I don’t know about you, but as temperatures continue to drop, I have become quite obsessed with skin that glows in a subtle (read: not summery) fashion to offset the grey skies and brisk environment. Consequently, I am excited to show you five products — starting with the breathtakingly beautiful Charlotte Tilbury Nocturnal Cat Eyes sets — that impart a soft radiance that makes skin look its best. Many of you asked for swatches and my opinion on this new release and I am thrilled to share both!
Kindly scroll on for more details, swatches and images of the products in action as well as the Bottom Line…
The *Charlotte Tilbury Nocturnal Cat Eyes to Hypnotise are curated duos of a gleaming powder eyeshadow and corresponding eyeliner for a double impact of eye beauty. The four different shade options (three in this post) share a tonal continuity that allows for restrained daytime luminosity that can be easily amped up for the evening hours.
Packaging: The powder shadow comes in a signature brown compact, diminutive enough to be tossed into a handbag, that contains a mirror and closes securely. The eyeliner is smaller in size than the traditional eyeliner in the line, but a little goes a long way (and it lasts forever on the eye!) so I imagine that it will take me a great deal of time to finish one.
Formula: The eyeshadow is remarkably silky and finely milled…it glides onto lids with a velvety texture that has a gossamer finish. In terms of pigmentation, the shadows are impressive. One swipe yields nearly full opacity and a bit more finishes the task. I would deem the shadows satin in nature; and though there is a bit of obvious glitter in the pan, it does not look glittery whatsoever on the lid…just sophisticated luminosity. The eye liners are everything one would expect from the Charlotte Tilbury line…pigmented, smooth and exceptionally long wearing. Divine!
Application: I prefer to sweep the powder along my upper lid and lower lashline and then add a bit of additional pop by applying the corresponding liner along my lower lashline, as close to the lashes as possible. This look works well, day and night…I am wearing warm and bronzy The Huntress combination in the images at the end of the post.
Wear Time: Both the eyeshadow and liner perform masterfully over the course of a long day. In my experience, the shadows do not crease (even without primer) and the liner simply does. not. budge.
Scroll on for shade and swatch closeups…
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| Above: The Huntress features a bronze taupe shadow and warm bronze eyeliner. |
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| Above: Silver Leopard features a deep grey eyeshadow with cool silver undertones and a charcoal grey eyeliner. |
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| Above: Midnight Seduction features a deep indigo blue eyeshadow–equal parts charcoal and marine–with deep blue microshimmer (SO beautiful) and a deep indigo blue eyeliner. |
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| Above: Swatches of all three sets in sunlight with a flash. |
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| Above: Swatches of all three shades in sunlight, no flash. |
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| Above: Swatches in the shade with a flash. |
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| Above: Swatches in sunglight with flash. |
Next up is a fresh innovation in foundation; designed to be a hybrid base/contour/highlighter, the *PUR Minerals Cameo Contour Stick (also available at PUR Minerals) features a dual ended stick with two solid creams. Applied separately and strategically, the creams artfully sculpt and highlight the face, adding instant depth and dimension. Applied liberally, and mixed/blended well, the creams can act as a foundation, providing medium to nearly full coverage that is velvety smooth and natural looking.
Official details, courtesy of Ulta:
Meet the final word in flawless contouring. PÜR’s dual-ended contour stick adds closeup-worthy depth and dimension to your natural features with a creamy, oil-free formula that sets to a picture perfect powder finish. Using light-reflective microspheres, this 2-in-1 complexion innovation emphasizes your face’s natural highlights and lowlights while simultaneously blurring the look of imperfections, such as dark spots and fine lines. As you apply and blend one or both shades with the pro blending sponge, your skin also drinks in the skin-perfecting benefits of PÜR’s own Ceretin Complex – a proprietary blend of hydrating ceramides and age-defying vitamin A!
Key Ingredients:
- Light-Reflective Microspheres: Spotlight the skin’s natural highlights while blurring the look of imperfections like dark spots and fine lines
- Ceretin Complex: Nourish a more youthful radiance with a proprietary blend of mega-moisturizing ceramides and gently renewing vitamin A
- Sodium hyaluronate: Draws moisture to the skin’s surface for a naturally plumper, smoother and softer look and feel
I prefer to get the most out of this progressive product by applying it in a traditional contour/highlighter configuration (dark end on cheekbones, sides of nose and perimeter of face and light end on upper cheekbones and orbital area) and blending well; then, I go over areas of my face in need of more coverage (generally in the center of my face) with a dab of both shades and blend well until everything is even. Since the wearer can adjust the amount of each side applied, Medium is an apropos shade for N/NC/NW 23-27 skin.
