A closer look at... the Gilded Rose highlight from Smashbox and Vlada.

I visited the Boots store in Manchester's Trafford Centre a few days ago and got very excited - they had the new Smashbox collaboration with one of their creative editors - Vlada Haggerty [Vladamua], which I'd had thought was going to be a US-only collection!!

Naturally I have a few pieces to show you and I'm going to start with something that's fulfilled my disappointment with a recently reviewed item...

A collection of gel-powder highlighters that wrap skin in ultra-flattering, rose-gold radiance. Each features a clear base formula that allows for the purest possible reflection of light with a super-smooth feel that won’t emphasize uneven skin texture - Smashbox

Gilded Rose is a delicate champagne/opal shade, with a soft pink undertone [I think that the camera bleaches out the pink, but it's there in real life]. Not too dark, not too light and not too warm or too cool. It's only visible in certain lighting on skin - so there are no visible strips of colour on your face.

The powder applies very smoothly, it doesn't exaggerate pores and it wears all day - no touch-ups.

[yep; my spelling game is shit here]

ilThere's not much else to say here. Gilded Rose is what I wanted BECCA's Royal Glow to be. I knew that I'd love it as soon as I felt the silky powder on my skin; it applies like butter, doesn't drag or patch over dry skin, doesn't showcase textured skin and it doesn't bleed shimmer/glitter. I apply it in the morning and it's still there in the evening when I remove my make-up - and the temperatures here are high, so I feel as though the testing conditions have been great.

I wish that this collection had been released earlier, then I'd have never even bothered with Royal Glow. If you want to treat yourself to something from this collection, then this is the standout star in my opinion. I highly reccomend it.


The highlighter is £30 [there are 2 shades of highlighter with this formula in this collection].

I'm not sure if all larger Boots have the collection now, or if the store I went to is the only one that had it out early (it's not on the Boots site at the time of writing this review). The collection has just launched on the Smashbox site.