk about with other makeup lovers. So, as long as the brand doesn’t do anything cancel-worthy next year, I will likely buy another palette. I will just try my hardest to limit it to one and not two!

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Fox Palette

Posted on September 15, 2025 by ghekate

In my post called Window Shopping the Hourglass Custom Quads, I came to this realization:
“The more I think about it, the more I realize having a quad isn’t necessarily what I want. A palette with one finishing powder, one highlighter, one bronzer, and three blushes sounds like heaven!”

So, Hourglass is off to a great start by having the Fox palette, the darkest of this year’s holiday offerings, meet those exact specifications. In addition, this palette contains 5 new shades and the only repeat is Lucid Glow, which I don’t own and have been trying to get my hands on. Fantastic!

Today’s post is going to follow my usual format when discussing Hourglass products.
First will be the review with comparison swatches included, next will be the assessment as to how well the brand has done this year, and lastly a list of things I wish to see in the future.

I received this product early because I purchased it prior to the official launch (shortly after the links were available online), and I paid for express shipping. However, I also ordered the Swan Palette (in Deer packaging) via standard shipping. It arrived too late for me to include anything but comparison swatches in this week’s post, but I will publish the review as a bonus post as soon as it’s completed. A review of the Dusk Quad will be in the Swan post as well. If you haven’t already, be sure to click follow to be notified by email whenever a new review is out!

DISCLOSURE: I am not affiliated with this brand. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I used two random influencers’ codes that I found online (via Retailmenot) to get 10% off my orders.

Anyone who wants to see a list of links to my past Hourglass reviews can find them HERE.

What We Got

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked- Fox Palette

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any Hourglass powders that have a swirl/marble/veining can differ in color from palette to palette. For example, Lucid Glow could look lighter and yellower or a darker coral-pink than mine depending on how much of each color is present in the blush. Amethyst Haze can look more of a plum-purple if it contains less of the shimmery pink. So, even though I am sharing swatches, mine may look different compared to what others have.

SOLAR GLOW (Highlighter) – I finally have a perfect highlighter from Hourglass! In terms of shade, last year’s Gilded Strobe Light from the Lotus Palette was everything I wanted, but the strobe formula tends to enhance texture more than I like. For some reason, this new one does not. Gilded Strobe Light is a golden shade with the same color depth as Solar Glow, but Solar Glow has warm yellow-gold veining along with marbling that looks identical to Gilded Strobe Light. Although Solar Glow is described as a “golden bronze” on the website, the yellow veining keeps it from having as much of a golden-orange tone as Gilded Strobe Light. So, the color stands out a little more on my skin, but it’s still in the right color family for me.

The shade match, plus the level of shimmer refinement makes this not just the best highlighter I own from Hourglass, but the kind of highlighter I like in general. Infinite Strobe Light from the Snake Palette was also a decent shade match, a little less reflective than the typical strobe highlighters, and it is slightly darker than Solar Glow. Divine Strobe Light from the Tiger Palette worked too, but neither than one nor Infinite Strobe Light became favorites. With Solar Glow, I can use my best brushes to get the exact level of shine I want, as it blends easily into my skin.
The shine doesn’t fade or dull down as the day goes on, nor does it have any other longevity issues.

I have swatch comparisons below, and a photo with me wearing the highlighter is in the Canyon Heat section.

LUCID GLOW (Blush) – If I wear this like a blush, I can see a faint peachy-pink tinge (the brand describes it as coral) on my cheeks. However, I feel this looks the best on me as a highlighter when paired with Amethyst Haze. Although Lucid Glow is a warm shade, the pink tone still manages to compliment the cooler pink-berry color of Amethyst Haze better than Solar Glow, which is even warmer.

Lucid Glow also makes a great blush topper for Canyon Heat. I prefer to wear a radiant blush the majority of the time, so the sheer color from Lucid Glow doesn’t alter the color of Canyon Heat that much, and just adds the glow.

I see this color as the warmer version of Iridescent Rose, a shade that Hourglass has put in at least 4 palettes by now. It’s around the same depth as Lucid Glow, and the brand calls it a warm rose, but it has a pearly-mica type of sheen that makes it appear cooler toned on me. Perhaps Iridescent Rose would look even better with Amethyst Haze on those with a cool undertone, but Lucid Glow helps to bridge the gap in making that shade work on me. Therefore, I don’t mind having this in my palette, even though I don’t wear it as a standalone blush.

*The lightest blush from the Lotus Palette, Desert Flush, is still darker than Sunset Flush from the Swan Palette and Lucid Glow from the Fox Palette.* *The Lotus Palette continues to be the darkest Ambient Edit Palette thus far.*

DESERT LIGHT (Finishing Powder) – The performance of all Hourglass finishing powders are the same on me, as long as the shade isn’t too light, which then makes my skin look dry, textured, and ashy. These powders are lightweight, sheer, easy to blend, have minimal ability to lock in makeup, and minor blurring capabilities. So, choosing between them comes down to whether or not there is visible shimmer and if the shade is a good match. The palest one I can wear from Hourglass is Dim Light, but it can slightly lighten my foundation if I am too heavy-handed. Desert Light is darker and warmer, so it suits me even better. It is technically still lighter than my skin tone, but I could only tell by applying a heavy swatch to my face. When rubbed in, the slightly brightened area did not look unnatural. So, it’s no surprise that using a normal amount on my face works well as a finishing powder.

My closest match, especially right now, is Eternal Light. Eternal Light is the tiniest bit darker than my skin tone (again only detectable when swatched heavily), but applying a normal amount looks perfect. I always have to preface that the Eternal Light shade from the Ambient Lighting Palette Trio in Volume III had noticeable gold specks in it, but Eternal Light from the Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked Lotus Palette does not. This is why I prefer Eternal Light from Lotus and that’s the one I consider to be my best finishing powder shade from Hourglass. This new one, Desert Light, contains gold shimmer again, but the particles are far tinier than the Volume III trio. So, I don’t mind the beautiful sheen and the brightening effect. Desert Light is particularly well suited to calming down a “loud” blush, like Amethyst Haze, plus it adds a little warmth. I just have to be careful using it in my bronzer zone because it can make Bronze Fusion look even more subtle than it already is.

CANYON HEAT (Blush) – This is finally an orange blush I can get behind! Past orange blushes from Hourglass were metallic, to the point of seeming more like highlighters, and were just too saturated for my liking. Canyon Heat is more of a slightly muted terracotta with a soft matte finish. The earthy orange-brown hue is quite flattering. It shows up on me, but a little more pigment could have made this blush better able to suit those who are darker than me. This is probably going to be too light for some people I know.

I find it interesting that of the three blushes, this one has the least amount of sheen. However, it still contains Mica, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, and Boron Nitride as the first three ingredients. There is a possibility that other people could have a stronger sheen in theirs than mine. Then again, the Desert Light finishing powder also has those top three ingredients, but still has even less of a sheen than Canyon Heat. In any case, Canyon Heat is not flat matte, but isn’t shimmery like the other blushes either.

I like Canyon Heat, but I need more time with it to decide if it can surpass my older favorites.

AMETHYST HAZE (Blush) – Hourglass has a few mauve blushes (Mood Flush and Mood Exposure), and they released a deep-pink berry blush called Rose Heat from Universe Unlocked in 2021, but Amethyst Haze and Mauve Fusion are the closest they’ve gotten to making a purple blush. Amethyst Haze is like a magenta-berry and is one of their darkest blushes, alongside Red 0 from the Lotus Palette in 2024 and Rose Heat from the 2021 Universe Unlocked Palette. Mauve Fusion from this year’s Swan Palette is a slightly lighter, cooler, and less pigmented version of Amethyst Haze. I consider it to be a fuchsia-pink. Mauve Fusion has a touch more blue tone, while Amethyst Haze has a little more red.

I’m always happy to see a dark blush option from Hourglass, and that it’s less pigmented, making it easier to work with than Red 0. Amethyst Haze is also only moderately metallic, so I think it has a pretty finish.

BRONZE FUSION (Bronzer) – This bronzer isn’t as light as Lustrous Bronze Light from the Leopard and Elephant Palettes, but it’s just barely dark enough to show up on my skin while the last of my summer color is clinging on. Solar Bronze has been my correct bronzer shade up to this point, but what Bronze Fusion has going for it is the fact that it’s the darkest shimmer/glow bronzer Hourglass has made so far.

The foundation shades I wear most of the year are Nars Light Reflecting Foundation in Caracas (but in some formulas, like Sheer Glow, I wear Macao), Hourglass Ambient Glow Foundation 13.5W, Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Serum Tint in 11, and Chanel N1 in BD91. I should theoretically wear BD101, but I make BD91 work even outside of winter. I used to mix BD91 and BD121, but BD121 is too orange.

Why this is important is because I can see the bronzer on me when I wear BD91, but when I wear a full face of BD121, I can only see the warmth the bronzer adds in person. The sheen is subtle to begin with, but even harder to see in photos. So, once again, I find myself liking a product that will unfortunately be unusable for a lot of makeup lovers that have come to expect the “Color Palette 3” of the holiday palettes to be deep-skin friendly.

How well this continues to show on my skin throughout the year will determine whether it’s above or below Solar Bronze as my favorite.

When it comes to using these powders on the eyes, it’s once again something I’ve done for review purposes, but will rarely do in my everyday life. It’s similar to how I dislike using Hindash powders on my eyes, but love them on my face. They just look so dull on me as eyeshadows.

How Did Hourglass Do This Year?

*My Tiger Palette in the top left contain two blushes from the Butterfly Palette.* *My Owl Palette contains the color story of Leopard, but I swapped out one blush for Mood Flush. My Leopard Palette has contains the color story of Snake.*

Regarding the Fox Palette specifically, I think Hourglass did a fantastic job in catering it to my preferences. I’m thrilled about that for myself, but it’s a step backwards from being inclusive towards those with deeper and richer skin than mine. There are four options this year, if we count the Sephora-US exclusive Horse Palette. Considering that one has all repeat shades, I’m willing to overlook it, but I understand why some of the people I know are disappointed that Fox is their only option and that they can only use half of the palette.

