HOURGLASS AMBIENT LIGHTING EDIT UNLOCKED HOLIDAY PALETTES 2026!! Swatches, Comparisons & Demos

Your girl paid for overnight shipping for these and Hourglasses they do every year. They really deliver. Their overnight shipping is always truly overnight. So, I am so excited to share with you swatches, comparisons, and applications of the brand new Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit collection of 2026. You know, I am a collector of these, so I had to purchase every single one. Now, there is a fourth one, the Love Palette. That one goes live tomorrow at Sephora, so I'll have that one linked down below. That is a Sephora exclusive color story, which has three brand new shades. The color story is not even an option on the Hourglass website, so definitely check that out at Sephora if you're interested in that one. I will be picking up that one as well. But we're going to talk about the core three palettes. You can get these right now on Hourglass Cosmetics website, but you will also be able to get them at Sephora. Right now, I don't believe there are any working Hourglass discount codes to get these from the Hourglass website. But I do believe if you place your first order with a new email, they will send you a personalized discount code if you're wanting to look into it that way. As far as these selling out, these are truly limited edition. Every single year when they sell out, they sell out and they sell out every single year. I don't think these are going to sell out right away, but as soon as sales start, these will sell out. So, Hourglass will have these included in the Black Friday sale, and that's normally when they sell out. And then, as far as Sephora, the second the Sephora savings event starts, these will sell out at midnight. So, if you are looking to get a discount, you really do have to run to get it because that is when we these will sell out. And they will. Even if this year's palettes aren't favorable for me, they will sell out. They always do during sale season. So, you have time. You don't need to rush. But if you're waiting for a discount, you got to rush for that discount and you might end up unlucky and with nothing. Just my warning to you as somebody who has reviewed these the last seven years. This year the price is $98. That is $4 more from last year and $8 more than 2 years ago. So, we've been upping these prices every couple of years. This year's artwork is done in collaboration with French jewelry designer Lauren Rubinsky. These are not charms. They've done gold packaging like this before with remov removable customizable charms. These are these are on here. However, you can customize which cover you want. You can either get the hope charm, you can either get the luck charm, or you could even get the wish charm, and you can get any of these three color stories. For review's sake, I am using the curated palettes that they have. But if you want the luck design with the wish color story, you can absolutely do that only on the Hourglass website. But I do love that little aspect that they do. Will we ever get customizable holiday palettes? Probably not. I'm just warning you. But the packaging, I do like that it's now customizable. All you have to do is when you go to the ambient lighting edit page, there's going to be a custom button and you just go there and then you select your color story and the packaging. One thing that I always say about these palettes is to never trust the artwork that you see in their marketing photos. Hourglass palettes look completely different in person. So, I know you want to see the live videos, the swatches. So, let's just get straight into it. I have all of the swatches for all of the palettes close up in front of a window, natural lighting, and I'm comparing them with their counterpart from last year's palette. So, if you've purchased any from last year, and I know a lot of you did, you'll be able to see how this one's light palette compares to last year's light palette. So, swatches first, then application. Here is a close look at the Wish palette. The charm feels nice and sturdy. And in the back, you got all of the shade names. But here in front of the window, you can really see the marbling of each of these shades. And instantly, when I first opened this palette, I was absolutely entranced by this highlighter, Moonstone Glow. In recent years, the highlighters they put in, I felt like I've been a bit subtle. This is wham bam gorgeous. It looks like pink and gold. So, in this palette, the only repeat shade is diffuse light finishing powder, which is nice and bright and can be concentrated as a highlighter. It's so sheer though, I don't mind that it's a repeat shade. And the rest of the shades are new. So, we have Moonstone Glow Highlighter, Ethereal Bronze Bronzer. Are we sure that's new? Um, mauve flush blush, pink aura blush, and desert rose blush. Now, upon first glance, I think that these blushes look kind of close to one another. So, I feel like once blended out, they might look similar on the cheeks, which I don't love that. I wish there was more variety here in the shades. And here are the swatches. One thing I will say with Hourglass swatches is they look different on the face, but I think that this palette swatched really well altogether. But you can see the Moonstone Glow Highlighter is very reflective. And on the left I have