What do you like about Charlotte Tilbury? What don't you like?
Tell us what you love and hate about...
Charlotte Tilbury
I don’t find myself all that drawn to Charlotte Tilbury products off the bat; like I don’t hear about a new release and get particularly excited, but some of my very favorite products are by Charlotte Tilbury (Hollywood Flawless Filter, Filmstar Bronze & Glow, Hollywood Light Wands). The brand has a tendency to release everything in the same wheelhouse, though, and I think they could do a substantially better job releasing color cosmetics that would work on more skin tones.
— Christine
Almost everything she has released, from lipsticks to powder, pulls yellow/orange/red on me, which doesn’t work for me. The quality is nice, but aside from one eyeshadow palette, I’ve kept nothing in the long run.
Agree on the yellow/orange/red mention. I would think that as a makeup artist, working with various people, she would have products suited for a larger variety of skin tones and undertones. Her line seems somewhat more targeted on the light to medium toned British complexion.
Agree that her eye shadows pull orange/red. I’m fair skinned, have several CT palettes and love the quality (buttery powder texture, no fallout) but every shade turns orange on me. Doesn’t matter if I use a shadow base or not. Result is once applied, shades are not even close to how they show in the palettes. Everything appears Rose Gold on!
I don’t really vibe with this brand’s aesthetic even though I think a couple of the products are nice. The ad campaigns all have this super airbrushed/photoshopped 90s supermodel look which… Doesn’t do it for me. And the look of a lot of the products themselves just don’t look good to me. Again, this is tough because I’m a fan of the lipstick and blush.
Charlotte Tilbury is one of the brands I wanted so much to like, but I just can’t.
Every product I tried from the brand doesn’t work for me. I mean… the pressed powder was OKish, but there are so many good drugstore options that I can’t imagine how you can’t make a decent one as a high end brand. The pencils are the worse I have ever tried. The eyeshadow palettes don’t have color schemes to my liking, and most shades are those warm hues that look unflattering to me.
The packaging is atrocious. Poor quality cheap looking plastic and that rose gold shade makes them look even cheaper because it tries too much to look luxury. I mean… it kind of looks good in pictures, but not in real life.
I do like the assortment of products, they have a little bit of everything without overdoing it. I like the idea of offering those palettes for a full look, but I would wish that brands made them with customizable inserts (buy the eyeshadows and face powders that suit you). Maybe the brand exaggerates with Pillow Talk, but it’s not as bad as Nars Orgasm.
The skincare items are also atrocious, too much fragrance.
The thing is I totally see the brand having a role and place in the market, as much as I don’t like it. It’s just that maybe the brand and Charlotte Tilbury (she seems to me like that creepy aunt that wear a lot of makeup, smokes and drinks, and asked you if you already have a boyfriend when you were 12 years old) are not my style.
If I was really impartial, the only thing I would actually complain is the packaging… for that price she could use better quality and sturdier materials.
I like their items generally, they’re nice quality and the packaging is lovely. That being said, I think they’re a little bit pricey, and every limited edition or new release seems to be too similar. I do like that they have a very consistent aesthetic, but it’s too limited. I’m just not excited or inspired by anything.
I only have a few items from her, but the quality of everything is excellent.
The lack of variety in her color schemes and higher prices keep me from buying more.
There’s so much I like about Charlotte Tilbury: face cleansers, Magic Eye Rescue, Hollywood Flawless Filter, Light Wonder and Hollywood Flawless foundations, Magic Away concealer, setting powders (pressed and loose), Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, mascaras, highlighters, cream eyeshadows, Colour Chameleon eyeshadow sticks, eyeshadow quads, Instant Eye Palettes, Instant Look in a Face palettes, Legendary Brows, Airbrush bronzer, Cheek to Chic blush, Airbrush and Face Sculpt brushes, and Kissing lipsticks. What I don’t like is the over-the-top marketing claims and the recent changes to products names that are so generic compared to when the brand first launched. The products that I’m not fond of are the Matte Revolution lipsticks, most pencil eyeliners, the corrector (more a shade range than formula issue), liquid lipsticks and glosses, and the Pillow Talk lipstick, which looks beige on me.