Staying on the topic Fox, I feel that the quality is better this year. The powders feel slightly less dry. The shimmers are more refined. The choices to make most of the shades warm-toned suits me well. One of my biggest complaints with how they used the marbling “miscelare technique” in the past was to combine a color with beige, effectively ensuring the combination would turn into a medium value color at the darkest. As fascinating as the swirls look, I would have rather Hourglass make dark palettes with solid colors (like they did in Lotus) to ensure there aren’t huge shade discrepancies among the same palettes. Lucid Glow isn’t new, so I’m lucky mine had enough pink veining to be wearable. Amethyst Haze and Bronze Fusion look solid from afar, but they are actually the combination of two dark colors on each tile. I believe even the Solar Glow highlighter has the subtlest bit of marbling between dark warm gold and bronze. I’m happy they’ve done this successfully for the darker powders.

Although the depth of the colors could be be improved, I feel like Fox has the most cohesive and complementary options for those in the warm-toned Tan to Medium-Deep skin category. For example, with the Lotus Palette, I felt that I was forced to use the two blushes together to create a middle-ground color because the two had such a huge difference in depth. The person who could rock the lightest blush alone wouldn’t be able to use either of the two highlighters. In Fox, I can use Lucid Glow in various ways with both blushes, and technically by itself. The highlighter, bronzer, and Canyon Heat blush are beautifully warm and clearly go together. If I feel Amethyst Haze is too dark or too cool, I can fix both issues once I put the finishing powder on top. I can also use all three blush shades to create the perfect medium toned neutral flush on the cheek that isn’t too muted or too bold and isn’t too shimmery either.
The only downside is that I have to be careful using the entire face palette together since the combination of Lucid Glow and Desert Heat can tone down the vibrancy a bit too much. Some examples of this are in the photo below, but I would realistically only use 4-5 shades at a time.

I’m still gathering my thoughts about the Swan Palette, and I don’t own Deer, but it seems Hourglass intended for Deer to suit those with fair skin who want not only light Ambient powders, but ones specifically formulated to require building up. Both Han Beauty 101 and Theresa is Dead seemed less than pleased by the Deer Palette, even though it was intended for people like them. It really highlights the fact that it’s not enough to match someone’s skin tone depth. Preferences play a big part, which is why being able to customize these palettes in the future is so important. Hourglass makes a lot of money off people (like me) who buy more than one palette, but they also know fatigue is starting to set in. The limited availability of custom quads was likely a test, and I hope the customers passed that test.
Also, regarding Deer, Han Beauty 101 said that she has used the palette enough times that she’s getting more pigment now, especially having switched to a denser brush. So, perhaps that’s something to keep in mind for those who want to buy Deer.

I think the amount of repeat products Hourglass put in the palettes are acceptable (Deer – 3, Swan -2, Fox -1, Horse-6), because I view Horse as no different than the Owl Palette from 2023 that didn’t have a Color Palette attached to it. Besides the holiday palettes with special packaging, Hourglass releases a few repeat palettes and trios each year anyway. They just don’t get talked about as much and disappear off their website just as quickly as they arrived.

Overall, I’m quite happy with Fox. Usually it’s the blushes that have me the most excited for the holiday palettes, but this year it’s the highlighter, finishing powder, and bronzer. I think this is a good addition to my collection, which is quite the relief considering I am supposed to be cooling it on buying face palettes. It’s nice to know the hefty price was worth it.
I didn’t get all holy grail shades, but many of them have become second favorites instead.

Future Wishes

I liked the animal options this year. The new artist they hired, Sasha Unisex did a great job. After all, a good portion of my decision to buy a second palette was for the packaging.
I am still hoping and wishing Hourglass will commission a Panda and Rabbit in the future.
Since we’ve had non-animal ones like the Barney’s cover, Evil Eye, and Lotus, I would go crazy for a star/moon/celestial design. I’d also love to continue on the mythological train and have a phoenix, mermaid/siren, unicorn, etc.

I’m still hoping Hourglass will take the two colors within At Night to be mixed into one solid color, with an increase in pigmentation. If they made a solo blush out of the darker of the two colors in At Night, I think that would be pretty great too.

Hourglass makes a lot of pinks and berries, but I’d love a red-brown similar to Pat Mcgrath’s Paradise Venus or Benefit’s Terra. Perhaps the reason Hourglass has zero true red blushes is because they don’t use carmine. Red 0 from Lotus was still an ultra deep pink. I would just like to have less pink and orange, and I’m still hoping we’ll get darker nude blushes that will look natural on someone with dark skin.

The creation of a rich dark bronzer is still on the wishlist for so many people. That would be great to finally see next year.

Sometimes I create mock ups of what my perfect Hourglass Ambient Edit Palette would look like, if I was in charge of the arrangement. It was easy to decide my top two finishing powders, bronzers, and highlighters, but I have been so indecisive about the blushes that I decided to cut that portion from today’s review. I think I will try to include it in the Swan post instead. So, if you’re interested in seeing that as well, please visit my blog again soon!

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

Prada Lip Balm and Pansy Eyeshadow Quad Review

Posted on September 8, 2025 by ghekate

I said in my Prada review ten weeks ago, “For now, I’m content with the two products I have.”

Yet, here we are again!

The contentment did not last. I couldn’t stop myself from buying Pansy to mix and match with Primula. I also watched a lot of balm related videos on YouTube, and the Prada balm kept ranking among the top. So, despite the fact that I’m on a restricted low-buy regarding lip products, I bought one anyway.

The triangular compact mirror was a free gift with purchase via Douglas.

Prada Dimensions Holo Nude Eyeshadow Palette in Pansy

I thought these shades were going to be on the darker side of medium, but the darker pink and shimmery/satin brown are lighter than I expected on myself. I still consider this palette to be pretty, especially the triangular eyeshadows in the bottom left and right sides of the palette. I don’t know how else to describe that shimmery brown, which has a pink tone to it.
In my previous review, I also said that Primula had the prettiest Holo shimmer among the three quads Prada launched, but I might have to reconsider that statement.

The quality is on par with Primula. The shadows are incredibly creamy feeling, as though it’s a cream-to-powder formula. The eyeshadow payoff is the soft buildable type. I don’t get fallout, fading, or creasing, and they are easy to blend.

The downside, is that I can’t build any depth using this palette exclusively, but I knew that before I bought it, plus I intended to use these shades with Primula.

Prada Optimizing Care Lip Balm in 11 Noisette

I love how this balm color looks on my lips! It is so rare to find a light shade that is dark enough for me to not need to wear a lip liner with it, without being too saturated/vibrant, and also contains enough pigment to show true-to-color. I’m always looking for a medium-toned pink, but they end up being too cool-toned, have too much mauve, too much of a white base and looking milky or ashy, or too sheer to appear different from my natural lip color.
I am super happy with this shade!

Without eating, and with a normal amount of drinking, this lasts about 4-5 hours on my lips before I feel the need to reapply. My lips feel nicely moisturized and hydrated while I wear it, but I do have lip balms, oils, and glosses that are better at conditioning my lips. However, I’d still place in somewhere in my top 15 or 20. I also don’t consider it to be that sticky.

There are two flaws, with one being far more significant than the other:

As beautiful as the color is, it’s not perfectly smooth. The color can sometimes settle into the lines of my lips, so I need to really rub and blend them together to get the color to smooth evenly back out. I notice this during the initial application, and then it’s good until there isn’t as much left on my lips, so I need to reapply anyway.
My biggest issue with this balm is the added fragrance. It not only smells overpoweringly strong of florals, but I can literally taste the perfume! It even makes my tongue tingle when I accidentally get some of it in my mouth! I try my best to avoid putting the balm too close to the inner rim of my mouth, but I still manage to taste that gross floral perfume anyway.

I admittedly only did four all-day wear tests because I could not handle anymore attempts to eat food while I had remnants of the balm on. Most balms aren’t so gross tasting that I have to bother wiping everything off my lips before eating, but Prada’s is.
After I quit doing wear tests, my M.O. has been to put on the balm for photos and then wipe it off after I’m done. This is the only way I can continue to use this product! The color is gorgeous. The formula is quite nice and cushiony on my lips, but the parfum and additional aroma ingredients (limonene, geraniol, linalool, citronellol, etc) seriously impact my desire to wear this. I don’t understand how this doesn’t bother more people, besides apparently myself and State of Kait.

The amount of fragrance in the foundation, I can ignore. The highlighter is powerfully scented, but I power through because it’s unlike any other in my collection. However, the lip balm’s perfume is nearly as strong as the highlighter and I cannot tolerate having them both on at the same time. I get an instant headache.

The packaging is beautiful and luxurious. I love all the details with the logo on the cap, around the sides, the Prada green color on the inside of the cap, the shade name near the opening of the tube, the magnetic closure, and the fact that this is refillable. Sure, the price is high. However, I would have said it was worth it if not for the scented aspect. I cannot recommend this product based on the experience I’m having with it. I seriously hope the fragrance will dissipate over time or that they reformulate these in the same colors, but make them fragrance-free. I bought this at 20% off, but I would repurchase a parfum-free version at full price in a heartbeat. This had the makings of being a holy grail product. What a shame!

Prada Reveal Skin Optmizing Refillable Foundation (sample) in DN75

I got a foundation sample card in one of my orders and DN75 was the closest match out of what was available. I would say it’s still a shade too light for me. I assume either DW75 or DW80 would be better for me, but I don’t plan on buying the full-size because the finish is more matte than I would like. It if looks like this on me in the summer time, I can imagine how dry and dehydrated I’d look in winter. My hydrating setting sprays could help, but I will just stick to using the foundations I already have.

I have noticed during longevity tests that this foundation gets more dewy on me as the day goes on, but I’m not sure if that has to do with the hydrating skincare I use (such as hyaluronic acid) taking effect. This kind of thing happened to me with the Hourglass Ambient Soft Glow Foundation, but I prefer to have a hydrated look from the start and it staying the same all day, instead of having to suffer through looking dry in the morning and then by afternoon I’m glowier in a way that looks worn in, the way this Prada Foundation does.

According to what’s written on Prada’s website, this foundation has, “buildable medium coverage and a long-lasting soft matte finish,” plus, “…the technology-powered formula instantly enhances radiance and hydration with additional overtime care.” So, perhaps this “additional overtime care” explains the dewy phenomenon. Looking more radiant is welcome to me, but I don’t like being able to actually feel the moisture increase on my face. This foundation is not transfer-proof, and I agree with the medium coverage claim.

Because of the fragrance and dewiness throughout the day, I’m glad I was able to use the sample and didn’t have to commit to buying it first.
I tested this foundation 3 or 4 times, as there was plenty in the container and I was able to use tape along the sides to keep it as fresh as possible between uses.

