Geez, it’s September already!? Wow, we better get a move on. It’s time for another bad-@ss holiday palette from Hourglass.
Yup, Hourglass has released a new holiday palette in each of the past couple of years, and they’re doing it again. The new one arrives next month — well, technically, there are a whole bunch of complicated release date machinations, but I’ll get into that in the video.
The latest palette is also Strunk & White-approved!
Har-dee-har-har, kidding. 🙂 Sort of. It’s called Edit. It’s the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, and it’s the biggest one so far (it’s also $80, which isn’t a bad deal at all considering the quality and price level of Hourglass products). It has six pans, one of which is a brand new shade called Iridescent Strobe Light.
Three of the six pans are Hourglass’s awesome Ambient Lighting Powders (including the one brand new shade). The other three pans house two blushes and a bronzer.
All but one of the colors are re-promotes, so if you’ve been hoarding (LOL!) Hourglass for a while — hey, nobody can blame you — you probably already have them in your collection.
The Ambients are gorgeous, though, particularly if you like that “glowy” look, and I mean, who doesn’t?
Interestingly, all six of the powders in the palette are designed to be used together or alone, so if you wanted to, you could plop all of them on your face at the same time.
Some can work well as setting powders, others as highlighting powders, or blush and/or bronzer, so technically, you can use the same palette to set your makeup and add color and warmth to your face.
Just as an FYI, the pans in this Edit palette are smaller than the pans in previous Hourglass Lighting Palettes, but I don’t think that’s as bad as it sounds, because you do get a lot of different colors to choose from, and seriously, these powders go a long way. I barely have to use any at all. I’ve used some of the Ambient Lighting Powders frequently (multiple times per week) for years, and I’ve barely made a dent in them, so the ones here should last a very long time.
I get into more of this stuff in the video, but overall, these Hourglass holiday palettes are one of the things I really look forward to seeing when the holidays roll around (or, you know, early fall), and I think this year’s is a good one (although it’s similar to the previous ones because of the re-promotes). Maybe you can be your own secret Santa? “To Me, from Me, for being fabulous.”
I’m just throwing that out there as an idea. 🙂
Product mentioned
- Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette ($80; limited edition and coming soon)
As always, thank you for watching.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Oooh I’ve been wanting to try these, perhaps I will splurge!
Hi Rachel,
This would be a good time! You get a lot of different shades in this palette. I hope you like the Ambients — the finish is subtle but beautiful.
The palette does look beautiful and I’d love to have all these products in one compact even though I already own a few of the shades, even in doubles so I guess I will have to see…$80 is pretty pricey!
Btw, you look lovely in this video!
Aww, thanks girl! I barely had it in me to do any makeup or hair, so that means a lot!
Hope you had a nice day today. It was a hot one here in Northern California. I just got back from an evening walk and it’s STILL so hot!
I did have a nice day. I worked a few hours in the morning, then went to get my hair done, then had lunch with my bff and we went shopping. Sarah was looking for a 1920s inspired outfit for her Great Gatsby Lawn party on Sunday. It’s a surprise for her 30th birthday (she thinks only one more couple is going with her and her husband when in fact all our friends will be there, except for me because I have to work and I couldn’t get a day off :(). And we went to Zumba in the evening 🙂
This palette WILL be mine. It’s gorgeous! Thanks for the heads up Karen – I can now tell hubby what I want for Christmas lol 😉
You’re welcome, Candace! I can see you working your strobing magic with this palette. 🙂
I hope you had a nice day!
Karen please be really honest: Is it worth saving for around three months to buy this palette?
I haven’t bought any of the others because of the price but I really want to buy this one.
Hi Efrain,
Well it is very expensive, so ideally you would want something that you could use to the very last drop that would last you a really long time, and you’d want to be able to use every single thing in it.
I think you have to ask yourself a few questions.
First, do you have any gaps in your collection that this could fill that nothing else can fill?
