Charlotte Tilbury FilmStar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt & Highlighter | Review

I'm back! I feel like I've been away from my own little corner of the internet for far too long and so I'm returning with a bang! Maybe not quite a bang, I'm still hobbling a bit from my broken back but I'm hobbling with a nicely bronzed visage thanks to this stunner. The whole beauty blogging world has gone a bit mad of late over all things Charlotte Tilbury. In Ireland, we recently had a full launch of her beauty range in Brown Thomas Dublin and having tried her Magic cream (Review HERE), I was eager to see what else I needed (not wanted, this is definitely a case of "need"). Having decided beforehand that I was really interested in this fella and one of the colour chameleons (expect a review at a later date), I had to practically fight off the make up artist at the counter to avoid being talked into spending the bones of €400 on everything else she tried to convince me to buy- I'll go into that in more detail at the end of the post.

For now, let's talk about this beauty. Here's what Charlotte has to say about this product: 

"It's amazing what clever shading and highlighting tricks can do to contour your facial framework. You can slim, sculpt and illuminate- it's an illusion I use all the time for my clients. Enhance your natural assets with filmstar bronze and glow!"

I'm actually really into contouring at the moment, not in a terrifying Kim Kardashian way but I know when I make the effort and apply bronzer and highlighter carefully, my face looks slimmer and my cheekbones look like they're there for a reason, other than holding my face up, obviously. There's lots of excellent contouring palettes on the market and for a lot cheaper than this; Sleek and Inglot to name just two but what really sets this apart is firstly, the packaging:

Angels sing..

Is that too much ogling? Possibly but I actually can't stop looking at it. And now for the glorious inside:

There she is in all her art deco beauty. SWOON. 

Not only does this look stunning in the palette but it is a dream to apply; there's absolutely no fear that you can tango yourself here, while the bronzer is pigmented, it's also designed to be built up- it's not orange and will suit most pale skin tones. 

This means that you can apply it in layers and it in turn gives you a gentle, natural glow. I actually almost didn't buy it because it appeared to have a shimmer running through it and I prefer a matte bronzer. However, the make up artist assured me that it's a matte bronzer and someone had just swirled a brush in the highlighter and transferred the shimmer to the bronzer. Well, it turns out on closer inspect that that was a lie as it very much has shimmer in it. It is incredibly subtle though and you won't look like you're off to a teenage disco. In fact, once it's on my face I can't see any shimmer at all but it does add to an overall glow. 

The highlighter is a very understated golden champagne that provides a stunning soft focus to the skin. Together, those are a winning couple. I tried this out a day after surgery in hospital but told no one I was wearing it and had several people exclaim how well I looked and that I must've slept well the night before (I hadn't, I was in a four-bedded ward) but I took that as confirmation of the almighty powers of the bronze and glow. 

If you were looking for anything to get from the range I can heartily recommend this, having tried most of her other products. This came up trumps and is possibly the best contouring palette on the market, in my humble opinion. 

Pre nap, poorly taken photo on my phone but don't I look all glowy and healthy?! (not taken in hospital fyi).

And now, on to my gripe. While the CT sales assistants/make up artists seem excellent at their jobs, they really do go for the hard sell. Every product I already use was dismissed as not being as good as the CT version, if I wanted the bronzer well then I had to get a brush to go with it, if I wanted the colour chameleon then I had to also buy the pencil sharpener. Except that I didn't. I have a pencil sharpener and plenty of excellent brushes and I don't appreciate feeling pressured into spending money on things I don't need. Even as I was paying "are you sure you don't want a lipstick?" I had expressed no interest in buying a lipstick (UNUSUAL, I KNOW). Just let me pay!! For me, I can happily say "no thanks, I don't need or want that" but it doesn't add to an overall pleasant shopping experience and so this is more of a word of warning if you're going in for a snoop. Be prepared for the ultimate hard sell!

That aside, there are plenty of other gorgeous looking CT items I have my eye on! Have you tried anything yet?

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