That’s all for today! I truly do think I am slowing down on buying more from Prada, especially if there’s going to be fragrance in those products too.

Thanks for reading!

-Lili ❤

Lip Collection Reviews and Declutter

Posted on September 1, 2025 by ghekate

The photo above shows all the lip products I purchased or was gifted in 2023. I was systematically trying to review everything new that year, but ran out of time once I got engaged. Since I was moving overseas, I suddenly had to do a declutter and decide which items I would be bringing with me, whether I completed reviews for them or not.

Then, in 2024, I was trying to balance between reviewing newer and older items. It got overwhelming trying to juggle reviewing 25 lippies in a single declutter style post. My collection was getting out of hand again, so I decided to go on a low-buy. I switched gears and started focusing on posting smaller batches of lip reviews.

For today, I will finish reviewing the remaining interesting lip products from 2023, in addition to describing the process of how I whittled down my collection. At the end, I’ll show what my current collection in 2025 looks like and explain which items wouldn’t make the cut if I had to do another declutter.

Bullet Lipsticks

Top Row (L to R): Melt, YSL, Hourglass, Lisa Eldridge, and MAC.
Bottom Row (L to R): Pat Mcgrath, Mented, Juvia’s Place, Sephora, Propa Beauty, and Suqqu.

I only got rid of the expired lip products, which were a few Propa Beauty Lipsticks, the Melt lipstick, and Sephora Collection one. I also left behind the MAC lipsticks, except the one from the Whitney Houston Collection, because I had them mainly for collector purposes and knew I wouldn’t wear them. That’s where I would have loved to stop, but the baggage weight limit required me to leave behind even more. Because my remaining Propa lipsticks were oldest, it pained me, but I had to leave them. I also dropped the Juvia’s Place lipsticks because I was fairly sure they ship to Germany and that I would potentially be able to replace them if I really missed them during one of their massive sales. It turns out, I did not miss them.

Of the remaining bullet lipsticks, I will showcase the only older ones that haven’t been previously reviewed.

Hourglass Unlocked Satin Crème Lipstick in Dahlia 318

The luxury-packaging-lover in me is still happy that I bought this lipstick, but I was never satisfied with the brand’s shade options. The initial excitement customers had surrounding the launch seemed to have disappeared so quickly afterwards, even when the brand extended the range. I can’t recall any beauty YouTuber that mentioned the lipsticks again even one month post-review. Considering how long it has taken me to talk about this, I can’t say I blame them!

The real reason I never bought more is truly because I didn’t think any other colors would suit me based on how the shades looked in Youtube videos and Instagram versus the photos Hourglass put out. At a $38 retail price, I wasn’t about to take anymore chances. I mean, Dahlia looks a bit darker than the bullet, but on my lips it is such a brighter pink!

Photo Credit: This picture is from the **Sephora DE** website.

Over time, the color has gotten even bolder. The dye called Red 27 is the one that is used in all the ph-adjusting products. This contains Red 28, which looks extremely close to that tone of fuchsia, which I’m not a fan of seeing on myself.

I love the amount of shine the satin finish gives. It’s not too creamy as to slide around everywhere. The pigment level covers enough of the dark pigmented spots on my lips for me to be happy. I believe this used to have a typical vanilla scent, but after having it so long, it smells slightly sweet, waxy, and spicy. I think mine is reaching the point of being too old to wear.

It feels very nice on the lips, but gets drying towards the later hours of the night. I think it’s because it has a slight staining effect and stains tend to dry out my lips. It feels comfortable for the majority of the day though.
Touch ups are still a must for anyone that wants to keep the moisturizing glossy layer, but be forewarned that this will definitely transfer onto whatever it touches.

Besides the packaging and the finish, I really liked the shape of the bullet as it was easy to apply and stay within the lines.

Overall, I do still like this, but I won’t be buying additional colors because I prefer more non-tradtional lipstick formulas and because of the shade range.

Suqqu Sheer Matte Lipstick in Houjitsu 112

It’s so interesting that this is a “matte” line, but for this limited edition shade, Suqqu added fine shimmer that gives this a somewhat metallic look. In the same way that many matte cream blushes still have a creamy (and therefore minimal wet sheen) look to them, the lipstick looks almost satin. Although I can’t do it effectively with this shade, I can see how other colors could help create a soft and pretty blotted lip look.

The combination of waxes, oils, and silicone based ingredients makes this lipstick feel very comfortable on the lips. It easily and smoothly glides across the lips without tugging. It also leaves a very minimal imprint on glasses or anything else the lips touch. For a sheer lipstick, I consider the staying power to be decent, but a few touch ups are necessary throughout the day. I really like this formula! Even though it doesn’t feel drying, if I try to wear this two days in a row, my stubbornly dehydrated lips will punish me for it. This is not unusual for me, and it’s why I wear balms and glosses far more often than lipsticks, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

This is not a fully opaque lip product, but it can be built up a decent amount. In this case, sheer doesn’t automatically mean subtle. Although this particular shade is discontinued, Suqqu has a permanent range of color options. Just know that the brand does not sell the lipstick together with the lid/case. Ordering the lipstick alone will get the customer the lipstick bullet in the base with a small clear plastic cap on top. They sell the matte black and gold covering/lid separately under the name “Sheer Matte Lipstick Cap” for around $4. Because of the unique six-sided shape, no other case will fit over it except the one Suqqu makes. When I was living in the US, I could only buy Suqqu from Selfridges, and it takes them forever to restock them. So, I couldn’t get the proper top for the lipstick until five months later!

I appreciate the brand’s efforts to produce less plastic, but no one who buys high end or luxury goods want to spend so much money to then be forced to keep a cheap plastic covering over the product for nearly half a year! There should be a guaranteed way to ensure every customer’s first lipstick will come with a proper case. This honestly ruined my initial experience with the lipstick and it’s why I never included it in my other Suqqu reviews. This is also why I decided that if I ever wanted to try a line of Suqqu lipsticks again, I would buy the case as soon as I saw it offered even if I didn’t plan to get the actual product until much later. That’s what I did with the Moisture Glaze in 2025!

Liquid Lipsticks

Top Row (L to R): Juvia’s Place, Lisa Eldridge, Colourpop, Huda Beauty, Oden’s Eye, and Ofra.
Bottom Row (L to R): Rare Beauty and Kaleidos.

This was an easier category to sort through because my dry lips can only tolerate very few formulas. I tossed the expired ones: Ofra, Rare Beauty, and Kaleidos’ Wild Apple and Skinship. The Juvia’s Place lippies didn’t suit me without a lip liner, so I left that behind. The Oden’s Eye ones aren’t as comfortable as Kaleidos Lip Clays, so it seemed smarter to hold off on bringing them. I didn’t declutter the Colourpop x Sailor Moon one for nostalgia, but it had to at least stay behind. The Huda set was new and the formula reminded me of the KVD ones I used to like. However, since I hadn’t done a proper wear test beforehand, and didn’t want to take products with me that I was unsure about, I left them too.

It came down to bringing my Lisa Eldridge Velveteen Liquid Lip Colour (which I used along with other products on my wedding day) and the Kaleidos Lip Clays. I wanted to bring all eight left, but space dictated that I narrow it down to six. I was pretty adamant about keeping those too, but when I had to whittle down the top favorite lip products, liquid lipsticks made no sense to keep a lot of considering how infrequently I used them (even in favorite shades). Mahogany and Sienna were all I had room for, along with Lisa Eldridge’s Muse. I have not purchased any additional liquid lipsticks after that Lisa Eldridge purchase.

Lip Balms (plus lip primer and a satin lip pencil)

Summer Fridays, Nars Satin Lip Pencil, MAC Lip Primer, Nars, Makeup by Mario, Tart, Cay Skin, Kaleidos, Vacation, Beekman 1802, Rare Beauty, MAC Glow Play, Colourpop

This category had so many products I hadn’t yet tried or reviewed, that I decided to only take new balms with me, plus my Nars Satin Lip Pencil. I hoped I would love at least one of the new ones enough to make it worth leaving behind my favorites (the Nars Laguna balms for the look on the lips not the formula) or repurchasing old favorites. Unfortunately, I was missing having a good conditioning balm and needed to buy quite a few in 2024, which are not pictured above. In 2025, I ended up bringing one of the Nars Laguna balms back with me.

Beekman 1802 Goat Milk Lip Balm, Vacation Strawberry Jello Salad Lip Balm, and By Terry Baume de Rose (in pot and liquid form)

I basically roped all of these together because they were not memorable. I took the photos a year and a half ago and only remember that the By Terry one had a rose scent, the strawberry smell in the Vacation balm was very mild, I couldn’t smell anything in the Beekman balm, and absolutely none of these were conditioning enough for my lips. The By Terry lip products were quite old and had been lost in my collection (both samples), so perhaps I didn’t give those a fair enough try. The others, I recall being unhappy with during the testing process and would not recommend them.

Nabla Viper Lip Masks

These were a 2024 Black Friday purchase. I was curious about the formula, coming from a brand I respect, but this was a rare time that I specifically sought out a product with added fragrance. How could I resist Cookie or Peach ‘n Apricot? Even Midnight Orchid smells fantastic, and I’m not usually a fan of florals. Coconut Cream has the mildest scent, but it’s also good.
I missed the delicious scents of Laneige products and hoped these would be an even better alternative. I believe this is!

This consistency is a firmer wax, making it less Vaseline-like than Laneige Lip Sleeping Masks. It isn’t as easy to spread if I put it on directly from the container. However, after it has been on my lips for a while, I can rub them together and the warmth will help finish spreading the product and evens out the layer. I noticed Coconut Cream and Midnight Orchid seemed slightly more emollient, but it might just be because they were the last ones I opened and are fresher.

From what I can see in the ingredient lists, these four are mostly similar, but Peach ‘n Apricot has the order switched around in a few places, plus it has a lot more natural fragrance ingredients than the others (limonene, linalool, geraniol). They all contain flavor/aroma, but Midnight Orchid and Cookie contain vanillin and Coconut Cream has menthol. I feel the slightest bit of a cooling sensation from Coconut Cream, but it’s barely noticeable. This might be because there’s so little of it as the second to last ingredient.

This doesn’t feel as moisturizing or hydrating as my favorite lip balms, but it does a good job of sealing the moisture in and conditions them a little. I’ve been able to eat and still have about half left on my lips. There is enough dye to make Cookie, Peach ‘n Apricot, and Midnight Orchid look like different colors in the container, but they are all clear/slightly milky on my lips. These also have hardly more shine than a typical chapstick. They’re thick and waxy/balmy, but not sticky.

