Instead of finding the lipsticks to be their strongest product, it turns out I was looking in the wrong place as it is their base products which are the stand out products for me. My second chance with the brand started with the Filmstar Bronze and Glow Palette. I had included it in my Beauty Wishlist for 2018 and I ended up absolutely loving it. The highlight in the Bronze and Glow Palette was easily my favourite from last year. It applies a soft gold shimmer to the tops of your cheeks which blends out beautifully and looks very soft. Even if there isn't much light it creates shape to the face without looking ridiculous but when the light catches it, you get an ethereal glow which gives an almost halo effect to the tops of your cheeks.
Not only is the highlight great but the sculpt shade is quite versatile. It is warm toned but certainly not as warm as a bronzer, nor is it deathly like an overly cool toned contour, it has the perfect balance. On a typical day I like to wear bronzer rather than contour as I find it slightly softer but you can use this to sculpt or bronze, depending on the look you are going for. If you want a soft overall colour and you are quite fair this works great with a larger powder brush to give you a sunkissed looked but if you want to build it up in a more concentrated dose in the hollows of the cheeks, this can give you all of the cheekbone you want. In addition to this, it can be used as a crease shade in eye looks. I have to admit I don't do this very often but it is a great transition shade. The sculpt shade does have a shimmer in it but it doesn't show up on the skin, it just makes you look healthy rather than flat like some matte bronzers/contours can. After having such success with this palette, I felt confident in trying more from the brand.
Having loved the highlight section of the Bronze and Glow Palette so much, I felt compelled to try more highlight from the brand but to be honest my options were limited. That is a bit of a problem with Charlotte Tilbury, they are quite a new brand so they do not have a massive product range. If you do not like one product they typically do not have an alternative. However I had been eyeing up the Bar of Gold Palette anyway so I felt justified in purchasing it after loving the first highlight. Not only that but I managed to get it for a great price.
I don't know how many times I have mentioned that I look at New-in pages on beauty websites several times a day but I really do and some times all of this internet browsing pays off. During the Christmas break I was browsing John Lewis just to see some of the products and the gift sets that were being discounted. I always check John Lewis because they are supposed to Price Match so you should be able to get all products cheapest from them but it doesn't always work out that way. However I feel like looking at John Lewis gives you a good indication of what is on offer.
As well as looking at the sale, I also had a look at some of the brands I love so I had a look at Charlotte Tilbury to see what was about. Even though John Lewis were not advertising a price match, I noticed that the Bar of Gold Trio was down to £34 instead of being £49. They must have been price matching (turns out they were price matching House of Fraser) and they were keeping it quiet but I noticed and took full advantage of the offer. I am quite lucky as my local John Lewis does have a Charlotte Tilbury counter so I got in my car and raced to get my palette as at the time I was still off work for the Christmas break. Thankfully they had some in store. Could you imagine if I had driven all that way and they didn't have any? I would have been fuming. The price reduction gave me the push I needed to buy it and I have to say I am thankful that I got myself one.
The Bar of Gold Trio has 3 different shades of the classic Bar of Gold Highlight, as the name would suggest. The original Bar of Gold has been around for a long time but it is rare to see it as it is basically sold out all of the time. The individual is currently sold out online and as they have the trio, on the website they direct you to the palette. At this point it is a cult classic but it never held any interest for me until I had tried the highlight in the Bronze and Gold Palette. Within the palette you get the original Bar of Gold, a Rose Gold version and a deeper, more bronze gold called Gold Bullion. In terms of the shade range my immediate thoughts were that this would be no good for anyone with darker skin. The shades are all very light, other than Gold Bullion. However for the other deathly pale girls reading this, this palette is perfect to give you an actual highlight. With this palette it is all about finding out how it works for you and I think I have found the best way to use this palette for my skin tone.
