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
As a brand they’re just not on my radar at all. I don’t think I have anything from CT, not even a sample size.
Love: Not much besides her lipsticks and last year’s holiday eyeshadow palette. Oh, and her liquid highlighters that you’ve reviewed that look gorgeous mixed with foundation for extra radiance!
Hate: That her brand noticeably caters towards only lt.-medium or paler skintones. Like, why must almost every single face and eyes palette be so ashy looking and light? Also, the one eyeshadow single I bought from her site, Cat Eyes To Hypnotize in Silver Leopard creased horribly within just a few hours. So, her e/s’s make me nervous about buying more.
But then there’s the most recent lone exception of this year’s face and eyes palette. After watching [email protected]’s review of the newest iteration, I’m extremely tempted to give it a go!
I do acknowledge my bias here, but with an Eastern European background, I tend to not be bothered that much when brand based in Europe and some Asian countries cater only to fair to (dark-)medium complexions… I mean, I wouldn’t expect an Indian or Central African brand to have colors for me. It’s in the end a matter of business… it’s not feasible to invest in shades that cover 1-2% of your sales. Where I’m from, even Maybelline stops having shades around Honey.
But it’s Charlotte Tilbury… and… I mean… I’ve been to London… you can’t claim you don’t have a big dark complexion market segment in Britain… you’re not in Sweden or Ukraine; and the brand is now international… they could slowly add a few dark skin friendly options.
Dislike: the cost
Like: bitch perfect is one of the few lipsticks that I’ve completely used up.
I’ve yet to buy a Charlotte Tilbury product that I didn’t like. The quality is always there. I just ordered starry eyes last night. Super excited to receive it.
I really don’t care for their approach, though I love the products. I’m not a fan of the “look like a celebrity or supermodel approach.”
I went the the CT counter and the artist there asked me which look I liked — and he pointed to a 6′ blonde blue eyed glamazon. I’m 5’2 with black hair and olive golden skin. I told him that I would need a custom look since I don’t look anything like that. I get that they ask customers which look they like – I don’t like that the look is on one single model. Needless to say, he really knocked it out of the park and I ended buying every single product.
I can’t tell exactly why (maybe it’s the British vibe, maybe it’s Charlotte Tilbury talent as a make-up artist, maybe it’s Wayne Goss raving reviews), but I always wanted to like the brand; unfortunately, what I tried from them didn’t work for me. I still can’t go over the fact that I almost hated the Airbrush Flawless Finish Setting Powder.
I could rant about the fact that the products are mostly very… illuminating… but it’s just me preferring more matte or satin finishes.
I can also rant about the fact that the packaging looks cheap and those rose-golden hues don’t help. In pictures online the packaging might look fancy, but it’s too lightweight and cheap looking in real life.
I do like that the brand keeps a more curated line of products, rather than releasing too much. I think that the approach (core products + holiday releases / repackagings). I also like the `Instant Look in a Palette` idea, very well designed sets and they’re very nice for traveling; I also find the `Look Sets` well put together.
I also like the names… I mean… Rock ‘N’ Kohl, Velvet Underground, The Feline Flick (in Panther), The Rock Chick… And when Charlotte or Wayne name them with that British accent…
Charlotte Tilbury is one of my favourite brands. Her eyeshadows (powder and cream) are effortless to use and beautiful on my aging hooded eyelids. I find her powder blushes and highlighters nicely pigmented. Her complexion products are part of my regular routine: foundations, liquid concealer, the Flawless Filter illuminator, and pressed and loose powders. I’m not a fan of her lipsticks, particularly the Matte Revolution, though when I find a shade that works, I quite like the lipstick (e.g. Glowing Jen, Confident Lips, Stoned Rose). I felt let down by the lack of pigmentation in the Pink and Peach-gasm liquid blushes. This brings me to what I don’t like about CT – the over-the-top marketing, the ridiculous naming conventions (the -gasm collection, Transform-Eyes and Exagger-Eyes), and little response to customer suggestions like being able to match a lipstick and lipstick case. I’d like to see CT build collections that reflect her original launch and vision – Hollywood red carpet glamour that gets lost in -gasms and exagger-eyes. I’d like to see more ‘looks’ like the original 10, creating quads with cool shades, extending the Eyes to Mesmerize and Filmstar Bronze and Glow range, releasing compacts that have blush and highlighters (Filmstar Blush and Glow), and ensuring her products can be used by a wide range of skintones.