I can wear this when I want to indulge in the various scents, but I don’t use it on days when my lips need intense nourishment.

Lipglosses (and a few lip oils)

Top Row: Fenty.
Second Row: Prada, Huda, Vieve, Dior, Kaja, Sigma, Milk, Juvia’s Place, Pat Mcgrath, Suqqu, Nars, and Pur Cosmetics.
Horizontal Row: By Terry and Anastasia Beverly Hills
Bottom Row: Lunar Beauty, Colourpop, Charlotte Tilbury, Lisa Eldridge, Ami Cole, and Too Faced.

I love all of these glosses, but as a low-pigment product, I had to prioritize the best ones and ones that still needed to be reviewed. It’s actually easier to show a photo of which ones survived the first round of declutters (left side) and which ones got left behind purely for being old (right side with the exception of the extra Too Faced Hangover Pillow Balms that I just had too many shades of).

The only “old” ones that passed the first round were the Charlotte Tilbury mini size gloss and the heart shaped Pat Mcgrath Glosses, but since my combined total of lip products weighed 3 pounds…then 2 pounds after whittling it down some more, I had to leave Charlotte’s behind (I kept PML Flesh 6) along with dropping the Fenty glosses, the brand new Kaja one I had no attachment to, and Lunar Beauty. The latter was left behind because I decided not to feature that brand on my blog and would not need to keep it around to review it. I kept one Suqqu Treatment Wrapping Lip, the Sigma Lip Cream, a colorless mini of the Too Faced Pillow Balm, and the original shade of Ami Cole Oil/Gloss since it was full and would last longer. I was halfway through finishing Bliss. I now have a backup in 2025 in the shade Happy that I will not open until my current one is finished. I technically have two more backups in the US.

I was planning a giant Lisa Eldridge lip post, so both glosses had to come. I kept PML’s Bronze Temptation that I had in my purse during my wedding and kept Colourpop Hocus Pocus 2 So Glassy Lip in Boys Will Love Me for the unique color. Vieve Lip Dew was kept to review.

Rather than repurchasing Fenty’s Gloss bombs last year, I ended up getting different versions in the form of the Gloss Bomb Stix in Spice Cold and the Gloss Bomb Oil in Coppa Cookie, both of which have been reviewed.

Ami Colé Lip Treatment Oil in Bliss and Excellence (Original)

This is currently (and has been for over two years) my favorite and most nourishing lip product in my collection. I was able to let go of my Nuxe Reve de Miel and Sara Happ balms because this product. It contains Baobab, Camellia, Pentaclethra Macroloba, and Passionfruit Seed Oils, which are all oils I have very little experience with. However, my current number one foundation contains Camellia, and that oil is in a few of my favorite hair products too, so it makes sense that Camellia oil is amazing for my lips as well! As for Passionfruit Seed Oil, it’s in my favorite Cleanser/Treatment from Lisa Eldridge.

The hydration level is such that I can wear this once and then skip wearing a lip product for 3-4 days before my lips will start to show signs of chapping. It also softens the skin, which means I have an easier time removing the dead skin/chapped skin off of my lips. This was such a miracle product while I was still struggling to create a routine and was frequently forgetting to put anything on. The formula helps repair my lips when they’re in a bad state, but it instantly looks smoother and plump from the glossy shine. It’s a thick product, and its biggest downside is that it’s very sticky. However, that stickiness is what helps to keep a sealing layer to lock in moisture. It also helps this product to last longer on the lips without needing as many reapplications, as well as remaining on the lips overnight while sleeping.

In addition to it being a lip treatment, I get the benefits of the sheer color. Bliss can look a bit too light if I use too much, but I still find it to be pretty. I left it behind in the US because of the second flaw, which is the leaky packaging. There is never an excess of product around the rim when I put the applicator back in the tube, but sometimes I would randomly open it and product will spill out as if it overflowed, or I will in fact find that it leaked outside of the tube enough to feel sticky (though not enough to form a puddle). I don’t know if it has to do with air bubbles/suction that I hear while I try to close it. For this reason, I always try to keep these stored upright.
The original shade, now called Excellence, was unopened before I moved. So, I brought that one to Germany with me. Between the two shades, I have used up close to one tube’s worth of product. This is a rare accomplishment for me, proving how much I actually use these Ami Cole lip oils/glosses. The only reason I haven’t gone through them faster is because my husband can’t stand when I have sticky lips, and even if I try to wipe these off, he can still feel the remnants. So, I have fewer opportunities in which to use this product.

I am so sad about the fact that Ami Cole will be closing its doors in September. I have some lippie backups, so I will try to enjoy them for as long as I can before they go bad.

Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 039 Intense Cinnamon

I feel a cooling sensation on my lips that lasts several hours after I put this on, which I don’t enjoy. It’s at least better than having a plumping burning sensation that I would like even less.

I don’t get a smooth color application right away. It takes some work by rubbing my lips together to get it to look even. It’s also easy to go outside my lip lines, especially when trying to smooth it out. However, it’s still better at creating an even look of color than the Fenty Cream Gloss Bombs. This one, once smoothed, will stay that way until it’s gone or until I feel the need to layer on some more.

This is fairly sticky on the lips and it does not improve my lip dryness. My lips look moisturized with it on, but when the product is removed, I can see all the chapped parts (plus a bit more than before). My lips look so nice with it on that I’ve been tempted a few times to try other colors in the range, but I prioritize conditioning over looks. So, it wouldn’t make sense for me to buy more. This is one of those long hyped products in the luxury beauty sphere, so I’m glad I could at least experience it, even though it wasn’t a great purchase for me.

Clarins Lip Comfort Oil in 01 Honey

This lip oil was far too hyped up for me to never try it. I was just waiting for a great discount, which is why I eventually got one in October 2024. I chose the classic honey color (basically colorless on the lips) which smells deliciously sweet! I like the big applicator paired with the strong stopper that prevents too much oil from coming out, but allows one to cover the lips quickly with the larger surface area.

It leaves a nice moisturized coating on the lips that has some adherence, but it not being sticky means it has an easier time coming off than lip oil hybrids. I try to give it the best chance of lasting on my lips by putting on two layers instead of just one. This amount doesn’t feel goopy, doesn’t drift past my lip line, and feels medium-weight on the lips. Three layers would be too much for me. I still get a good amount of shine from two.

I’m happy to say the ingredients hydrate quickly enough that even when I forget to reapply after a meal (since it usually lasts through drinking, but very little remains after eating), my lips continue to feel soft and smooth. It doesn’t last through the whole night as an overnight treatment and doesn’t hydrate enough that I can skip wearing anything on my lips for more than a day, but as a nourishing product, this is among the ranks of the better performers in my collection. I sometimes wonder if I should try other Clarins lip products, but since I don’t see anyone raving about them, I’m going to continue to push my curiosity aside.

Lip Liners

Coloured Raine, Juvia’s Place, Mented, Nyx, Palladio, Lisa Eldridge, and Em Cosmetics.

I don’t consider myself to be too picky about lip liners. I just want something that glides easily on the lip line, feels comfortable enough to fill in my lips if I want to, adds definition, and is at least water resistant. What made the cut were Coloured Raine in Decadent and Pine, Juvia’s Place in Brownie, both liners from Mented, Palladio in Coffee, and Lisa Eldridge in Sorcery. I later ended up later buying her Sculpt & Shade Lip Pencil in 3W.

Unfortunately, Coloured Raine went out of business. I would say those lip liners were my top favorites, but I’m pickier about lip liner colors than formulas. There are no shortage of good ones, so I’m in no rush to replace them.

CURRENT LIP COLLECTION 2025

Bullet Lipsticks 2025

**Row 1 (L to R):** Mented, Lethal Cosmetics, Nabla, and MAC.
**Row 2 (L to R):** Charlotte Tilbury, Hourglass, PML, and Lisa Eldridge.
**Row 3 (L to R):** Suqqu and YSL

I wouldn’t declutter any of my bullet lipsticks, however, I wish I hadn’t bought the Lisa Eldridge Rouge Refillable lipstick in the shade Lisa, and I could have done without Ashes of Roses and Simone. I have the Lethal Cosmetics Lipstick for collector purposes. I bought the Hourglass and Suqqu (Sheer Matte) to satisfy my curiosity, but I wouldn’t be sad if they were out of my collection. Lastly, I wish I hadn’t bought quite so many YSL lippies. I should have stuck to just one single engraved lipstick and skipped buying the Loveshine Balms. I love the Candy Glazes, but if Shade 16 (Watermelon High) was released at the same time as Shade 15 (Showcasing Nude), I wouldn’t have bought 15.

Lip Balms 2025

**Yellow Box:** Eadem
**Top Row (L to R):** Summer Fridays, Nars, Rabanne, Lisa Eldridge, Nars, Makeup by Mario, and Nabla (stacked in a line).
**Bottom Row (L to R):** Labello, Nuxe, Rom&nd, Nivea, Prada, and Lancome.

I intend to declutter the Labello and Unscented Nivia lip balms because they add no color and are the weakest at conditioning my lips. I’m keeping the Makeup by Mario purely for reference purposes. I replaced my old Summer Fridays balm, and I could have done without having an extra Rabanne Balm (or at least without one that is practically clear on my lips). I am also keeping the Nuxe stick balm because I haven’t even opened it yet.

Lip Glosses and Oils 2025

**Row 1 (L to R):** Fenty.
**Row 2: (L to R):** Nuxe, Fantasy Cosmetica, Vieve, Sigma, Pat Mcgrath, and Suqqu.
**Row 3 (L to R):** Colourpop, Lisa Eldridge, Ami Cole, Too Faced, and Clarins.

The Fenty Gloss Stix is my favorite of their lip formulas, so I could declutter the lip oil. The Nuxe lip oil was disappointing, so I should get rid of it, but the shape is so cute that I feel compelled to hold onto it for longer. The Too Faced Kissing Jelly could also be decluttered, since I prefer the Pillow Balm formula.

Liquid Lipsticks and Lip Liners 2025

**Liquid Lipsticks:** Kaleidos and Lisa Eldridge.
**Lip Liners:** Coloured Raine, Juvia’s Place, Mented, Palladio, Lisa Eldridge, and Charlotte Tilbury

My liquid lipstick pile is unchanged and my lip liner pile has grown slightly. I intend to keep them all the same until they are bad and need to be tossed out. The Mented lip liners are probably too old, but I haven’t been using them anyway.