this year's Wish palette and on the right is last year's dear palette. Now last year's dear palette had a different layout with two finishing powders and two blushes as opposed to this year's one finishing powder and three blushes. Top is this year's palette. The bottom is the deer palette. I mean the finishing powders are all going to shear out pretty similar on the face. This is what I mean. This was last year's highlight, so it's a complete different formula than this year's, which is quite reflective. Last year's bronzer was definitely more cool and pink. So, I know the more fair people, just be aware of that that this year's is warmer and more deep. Honestly, it looks orange. Last year's was so pink. I really liked last year's bronzer. I think it's different than what they've done before. The blushes, there's one coral shade, which is similar to pink aura this year. And then this pink blush from last year doesn't exist in this new palette. Here is this year's Hope palette. The medium skin tone friendly palette. Same layout of three blushes, one highlight, one bronzer, and one finishing powder. The only existing shade is soft light finishing powder. Then we have brand new brilliant pink blush, brand new soft rosewood blush, which warning, this has glitters. For those who don't like glitter, we have luminous opal highlighter, rose quartz blush, and sunlit bronzer bronze, which I worried would be a bit too deep for me. And here are the swatches. And you can see with that soft rosewood blush, there is 100% glitters in that one. I don't notice it with any other shades. And luminous opal is a little bit deeper than the highlighter in the first palette, but it's that same formula, which I'm really happy about. Then we have hope on the left and then the Swan palette on the right. Same layout as last year. Top is this year's palette. The bottom is last year's palette. The bronzer last year was cooler. I definitely prefer last year's bronzer. The highlighter is more gold. I think this year's is more pretty. Um the finishing powder is slightly more pink compared to soft light, but they're so sheer it's not that noticeable. And the blushes are kind of similar in terms of level of depth and pigment. If you liked the blushes last year, I do think last year's blushes are a little bit prettier all around. I prefer last year's medium palette, but I can't wait to see soft rosewood on my face. And then finally, we have the Luck palette this year, which once again, Ethereal Light is the only existing shade that's going to be this year's finishing powder. Then we have new radiant mauve blush, new topaz glow highlighter, orchid flush blush, soft dalia blush, and then velvet bronze bronzer. And here's what the swatches look like on my skin tone. Obviously, I'm very light. This is not meant for my skin tone at all. But you can see the finishes nice up and close. And we have this year's Luck palette on the left. Last year's Fox palette here on the right. I was really curious to see how the bronzers and finishing powders compared which the finishing powders last year was definitely a little bit more golden bronzers this year is actually deeper and slightly more cool which we love to see. Last year's highlighter was a little bit brighter and then the blushes last year I as you can see they have more variety. this year. They're all kind of swatching similar, which I don't love that. Let me know your thoughts, but I think this year's bronzer is definitely better. Now, let's get into application of these palettes on my skin tone, each of the palettes, so you can see if you're a collector like me, how each of the colors are going to work on my skin tone or how I am able to make them work. I'm going to start off with the deepest palette, the Luck palette, actually, and I'm going to show you how I get it to work on my skin tone. if you're a collector like me and if you're a little confused as to how to apply the Hourglass powders, hopefully this portion will help you as well. Now, the reason I'm starting off with the deepest palette is because every year I tend to use the deepest palette for eyeshadows the most because it's the best way it would work for me. These are not supposed to work for me. These are supposed to look crazy on me. So, I'm going to show you how I use these in a way that I get my money's worth and I don't look quite as crazy. initial glance at this palette, the blushes way too similar to be allin-one palette. I did like this bronzer better. Now, when it comes to using these as eyehadows, I'm going to start off by using the finishing powder in my crease. This year's is quite warm, almost orange, honestly. But I'm going to blend that into my crease. And then with whatever's left over, I'm going to dust that onto my eyelid. I usually keep it pretty simple when it comes to using these as eyehadows. And these are fun for when I utilize the blushes. You can get a monochromatic look, but these shadows, well, powders blend beautifully as eye shadows, but are definitely warm when you get into using face powders because bronzers tend to bronze. So, I'm going to use the bronzer in this palette, which which actually is cooler than last year's. So, I think it's going to make a beautiful deepening shade in my crease. The finishing powder is actually much more warm, but that is perfect for adding some depth. If you are okay