Originally I thought the OG Bar of Gold would be my favourite, as the shade looks very similar to the one in the Filmstar Bronze and Glow palette. I love that it is a soft warm vanilla sort of shade but it isn't an overly yellow gold, it is a subtle white gold which actually works as a highlight. However for me this palette is all about the Rose Gold shade. It could be because we are in the colder months which is when I prefer a pink toned highlight but this has been the highlight I have been using daily. Just looking at Gold Bullion I knew it wasn't going to be something I would use on my cheeks as it is far too dark for my NC15 skin but I have been loving it as an eye shadow when I am wearing a red lipstick, this bronze gives me a good balance without being too dark or bold. If I use a straight up bronze eye shadow, they are typically more pigmented which isn't what I want with a red lip. I want the red lip to be the boldest part of the look and if I have a dark eye look, that is harder to achieve. Gold Bullion gives a beautiful colour to the eye lid and it blends seamlessly into other powders but it isn't too dominant. At first I was unsure about whether or not I would actually use this shade and that was one of the reasons I was hesitant to buy the palette in the first place but now it turns out I have used Gold Bullion more than I have used Bar of Gold which is the shade I thought would be my favourite.
Considering I was inspired to purchase this because of the Filmstar Bronze and Glow palette, the formulation of the two powders is slightly different but they do give you the same stunning finish. One is a little bit more bold than the other but I will get onto that. Going straight into the texture and I am about to make a claim but no where does it confirm my thoughts but I'm going to put it out there anyway; I feel like the highlight in the Bronze and Glow palette is a pressed powder whereas the Bar of Gold Trio seems like more of a baked formula. I have no idea if this is true or not but that's what the two formauls feel like to me. When you tap your brush into the Filmstar Bronze and Glow it gives quite a bit of kickback which it looks incredibly finely milled but the amount of kickback suggests it is pressed.
You do not get the same level of fall out with the Bar of Gold Trio. There is definitely still some fall out as my palette now looks a bit of a mess but it is so fine and it could be from my brush rather than actual powder but these highlights have a similar embossed effect to a baked product. All three highlights stand out from the palette, rather than being protected. Not only is there a difference in the fall out but there is also a difference in the amount that is picked up by the brush. The Bronze and Glow highlight picks up a lot of product and you can see it on the brush. Whereas you can't tell that anything is on the brush when you've used Bar of Gold. However the effect on your cheeks is no less blinding, I would say the Bar of Gold Palette gives more of a glow compared to the Bronze and Glow Palette but it is still more on the subtle side opposed to being metallic. On the Charlotte Tilbury website they say the Bar of Gold Trio contains, 'Luxurious pure gold pearls [which] illuminate the skin [...] for a lit-from-within glow,' (Charlotte Tilbury) and it certainly does this and it sums up the look this palettes gives your cheeks.
The texture of the Bar of Gold Trio is so finely milled that it just looks like a sheen has come along and helped to sculpt your face in a natural, effortless way. Not only that but it does not expose any texture. Some highlights can expose my pores but the Bar of Gold Trio doesn't do this at all. The combination of the shades and the overall finish has made this a winning compact for me and at least one of the shades has graced my face each day since I purchased this palette. Not only is the actual product stunning but the packaging has been greatly improved for this trio. The individual Bar of Gold had cardboard packaging, it was Rose Gold but still it was cardboard. For a £32 product you expect something a little bit nicer. Charlotte Tilbury certainly stepped it up with this palette! It has the classic burgundy packaging with the Rose Gold detailing and it is in solid plastic packaging so you don't have to worry about breaking it or the packaging being damaged. I know it shouldn't even matter but you would be lying if you said the packaging doesn't play a part in the way you feel about a product.
Having been so unsure about Charlotte Tilbury for so long I thing I've finally found the way that the brand works for me. I didn't realise as it has been available for so long but the Bar of Gold Trio is actually a limited edition! That is one of the things that massively irritates me about the brand, everything seems to be launched as a 'limited edition' and then it is made permanent. The whole process makes the concept of a limited edition redundant. Funnily enough, it is the exact thing that has happened with the Pillow Talk collection, which I rushed to buy but now it is being made permanent on the 24th January. Charlotte Tilbury aren't the only brand to do this so it isn't an exclusive annoyance but they are a brand who use this tactic of getting you to buy quite regularly.
Despite the fact that this palette could be around for the next 3 years or it could be around for the next week, I think every aspect of this palette is absolutely gorgeous and at £34 I think it was completely worth the money when you consider 1 highlight sets you back £32. At £49 I would potentially say go for the Bronze and Glow Palette as you can get a whole look (you have the contour shade as well) but if you are exclusively looking for a glow product and you are relatively pale, give this palette a try!
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