The only unreviewed lip products I bought between 2024 and 2025 are the Suqqu Moisture Glaze, MAC Lustreglass Sheer-Shine Lipstick in Posh Pit, Nuxe Lip Oil, and Nuxe Lip Moisture Stick. So far, the only unreviewed lip products I bought in 2025 are the Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Lips Healthy Glow Nectar Oil (forgot to photograph) and the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lip Kit that contains minis of the K.I.S.S.I.N.G Pillow Talk Deep (Intense) lipstick and Lip Cheat Pillow Talk Deep lip pencil.

The Charlotte Tilbury lip products will likely be reviewed in the future. The others I forgot about, so I don’t feel compelled to really review them unless someone requests them.

Anyway, that’s everything! My lip collection has been fully updated! I have too many lip products, which is why I’m trying my best to cut back on purchasing more.

-Lili ❤

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons Review and Comparison

Posted on August 25, 2025 by ghekate

*From left to right: Chanel Tweed Cuivre, Guerlain Royal Jungle, YSL Over Brun, and Chanel Boutons Couture.*

It is very unusual for me to want a purely neutral quad, but the photo above shows that it’s not impossible to draw me in. I knew I didn’t need this newest addition, and I had an entire month to try to talk myself out of buying it after seeing the sneak peeks on Instagram, but I couldn’t help it.

Les 4 Ombres Boutons Eyeshadow Palette in 219 Boutons Couture

The compact is typical for Chanel, but the embossing on the shadows, the gorgeous chocolatey shades, and the pattern on the velvet dust cover sleeve are such alluring qualities!

As someone with brown skin, the thought crossed my mind that these shades might not look distinctly different enough on my eyes. I grew excited when I swatched each color on my arm, and felt hopeful as I put each shade solo on my lids. I can clearly tell them apart when used separately. However, when building an eye look, the end result of using all four shades together is that it looks like one single eyeshadow. That’s how much the colors blend into one another, making it wasted effort. I can’t speak for anyone else, but on me, using 1-3 shades actually allows me to have more variety in the eyeshadow looks I create.

*Lisa Eldridge Liquid Silk in Phoebe was used as the eye base for all looks in this post.*

I’m content with the pigment level of the darkest three eyeshadows, but the beige shade (Shade 2) is practically the same color as my eye base. It’s too gently pigmented to show up easily on my eyes, and it makes the bare minimum of impact if used to highlight the center of the lid. Wetting my brush does not intensify it. It makes for a nice color to soften edges at least.

Shade 4 is a mauve-taupe that has the most shimmer of the four, and it adds a pretty gleam to the lids. I consider it to be an intense satin though. Applying this shade with a wet brush helps to pack more color onto the lids, increasing the opacity level. So, it ends up looking a tiny bit shinier, but I imagine most people don’t consider it worth the effort for a minuscule difference.
Perhaps Chanel doesn’t consider impactful shimmers to be “Couture.”

Shade 1 is a warm satin, whereas Shade 2 is darker, cooler toned, and more matte.

In terms of performance, the longevity is there. I don’t get fading or creasing. I can pick up a good amount of eyeshadow with my natural hair brushes, but the eye look will be visible yet soft on that first application. If I want to speed up the process of building maximum pigmentation, using my fingers is an easy way to do that. The sponge tip applicator housed in the compact works well for that task too.

01 Tweed Cuivre is the first and only other Chanel quad I own. In side-by-side swatches, it is so apparent to me why I think so highly of Tweed Cuivre, as it is much closer to my eyeshadow preferences. Tweed Cuivre is my version of “subtle glam,” yet it still has way more oomph compared to Boutons Couture.

Since these two are my only experiences interacting with Chanel eyeshadows, I can’t say whether or not they’re worth the upcharge compared to the permanent line. From photos alone, so many of the Chanel quads’ eyeshadows look like dusty baked domes. Swatches often looked chalky, thin, and lacking in pigment. I couldn’t understand why the brand’s eyeshadows continued to be popular and thought Tweed Cuivre was the exception. If Boutons Couture had a little more bling and the light shade was more opaque, I think I’d be more interested in exploring the brand.

These eyeshadows turned out to be much softer in texture than I expected (Tweed Cuivre is creamier though). This makes it easier to use than the original Guerlain Ombres G line, but I still very much prefer the YSL formula, which happens to be less money as well (especially in Europe).
That being said, I still like this quad. I would have liked to be strong enough to resist the marketing, especially with the number of influencers stating how limited this collection would be and the sharing of exclusive links to pre-order. I admittedly got caught up in the hype and there was the fear of missing out.
I don’t know how many units were divvied up across the world, but every quad is still available in Germany at the time of me writing this. I heard it sold out within days on the US website though.

At this point in time, I still don’t regret buying it, even if I acknowledge that I could have managed without it.

I don’t intend to give a full review of the Chanel Noir Allure Mascara sample that I got with my order. However, I wanted to point out that I’m wearing it in the three eyeshadow demos and full face photo. I like the length it provides, but the formula is so susceptible to water. If my eyes got watery at any point in the day, the mascara easily transferred onto my fingers while I tried to wipe my lashes. Another time, the mascara dripped into my actual eyeballs. I’m not surprised that a non-waterproof mascara would run, but this is the runniest I’ve ever experienced.

Going back to the topic of the Boutons collection, I think the 239 Boutons Baroque Quad is extremely eye-catching. I’m drawn to the colors, but I’m not confident that I would be happy enough with the shades on my eyes if I tried to use them all together. One review that made me content with my decision to ultimately skip buying this quad is from Nikki. One review that made me reconsider my decision is by Lauren on YouTube. I will continue to stay strong and resist though! One palette from this collection is enough.

Also, in order to keep the embossing around for as long as possible, I have only dipped into the right halves of the shades. This is how it looks after just five days.

That’s all for this week! I had to push back some pre-scheduled posts in order to get this review out as fast as possible, especially given the apparent limited quantities of this collection. The next few posts should be featuring products I’ve used for a lot longer.

-Lili ❤

YSL All Hours Couture Face Palette in Golden Oasis

Posted on August 18, 2025 by ghekate

YSL continues to be one of those brands that I allow to be an exception to my Project Pan rules! I want to be much stricter with my face palette purchases, and this technically is one, but I don’t consider a product to be a true face palette if it doesn’t include a bronzer as well. There is a shade called Bronzed Dunes that is worn all over the cheek like a blush in the promo photo, but it is technically a highlighter. Therefore, this is just a blush and highlighter palette.

This product contains the following shades:

93 Restless Rose
02 Hypnotic Honey
77 Hallucinating Pink
44 Nude Lavalliere
54 Berry Bang
22 Bronzed Dunes

Size Comparison

Before we move onto the review, I just wanted to show a size difference in the photo above between the face palette, eyeshadow quad, and blush. I don’t own the individual highlighters or bronzers, but I believe those compacts have more of a square shape than the rectangular eyeshadow quads.

In my opinion, this palette is still small enough to be suitable for travel, but also contains pans large enough for small and medium sized face brushes to fit in them.

The Blushes

None of the blushes in this palette are new to the brand, but Nude Lavalliere and Berry Bang are new to my personal collection. I thought both shades were pretty, but I half expected them to not look as nice on me due to them leaning on the cool toned side vs my very warm undertone.

It’s true that in certain lights the Nude Lavalliere blush can look frosty on me and too purple if I build it up heavily. However, when I wear a light amount, I think I’m still able to pull off this color. The mauve-purple veil over the yellow-orange tone in my skin has a pink effect.

As for Berry Bang, it ends up looking warm on me, and my guess as to the cause is because of how little product I use, which allows my undertone to dictate how the color looks overall. One heavy application is all it takes for it to look cool toned again. Berry Bang is the most pigmented product in this palette, so I have to be careful in choosing airy brushes to work with it.

The satin-finish blushes are pigmented as well, but because less of the product gets picked up by my brushes, I still have to build them up a little. This is because the blushes are pressed harder in the pans of the face palette compared to what they are like in the single compact form.

Another difference I noticed is that the base color of Restless Rose from the palette is actually a little lighter and cooler toned than the single. However, that shade still has a golden shift, so it continues to look moderately warm on the cheeks.

Golden Oasis seems to lean cooler than the name suggests, between this version of Restless Rose with a cooler base, the mix of pearly and warm yellow tones of Hypnotic Honey, the purple and pink shimmer within Hallucinating Pink, and Nude Lavalliere’s pearl-colored shimmer and mauve tinge. Still, it’s technically a mixed temperature palette.

I’ve noticed no other differences in performance between the single blushes and the blushes in this palette. They’re still long lasting and blend well, even when multiple blushes are layered together to create a custom shade.

I have to acknowledge that I have heard some people say these are patchy and don’t blend well, whereas the vast majority say they are a favorite or even their holy grail blush.
While differences in opinions are normal, these are so polarizing that I wonder if there are different factories involved, and batches from one facility turn out better than others. I’ve noticed the people who say they are patchy tend to be located in the US and tend to have oily skin. I have no other explanations and can just say my experience with the blushes has been great, though I do prefer YSL’s satin formula over the matte ones.

More photos of Restless Rose, plus Peachy Nude and Nocturnal Nude can be found HERE, along with photos of Rose Haze and Spicy Berry HERE.

In case anyone is wondering, I do not have plans to buy the three newest individual shades (Hot Mauve, Chili Crush, and Mischievous Magenta). Chili Crush is tempting, but I have enough red blushes. Hot Mauve is super appealing, but too close in color to Rose Haze, which is the only YSL Blush I bought that I have since decluttered. It showed up on my skin, but was still lighter than I prefer to wear on myself.

The Highlighters

Hallucinating Pink (not to be confused with YSL’s other pink highlighter called 03 Rosy Sand) and Bronzed Dunes are the new highlighter shades. 02 Hypnotic Honey already exists, but it’s new to my collection.