with a more warm look, you could absolutely use these blushes all over the lid. But when it comes to utilizing the deepest palettes from this Hourglash collection, I most often am using the highlighter all over my eyelid, which this year's is a little bit deeper than last year's. It looks more copper on my eyelid. Last year's it definitely looked more golden, but I mean it is pigmented. It is creamy. and on my complexion, it creates a stunning eyeshadow look. So, this is just another way if you're a rabbi skin tone that you can utilize this palette. Now, for face application, I'm going to use the finishing powder as my bronzer. This is lighter than the bronzer in the palette, so it will be better for my skin tone. It also, with the nature of it being a finishing powder, it's less pigmented. So, it's working out very well as a bronzer because of how easy this formula is to blend. I mean, it's not perfect and a bronzer, my actual shade, would work much better, but we can make it work. And it's not orange at all on my complexion. Now, if you're very cool, it it will be too orange for you, but it's a good bronzer tone on me. In fact, I actually really like this as a bronzer tone. Just for research purposes, I'm going to take the bronzer, and it's actually cooler in tone, so it can actually be used as a little bit of a soft contour on me here. It's not too pigmented, actually, and that works for chiseling my cheekbone. Hm. I really love this bronzer in this palette. I'm happy that they did this. And if I'm using a light hand, I can use it as a little bit of a chisel shade here under my cheekbone. And I got it to work for me. Now, blush. Honestly, I really don't love the blushes in this palette. I'm going to use this one right here. I'm going to keep it towards the back of my cheek. And I'm going to use this technique for a lot of the blushes today so you can see how they apply. But the blushes in the palette this year are pretty sheer. I think last year the blushes were better for deeper complexion because this is applying too nicely on me. Like it looks good on me, which would suggest because it shouldn't that these are not pigmented enough. You can build them up. And I'm going to leave the amazing creators that actually do have deeper complexions to show this off on their complexion. I'm just showing you how I make it work for me, but in all reality, it should not work for me. Then I'm using soft dalia on the apple of my cheek. I do see the subtle tone differences, but I need these blushes to be further apart. I definitely think last year's deep palette was better than this year's, but this year's works better on my complexion. The highlighter is not going to work as a highlighter on me, but that is how I would get a palette like Luck to work for me. And it looks really nice and it applied beautifully. Moving on to the Hope palette. When I compared this to the marketing photos, I was worried about the bronzer right here. And it definitely looks a lot lighter than in the marketing photo with the names. This shade looks more red in the photo. This is actually more pink/ coral. Soft rosewood. In the marketing photo, you can't see the glitters, but there's some gold glitters in here. Rose quartz definitely looks a lot deeper in the photo. Overall, this palette looks much lighter in person, which is normally the opposite, I feel like, for Hourglass. So, that is something to note. Typically, I do love the medium palettes on my own complexion, and this one is going to work for me. I do clean my brushes in between each take, by the way. But I'm going to start off with the Sunlit Bronze, which I was worried would be too deep on me, but seeing it in person, I don't think it's going to be. Nope, it's not. I think if I use a heavy hand or a more dense brush, this can be built up if you need a little bit more pigment. So, this could easily actually go a little too deep for me if I'm not using the proper brush, which is good since this is a medium skin friendly palette. I did go a little bit heavy and then you need to correct that which it's you ever get in that position just use your used foundation brush and clean it up, brighten it up. It's the best tip you could ever do for makeup is to always keep your foundation and concealer brush around cuz you never know when you need to fix your own mistakes. Like you see how I just cleaned that bronzer up. I actually think I like the finishing powder from the luck better as a bronzer than the bronzer from this palette. I can make it work, but it's not my all-time favorite bronzer. I typically prefer something lighter. Anyways, now for blush, I definitely need to see how these glitters sit on the skin from Soft Rosewood. And I think the blushes in this palette are okay in terms of the differences between them. The Luck palette definitely had more similar blushes. So, we have a bit more variety here in this one. Soft rosewood is actually quite pretty. And I'm using a light hand and slowly building it up. See, do I see the glitter? I feel like it's kind of wiped away as I've applied it. It was definitely much more noticeable in the swatch, but I don't see any visible glitter on my skin. But, if you are very picky with glitter and you can't even have a speck of glitter on your face, you're probably not going to love this shade. though I do feel like it blended away and that added a