And second, how do you feel about subtle finishes? Because the Ambients are very subtle, and they’re not for everyone. Have you had the chance to swatch them and test them yet?
In terms of finish and colors and how very little of the product you actually need to use, I feel like this could be a good value, because I haven’t seen anything else out there quite like the Ambients.
But I think you could probably get there if you took your face powder and maybe did like a 50/50 mix (play with the ratio) with your favorite highlighting powder — you might be able to get a similar finish (or your favorite matte blush and your favorite highlighting powder). Like, if you laid down the highlighting powder first and put the matte blush on top, you could get something kind of similar.
I know that’s a lot to think about, but I hope it helps. I do think this is a great palette, especially for people new to the brand, but it is crazy expensive.
This breakdown is so helpful Karen! I’ll have to try highlighting first and applying a matte blush on top – amazing tip! I’ve been drooling over Hourglass Ambients since they first debuted, and have yet to buy one. (I always play with them when at Sephora lol)
I’m tempted to buy this, as it seems like an amazing value… but that price! My husband would have my head lol… fingers crossed it’s still around in a few weeks, so I can save and stash some cash for it.
Well the thing is that my stash isn’t really big and I only have one powder highlighter, which is really shimmery almost frosty.
Also I don’t have any real finishing powder or bronzer so the palette fills many gasps I have.
About the subtle finish I prefer them for everyday however I think the last time I swatched an Ambient powder was a year ago, so I should check them before thinking more about the palette.
Also I need to see if the Sephora dupe, you showed some time ago; has arrived to NY local Sephora.
Thanks again Karen and have a really nice day.
It was my not NY ?
This palette looks amazing! Ugh but $80 legit hurts my heart!
I don’t own anything from Hourglass so far, and I have been wanting to try their products for quite a while now, so this might be exactly what I have been waiting for. Of course I would have to be my own Secret Santa, because if I told Mr. Loca I wanted some Hourglass for Christmas he´s most likely buy me an actual hourglass.
Hey there Karen. Weird kind of question, but do you typically wear highlighters all year round? I live in DC and when it gets cold (that fall-to-winter transition) I RARELY wear highlighters. I know you’re in Cali and when I lived in Miami this sort of thing never mattered but I find that when it’s cold I don’t get much use out of them. Maybe when I am feeling blue and need a pick-me-up but that’s about it.
That’s a pretty palette. those marbley patterns would be nice for a portrait background. must note in sketchbook.
Hi Karen, thank you for the comprehensive review. I really like that this palette contains a bronzer and blushes, as well as the Ambient lighting powders. Only 1 is a duplicate for me (although I do wish I could pop out one color and pop in another blush that I use regularly).
My question is what brush(es) do you use with this palette, and especially for the bronzer? Thanks!
I’ve put myself on a serious budget since I hope to buy my first house in the spring but in that budget I’ve given myself a special Holiday Makeup allowance and this is at the top of my list. I’m so excited about this and will be stalking the Sephora site until it launches. I also know the stock manager at my local store in case I miss it online. Can’t wait for this!!! It’s already up on the US site but of course Sephora never seems too concerned about when stuff will launch for us Canadians
I’ve been using Dim Light, which they had a cute mini of at Sephora, and it does seem to help keep makeup in place, in addition to the pretty glow. However, my skin just gets so dehydrated with powder on. Any tips or powders that may help?
The palette really is beautiful. I have the trio from last year and love the finish. I know I’m a broken record with it but I feel like they break me out every time I use them, though. That’s the only reason I’m not completely flipping out over this one (because I have been interested in trying one of their blushes for quite a while).
I just can’t justify it. I understand you are getting a variety, but the blushes are 1/3 of a full size, the powders are 1/7 of a full size, and the bronzers are 1/8 of a full size! The value comes out to $48 and they are charging $80!