*YSL Candy Glaze #14 Scenic Brown is on the lips.*

*Restless Rose is also used on the eyes in the left photo. Nude Lavalliere is on the eyes in the photo on the right.*

I’m going to keep this section short because there isn’t much to say. Hallucinating Pink makes for a pretty shimmer on the eyes, but it’s too noticeable in shimmer size and color on my skin tone. I’m sure it looks better on those with a cool undertone. Pink highlighters rarely look good on me.
Bronzed Dunes has the same particle size as Hallucinating Pink, but because it’s closer to my skin tone, it looks more natural. That being said, Hypnotic Honey still manages to look smoother than Bronzed Dunes in most face photos and even the swatches. I prefer the Bronzed Dunes color, but Hypnotic Honey looks better to me.
At the end of the day though, none of them are a favorite. I was curious about YSL’s formula, which is why this palette was so appealing. This palette’s retail price is €72 (some websites in Germany had it at 20% off instantly, making it close to €58. The highlighters alone are €62. So, it made way more sense to buy this full palette if I wanted to try out multiple shades. At several retailers in the EU, the highlighters can be found around €40-€45 during sales. The blushes are often between €30-€36. So, the palette is still a better deal, though maybe not in terms of cost per gram. I haven’t done that math.

I don’t regret my decision to buy this palette. I just wish I liked it more so that it wouldn’t go to waste in my collection. I will always choose my top eleven highlighters over the ones in this palette, plus my new number one (Prada). As for the blushes, Nocturnal Nude and Restless Rose are my most used, but it would be so much easier to grab my single compact of Restless Rose over this large palette.

Using the Blushes and Highlighters as Eyeshadows

Beyond having two functions already, or technically a third if you have a light enough skintone to use Bronzed Dunes as a shimmery bronzer, I’ve also used this palette several times on my eyes (as seen in the various face photos throughout this post).
I haven’t read up on whether these blushes and highlighters are technically eye safe, and whether they are or not depends on the regulations of one’s country anyway. I can only say that I have used them, for the sake of curiosity, and they work fine for me. For those not wanting to take chances regarding eye safety, I recommending asking the brand and/or researching that information.

Hallucinating Pink works more like a topper eyeshadow. Restless Rose and Nude Lavalliere had to be built up for the sake of getting full opacity. And even though Berry Bang is a dark pink/raspberry color, it’s too bright to create depth. If I put Berry Bang in the outer corner and have Hypnotic Honey more in the center, I can create a gradient from light to dark. However, Berry Bang pops so much on my skin tone that there is still a forward illusion instead of a receding one. So, I can only be satisfied when I use a darker eyeshadow with it (such as the darker colors from the Victoria Beckham Eye Wardrobe in Victoria).

My Reason For Buying This Palette

I must admit that YSL not launching the limited edition Burning Desire quad in Germany instilled some FOMO into me, and I did not want to miss out on something again. This is the real reason I couldn’t talk myself out of buying this palette.
That Burning Desire quad is available in the UK via Selfridges, but “due to changes in regulations,” Selfridges is not allowed to ship food and cosmetics to the EU. There was a brief time (I believe in 2023) that cosmetics were temporarily blocked from shipping to Germany, but that was lifted before the end of that year. The return of this no-food-and-cosmetics ruling has been ongoing since sometime after February 2025.

I can rationalize my purchase from the angle of wanting to own one of their highlighters and the benefit of getting two colors which I could theoretically even combine to create a better shade match on myself. Factoring in the two blushes I wanted, but only withheld buying because of the risk of them not looking great on me, this makes four products I got for a significantly lower price. The quality is great. The packaging is appealing. All of these things are the reason why I can recommend this face palette to anyone who really wants it.

So, I can rationalize the purchase, but the reason I can’t justify it is because I knew beforehand that the highlighters were going to be too shimmery for my taste. Some reviewers keep calling them “smooth” but I saw enough discussions about them having visible sparkle to know that I should have stayed away. There are so few sparkly highlighters that I like, and even those I still almost never wear past the review process.
As for the blushes, liking them isn’t enough to make me want to wear them as many times as would be needed to feel like I wasn’t being wasteful. I just got caught up in the excitement and fear of missing out.

Because this product isn’t just called the YSL Face Palette, and has the actual name Golden Oasis, I fully expect the brand to release additional face palettes in the future. There are currently fifteen powder blushes, so they still have enough additional shades to release a blush-only palette if they wanted. I doubt there will be powder bronzers included, unless those would be the new shades to expand the range. So those that don’t find Golden Oasis appealing enough could like the next one instead.

Hopefully, you’ve found this review helpful.Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

Are Face Palettes Worth It? Ft. Nars

Posted on August 11, 2025 by ghekate

This post is a review of the Nars Hot Escape Palette, but I think it’s also a good opportunity to discuss how much value (if any) face palettes truly add to a makeup collection. I didn’t include any face palettes in my Project Pan, since I didn’t think I had an overconsumption issue in that category, but my ever growing Hourglass collection has made me feel the need to reconsider this. In addition, my Project Pan was centered around trying to use my absolute top favorite makeup items, and so few face palettes would have even ranked high enough to be included.

Nars Hot Escape Cheek Palette in (Version III) Medium Deep

In the last few years, I’ve begun to think that face palettes aren’t something I should be buying, considering how infrequently I use them. The reason I made an exception for this Nars palette is because I thought the blush shades looked quite pretty and I have never tried a true Nars highlighter before. I have technically only used pale shimmery blushes from Nars as highlighters that came within their blush palettes, so I’ve been curious about the potential differences.

The highlighters from the Hot Escape palettes are what tempted me the most because shortly after this launch, Nars had also released their Light Reflecting Luminizing Powders. I wanted to try those as well, but I feared Ophelia would be too light and Total Eclipse might be too dark. Skinny Dip from this palette looked like it was right in-between those two and would be a closer shade match for me. I also assumed the formulas would be the same between the Light Reflecting Luminizing Powders and the highlighters in the Hot Escape Cheek Palettes because Volumes 1, 2, and 4 share the same names (Ophelia, Electra, and Total Eclipse). As it turns out, the highlighter formulas are not the same and the colors don’t seem to be correct either! Ophelia as an individual highlighter is the fourth darkest color and is a light bronze tone. The “Ophelia” from the Hot Escape Palette looks more like the shade Heavenly and is described as an opalescent pink. It’s even in the lightest palette to boot. So, I’m not sure why Nars would do something so confusing. Perhaps it was not intentional and an employee made a mistake when preparing the names for the packaging labels.

The confusion doesn’t stop there. Even though the ingredient lists are the same for the bronzers, I noticed Laguna 06 in the Hot Escape palette seemed much lighter than the individual shade I have in the mini size. I hope the differences are clear enough in the swatch photo below.

The thought crossed my mind that my mini could be darker because I’ve had it for longer, but the surface of mine is actually still lighter than normal because of how often I mixed Laguna shades 05 and 06 because of how red toned 06 was from the start! So, my mini of 06 will look even darker than the new one once I use it a few more times solo.
I don’t know why these two are different, and can only suspect they were made in different facilities even though they both say they’re made in the USA. It’s also possible Nars decided to tweak the shade a little in the palette, which doesn’t seem farfetched considering what they did with the Ophelia highlighter.
I actually don’t mind the new 06 bronzer being lighter and less red because it suits my complexion better. The quality and performance seems to be about the same as well. It’s still a buildable formula and long lasting. I wish it wasn’t quite so matte though.

Starting with the blush called Obsession, I think it’s a pretty color, but it having a matte finish is preventing me from liking it more. As much as I’m attracted to blush colors by Nars, and like them, them looking slightly dry on me is always the reason I don’t fall in love with them. It’s something I could never make sense of considering MAC’s matte powder blushes look similar to the Nars ones, yet the MAC blushes melt better into my skin and somehow just look more life-like and healthier. I have to say, Obsession still looks better on my skin than some of the Nars blushes I’ve used in the past. So, this isn’t quite a favorite, but I am happy enough to have it.

Night Swim turned out to be a little more berry toned than I expected, which is a color category I can be very picky about. Because it’s a lighter berry, that helps me to like it more, as I feel deep colored blushes can age me. It certainly doesn’t look drying due to the shimmer, but the reflect is a little metallic, and I’m not really a fan of that. It’s not enough to make me dislike the blush, just that it prevents it from being a favorite. I think I still like this color even more than Obsession!

My skin tone and everything else (except the blush) is more color accurate in the photo with the pink shirt. It was a cloudy day in my grey shirt photo, so everything looks greyer and cooler, but the blush color is more accurate.

The Skinny Dip highlighter is a suitable color for me, as I suspected it would be. My favorite highlighter brush picks up quite a bit of product, so I have to be careful how much I apply because a little goes a long way. In terms of intensity, it already reaches medium with the amount my brush picks up, so I don’t try to layer it further. It’s already a lot more than I’ve been wearing lately, outside of testing days.

The blue shirt photo is more color accurate for Obsession and Skinny Dip, but I wanted to show how the photo turned out on a cloudy day to better help show the difference in Night Swim’s cloudy photo.

Skinny Dip is not as refined as my Hindash, Charlotte Tilbury, or Prada highlighters, but it still has small enough shimmer particles to keep me happy. I don’t like when highlighters have shimmer specks large enough to look like glitter or when they’re spaced out too much and it looks more like accidental fallout rather than intentional. This highlighter is smooth enough to avoid leaving a stripe and blends nicely. The glow it gives isn’t that metallic either, though I suspect the newest individual ones could be. Overall, I’m quite pleased with this highlighter. This and the blush Night Swim are my favorite two products in the quad.

Because I can use all four colors and I like them all, this has a higher percentage of success rate among my face palette purchases. It also helps that I got it on sale for 33 Euros ($40 USD). However, I don’t know that I love it enough to reach for it over my individual makeup favorites. So, this might not have been a good purchase for me after all. I can at least recommend it as a good quality product for those that enjoy Nars cheek powders and past palettes, even if it’s something I personally could have skipped.

Returning back to the subject of whether face palettes are worth it, I have to state that I first of all consider a face palette to be a product with at least one highlighter, blush, and bronzer. So, duos, blush palettes, and something that has for instance only a highlighter, bronzer, and face powder is one that I don’t consider a true face palette. I don’t always use contour or face powders in a makeup look, but I almost always wear blush, highlighter, and bronzer. This is why I clasisfy face palettes this way.

I own more face palettes than is pictured above, but they are the only ones I considered worth bringing with me or buying once I moved. I would like to point out one of the palettes is custom and the one from Lethal Cosmetics used to qualify, but I prefer their highlighter and blush quality, so I replaced the bronzer with another highlighter.

