Charlotte Tilbury Holiday 2014-my picks

I'll be honest, I am pretty much in full on Xmas mode already this year even though it is only November.  I love Christmas, I love even more this year that I am cancer free and spending it in the UK with my family.  And that because my annual leave accrued when I was sick so I am officially off work almost all of December!

I am usually all over Xmas/Holiday releases like a rash but honestly, this year there has not been that much that I have been wowed with.  This is the first in a series of posts of what I have picked up-reviewing them nice and early as they're all limited edition.  I have posts from Chanel and Dior coming up but today it's all about Charlotte Tilbury.

And WHAT A WAY TO START!!  I have been (not so) patiently waiting for this palette to appear online since I first saw images online over the summer and as soon as the email notification came in my inbox I literally threw my credit card at the laptop screen.

Not strictly touted as a 'Xmas' release this is 'The Supermodel Look' and comprises of the 'Fallen Angel' palette, K.I.S.S.I.N.G lipstick in 'Confession' and Lip Lustre in 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds'.  The other components of The Supermodel Look are all part of the permanent collection.

I picked up the Fallen Angel palette and Confession lipstick.  I also caved and bought Sex on Fire blush and Vesuvius Mink eye pencil as they have been on my lust list for ages!

K.I.S.S.I.N.G Fallen from the Lipstick Tree // Confession // £23

Typical Charlotte Tilbury 'old Hollywood glamour' rose gold column packaging: it's heavy, it's luxe and it looks great in any make up bag.  Charlotte says this is a 'suits all' dusky tawny rose with pure gold particles.  It's pretty much her much much loved by me Lip Cheat Pencil in 'Pillow Talk' in lipstick form with a slightly more caramel tone to it.  The gold particles aren't visible at all on the lips.

This shade is so beautiful.  I am a little obsessed with it at the moment.  I have been wearing it for the past few days and every time I catch sight of my lips I think 'wow that's a really nice colour'.  It gives lips a glossy, plumped up, 'my lips but infinitely better' look.

You can read my review of Charlotte's K.I.S.S.I.N.G Fallen from the Lipstick Tree formula here and the formula of Confession is pretty consistent to the others in the line.

Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette // Fallen Angel // £45

How beautiful.  It was so hard to swatch this palette never mind use it.  I am a fan of the Charlotte Tilbury palettes and this one is versatile and wearable as well as stunning.  Both the packaging and the shadows themselves have stars embossed onto them making the palette feel really special and luxe.

The usual glittery 'pop' shade Charlotte is known for has been removed and there are four satin finish, highly pigmented shades in the quad. 

But this is the first Charlotte Tilbury palette that can be used wet and dry-used wet intensifies the colours even more and gives a liquid metal reflective finish.  Used dry, the shades are rich, smooth and pigmented.  This is the first time Charlotte has included a black in the quad line up.  There is no chalkiness and barely any fall out.

The stars are not very deeply embossed and having used this palette for a couple of days, most of the stars have disappeared.

The four shades are (from left to right) Pale Golden Pearl, Antique Silver, Velvet Black and Molten Metallic Bronze.   All wearable, nothing outrageous but in theory all highly dupeable.  But they work so well together.  The molten metallic bronze shade is the most beautiful, wet and dry-I am utterly in love with it.  The Pale Golden Pearl is a great inner corner and brow highlight as well as a good all over the lid shade.

I have thought long and hard about whether to end this review saying 'you need this'.  But the truth is, although very pretty it's not groundbreakingly different to other things out there on the market for a more reasonable price.  But on the other hand, I would much rather own something that was really wearable and I could use a lot over something that would gather dust at the back of my Muji storage.  So, if this is your first Charlotte Tilbury piece OR you're a bit of a Charlotte Tilbury addict like me then yes-you need this-it's gorgeous and the quality is excellent.  But if you're a neutral palette hoarder (also like me) then you can probably dupe all the colours in this quad fairly easily.

Personally I'm thrilled to own these two beautiful pieces and love that Charlotte has come up with two more stunners to expand my collection.

PS-If you're weighing up this against buying one of the Dior Holiday collection palettes I would definitely go the Charlotte Tilbury route-am testing the Dior palettes this week and so far Charlotte wins hands down......