Because both shades are creamy without an ounce of shimmer, I think this duo fills a gap for many makeup lovers who abhor base products with light reflecting particles. The formula is neither too dry or too dewy, and it lasts 6-8 hours without any major need for touchups. Additionally, the Pur Minerals line, as a rule, is sensitive skin-friendly and this base feels exceptionally comfortable on the skin. In turn, it makes for an excellent option for those seeking portable coverage and contouring on the go!
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| Above: A swatch of Le Metier de Beaute Peau Leuer PV Pen #1 in direct sunlight. |
The Le Metier de Beaute Peau Vierge Leuer Pen has been discussed on Beauty Professor plenty of times in the past (see HERE and HERE). Generally, I prefer shade 2 (always in my makeup bag) but I’ve recently been experimenting with shade 1, which has a lighter, pinkier tone that significantly enlivens the face. I focus the glowing formula in my orbital area and find the tender shade counteracts darkness and blurs fine lines for a bright-eyed effect…marvelous for the cooler and sleep-deprived months ahead ; )
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| Above: NYX High Definition Blush in direct sunlight. |
I stumbled upon the *NYX High Definition Blush in my stash recently and couldn’t believe that I had been neglecting it as the luminous, bronzy goodness of Glow (I believe it is also called Beach Babe) is perfect for this time of year. Not quite a bronzer, not quite a blush, it has a silky, pratically creamy texture that becomes one with the skin for an ultra-natural look. Oh, and the price, my friends, cannot be beat…got to love a high-low face combination from time to time!
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| Above: A single swatch of NYX Glow/Beach Babe in direct sunlight. |
I have already sung the praises of the brand new Surratt Beauty Prismatique Lips HERE and HERE and, because this formula is so lauded in my life, went ahead and ordered two more shades, shown above and below. Pailettes is a soft and shimmering pink and Chi Chi (love the moniker) is a light coral-meets-rose-meets-beige that is similar to Lili Doree (shown HERE) but with a bit more intial opacity. I am wearing Lili Doree alone on the lips in the images below.
The hydrating, non-sticky, uber-reflective formula simply makes lips gleam and, fantastically, it looks just as good alone (for a natural glow) as it does over lip pencil, matte lip color and lipstick. I am confident that there will always a Prismatique Lips or two in my purse from now on…they are just that brilliant!
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| Above: Swatches in direct sunlight. |
The following images reflect all products in action….
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| Above: Last look. |
–Shop the Post–
Bottom Line: I hope you enjoyed this beauty story…truly, the Charlotte Tilbury Nocturnal Cat Eyes to Hypnotise sets are all sorts of stunning for a spectrum of eye colors (thereby, a perfect gift option) and I find myself reaching for my burgeoning collection of Surratt Prismatique Lips constantly!
I am currently in the midst of travel: Beauty Professor readers in NYC…please leave your suggestions for what I shouldn’t miss while in the city!!!
I look forward to sharing beauty musings while on the road…thanks for your patience, in the meanwhile, as I field comments and email.
Good things ahead, including a skincare update, a fresh FOTD and my Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping guides…xx and have a beautiful Saturday,
–The Beauty Professor
* PR samples provided for review denoted by an asterisk (the rest purchased by me), however, as always, all of my opinions are expressly and unequivocally my own. © 2012-15 Beautyprofessor® All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, reprint or republish content and/or photos without author’s written permission.
Comments (6)
Thank you for you review. I am going to look into the Charlotte Tillbury eyeshadow. You look beautiful and glowy! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week! xoxoox
Thank you so much, Judi…the CT eyeshadow is definitely worth a perusal!
Hope your Thanksgiving week has been marvelous thus far…XO, my friend,
–The Beauty Professor
I bought the shadows. although, I'm really loving everything you used…I'm going to have to look at the Pur contour sticks!
Excellent, Shelley…so glad you are getting to enjoy these shadows! Yes, the PUR stick is so intriguing and super easy to use!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving…XO,
–The Beauty Professor
Beautiful look!!! I have passed on the CT eye sets because Temptalia found the pencils downright ghastly. I have lots of CT eye kohls and lipliners that I love, but I recently bought the dark purple lipliner (Bad Romance ????) that goes with Glastonberry and it's absolutely unuseable…it's hard, it drags, it's so tough to apply that I cannot fill in my lip with it in a smooth way. So I think that her latest batch of pencils is not completely homegeneous; there are some duds among them. I shall wait till she mabe makes the shadows available on their own, or else just use something else LOL.
Thank you, Bella! That is interesting about the pencils. I didn't experience any dragging or pulling…they were just a smooth as my CT lip pencil in Pillow Talk, of which I have about 1 inch left (need to pick up a new one!). So sorry to hear about the unpredictability and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
XO,
–The Beauty Professor