The first point in determining whether a face palette is worth it is remembering the rule of thumb that the more shades it contains that suit someone, the more it’s worth. It is rare that I like every single face product in palettes, or that I can even use all of them. If a palette doesn’t have magnetic pans or a way to make it easy to mix and match for more options, it makes that product pretty much permanently imperfect. That limits how often I want to reach for it.
If there are premade, but customizable options, I have to consider the price and quality to determine if buying 2 or more palettes to create one perfect palette is really worth it.

The second thing to consider is whether there is even a single face palette that has quality that I consider a holy grail.
It’s one thing to have all usable products in nice shades, but can they even compete with my single blushes, highlighters, and bronzers as individual singles? Plus, there are some brands that use cheaper formulas in multi-functional palettes and sets (i.e., Too Faced holiday items allegedly). So, you might pay less than what the premium products would individually total up to, but it’s not a true deal if the quality is lower.
An example of this is when I had a few Tarte holiday sets containing mini blushes in a different formula versus their specifically labeled “Amazonian Clay” mini blushes set. The random blush formula was nice, but couldn’t compare to their claim to fame Amazonian ones, so I eventually decluttered them.

Within the Hourglass Ambient range, the At Night blush and finishing powders were once holy grails for me, but nothing else of theirs comes close. I wish the bronzers had a stronger sheen and the highlighters tend to be pretty, but have either too large of shimmer particles (even medium size is a lot to me) or too strong of a metallic reflect. There was a time that I considered their finishing powders to be unique, until Nikki told me about the Candleglow Sheer Perfecting Powders from Laura Mercier. As of late, the Ilia Soft Blurring Blushes (and I’ve heard even Kosas Baked Blushes) are giving Hourglass a run for their money.
Still, I do use my Hourglass palettes a fair amount specifically because they are near-holy grails in terms of formula and because I depotted and rearranged many of them. I know I wouldn’t reach for them enough if not for these two factors combined. Proof of that is the fact that I still left some of my palettes behind in the US.

I have four other blush and highlighter palettes from Nars (one of them is unreviewed), yet I still chose to keep a few of my individual Nars blushes instead of bringing those with me. I find that to be quite telling.

The Sephora Collection Microsmooth Multi-Tasking Baked Face Palette contains all beautiful colors, but the matte blush and bronzer are a little too matte and dry looking for me since moving to a different climate. That’s the main reason I don’t use it anymore.

The MAC Effervescence Extra Dimension Face Compact has baked gelee powders with shimmer or sheen, so my only excuse for not using it as soon as it was back in my possession is that I was in the midst of my Project Pan. It has only been a week since I started using it again.
The Sephora and MAC palettes have the highest chance of being favorites again because every shade in them work on me and have the kinds of tones I like.

Although I don’t consider the Hindash matte powder products to be more amazing than many of my matte blushes and bronzers, the brand makes my favorite and most used contour that’s within the Beautopsy palette. Plus, it’s really the tones and convenience of the powders being so multi-functional that causes me to continually reach for Beautopsy, especially when traveling. However, I haven’t stopped wanting to swap around Beautopsy and Monochromance shades to turn it into a perfect palette. Even if I did so, the next thing I would yearn for is to have a powder highlighter in that pan size, because that’s something I’m still missing to consider it a true face palette in my mind. So, this is why I haven’t bothered to depot and rearrange them yet.

My custom magnetic palette filled with face products also gets used a fair amount, specifically because my number one bronzer is in there. If I added my Prada highlighter and a MAC blush, I might seriously use that multiple times a week!
But this highlights my realization about face palettes: Every powder in there has to be a perfectly suiting tone for me, plus in a formula that is an absolute favorite.
So, I will have to either make my own custom face palette out of products from various brands in order to have one that I’ll use a ton, or I’ll have to commit to only buying new face palettes matching very high criteria in order for them to feel worth it.

I have come to this realization, but two things are in the forefront of my mind.
The first is that in the midst of working on the initial draft of this post, I technically already bought another face palette (the YSL All Hours Couture Face Palette), but it’s more of a blush/highlighter palette for me. So, it technically doesn’t count?
The second is that I am absolutely going to buy the Hourglass Ambient Light Fox Palette when it launches for the holidays. I have already established that this isn’t a holy grail formula, yet I am so hellbent on creating (through depotting) my ultimate Hourglass palette to somehow make it feel like I have finally reached perfection, which would finally make them all worth buying in my mind. In reality, I should quit while I’m behind, but this is a guilty pleasure of mine. I guess I can continue to make an exception for Hourglass.

Those are all my thoughts on face palettes, plus the Nars review. I hope it has been helpful!

-Lili ❤

Blush Sticks ft. Charlotte Tilbury and ABH

Posted on August 4, 2025 by ghekate

So many brands are releasing blush sticks this year! I wasn’t supposed to buy any, as I mentioned in my Project Pan, but Dior, Charlotte Tilbury, and Anastasia Beverly Hills made me cave! I am determined for these to be the last ones I buy, because I’m more of a powder girlie!

Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Glow Blush Sticks in Peachy Glow and Cherry Glow

I have no problem with Peachy Glow showing up on my skintone in person, but between my lights, cell phone, and the shiny finish, it’s harder to detect in photos. It’s at least visible in the picture where it’s unblended on my cheek. If I’m not wearing foundation, and I blend this color to my bare skin, it looks a little pearly and ashy. So, Peachy Glow doesn’t work as well on me on minimal makeup days.

*Fully blended (less light) vs less blended (and more direct light)*

Cherry Glow being the bolder color can be built up heavily, but I like how it looks when sheered out. It’s seamless on the skin, as most cream blushes are. This blush dries down to the point where it isn’t sticky, but I can still feel moisture on my cheeks.
If I don’t set this with powder, it looks a bit faded within six hours. It is still there in the eight hours the brand promises it will last, but what’s left is the barest flush of color. By 12 hours, there is nothing but mica/shimmer particles visible. The actual color is gone. Also, the dewy wet look disappears at some point earlier in the day. I would rather set my face with powder and top it with a highlighter, or use a glowy setting spray to bring back a dry kind of shine, so I don’t have to deal with a partly dewy cheek. Every touch to my cheek transfers when unset with powder, which is annoying.

*Normal application vs light/sheer application*

When set with powder, the remaining luminosity eventually disappears too, but at least it’s dry, transfers less, and holds more color on the cheek by the end of 12 hours.

The blush sticks look so glowy that it makes adding highlighter seem unnecessary. I use Charlotte Tilbury’s Unreal Skin Tint as a highlighter. Adding the skin tint on top doesn’t make a big visual change in that moment, but since the shine of the blushes disappear on their own, having the tint on top makes a difference in the span of the whole day.

These blush sticks can be used on the lips, but they have a creamy surface, not a hydrating one. I can see the cracks of my dry lips underneath, along with my discolored spot since I can’t build the color to become fully opaque. Cherry Glow is better at hiding the flaws than Peachy Glow, but this is no surprise since it’s a darker color.

Because they launched so closely together, I can’t help but compare this to the Dior blush stick.
It seems like the majority of people have the opposite experience as me because Dior’s actually dries down on me without powder, unlike Charlotte’s. I like the packaging of both, but Charlotte’s is cuter whereas Dior’s feels more lux.
I don’t know if I would like Dior’s non-pearlescent blushes more than Charlotte’s, but the shine from Dior’s Candy lasts longer. Peachy Glow only looks wetter in the beginning.
Ultimately, I prefer the Dior formula, excluding the Dior Lip Addict scent someone thought was a good idea to add to the blushes. It is so off-putting!

This release from Charlotte Tilbury is nice, but it’s not a must- have product. It has less of a chance of becoming a staple in my collection than Dior’s blush stick.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Blush Stick in Peach Caramel

This product has been out for a long time, but I waited ages to get it at a discount over 20 percent! The reason it was important to me is because I knew there was a chance it wouldn’t show up on my skin. I heard the colors in this range were not the most pigmented, that they were less saturated than many on the market, and that the orange-brown tones could blend in too much with my skin tone. This all turned out to be mostly true. Although I can see the blush on my cheeks, it’s very difficult to spot in photos. Ultimately, taking a picture of it unblended with a winter foundation shade on was the best way to see at least something on my cheeks!

What this has in common with Charlotte Tilbury’s blush is how long it lasts. Even though the ABH Blush Stick is less emollient and dries to a powdery finish, I can still feel it on my cheeks, it still transfers a little (on top of a hydrated base), and can fade. The finish is also matte. It lacking creaminess makes it stiffer in terms of spreadability, though it still blends out smoothly. I think ABH has prettier colors because they are more skin-native, but they are also severely lacking in depth. Peach Caramel is the deepest shade! At least Charlotte has options for those of us darker than tan.

When I have very saturated blushes from other brands, I have tried pairing this blush with them in order to help tone things down, but I was unimpressed by most of the combinations. The differences in the finish leads to them sometimes not blending together as smoothly.

Conceptually, I like that there is a brush on the other end of the stick (like the one from Makeup by Mario), but the surface area size is so small and doesn’t blend as well as my full-size brushes. So, it’s only useful if I wanted to bring this on-the-go and I was in some weird situation where I didn’t have access to my usual makeup tools.

Because this blush isn’t intended to be glowy, I have lower expectations, which this at least meets. I think it’s a nice formula, but not that special in the blush stick category. I think I even prefer Makeup by Mario’s Soft Pop Blush Stick over this one, but I could be biased because of how much I was in love with the shade Earthy Pink. If this blush was a little deeper and showed up better, I might be singing a different tune.
Within the realm of cream blushes as a whole, the ABH Cream Blush Stick is not something anyone needs to run out and buy. Both this and Charlotte Tilbury’s look completely different on the face because of their finishes, but they receive the same grade from me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.

-Lili ❤

Kess 365 Bronzer Review

Posted on July 31, 2025 by ghekate

Welcome to the final entry in the Summer Bronzer Series where I post a bonus review every week in the month of July! Linked in blue are Part 1 and Part 2, plus Part 3.

Kess Berlin 365 Bronzer in Tan to Deep

The majority of what I buy is makeup that generates a lot of hype, but I knew nothing about Kess prior to making this purchase. The 365 Bronzer popped up on the Douglas and Niche-Beauty websites in May, and how the texture appeared in photos is what caught my interest. It looked like a baked gelee product, which I tend to love, and indeed it has a “patented gel-to-powder formula.”

I expected it to look a bit shimmery in person, but I was surprised to see only a few gold specks here and there, and not an obvious sheen. The mica is something I couldn’t see until I used it enough to wear away some of the embossing on the surface.

