First Impressions: Charlotte Tilbury

I've never tried anything from Charlotte Tilbury before (I wasn't even aware of it until about a year or two ago), but I've been browsing their offerrings since late last year. I never took the plunge to order anything due to the premium pricepoint, but last week (admittedly late at night) I was window shopping and ended up checking out. I just wanted to finally know what all the fuss is about in regards to this particular brand! As well all know, IDNMM (I Don't Need More Makeup) but we also all know that there's always some revolutionary new product being released that you actually don't have yet, which helps you rationalize your purchases. Hey, there's a reason companies invest in their marketing departments!

Anyway, here are the four Charlotte Tilbury goodies I bought from Nordstrom. I've swung by their makeup department a couple times in the past six months but never spotted this brand's counter- maybe they just don't have one in my local store? So ordering online was really my only option and luckily, Nordstrom has a fantastic return policy to fall back on if my order doesn't pan out. I bought the Hollywood Flawless Filter, a Cheek to Chic Swish and Pop Blush, a Luxury Color-Coded Eyesahdow palette, and to round things off a Lip Cheat lipliner pencil. I was genuinely interested and hopeful in each product I chose to purchase, studying the colors carefully and consulting swatch photos online. Here's my honest review of each item!

First up is the Hollywood Flawless Filter for a Superstar Youth Glow. That's a really long name! According to the description, it's a "customizable, multipurpose primer-highlighter complexion booster." Something about that sentence doesn't seem to quite flow properly, but I'm not here to pick apart their grammar. I chose the shade 2 Light, although this primer/highlighting complexion booster sheers out so much that the shade doesn't seem to actually matter too much. There was absolutely no coverage (but that makes sense, because it's not a foundation) and I'm not sure how it works as a primer because I didn't put anything except concealer on top of it, but definitely brightened and very subtly illuminated my skin. It also wore well throughout the day without disappearing or getting super greasy. However, at $44 a bottle the effect was too subtle for me and didn't WOW me the way I thought it would, so this is definitely going to be returned. I'll continue to pursue a youthful glow with my skincare regimen instead!

Next up is the Cheek to Chic Swish and Pop Blush. I think the name is really cute on this one, and I like the packaging with the cute little star subtly embossed on the inside of the compact (right next to the rim of the blush, can you spot it?) I chose a bright pink color called Love is the Drug because it looked fairly shimmer-free and I really like pink blushes. I definitely underestimated just HOW pink this color would be. The outer ring is a fairly natural pink, while the inside pink (the "pop") is a very bright pink. The colors are gorgeous but the pigmentation is STRONG and you need to apply with a super light hand. This blush stays true and does not fade throughout the day, which is amazing. I'm so often disappointed when a blush looks great on first application but then a few hours later it's nowhere to be seen. That said, if you go too heavy on this blush you will have very glowing pink cheeks the whole day without the color mellowing out. I love a blush with staying power like this one, but I wasn't able to achieve a soft light look with it- I always seemed to go overboard no matter how little product I tried to pick up on my brush! However I do love the quality (the pigmentation and the blendability were great) and although I'll be returning this particular shade I will definitely be looking into a more natural shade in the future because this is a good blush. At $40, it's definitely not cheap but for me the price is warranted by the fact that it didn't fade on my skin (and I wear makeup for at least a solid 10 hours each day, sometimes even longer, so this is pretty impressive.)

The third item I got is the Luxury Color Coded eyeshadow palette in the color Vintage Vamp. I just loved the reddish-plummy shades and the light pink and gold shimmer looked pretty online. In person, the palette is gorgeous and the colors are even more amazing. Just like the blush, the pigmentation and blendability of the eyeshadows was phenomenal. Even on the darkest shade, I couldn't believe how smoothly it went on the eyelid without patchiness and how seamlessly it blended out (without requiring a ton of work to do so). In my experience dark colors, especially with red undertones, generally have some degree of patchiness and trouble blending but this palette doesn't seem to at all. The gold shade is very sparkly (but I love it) and I'm pleased to say that sparkled doesn't appear to be an overspray- I get so disappointed when makeup is sprayed with glitter over the top that looks gorgeous but once you've used it a few times all the glitter is gone. This gold shade doesn't appear to be overspray sparkly- I think the glitter is inside the eyeshadow and it's very very pretty. The light pink shade makes a great all over lid color, as well as an inner corner/browbone highlight. At $53, it hurts to love this palette so much but I do. I suspect I will end up keeping it because it's so amazing right now.

The last item is the Lip Cheat lip liner pencil, which I purchased in the shade Pillowtalk. I've been using Marc Jacobs Poutliner in the color Primrose for a long time because I liked how well it seemed to match my natural lip color. It was a little bit darker but it was the right shade and had the right undertones, so I just used it lightly and it worked. Well I think Pillowtalk is an even better match for me. It's not a twist up like the Mar Jacobs lipliner but rather a pencil that you have to sharpen, but that's okay with me. At $22, I think it's also quite reasonably priced compared to other nice lipliners; Marc Jacobs lipliner is $24, Urban Decay's lipliner is $20, Kat Von D has an $18 lipliner, etc. $22 doesn't seem like a stratospheric price. I'll wear this a few more times and check it in different lighting conditions to make sure the color match really is as good as I think, and if so then it's a keeper.

Here's how I look wearing all of the above products! Overall I think Charlotte Tilbury scores quite high on product quality and general loveliness. I like the packaging, which feels nice and solid (and it's rose gold!) and the scents of the products are pleasant without being overwhelming. I like the performance of all the makeup, everything lasted a full day on my skin without any issues. I do feel like the primer/complexion brightener made me a little more dewy looking than I like, but I know some people prefer that look and it *is* a highlighting face product so I can't fault it for doing what it's meant to do. It looks Charlotte Tilbury is definitely going to be joining my pantheon of makeup brands I pay attention to!

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