I find a lot of her products kind of repetitive and while I’ve never actually purchased anything from the company, I find them overpriced and full of groundless “fluff” in their advertising – “is it MAGIC or is it nonsense?”
Same as another commenter, everything she releases that I have been interested enough in to purchase has very warm undertones. I had to declutter some of her lipsticks because they made me look like I had nicotine stains around my mouth. The one I kept I can only wear as a statement lip in the fall, so it will probably not last in my collection, sadly. Her “Hollywood celebrity” marketing is also totally unappealing to me. Her flawless filter, however, is very nice for a glow and I don’t regret picking it up at all!
I hate that she discontinues colours so frequently.
CT seems married to a particular aesthetic. I have and enjoy the small Darling palette but don’t feel I’m missing out on much else.
I love her eye shadow quads and blushes. However, I’m not a fan of the pushy, aggressive marketing ploy used, and the only thing associated with the word ‘magic’ is seeing money disappearing on overpriced products.
CT is my favorite brand. I find that all of the colors are pretty and work well together. I never have to put much thought behind putting a look together. I do with Christina that the color stories are repetitive but I don’t mind because they happen to be colors I like and use. If something new is too close to a color I have, I pass on it.
Her colors don’t match what I see online which makes it frustrating for me as I am a WOC.
Overall I feel the brand is overhyped. Her shadows have a lot of those micro glitters and the quads are way over priced. She does honestly have a few stand out products like Hollywood flawless filter and her pressed face powder. I love her contouring cream but having that squeeze tube half full on purchase is such a drag.
Her packaging.. I like the colors but the plastic feels cheap to me. I don’t rush to buy her stuff nor get excited about it. I’m just meh… but maybe a step up from Fenty but ouch!! Das expensive
I like a lot of CT’s eyeshadow quads and enjoy the specific shade range in each of them. Generally they are of very good to excellent quality.
What I don’t like is that we don’t have a CT outlet here in Aus., so you can see them in person. They are also fairly expensive as well.
The brand also tends to release the same set of colours and is not really nuanced to differing skintones.
I remember seeing her on Lisa Eldridge’s channel and was initially intrigued. However, when CT first released her line, none of the products would work with my skintone. I was immediately turned off. Nothing she has released since has changed my mind.
I really like the Superstar lipstick in Pillowtalk as that actually pulls pinkish on me, and the same formula in Walknof No Shame is a good everyday red without being fire engine red. The airbrush foundation is a perfect match to my skin tone.
However, the same foundation needs to be blended immediately in small sections because it’s like fast drying paint. It doesn’t apply well with a beauty blender so I use a foundation brush. But in doing so, I put on a lot more foundation than I actually need and the 6-8 hour mark is like an expiration on my t-zone oil even with her setting powder (overpriced) and urban decay setting spray. It feels heavy and you can see it sitting on top of my skin in that you need to wash your face look. But where my skin is dry, it will show off any flakiness. I want to love her products but I feel like I’m forcing it.
Every eyeshadow release looks the same to me as the last one I can remember seeing. I do have the lightest bronzer, and it’s actually too light for me, which has never happened before. I hope that means the deepest shade is deeper than the rest on the market.
Otherwise, every release feels like de ja vu.
I like some of the packaging. A few lipstick bullet tubes have caught my eye over the years. But overall her aesthetic and color story aren’t mine, so I haven’t actually purchased anything from the brand before.
Why comment? you guys said it all. I’m in pretty good company. What I still do not understand is why I thought I SHOULD like CT. Truthfully, the Fiona Stiles esthetic suited me far better.
I have cool-toned skin and all her products look terrible on me. I have exactly one lipstick of hers that I like but everything else seems to designed exclusively for warm complexions.
I seem to be in the minority here but what I like about CT products is that they feel luxurious to me.
Yes, there is a price tag to it but whenever I get my bronzer, flawless filter or lipsticks out, I feel like a real classy lady. I also think the packaging of the above products is on point:- sturdy, easy to use and gorgeous!