From the moment I first dipped my brush into the bronzer, I was instantly reminded of the Huda Beauty Glowish Soft Radiance Bronzing Powder and the Hatice Schmidt Bronzer (which is quite similar to Nabla’s Skin Bronzing). The formulas aren’t the same, but they share some ingredients in common.

The bronzer from Kess feels smooth and picks up as well as the Hatice and Huda bronzers, and is better than Nabla’s. It has a little bit of a creamy feel, but it’s not as emollient and doesn’t have as much slip as the others. This may be due to Kess not using dimethicone, unlike the others. The brand’s website specifically touts being “Talc-, silicone- and perfume-free,” so they may be intentionally avoiding all the “-cones.”

When I first used this bronzer, I was so impressed with how smooth it looked on my skin, and the amount of luminosity, but when I started using my new and older favorites, I was reminded that those are even smoother than this one.

This looks the best on me when I apply a light layer with the amount of product I first pick up on my brush, but it can get out of hand sometimes in the process of trying to slowly build it up, combined with my lack of patience. The color is neutral leaning warm and dark enough to have a simultaneous bronzing and sculpting effect.
In the set of swatches below, one can see how Tan to Deep is similar in color to Deep Bronze from Dior’s previous bronzer line, and I always mixed that shade with another to get it to appear lighter. I tend to not use bronzers darker than Nars Laguna 6. However, it’s not the darkest in my collection. I can make this work, but it’s not as effortless of a process purely because of the shade. A darker bronzer will usually require more effort, even when it blends nicely.
And this does blend well, but I have bronzers that are even better performers. That being said, I still liked this enough that I scoured the website to see if there was anything else of interest to me by Kess. When I find a good product, I usually want to try something else from the brand in the hopes of discovering another gem.

Regarding longevity, how it looks when I put it on early in the day is how it will look at the end of the day. There’s zero fading, not that it’s difficult for powder products to be long lasting on me, but I still have to give credit where credit is due.

Overall, this would place somewhere within the Top 25 of my bronzers. That might sound low to some people, but between all the individual bronzers I own, duos, and face palettes, I have an absurd number of bronzers to begin with. So, this is really good!

I compared this to Nabla’s Skin Bronzing (discontinued in some countries already), the Glowish Bronzer (discontinued), and the Hatice Schmidt Bronzer. The Hatice Schmidt brand (formerly Hatice Schmidt Labs) technically completed its multi-years long rebrand, but has been slow to progress since the influencer running it is going through many life changes. I’m not sure if she plans to bring the bronzer back once the remaining stock with old packaging is gone. I’m not even sure how much longer the brand will stay in business. So, I consider the Kess Bronzer to be the closest alternative that I can recommend for all of these disappearing products!

I’m not sure how readily available Kess/Kess Berlin is outside of Germany. I believe Niche-Beauty offers worldwide shipping, so that’s at least one option for those interested.

So, that’s everything! I hope you’ve enjoyed the bonus bronzer posts this month!

Thanks for reading!

-Lili ❤

What’s New with Benefit Cosmetics? Review!

Posted on July 28, 2025 by ghekate

For the last couple of years, Benefit has been mainly releasing sets containing already existing products. Surprisingly, in the first half of 2025, we already got reformulated Hoola bronzers, an additional bronzer formula, a new line of highlighters, an additional shade of the Wanderful World blushes, a shade extension for the Benetints, a new mascara, and the Porefessional Foundation.

I got swept up in the excitement and purchased three new products from the brand (not including the Badgal Bounce mascara I reviewed in March). Two are hits and one is a miss.

Benefit Hoola Wave Cream Bronzing Balm in Deep

I immediately spotted the gold shimmer particles in the pan, and was concerned that this formula might be like the Juvia’s Place Bronzed Cream Bronzer that looked ridiculous on my skin. I was very happy to see that the shimmer is not noticeable in swatches or on my face. It makes my skin look hydrated with a natural-finish type of glow.

This product sheers out fairly well, so I consider it a blendable formula that can build up in color intensity, but it’s not the slow building type. I get a lot of pigment right away. With my holy grail cream/liquid bronzer brush, the Patrick Ta Contour 1, I have to be careful not to overapply because it’s such a dense brush. However, I don’t get as smooth of a blend when I try to use looser packed brushes.

What works best for me is to tap the bristles into the pan once and then stamp it along the perimeter of my face in big enough gaps so I have room to blend and spread the bronzer out without having too much concentrated in one area.

The texture of this product is not one that I encounter that often. It’s emollient like a cream, but it’s slightly stiff and doesn’t melt as quickly into the skin like the Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Effortless Cream Bronzer Stick or Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Bronzer. It blends well, but it just doesn’t spread in the same way as the others. It has “balm” in the name, but that makes it sound like it will be sticky, dewy, and/or waxy, which this product is not. The formula consists of silica, waxes, and oils, but it feels balanced in a way that doesn’t lean too much in either of those directions.
Essentially, the most comparable product to this one is the Rose Inc Cream Bronzer that I loved enough to consider one of my top five in the cream and liquid bronzer category, until it dried up unexpectedly quick.
Benefit and Rose Inc’s bronzers don’t have the same formula and this product isn’t as stiff as the one from Rose Inc, so I am hopeful that I will not run into the same issue six months from now. If it does, I will update this post with the details.

The Hoola Wave feels weightless on the face and sets on its own, so I don’t need to powder it, and it lasts all day. If I had to put it on my Bronzer Ranking List, it would be the new #26. That puts it below the Nars Laguna Cream Bronzer and Powder Bronzer, but still above the one from Rose Inc. I like it a lot, but there are many I like even more, including affordable ones. For instance, I think the Colourpop Supershock Bronzer is even better.

I also want to clarify that my ranking list is of all the bronzers I like, not all the bronzers in my collection. So, 26 is still high in the grand scheme of things.

Benefit Hoola Bronzing Powder in Deep

I owned and decluttered Hoola Caramel for being too light and Hoola Toasted for being too red and deep for me. I thought the bronzer quality was fantastic, but whenever my skin would get lighter, I couldn’t use it. Plus, it would get hard pan every time I needed to do comparison swatches. I gave up on it, but continued to wish for a shade between Caramel and Toasted.

So, when I heard about the reformulation and packaging design change, I still wasn’t excited until I saw the shade range. Deep looked, and actually turned out to be, less red than before. I think it’s also a hair lighter, but I don’t have Toasted anymore to be able to compare. As for “medium deep,” which I believe is supposed to be the same depth as the old Caramel, they made it cool toned instead. So, that was definitely not an option for me.
While I’m happy to have a better suited color in a formula that performs just like the old one, it means those that used the old Toasted might not like or be able to wear the new version of Deep.

As I mentioned, the performance is just how I remember. It’s pigmented, but buildble, and it’s easy to achieve an airbrushed look (though not quite as airbrushed as the Charlotte Tilbury powder bronzer). The blend is so smooth and never patchy. There is no added fragrance and I have no issues with longevity.

I’m still not pleased with the box packaging, though it’s at least slimmer and matches the size of the Wanderful World blushes. As to whether or not these new ones hardpan quickly, I can’t say because I refuse to put my finger in it, even for science. That’s why the swatches are in the Hoola Wave section and was applied with a brush to confirm Deep is the same shade in both formulas.

In the photo above, I applied it heavily so it would show up for review purposes. However, I can get a sheerer application if I use my airier brushes. In fact, it’s easier to apply a sheer layer of this powder than with Benefit’s cream bronzer.

If I needed to put this on the Bronzer Ranking List, it’s hard to say whether it tops #12 Dior Forever Natural Bronzer or #13 Vieve Modern Bronzer Duo, because I haven’t used those two in quite a while.

Benefit Glow-La-La Powder Highlighter in Lumi

I waited over five years for Benefit to make a highlighter darker than Tickle, so even though I am supposed to be on a highlighter no-buy, I made an exception for this release.

There are six highlighters in the line (which is more shades than the bronzer), and the one I bought is the second to last color. It makes me glad to see Benefit with an inclusive set of highlighters, especially considering how long they took to create.

This feels as wet and smooth as the Natasha Denona Hy Gen highlighters, and they also turn dry once contact is made with the skin. It’s thankfully also fragrance-free.

Based on how smoothly Lumi swatched, I thought for certain I would love this. However, when I use this with my holy grail highlighter brush, it looks terrible! It’s pretty from far away, but up close I can see all the individual shimmer particles. I was very unhappy with it in the beginning, so I switched to the Bisyodo B-ES-03, which has denser sections, but it’s thin enough to apply precisely. Using a denser brush to pack on more product helped to alleviate the scattered look effect. Then taking time blending the highlighter (more than any other highlighter I’ve owned) helped to disperse the highlighter more evenly and have the shimmer sparkles closer together so that the overall look is smoother.

I found a way to make this highlighter work, but I don’t foresee myself getting much use out of it if I can’t use it with my favorite brush. I also don’t want to have to put as much effort blending my highlighter as I do when I’m blending eyeshadows.

The brand succeeds in creating a “wet look,” which is a positive thing, but visible shimmer is a stronger negative in my book. I purchased the Prada highlighter a week or two after this one, and the differences were even more glaring. Quite a few of my friends on Instagram like this highlighter from Benefit, and it’s made in Italy, so the brand probably spent quite a bit of money in the formula. It’s still just too far from my preferences.

Also, I don’t think this should be priced over $30. Yes, this is coming from someone who spent a lot on a Prada highlighter refill.
I’ve been glad to see plastic packaging instead of cardboard from Benefit, but it feels so cheap in the hand! It’s still way bulkier than it needs to be.

I can recommend the bronzers, but not the highlighter. The blushes are still some of my favorites too, so I still recommend those!

That’s all I have for today! Thank you for reading.

-Lili ❤

Lili's Beauty Blog

Swatches, Reviews, and Articles Revolving Around the Cosmetics Industry

Category Archives: Makeup

Hourglass Swan Palette and Dusk Quad Reviews

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Fox Palette

Prada Lip Balm and Pansy Eyeshadow Quad Review

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons Review and Comparison

YSL All Hours Couture Face Palette in Golden Oasis

Are Face Palettes Worth It? Ft. Nars

Blush Sticks ft. Charlotte Tilbury and ABH

Kess 365 Bronzer Review

What’s New with Benefit Cosmetics? Review!

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