On my beauty wishlist, you'll find a lot of Charlotte Tilbury products, such is my obsession with her makeup. The insanely popular Instant Look In A Palettes have been on my radar ever since they launched about two years ago, and now I finally have one!
The story of how this came into my possession is a straightforward one; after one too many glasses of Rioja on a cold, rainy evening last month, I found myself browsing the Charlotte Tilbury website after seeing an offer on Instagram from an online friend who sent me a £15 off voucher code. Bizarrely, I've never ordered directly from the site before, despite having an arsenal of Charlotte Tilbury makeup in my beauty drawers, so I was determined to make good use of this first customer discount.
The wine gave me the courage to splurge and splurge I did. To be fair, I had been on a no-buy for three months prior so it wasn't too bad for my bank balance. I added to my basket an online-only lip liner and lipstick duo and then my attention was drawn back to the gorgeous Instant Look In A Palettes. I'm a sucker for a pretty palette as many of my regular readers will know, and with three colourways to choose from, I did a little online swatch checking and decided to go for Seductive Beauty which I'm absolutely smitten with.
It arrived promptly with the rest of my order and to say it was love at first sight, is an understatement.
The Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look In A Palettes have all been cleverly designed so that you have the majority of your makeup curated together in one palette hence the 'instant look' name. The idea behind it is that you can do your makeup quickly and easily, simply by following the numbers in order - perfect for beginners and those who are unsure of what colours go with what - it's super convenient and you only need to add your foundation, mascara and a lippie, and you're good to go!
The palettes are beautifully packaged as you'd expect from Charlotte Tilbury. The outside is kept minimal and classy with her signature logo, and inside there's a huge mirror which is a firm selling point for me as you can just (carefully) throw this into your bag without worrying about packing much else. Overall, it feels luxurious, sturdy, is a relatively compact size (great for travel), and there are no annoying brushes taking up valuable makeup space, so you get excellent sized pans of product, compared to most palettes from other brands.
As you can see, Seductive Beauty is the palette to go for if you love your neutrals!
The top row of Seductive Beauty features three shimmery eyeshadow shades:
- Eye Brighten - a light, peachy-beige with an almost frosty, but fine golden shimmer. Ideal for the inner corner to make your eyes look more awake.
- Eye Enhance - this is one of those gorgeous medium-taupey browns that looks amazing as an all-over the lid shade and again, it has a hint of fine golden shimmer.
- Eye Smoke - richly pigmented, this is a killer medium-dark brown to smoke out your eyes with and it has a little golden shimmer for good measure.
All of the eyeshadows apply smoothly without any fallout issues. They blend easily and can be layered up for a more intense look if desired, but are equally as pretty for softer, everyday looks as well. I always wear an eyeshadow primer underneath as I have oily lids, though I have tested them on my sister who never wears a primer and they lasted on her well throughout the day without creasing.
For the second row, we have four pans:
- Face Bronze - this is darker than the bronzer in Charlotte Tilbury's Bronze and Glow palette and actually suits my light olive skin tone a lot more, as it's a medium shade with slightly reddish undertones and a little fine golden shimmer. Blends so nicely on the skin without ever looking muddy, but is quite soft and pigmented, so you need to tap off the excess from your brush before applying.
- Cheek Swish - a warm, light-medium pinky blush with a bright coral quality to it. Has some lovely golden shimmer running through it which gives the cheeks an instant glow.
- Cheek Pop - this is a more medium rosy pink that compliments the Cheek Swish shade well, but can easily be worn on its own of course. Both of these blusher shades are so easy to work with and blend out effortlessly.
- Highlight - a pale golden shimmer with a warm peachy undertone. Incredibly pretty for a more natural glow to the face - it's not going to give you a highlight that you can see from a million miles away!
Overall thoughts?
I've seen some mixed reviews of the Instant Look In A Palettes, with most of the negativity being directed at the quality not being the same as Charlotte's stand-alone products, an issue that often comes up for many brands who make palettes like this. To be honest though, I can't see a huge difference between them, other than perhaps the powders in this palette being a fraction less pigmented and perhaps a little bit drier than the stand-alone bronzers, highlighters and blushers. Even if that's the case, it's still a beautifully put together palette with products that are easy and enjoyable to work with.
If you want some Charlotte Tilbury in your life, but don't necessarily have the cash to splash on all the separate products, I think the palettes are a great way to try a lot of shades out and they are amazing for travel too. Neutral lovers definitely need to pick up Seductive Beauty!
Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look In A Palette in Seductive Beauty* (£49) from charlottetilbury.com
Have you tried out any of these palettes?
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