nice warm color to my cheek. I think that this shade, Rose Quartz, is absolutely gorgeous in person. It's more cool than I thought it looked online. It looked very warm online, but it's actually quite warm on the face. It packs more pigment than I thought. It's not as pretty as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a bit brighter, but it's definitely different from Rosewood. It's more of a true rosy blush. Very, very pretty on its own. There's also Brilliant Pink, which I think is going to pull a little bit more coral on the cheek. I do love the highlighters in this year's palettes. I think they are way better than last year's. Let's put on Luminous Opal, which sometimes this highlighter is too deep on me from the medium palette, but this actually has a very bright shift to it. It's a complete different formula than last year. It is very wet. It's not natural at all. If you like the more natural Hourglass highlighters, but they put the more natural finish in a lot more of the Hourglass palettes. So, I think this is a nice change and I mean it's stunning. The highlighter is the best part. And then to finish off how I like to use the finishing powders, these are the Hourglass Filter. These are the powders that cannot be duped if you ask me. These work as a veil over the skin and they're going to marry all of my cheek colors together because between the bronzer, the different blushes, and the highlights, sometimes it doesn't look well melted together. So, this is going to add that veil over the skin to make everything look soft focus. It might not be something that you can see on camera, but if you go out in the sun, you'll see that Hourglass filter on the skin. And this technique is what makes Hourglass worth it for me. Do you see how that instantly just melted everything together? It's very bridal. If I still did bridal makeup, you better believe this powder would be in my kit. But it's not matte. It has a very subtle satin finish and it just kind of blurs the skin. It's absolutely incredible. This is not a setting powder. Do not set with this, but absolutely finish with that. And you see how it just melted everything on the face together. This one is very, very pretty. I don't think I'm as obsessed with it as I was the Swan palette last year, but I do like this one and it works on my skin tone. If you were kind of in between, if you have a light complexion, you will still be able to use this palette. If you have like a true medium complexion, you can still work this out as well, but I think last year's was slightly deeper. But that, my friends, is the Hope palette. Lastly, we're going to finish with the lightest palette, the Wish palette. I did leave the Hope palette on this side in case you were in between those two so you can see how they would compare side to side. Now, this one, looking at the photos online, it looks more neutral in person, definitely looks more saturated online, and the photo of Moonstone Glow just doesn't do it justice how beautiful this is in person. And I actually want to quickly compare this with the Luminous Opal from the Hope palette because they look very similar in pan. So here's Moonstone Glow on my index finger. Luminous Glow on my middle finger. Moonstone Glow is definitely more white and bright. It actually has more of a pinky tone to it, but they have subtle different undertones, but they do look very similar. They're the same formula, but different tones. Let's see how bright this one pulls on my face. I think I'm going to vibe with this bronzer, ethereal bronze. Lately, I've been just liking a really light natural bronzer. I would have lived for the bronzer in the Hope palette a few years ago, but I like a very subtle bronze now, but this bronzer is pretty light. You can see in the veining, it's very little brown. It is very light on me. Honestly, I feel like I'm an in between between the two bronzers. I don't love the bronzers for the light and medium palette so much this year on my skin tone. They're fine, but I think a mix between the both is my ideal, which is fine. In previous years, they've come out with really beautiful bronzers. Just this year's not my favorite. It works for me, but I did need to kind of dig in there. So, medium, I think, is set up the best for my complexion. Okay, blush. I'm actually really excited about this desert rose shade because it looks like a beautiful neutral shade. This is the first blush I want to apply. Oh, it is soft. Really beautiful if you're if you have fair complexion and it's warm leaning, but it's not bad at all. Very subtle, very soft. Hourglass, I would love a new formula from you. Listen, I talked to Hourglass like they're watching this because I got all the ideas for these palettes. I want a blush lighter formulation, right? Like I want a really shimmery blush color where you're not sure if it's a highlighter or a blush and you have the tools, you have a beautiful formula. Like throw in a new formula in here. That would be exciting. Anyways, this blush is gorgeous. I actually think I would have liked it to have a lot more sheen. That's what I want. I want this shade more shiny, that kind of formula. But I love how this is nice and toned down. These two blushes, mauve flush, this doesn't look very mauvey to me. This is definitely lighter in person. And Pink Aura, they kind of look similar. Pink Aura obviously