love: I have a weakness for soft rose golds and glowy looks, and CT’s products line up with that pretty well. I’ve been lusting over the Flawless Filter for months (years even??) but never pulled the trigger bc it’s out of my price range. I wish someone would make a similar formula already so I can stop thinking about it…
hate: the lack of diversity is so, so disappointing. the use of phrases like “universally flattering” coupled with nearly all their models being blonde and blue eyed and white is just… no thanks! I’m also pretty uncomfortable with Charlotte Tilbury generally, with the whole “I sleep with makeup on so my husband never has to see my bare face” thing… it’s 2019, Charlotte, not 1959! lol.
I haven’t actually bought anything from CT, just gazing at it from afar. it’s usually out of my budget anyway, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled for any collections that have a similar aesthetic (luxurious glowy looks) but aren’t so exclusionary with their diversity.
I haven’t found any CT product that interests me because everything seems to be designed for people with warm-toned skin. There’s maybe one lipstick that looks kind of good with my cool-toned skin and that’s it.
I couldn’t agree with you more! I don’t like one thing about the brand, particularly that most of her products won’t work on my skintone. I also get an old Hollywood vibe which despite being glamorous and chic was a time of exclusion much like Charlotte Tilbury’s brand. I also have a negative view of the brand, being that CT has been quoted saying she never lets her husband see her without makeup. I just can’t think of myself wearing a product from her after hearing that.
Love: I really like all of her lipstick formula’s and have quite a few of the Matte Revolution line. Some of my favorite shades are in that line. I like the Flawless Filter and her pressed powder compact which is the one I carry with me most of the time. I think that is about it for what I like.
Don’t love: Not a fan of her older e/s formula and haven’t tried anything new in e/s’s for a long time. Really don’t like the Eyes to Mesmerize line as they all crease and travel. There are no CT counters within 8 hours of me so that means I either take a chance and order on-line or I don’t order. I know this is petty but I really hate how all of her posts on IG and all social media start out with the “Darlings” line. I find it disingenuous and a lot over the top. I don’t find the the quality warrants the price point.
The only product of hers that I have been really happy with is her Pillow Talk Lip Cheat which I have re-purchased. Everything else I’ve tried I’ve found rather uninspiring. Also, I don’t like her marketing strategy. I don’t like the heavy-handed emphasis on looking like a glamazon or a goddess, nor do I like all her talk about “cheating” your lips or “cheating” your eyes in order to look like a super model or a celebrity. To me, it smacks of insecurity and a lack of sophistication. Of well, to each his own.
I totally agree – so many of her eye palettes essentially have the same colours in them, perhaps just the tones are slightly different. I also think that her colour products are geared towards a very limited range of skin tones in the light – light medium -medium range. My other slight beef with the brand is that the looks they do for promotional materials are 100% the same. I get that she has a “method” for achieving her signature look, but as someone who is an avid beauty consumer I don’t feel inspired by tutorials that are the same style every single time. I own many of her products for the record.
I really dislike her approach; all of her personal videos are about that “dewy gorgeous JLo-like youthful glow”. Well if you followed her steps, from thick Magic Cream to finish, your makeup would slide off in 10 minutes! Her approach works for the photo shoot, but not on Real people. I also find her products finicky—like the foundations only working for certain people. I also feel her color-wheel is limited in terms of all the colors looks the same—Chanel is guilty of this too. If you swatch her blushes they make look a bit different but blended out on the skin they look the same. I’m also not a fan of the fact that I feel she took a lot of products she developed for Tom Ford and “ripped them off” for her own line; when you work at Creative Director for a line your work is given to them and to copy the formulations and top coat approach, etc just seems rude.
