I’ve already ordered a few Charlotte Tilbury products last year (the Rock ‘N’ Kohl Liner in “Marlene Midnight” and the Cheek To Chic Swish and Pop Blush in “First Love”). A review on these products is coming up soon but here’s a (ok not so brief) review on the two Luxury Palettes I have – “The Dolce Vita” and “The Rock Chick”.
Both palettes are consistent in terms of quality. The texture is creamy and smooth and the eyeshadows offer very good pigmentation and minimal fallout. What stood out for me the most was the combination of colors and their blendability. They are very easy to blend but never end up looking muddy (this can happen to me with the Urban Decay palettes for example, since the shades are so similar). Each of the Luxury Palettes offers a selected combination of four shades that go extremely well together. They are numbered and Charlotte offers some great tutorials on how to achieve the look that goes with each palette (there are 10 looks in total inspired by style icons but nine Luxury Palettes and one limited edition palette). Each eyeshadow quad is going to take you from “desk to dawn to disco”.
Let’s have a closer look at the swatches.
The Dolce Vita Palette: The perfect palette for a smokey look for fall.
Prime (1) and Enhance (2): As you can see from the pictures above you get two shinier finishes with the two first shades (prime and enhance). The prime shade (a warm champagne tone) is supposed to be applied all over the lid as a sort of base shade. Since it has a very shiny finish you can also use it to highlight the inner corner of the eyes or the area underneath the brow bone. The enhance shade is a warm reddish brown, to me the perfect autumn shade. Overall the palette is warm, autumny with shades that range from warm champagne, to bronze and coppery tones and grownup gold glitter.
Smoke (3) and Pop (4): The smoke shade (the third one if you start clockwise) is a warm chocolatey brown with golden and coppery flecks of micro glitter. The texture is drier than that of the other shades but the micro glitter translates well onto the lid. This is the darkest shade that is used to accentuate the outer corner of the eyes to create more depth and it is also used to smoke out the lash line. The pop shade is supposed to be the last step for a more dramatic look. It’s a coppery medium amber shade with lots of gold glitter particles and a high shine finish that almost translates into a metallic shine on the lid. It’s best used with your finger and applied either all over the mobile part of the lid or just in the center to create a “pop” effect when you open and close your eyes. It adds a very festive finish to the whole mediterranean look. In addition to this palette I like to use MAC’s Eye Kohl pencil in “Coffee” to line my lash line and create a smokey cat eye. There is no matte color in the palette but I don’t really feel the need to reach for another eyeshadow. I use the darkest shade and since it’s less shiny than the other colors it works for me.
The lipstick that complements the Dolce Vita look is a warm nude with an apricot/peach undertone called “Penelope Pink”. It supposedly suits every skin tone. I can definitely say that it complements my NC30 skin and doesn’t make me look too pale or washed out like a lot of other nudes can do that have too cool or pink undertones for my warmer complexion. I’m wearing it here with the “First Love” blush and the “Rock Chick” palette. I usually pair it with the MAC “Spice” lipliner (to give it some toned down “earthiness” or make it look more 90’s):
CT products on NC30 skin ©skinandcolors.com
The Rock Chick Palette: The perfect palette for a cat eye look that can be both glamorous and Rock ‘N’ Roll.
Prime (1) and Enhance (2): The prime shade which acts as an all-over base color is a light and warm kind of silvery beige color that also works as a highlighter. It is soft and velvety and has some golden micro glitter in it but the glitter is very subtle. The finish is a high shine finish that almost appears metallic or frosty. I personally don’t like frosty finishes but this one as well as the glitter look very chic and grownup, never cheap. The enhance shade is a medium warm grey with a hint of brown, like a warm taupe color. The texture is very soft and velvety as well.
Smoke (3) and Pop (4): The smoke shade is a darker cool toned taupe or slate with a matte finish. It’s perfect to accentuate the outer corner of the eyes and also perfect for smudging the eyeliner for a more smokey look. The pop shade in this palette is a light to medium warm silverish grey with silver glitter. All of the shades in this palette are very pigmented, are true to color and last a whole workday without fading. They can minimally crease without an eyeshadow primer if you tend to have oily eyelids.
Overall Rating and Recommendation:
Both palettes are of exceptional quality. The eyeshadows are smooth and velvety, easy to blend without looking muddy. Finely milled powders and a nice color selection make for a very wearable look for both day/work and a night out.
Charlotte’s line makes it easy to work with the products due to their quality but also due to the concept of her 10 iconic looks. The 4-steps-eyeshadow palettes as well as her tutorials make it easy to recreate her looks. However, this is not the kind of palette to create a wide variety of looks.
The textures and the shimmer finishes never appear cheap looking and even the glittery pop eyeshadows appear grownup and sophisticated and expensive. The Luxury Palettes are definitely high end quality eyeshadows and retail for $52 for 0.18 oz. I would definitely recommend these to everyone but given their smooth, finely milled texture that effortlessly blends into the skin and “glides” over little creases and possible wrinkles, I think that especially more mature women will love these eyeshadows and there is no reason to shy away from the glittery shades. You might want to have some neutral matte shades on hand in this case.
Rating: A+
I am in love with these eyeshadows!
Part of my last CT order was one of her latest products – the “Nocturnal Cat Eyes to Hypnotise” set that consists of a single eyeshadow and a travel size Rock ‘N’ Kohl pencil. I can’t wait to try it and show you. Review coming up soon!
Charlotte Tilbury “Nocturnal Cat Eyes to Hypnotise” in “On the Prowl” and “Supernova” coming up soon! © skinandcolors.com
As always thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.
XX,
Mirjam
skinandcolors 
I really like the Rock Chick palette.
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Me too! It is one of my absolute favorites. Thanks for dropping by!
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