HOURGLASS Ambient Lighting Edit Surreal Light Holiday 2016 Limited Edition Palette: Review, Swatches and MOTD

Makeup junkies have new toys to lust after every holiday season. This year, Hourglass launched its limited collection palette again; and it gets more gorgeous with the classic white marble packaging. Determined not to miss the opportunity this time round, I sought my friend's help to ship this Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Edit Palette from the U.S in case it is not available in Singapore.

By now, if you are an avid collector of limited edition makeup, you'd have made up your mind whether you want to purchase it once this hits our local Sephora Singapore stores on 1st November 2016. If you're still not quite decided whether you want to splurge more than *SGD130, then read on!

 (*As of writing, I am uncertain of the selling price of Sephora Singapore. For the record, I paid SGD130 including shipping charges. USD84.80 excl. shipping)

Brush purchased separately.

I won't be furnishing much product information here in my blog post - Google will be happy to show you other very informative and detailed reviews of Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, mostly on U.S beauty blogs. Read more on this amazing site, Temptalia. 

The purpose of my blog review is to share with you how this product will look on Asian skintones like mine (MAC NC 25, yellow undertones), and how it fares on combination/acne-prone skin and under humid weather like Singapore's.

1. Surreal Light - Finishing Powder.
Golden/yellowish tone so it suits Asian skintones well. Hardly visible on photos, but shimmer is quite obvious in real life. To be used AFTER setting powder, not to be replaced AS setting powder. (I did that and by the end of the day, I look like the sun shining rays of blessing onto Earth. LOL.)

2. Surreal Bronze Light - Bronzer. 
Light brown with a light gold sheen to give your skin a natural sunkissed glow. But if you are a typical Asian who prefer to look fairer, I suggest you use it as shading powder instead. However, do be prepared that this may not be as functional as a matte contouring powder. 

3. Surreal Glow - Blush

Natural soft peach which can be easily mistaken as another bronzer or highlighter. On yellow/darker skin tones, this does not show up at all as a blusher. Better off using it overall on the lids instead. On fair skin, colour is buildable and can be beautiful with a very subtle hint of colour on the cheeks.

4. Surreal Effect - Blush

Pink blush with warm coral undertones that gives a healthy pretty flush on the cheeks. Pigmented. Nothing is matte on this palette including this blush. This can be layered on top of Surreal Glow.

5. Surreal Strobe Light - Highlighter  

Strobing/highlighting powder that is yellowish-peach with warm undertones and gold shimmers. Sheer coverage and did not really build up, texture is a bit drier and less dense than the rest of the powders.

Under Natural Daylight

 

Under indoor white lighting

 

BEFORE

Minimal makeup on my face and having breakouts that are scarier than Halloween; just hope my selfies here won't cause you nightmares.

AFTER

 Can you see my face "warmed up" significantly after? It's like I finally turned human after dusting on those lovely powders onto my face.

What goes on Where...?

This is how I apply - serves as a suggestion to Asian girls who are used to Korean beauty looks.
For the rest, please also refer to the full instructional video HERE on Hourglass official website.

 

Note: I skipped number 3. Surreal Glow blush in today's MOTD. I felt that my face is already shiny enough (Oily acneic skin, God forbid.) so one blush does the job of giving colour to my face. Applied with Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Brush.

MY THOUGHTS

So the golden question here: Is this palette bang for the buck?

Before answering that question, perhaps we can analyse the good & bad first.

PROS

• Irresistible, unparalleled marble packaging (Major score on this one if you're a marble fan)
• Everything compact into one palette! 5 shades - more than enough on-the-go. 
• Makes a rather value-for-money entry point product for first-time Hourglass buyers (this depends on your willingness to focus on variety instead of quantity)
• High quality powder that you probably can't find a dupe elsewhere
• Limited Edition collectible. This reason alone is self-sufficient actually.

CONS

• Cost. (Duh) For a palette of this negligible size, some won't find the price point palatable.
• Warm toned palette may not work for everyone.
• Brush not included
• Besides the distinctive Surreal Effect Blush, the rest of the shades are pretty muddled up - you can't really tell their differences apart with the naked eye.
• Powders feel dry as compared to other powders from Hourglass, YET at the end of the day, I still greased up and BROKE OUT on the areas where Surreal Strobe light was applied!

So back to the question... my answer is NO, this palette is not worth the money. But for a crazy makeup lover, you won't want to miss this! Simply because it's soooo alluring!! (Ok am I contradicting myself here?)

Will I still buy it if given a second chance? YES, but I won't buy two like I did. I only wished it didn't break me out though.

_

Hope this review is useful to you! If you have used this palette, share with me how you find it; or if you haven't, will you go ahead with the purchase? :)