Sad that this brand doesn’t have deeper toned products for my complexion.I don’t own many Charlotte Tilbury products but I really love the Lovegasm cheek palette and her liquid gold highlighter is bomb. Expensive brand and all of her eye shadows and face products look similar to me. They need to expand their color range.
I hate that all of the photos and images used to advertise her products always look enhanced, photo shopped, and/or over the top. IMO a great majority of her products don’t look that way on the skin in real life; mostly that are overinflated with regard to pigmentation but also sometimes under inflated glitter bombs, and such. Needless to say, most of what I’ve tried I haven’t fallen in love with.
Despite this, I do have a wee bit of love for her Light Wonder foundation, Kissing Lipstick in Glowing Jen & Very Victoria, and Lip Cheat in Hot Gossip & Super Size Me (groan…that name!).
The jury is still out on her skin care…
I did purchase the holiday 2019 Starry Eyes palette even though I would say I have had enough orange and pink tones for a while and the others such as the greens are just not favorite colors. I expected very sparkly Starry Eyes and they were nothing particularly outstanding Sparkle wise and I don’t mean glitter. Although the formula was very nice I didn’t see anything spectacular about it. I actually tried all four looks and had major Fallout from the last two trios. I didn’t look good in any of it so I’m returning it sadly. I have never returned an eyeshadow palette before. Her lipsticks are great but that’s it for me. So disappointed.
Loathe the brand. I’ve tried something from every category of makeup and have been utterly unimpressed. And although I generally don’t care about packaging, I find hers so cheap and cheesy looking in addition to the fat that it doesn’t hold up.
I think her brand may fold before long. All the looks she does are the same–heavy, heavy eye makeup with nude lips and little attention to the complexion or cheeks (the same makeup she wears), and if you have to tell people that yours is a “luxury” brand, it’s not.
Speaking of packaging, I recently purchased one of her Superstar lipsticks ($42 Cdn) and the packaging is flimsy and cheap beyond believe. I have to agree. This is not luxury, except for the price.
CT products have been off my radar almost from day one. I didn’t even recall the reason for the original turn off, but people’s comments are reminding me. Though I have a light skin tone, I find her offerings bland, and I’m not a fan of rose gold shades. Now that many more brands are catering to a range of skin tones, in principle, it’s okay with me if a brand from the land of blue eyed blondes wants to cater to them to them exclusively. Just not interested in worshipping at that font.
I find her products incredibly easy to use, I go for a more natural look so her aesthetic works for me. For example the cream shadows are one n’ done, same with the shadow sticks which I can also use as eyeliners instead. The liquid contour wand in fair/medium is perfect for my cool toned skin and blends so easily.
I hate the price, I hate the “gasm” schtick that she recycles over and over, and pillow talk.
I don’t hate the line, as a person who loves cream products she has some pretty great options.
Love: The lippies, the new foundation (which is more of a sophisticated foundation/concealer mix to be honest, and has a multitude of very diverse shades), the Hollywood Flawless Filter, eyeliner in Audrey and the Mascara.
On my shopping list: Glowgasm palette and Cream Shadows.
Prefer not to purchase: Skincare (I love K-beauty skincare more), the contour wand (for which Beauty Pie has a dead-on dupe), and the eyeshadows.
Love: a few gems – Filmstar bronze and glow, Glowgasm cheek palette, loose setting powder in fair
Hate: There is a lot I don’t like. I find a lot of her products very warm toned. I don’t love her lipstick formula I seem to be masochistically trying all her foundation formulas and not liking any of them. Her foundation shade range still confounds me. Also not a fan of her e/s formula. She releases a lot of very similar products.
I prefer Charlotte tilbury products. I always get compliments when I wear her makeup. I feel like everything does what it is supposed to do. In addition her makeup is beauty enhancing. I feel and looked polished with a tilbury face. The lipsticks are some of The best shades on the market. I am a person of color, medium skin tone I’ve never had an issue with her products working for me.
