Hourglass has released three limited edition palettes and I literally can’t believe it’s that time of year already. There are three palette combinations in the Ambient Lighting Edit unlocked palette for this year ($90 each). This year they finally launched palettes with mostly new shades and I couldn’t be more excited. You can find them now online at Hourglass Cosmetics for early access. They will be released globally at other retailers from 9/20.
The three palette options this year include:
Dragon Palette (lighter)
Evil Eye Palette (Mid Tone)
Lotus Flower Palette (deeper tones)
You can order one custom palette online at Hourglassbut I ordered them as the pre-made options. For skin tone reference I wear it Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in 6.5. I’m wearing it Skin tone with hourglass veil in Shadow 9 (review here).
Dragon Palette
THE Dragon Palette it has the lighter tones and variations, but I think it’s versatile and can be worn on light/light to dark skin tones. I love this – it really surprised me because it looks very ordinary in the pan, but the shimmers and diffused quality of the powder is really flattering. It’s warmer than last year’s Jellyfish palette.
- Dream Light Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder – a soft light pearl with a soft opal sheen
- Peach Fusion Ambient Lighting Blush – soft shimmery peach
- Divine Light Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder – soft transparent powder with a pink tone
- Mauve Haze Ambient Light Blush – soft mauve pink
- Soft bronze Ambient Lighting Bronzer – neutral warm toned bronzer
- Sunny strobe light Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder – metallic champagne
See below wearing it Dragon Palette on the cheeks, Dragon Bronze on the eyes with the peak Hourglass Voyeur Eyeshadow Stick in Phoenix and Urban Decay Moondust in Cosmic Craze + Phantom Glossy Balm on Crave
Evil eye palette
THE Evil eye palette is the midtone palette of the three. At first glance I thought it would be almost identical to last year’s Leopard. The side by side swatches show that the tones are indeed different with cooler pink undertones, more neutral/pink tones versus warmer undertones. They are similar, but I think there are noticeable differences.
- Soft Light Finishing powder – soft peachy beige
- Rose gold Strobe Light Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder – metallic pink champagne
- Pink Fusion Blush with ambient lighting – soft cool pink glow
- Oasis Glow Ambient Lighting Blush – shimmery light apricot/peach/tan
- Live coral Ambient Lighting Blush – coral pink
- Natural Bronze Ambient Lighting Bronzer – medium neutral bronzer
See below wearing it Evil eye palette on the cheeks, Hourglass Scattered Light Eyeshadow in Reflect, Phantom Gloss Balm in Lucid + Pat McGrath LUST Gloss in Peach Perversion.
Lotus flower
THE Lotus flower palette is the darkest variation this year. It’s more neutral in tone compared to last year’s Snake palette. On my medium tanned skin tone, the new Lotus Flower pulls warmer than what I see in the pan, but will probably be more neutral on darker skin tones. I love the colors in this palette, but not so much on my skin tone. The shades are definitely stunning, but since the undertones are darker they require an extremely light hand for my skin tone.
- Gold Plated Strobe Light Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder – a stunning warm golden glow
- Desert Flush Ambient Lighting Blush – burnt peach
- Eternal Light Ambient Lighting Finishing Powder – warm orange tan
- Radiant Rose Strobe Light Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder – metallic rose copper
- Red 0 Blush with ambient lighting – deep pink
- Bronze Heat Ambient Lighting Bronzer – deep bronze
Look below wearing the Lotus Flower palette on eyes and cheeks + Phantom Glossy Balm in the Slip
My two favorites are Dragon and Evil Eye. These arrived at the perfect time as I will be traveling soon and will probably bring one of these with me. Are they worth the price or the hype? I think it is. I love every single color and each palette has enough shades for a full face look – I often use at least 1 or 2 of the shades on the eyes too.
Back by popular demand, we’re listing side-by-side samples of the 2023 palettes versus this year’s 2024 release:
In case you want a closer look at previous palette versions, here are the blog posts (there are many more, but here are the most recent):
Holiday Palettes 2023: Jellyfish, Leopard and Snake
Holiday Palettes 2022: Butterfly, Elephant and Tiger
Holiday Palettes 2021: Face Universe, Face Universe Unlocked, Edit Vol III
Holiday Palettes 2020: Sculpture Palette, Sculpture Unlocked (square)
I ordered these palettes the second they came out on the Hourglass website. Since then they have added a few more holiday items such as a Holiday brush ($52, 2 variations), new Glossy Balm Duo ($55, Trace and Mystic), Brush set ($150), Full Face Set + Bag ($270) and some other sets you can see here.
Available now at Hourglass Cosmetics. Festive starts reach 9/20 to Nordstrom, Sephora, Ulta Beauty and all other Hourglass retailers.
