Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Lipstick - Bosworth's Beauty

As I've mentioned on numerous occasions I firmly believe that you can find amazing make up and beauty products at all price points. When it comes to make I probably own a lot more than the average person, but I would say that about 75% of my collections is made up of drugstore and bargain buys.

I love getting more bang for my buck as the saying goes but every now and again I do like to splash out and treat myself to the occasional high end make up item. Over the years my financial situation has changed quite a bit and from buying high end beauty products every week, I now only splurge on high end beauty products every now and then, or I rely on birthday and Christmas presents to get that high end beauty hit.

I regularly make high end beauty wishlists though, and my list at the moment contains about a dozen products from one of the must have brands of the moment, Charlotte Tilbury. It's hard to believe that this make up artist led line has only been available since 2013. In such as short time, compared to a lot of other high end brands, Charlotte Tilbury really has gone on from strength to strength, producing lust worthy product, after lust worthy product.

My Charlotte Tilbury collection is tiny compared to some peoples but I always try to buy carefully and I try to buy products that I know that I'll love and that I'll use. Apart from the lipstick charms set that I've already reviewed (read my review here) I also own one of her Cheek To Chic colours, the Wonder Glow Primer and 3 full size lip colours. I'm going to review all of these products in due course, but I thought I'd start off by reviewing something that I think Charlotte Tilbury does incredibly well and that's lipstick.

There are an awful lot of lipsticks in the Charlotte Tilbury line but today I'm going to focus on a lipstick from her Hot Lips range. This is a range of 12 lipsticks that are named after, and are inspired by 12 inspirational, female celebrities, including Liv Tyler, Nicole Kidman and Kate Bosworth.

I have a few lipsticks from this range on my wishlist but the first one that I treated myself to, is the Kate Bosworth inspired, Bosworth's Beauty.

Everything about this lipstick just screams vintage glamour, from the vintage look, ridged metal tube embossed with the Charlotte Tilbury logo, to the 1950's style statement pink colour. Whilst this lipstick itself may be inspired by the 1950's and the glamorous Hollywood era, the ingredients and the technology means that this lipstick firmly belongs in the 21st Century,

With a modern luminous modern matte finish, these lipsticks are made from an award winning formulation that included orchid extract, and voluminsing 3D pigments, that even in a cream formulation like this one, deflect and reflect the light to create the illusion of fuller looking lips.

Each lipstick is also embossed with the Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips logo, and the lipstick itself also features a specially designed and exclusive, square, angled tip, which is designed to mimic a lip brush for perfect application every time.

I know products aren't all about the packaging or at least they shouldn't be, but it's hard not to get a little bit excited by the packaging of this lipstick. The weighty, metal tube reminds me a bit of my Grandma and the cosmetics that she used to use, it definitely has that vintage glamour feel, only with a slight modern twist thanks to the rose gold.

The packaging is beautiful and in my opinion so is the lipstick inside. Remove the well fitting lid, and your hit with three assaults on your senses, the vanilla and cocoa butter scent and taste, and the beautiful cool toned, bright pink colour.

This lipstick is very pigmented, but thanks to the ergonomically designed square tip it's actually really easy to apply within your lip line, and thanks the angled edges you can even use it to line your lips and accentuate your lip line.

Yes this is a matte lipstick, but if you're not a matte lipstick fan then don't worry. This is about as far a way from an old fashioned, dry crusty, matte lipstick as you could ever get. It has a smooth and silky texture, and it leaves a smooth matte but not flat or dry, finish. Thanks to the matte finish this lipstick wears incredibly well on me, in fact I can honestly say that this is one of the longest wearing lipsticks that I've worn in a very long time. If you have really dry lips then you might need a little bit of lip balm underneath or maybe on top, but in my experience it certainly didn't leave my lips feeling flaky or any drier.