I love the Instant Face Palettes and the blushers and the Starry Eyes palette the first one.
Dislike: the lipsticks which always go gritty on my after a few hours. The use of flawless models hey try using women of all ages and looks. The eyeshadow quads and the cream eyeshadows all look like cheaper versions of Tom Ford.
I love CT’s products generally. I am a hardcore fan, and I think it’s probably that I find her cosmetics flattering for my colouring and age. Now that others have mentioned it, I am feeling a bit ashamed that I hadn’t noticed a lack of catering for those with deeper skin colouring. I have to become more aware – one of the many reasons I find the temptalia community to be so helpful. Anyway, I have loved her cosmetics, largely because I’ve hit 50 and hers is a range that I can depend upon to at least not emphasise wrinkles and signs of ageing that I’d prefer to hit the brakes on. I have 19 of her lipsticks, 6 eyeshadow quads, 2 LE palettes, the flawless filter, magic foundation, light wonder foundation, 3 blushers, 2 brushes and a host of her eye and lip liners. Have even used the skincare, but that’s not as impressive for me.
My rant? Ugh. It’s her compulsion to add the word ‘glow’ to every product name. The ‘gasming’ that others have mentioned. And I kind of hate the way the lipstick names have been ‘inspired’ by celebrities, because I’m assuming it’s a way of benefitting from the personal brands of each named celebrity without having to pay them or even negotiate their usage. And that constant ‘glow’ naming has irritated me so much – it feels intellectually insulting – that I tend to skip over those products when compiling my wish lists. The only product that has made it past the ‘glow’ hurdle is the film star bronze and (yes) glow. An hg product for sure.
I love how natural and glowy her products look, but I don’t like that she seems to release the same shades, just in different packaging. Also, she’s so expensive! Sometimes it’s worth it; I love the Hollywood Flawless Filter and Light Wand, and I have a couple of her quads that I truly enjoy, but I do wish she was more affordable.
I’m not moved to buy a ton from CT, but I do like the one item I have, the KimKW lipstick. It’s not better than any other lipstick though. I am interested in the popular Pillow Talk collection, but that’s really it as far as things I’m interested in.
Likes: I really like the Light Wonder foundation, the pressed powder and the Hollywood Flawless Filter. There are several of her lipsticks I’m interested in but have not purchased because the price vs how much use I’d get out of them they are not worth it.
Dislike: Honestly? Her. I can’t stand all of the “darling” and the way she speaks always come off as so fake and often condescending. And having now heard plenty about her behavior behind the scenes I’m not even sure I’m comfortable buying from her brand at all. Which is a shame as the products of hers that I do enjoy I enjoy a lot.
To be honest, I am not a big fan of CT. I find her products to be expensive but also hit and miss. Some of her more recent palettes has been quite good.
It’s very hard to get here in Aus. so it’s mostly what I have seen on the internet.
I have The Rebel quad and it’s OK, not supernova or anything.
Personally I wish she would cater to a wider variety of skintones, as is prominent in the UK, like a lot of countries.
I bought a couple of her eyeshadow pencils because I heard they were really long lasting, but I was so disappointed with them. They mostly disappeared on me within a few hours. I was only left with a wash of color by the 6 hour mark. For the price they’re definitely not worth it. On the other hand, I tried one of the Eyes to Mesmerize pots and I LOVE that. I got it in rose gold and it’s got the perfect shimmer to it and it brightens my eyes beautifully. I’m sad that it’s LE.
Love: I adore the brand as a whole. I have a lot of Charlotte’s products and find they work really well for me. I am also very drawn to the ‘old Hollywood galmour’ vibe I get from her brand.
Dislike: For the price, some of her packaging doesn’t feel very luxe (the eyeshadow palettes and brow pencil come to mind). I also haven’t been able to bring myself to purchase her face powder because there seems to be so little product for the cost. I also really hate the celebrity names that adorn some of her lipsticks. I like the shade Kim KW but refuse to purchase anything that reminds me of that family.