The fact that she offered lipstick refills at a cheaper price I thought was ingenious because I could whip my boujee lipstick out and simply swap the colour out for one of the refills saving space, my wallet and being good for the environment. I’m fairly sure she was one of the first brands to offer this and at the time, I was very impressed.
I also love the quality of the products and tho I only own the ones mentioned above and therefore can’t comment on the eyeshadow quads, the products I have get an A++ from me.
I’ll start with what I don’t like, the K.I.S.S.I.S.N.G lipstick formula, it doesn’t sit well on my lips, I honestly don’t know why, I have the same problem with Lisa Eldridges lipsticks, not the matte ones, the others. I don’t have this kind of issue with any other brand that I have tried, a bit odd, I think.
Pillow Talk, the original lipstick doesn’t look nice on me, the pinkiness seems to disappear and it looks kind of greige.
The price is also a thing I’m not a fan of, but there are worse offenders when it comes to expensiveness.
The changing of names is confusing, but they probably had to and in the case of Walk of Shame, I like the new name better.
I don’t like the cream eyeshadows, now I can’t recall why, I think I just tried them once and put them away.
I bought a powder brush, the shape looked so good, and it is, but the brush is scratchy and very uncomfortable to use.
So what do I like?
I love the matte lipsticks, Bond Girl is my go to lipstick but the other ones I own gets a lot of use as well.
I like the foundation I have, the setting spray, the eyeshadow quads, especially Uptown Girl, perfect for everyday easy looks. I like the eye pencils, and love the Browlift in Supermodel, but couldn’t find it when I ordered from CT last week. DCed? if so I’m annoyed!
I’m now going to try the sunscreen/primer, the Airbrush foundation and the setting powder. I hope I’ll like the products.
The shipping is really fast. A lot faster than from other retailers also shipping from the EU.
So, it’s a mix between dislike, like and love from me.
I think overall the CT products are quality.
As so many have pointed out CT has a very distinct look (someone said 90s supermodel, which I would agree with) that she’s married too. I do not like the eye makeup applications she does at all, the feline flick might elongate the eyes but I do not personally like the look–in part I have wide eyes.
So while I do like many products I don’t feel the brand represents me, it feels outdated IMO.
Meh:
I have her Luxury Eyeshadow Pillow Talk quad and never use it, I also have one of her face quads, which is so-so and I barely reach for.
Magic Away Concealer is a good light-medium coverage, but I hate the sponge (tends to tear) and the lids are impossible to get off the base. So I never use it and won’t rebuy.
Loves:
*I use HFF daily, it is my ride or die, and it lasts forever.
I love her Matte Revolution Pillow Talk lipstick, it’s a perfect MLBB.
Her SuperStar Lips Pillow Talk Lucky Diamonds is lovely.
Magic Cream is a dream but I won’t pay that price.
Airbrush Pressed Powder, I enjoy using under my eyes.
Contour Wand: love it, but I have a lot of other cream/liquid contours I also love.
Even though I am tempted to pull the trigger and buy something from her line, I see that everything is very pink toned and caters a lot to fair cool toned women to which is a turn off to me (I am light to medium warm, favoring neutrals and reds). If only she were a bit more adventurous and inclusive…
I haven’t tried too much from CT, but I absolutely love her lipsticks, both formulas. I did not care much for her cream eyeshadows, Eyes To Mesmerize. In my collection of eyeshadows, I don’t reach for hers, but I think it’s more of an issue of style of eyeshadow.
Amazing how we all have such differing opinions. I don’t like everything CT puts out, but what I do like, I genuinely love. That includes most of her lipsticks, her pressed powder, a few of her palettes, and the like. I agree she sticks to one aesthetic (old Hollywood glam), but I LIKE that. The cases on her latest lipsticks with the teeny crystals is simply lovely. I buy wayyyy too much makeup and skincare, but if other brands emulated CT and went to a more classic, luxurious look, I’d be right there.
Her whole “I don’t let my husband see me without makeup, ever” nonsense turned me off her brand and her marketing pretty quickly.