I'm not going to lie this lipstick isn't cheap, the Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Lipsticks retail at £24 for a 3.5g bullet, but in my opinion it's well worth it. Yes the packaging is beautiful and it's one of those products that you will be proud to take out of your make up bag, but this lipstick is so much more than its packaging. The technology means that it applies and wears well and the colour is beautiful what more could you want. If you fancy picking up this lipstick you can purchase Charlotte Tilbury online from her official website, as well as from John Lewis, House Of Fraser, Selfridges, Feelunique, Harvey Nichols, Cult Beauty and in selected Fenwick stores including Newcastle Upon Tyne. Are you a Charlotte Tilbury fan? Let me know your recommendations x

NARS NARSissist Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette

Some people love high end make up and some people love budget beauty personally though I'm somewhere in the middle.Nowadays I don't believe that you have to spend a fortune to get a good quality product but sometimes it's nice to treat yourself and buy something a little bit more expensive.

If you're not a regular high end purchaser, Christmas and birthdays may give you the perfect opportunity to splash out and either treat yourself, or let somebody treat you to a designer beauty product or two. Way back in May I celebrated a 30 something (cough) birthday, and I was lucky enough to receive a little bit of money, most of which I spent on beauty and make up. One of the things that I bought from SpaceNK was this gorgeous limited edition NARS palette.

The NARS NARSissist Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette is packaged in a beautiful, but hard to photograph, chunky, silver, mirrored palette.

It contains a full sized mirror, and 8 x 1g eye shadows in the Dual Intensity formulation. This is one of NARS newest formulations and the multi dimensional effect shadows can be used wet or dry. The shadows can either be used dry to create a sheer wash of colour or they can be built up or used wet to create, a solid block colour, which is crease free and can supposedly last for up to 8 hours.

One of the key difference between high hand and more budget palettes is usually the applicators that they contain. More often than not cheaper palettes contain sponge end applicators I don't know about you but personally I don't know why they bother including them, they're  okay if you're desperate but I tend to put them in my craft stash or just throw them away. This NARS palette though is just quality personified  and includes an all be it scaled down, but excellent quality travel sized fluffy eye shadow brush, which can be used both wet and dry. This brush is a valuable inclusion and one I will actually use.

The palette contains a variety of shades ranging from shimmering neutrals, that are ideal for a paired down everyday look, to rich dark, smokey shades that are perfect for the party season. Although this palette can be used both wet and dry, I've just swatched it dry to give you an idea of the depth and multi dimensional qualities of the shadows

On the top row from left to right - Europa which is a beautiful, pale, iridescent pink peach, Himalia which us a shimmering topaz colour, Ursa Major which is a yummy glazed chocolate colour and Subra, which is a black orchid, almost burgundy, rouge noir shade.

and on the bottom row from left to right - Andromeda - a pale, alabaster shade, Lysithea, which is probably my favourite colour and is described as a silvery, shark grey, Giove which is a deep navy blue, and Sycorax which is a midnight black shade.

Good pigmentation and embossed eye shadows are words that don't often go hand in hand, but as you can see from these pictures, these shadows are extremely pigmented, and buildable, and they have a smooth almost creamy texture. If they look like this dry then you can imagine how amazing they look when they're wet.

This palette retails at around £45 and whilst it isn't cheap I think it's definitely worth the money - it's not only aesthetically pleasing but everything about from the shadows to the brush just screams quality. Unfortunately it was a limited edition so it's not that easy to get a hold of now but I have managed to track a few down on Sephora if you're in the US, and on ASOS and Harvey Nichols if you're in the UK.

If you can't manage to get your hands on this palette or if you only like certain shades, all of the colours apart from Ursa Major are available individually,in a 14g full size, for £21. The beautiful black orchid, burgundy shade Subra is also available along with 3 other Dual Intensity shades in the new NARS Steven Klein Dual Intensity Eyeshadow Palette Dead Of Summer for around £35.

Are you a NARS fan ? I'd love to hear your thoughts and your recommendations x