In Conversation With Vogue at Selfridges
During London Fashion Week, I attended Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Beauty Secrets event with Vogue UK at Selfridges. It was a great evening spent discussing all things beauty. I got to meet the amazing Charlotte Tilbury (more about that later) and pick up lots of beauty advice and tip from Charlotte and Jessica Diner; Vogue’s Beauty and Lifestyle Director.
It’s been four years since Charlotte’s make-up range first launched, initially exclusive to Selfridges, there are now stand alone stores and more concessions throughout the UK as well as outlets in America and now the Middle East. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Charlotte Tilbury make-up and so are my friends. We all gift each other a CT lipstick on birthdays, hmmm that reminds me, I keep meaning to share some of my top CT lipsticks.
Charlotte took us all back to the beginning, telling us how it all started, how she first discovered make-up as a 13 year old which led to lots of makeover parties at boarding school and how at the age of 18 she plucked up the courage to approach Mary Greenwell, the renowned make-up artist and family friend and the rest as they say is history.
Charlotte’s career spans the Globe. She has been the make-up artist on 100 covers for Vogue, worked with Mario Testino, designers such as Donatello Versace and a range of women and celebrities from the likes of Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, J-Lo, Kim K and Penelope Cruz and was specially requested by Amal Clooney to do her wedding day make-up! That’s quite a CV. Charlotte’s message to us was to “Do a job you love, then you’ll excel!” something which resonated with many in the room.
It was this vast experience which led Charlotte to develop and launch her own make-up collection. Charlotte wanted to make Hollywood red carpet glamour accessible to everyday women around the world. Good quality skincare and makeup shouldn’t just be limited for the choice few walking down the red carpet. The message behind the brand is all women are stars, it’s about empowering women and being the best version of yourself. Charlotte confided that many time, she felt frustrated by the tools and products she had to work with as a makeup artist. The formulas, quality and execution of the existing products and those being developed in labs just wasn’t up to the standard required or suitable for a range of skin, eye and hair colours. A lot of the colour palettes were formulated for one particular type of look and just weren’t colours that were complementary for all. So Charlotte wanted to develop colours that can be used everyday. Offering products which are genuinely used on celebs to the everyday woman; something that gives you the professional finish but makes it easy such as the Instant Look in a Palette 
Charlotte’s signature items are the feline eye look and Magic Cream. Charlotte’s own blend of very soothing actives, oils, peptides and hyaluronic acid. Men and women love it! In the beauty industry everyone called it Charlotte’s secret magic cream. So many different celebrities wanted some and would even fight over it. I was super excited to get a little pot of it in my goodie bag! Charlotte says Magic Cream is integral to creating the right base for makeup and it’s become her no.1 bestseller. You can see instant results with the cream and it’s true, my poor parched hands were instantly brighter and smoother after I applied the cream.
Other bestsellers include the Film Star Bronze & Glow which was inspired by J-Lo, who understands the power of highlighting and contour; and the hero product that is Wonderglow which was inspired by the luminous skin of Giselle & Jenifer Aniston. Wonderglow is a primer-base which can also even out the complexion. Charlotte was not a fan of the silicone primers which clogged the skin so she developed Wonderglow. The hyaluronics acid in the formula gives skin a soft, healthy glow and it has won 120 global awards.
During the night I was really excited to get a sneak peak at Charlotte’s launch of the year; the new Instant Eye Palette: 12 eyeshadows in a gorgeous and portable case encompassing four different looks: day, desk, date and disco. Charlotte stated that ‘Everyone needs an instant eyeshadow palette that can take you anywhere, it‘s the LBD of eyeshadow palettes’. I ordered the palette in the recent 24-hour flash sale and I’m really enjoying the colours and playing around with the different looks. I’ll be doing a review of it very soon on the blog.
We also got to have a play around with Charlotte’s latest line, the Hollywood collection which features the Hollywood lips liquid lipsticks and the highlighting and contouring wands. “Contouring is fabulous darling!”
At the end of the evening I got to meet Charlotte and have a little chat with her. I told her I was a huge fan of her Magic Foundation and love that it’s suitable for a range of skin tones. Charlotte was lovely and I was a little star struck when she told me I have amazing skin!!! That made my day!!
Are you a Charlotte Tilbury fan? What are your favourite products?