Hi Karen! I definitely need some advice. I already have the blush trio and maybe I will get either this palette or the ambient light trio. I see you have both of them pictured… They are a little bit different on picture, especially the yellow powder. So what do you think? I am now leaning to just get the trio so I won’t get too many blushes… (Actually I should really stop cuz I just purchased Tom Ford Skin Illuminating Powder Duo…) Whatever… When you want to buy, you need to buy, girl!
Hi Gloria,
The $58 Ambient Lighting Trio has Dim Light, Incandescent Light, and Radiant Light — I love and use all three. The warm yellow powder, Diffused Light, is sold separately at full size, and it’s $45. The new palette is $80, and if you get the Ambient trio and the yellow powder together it’s $103. The thing is, with the new palette, you’ll be basically doubling up on your blushes, and as you already know those blushes last forever. Maybe start with the Diffused Light single first to see if you like the finish and formula? And then if you do, wait for a bit and then add the Ambient Lighting Trio into the mix. How does that sound?
Oh wow, I’m so glad you reviewed this! It popped up in a Sephora email and I got all heart-eyes about it. 😉 $80 for 6 instead of $45 for one sounds great to me, even if they are somewhat smaller! My birthday is coming up…
Oooooo your swatches make this look even more tempting lol. I’ve never really tried any Hourglass powders so I think this would be a great palette to try. I really don’t want to fork over $80 for it but I have a feeling this is gonna be a hot ticket item once the Sephora sales roll around. If this even makes it to the sales..
I’ve been holding out on buying any of Hourglass’s face products over the years and I think it finally paid off! Although now I have to find an extra $80 before it sells out. :/
This is stunning and convenient and so very tempting. The price per oz. is not very good, though, compared to the larger pans. Even still…it would be a gorgeous Christmas splurge.
Its not available to Canada, as a vib rouge I get annoyed when we are left out, it does happen often.
Aloha Karen! As always lurve lurve LURVE your video! Yeah I get it, I live in Kailua, Oahu, and it’s like the third level of hell over here….humidity in the 200s and temps in the 90s (or so the weather-people say)…my cat Fuzzbutt doth think otherwise according to her shedding, she says it’s 150 degrees. Anyway, really want to know what lippie products you’ve got on in the video…love the color and the shine and would purchase them in a New York second. Please turn me on to them, I beg of you and Tabs! Mahalo for your awesome vids, you are so real, we’d get along famously…eh, come by my hale next time you’re here, we’ll go grind some noms….<3
Hi Jackie,
Oh, I love Kailua! My in-laws used to live a stone’s throw away in Kaneohe, so we’d often go to Kailua for meals and for the beach, of course.
Tell Fuzzbutt the Kitty that she’s so lucky to be living in paradise!
OK, so the lippie is NARS Janet. It’s one of my favorites for fall right now. You can see more of it in action in this post, it’s lipstick #1:
https://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/cosmetics/5-magnificent-magenta-lipsticks-thatll-make-you-yearn-for-fall/
Let me know if you have any questions about it! Happy to help.
I just checked out the link to the lippie and….hmmm….are you sure that’s the one you have on in this video? Just sayin….in the video the color is so much lighter and less well…magenta….
Tell Tabs he’s welcome here anytime, don’t tell Fuzzbutt I said that….
I kind of grateful I didn’t buy any of Hourglass’ blush or powder or the bronzer since this palette is going to be released soon. I really want to get my hands on this palette! So pretty and quite worth it I would say! Plus it’s my birthday month, so I have an excuse to splurge :p
http://www.blanc-space.net/
While pretty, I’d rather have some full-size blushes from them. I thought the palette was going to be bigger too.
It’s great that we get to try 6 products but why are the pans so tiny? So sad about this! I got a funny video about this! ? https://youtu.be/2Mb_-MW4C_s
Thanks for the review.
“The latest palette is also Strunk & White-approved!”
LOVE THAT LINE!
Did I just see a Strunk & White joke? This is why I love you.