is going to have a bigger punch to it, but this is Mau Flesh. I did not clean up my brush, but you see it's quite warm. It added an orange element to my face. The blushes are playing so nice from this palette. If you have a heavy hand, these are really great for you. My face just looks so soft. This has a subtle golden shift to it. Okay, desert rose I think is gorgeous, but it is a bit soft on me. So, I'm going to use the same brush. I didn't clean it, so there is residue. I'm going to take just a bit of pinkaura and lightly dust that. Yeah. And you can see that adds some brightness. So, if you want the pop, the blushes in here are good. I definitely think this caters best for even lighter complexions than myself. Let's see how Moonstone Glow is. I don't dislike the less glowy version of their highlighters. I think they're actually much more modern to what's popular right now. But like this takes me back. Do these look different to you? They kind of blend out to look the same, but they're both beautiful. I just love this formula. Then I'm going to do my little trick. So diffuse light is one that I could really build up if I wanted to brighten in areas or even as a super subtle highlight. But if you use a fluffy brush, it don't matter. Just See how that melted everything together? Just finishing off with this. And just a tip, if any blush in your palette you feel is too pigmented, just take your finishing powder and mix it and blend it in with your blush and that will soften the application. Like utilize that powder in there. It's a tool for you to adjust the other powders. I wanted my highlight more subtle. I'm telling you, just mix these and then it will give you an even softer application. So, this is the final look of the Wish palette on my complexion. Definitely soft, very pretty, and side by side with the Hope palette in case you wanted to see. And we're in between these two. You guys, I mean it when I say I love Hourglass palettes. And a lot of people think I'm overly dramatic or I'm lying. I don't do that on my channel, you guys. I just genuinely love these palettes. But I am not going to sugarcoat it. This year is my least favorite launch of these in years. It might even be my least favorite launch of these ever because they are so the same as they've been in previous years. In fact, I definitely like these color stories a lot less than color stories that they've launched in previous years. Doing the sideby-side comparisons with last year's sealed the deal on that for me because I liked all of the color stories better. Last year, I feel like the color stories were more thought out. I felt like they were more versatile. This year, I feel like it's just a lot of coral, a lot of warm, and they're definitely staying in their safe zone. There were no chances taken with this launch. Now, the pros of this year's launch, five of the six shades in each palette are brand new. So, that's absolutely fantastic. I know a lot of people are bored with this packaging and they've launched the charm style gold packaging before. I didn't purchase those. So, for me, the gold packaging is new, so I like it, but I did I did get used to the actual artwork on one, so I do like it, but the charms are so small that it doesn't feel like as much of an incentive to buy each for the packaging. But that said, the quality is absolutely still there with these. And that is why I repurchase these palettes every single year. Well, obviously so that I can share them with you. But these are my mostused powders because they are undupable if you ask me. So even though I don't love the color stories that much this year, the quality is still there. You still get the Hourglass filter with these. These cannot be duped. It is the color stories that I am disappointed in this year. as someone who has them all. If this is your first time buying an Ever Hourglass palette, you will love these. You will love the quality of these. If there's a color story that speaks to you and you're on the fence, please pick it up. This will become your most used powder. At least that's how I feel for myself and what I wish you to experience. I want you to experience the love I have for these. But if you're a collector like me, this is not an exciting launch. do already have these shades despite them being new. And I just don't think the color stories feel as well curated this year. So, that's my that's my two cents on that. I mean, they're still beautiful palettes and I will continue to use them. I will continue to love them. And I'll keep you updated on which colors actually end up standing out to me that I find myself reaching for because, you know, time tells all and I will be able to eventually point out to you which blushes I feel like I'm gravitating towards and can tell you which palette ends up being my favorite. As always, I hope you guys found this video helpful, found the swatches helpful, found the application tips helpful. I will have the link to these palettes down below for you guys, as well as the Sephora links and the new Love palette, which is going to launch tomorrow. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you have any questions, let me know down below. Which palette was your favorite? What are your thoughts? Do you feel the same way about me? I will see you guys in the next video. Bye, guys. Have a good one. >> It's delicious.