It’s October. And, yes, we’re already talking Christmas, but to be fair, Hourglass started it.
Most of us have a dish, drawer or jewellery box full of small things we can’t throw away: a charm from a bracelet, a lucky coin, a tiny key that opens nothing. Hourglass has noticed, and its 2026 holiday collection, a collaboration with French jewellery designer Lauren Rubinski, is built for exactly that drawer. Each palette wears one of her signature charms on its lid, which makes it part cosmetics, part trinket.
The trinket half
There are four charms, each with a meaning. A heart for LOVE, a four-leaf clover for WISH, a heart-shaped key for HOPE and an upside-down horseshoe for LUCK, the last one designed to pour luck onto others rather than keep it for itself. The brief, per the release, is a beauty keepsake: something to collect, gift and treasure. A lipstick gets used up. A trinket gets kept. This is a palette that would like to be both.
Which raises the real question of the season: will you actually use it? A heart-topped compact with a crystal-studded charm has a way of ending up on a shelf, or a dressing table, as a very expensive ornament. And for me th eternal dilleman remained: would I dig into it, or would it live on display?
The cosmetics half
Under the lid, it’s serious product. The star is the Ambient Lighting Unlocked LOVE Palette, exclusive to Sephora in Australia at A$160, with coral, pink and rose tones and luminous pearl highlights for a flush that looks lit from within. Inside is an edit of Hourglass’ Ambient Lighting finishing powders, blushes, bronzers and highlighters designed to sculpt, diffuse and illuminate.
The detail that suits a trinket best: every powder is handcrafted in Italy using the brand’s Miscelare Technique, which blends pigment and light into marbled swirls, so no two palettes are exactly alike. Like most good keepsakes, yours will be a one-off.
Which one goes in your trinket dish?
LOVE for the romantic and the collector who wants the Sephora exclusive.
WISH for the optimist, with a four-leaf clover standing for the optimism of possibility.
HOPE for the fresh-starter, with a heart-shaped key for confidence and new beginnings.
LUCK for the generous, in case some of it rubs off on you.
All four are now at Sephora Australia, in store and online, and Sephora is the only retailer in the country where you can see the whole collection in person. That matters when the charm is half the appeal, because it’s worth holding one before you choose.
Buy one to wear, or one to keep, or both. Hourglass, for its part, won’t mind.
