The Big Beauty Champion

“Beauty is not an exclusive club – there are no unattractive women, just some that don’t understand the power of makeup” – says Charlotte Tilbury, top makeup artist for stars such as Penelope Cruz, Kate Moss, Jennifer Lopez…

The power of transformation

Tilbury is a big believer in the power of transformation, and her makeup philosophy is to give women the tools to become the most beautiful, powerful, and confident versions of themselves. She wants ladies to dream of “Jennifer’s cheekbones or Penelope Cruz’s smoky makeup” and her mission is to achieve that effect with makeup – painting magic.

Charlotte’s constant sources of inspirations are the light, energy and colours of Ibiza where she grew up. In the bohemian and magical place in Ibiza, she was surrounded by a gang of creative visionaries who were spreading creative energy. ”That was a major influence on me,” she says. Her talented and artistic father Lance gave her a very important knowledge of colours, tonality and contrasts. Her mother Patsy always looked glamorous – with red lipstick and high heels. She didn’t mind doing so, even though they lived on an island.

 

Controversial, much?

It could sound funny but Charlotte Tilbury went to bed with makeup on. She made a contract with herself that no one could see her without make-up. “Even my husband has never seen me without makeup.” Before going to bed, she cleans the skin to let it breathes and then hydrate it. After this cleaning ritual she lightens the area under the eyes with Tom Ford Illuminating Highlight Pen or Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener then she adds a little colour on the cheekbones. It is her “look for the bedroom”. She remembers her mother’s sentence: “You always have to keep the mystery alive around you…” Some time ago Tilbury made a mistake showing herself to her boyfriend without makeup. It was a disaster. He said to her: “What happened to your eyes?” She replied honestly: “These are my eyes, not those.”

 

The power of make-up

Charlotte is known for making eyes mesmerizing. She mixes unexpected colour combinations to make them look super sexy. Penelope Cruz tells her: “Only you know how my eyes could look so good.” How does she make them up? She applies eyeliner first and then mascara. She likes the so-called “cat’s effect”, inspired by icons from the 50s to the 70s. Cats are very sensual, they stretch and it’s like they tell Tilbury “I’m sexy”.

“A lipstick is an instant glamour” – says the makeup artist. She advises not to choose anything that’s two tones lighter than our natural lip tone, and make sure there’s a little pink so it doesn’t look too washed out. Tilbury likes to say that every woman deserves her husband to ruin her lipstick, not mascara. She never applies red lipstick for herself, she always wears nude. It is enough because she is red-haired and therefore she keeps her lips pale. The colour is neutral, but for her, it’s just ingenious. Bridget Bardot also used it.

The legacy

“I knew I always wanted to have a brand, a global one, ever since I was a child in boarding school putting makeup on. When you’re working for other brands, you’re working in their DNA. I had this frustration – Charlotte Tilbury can’t exist for other brands. I had to exist for my own brand. I had looks and textures I wanted to game change”. The first product she created was the Magic Cream. How was it born? When she worked backstage with models they have irritated and flared skin from doing a lot of shows around the world. It was a must to find a formula that would turn the skin around not in “ 28 days, but 28 seconds”. This magic mixture was born and it’s one of Tilbury’s most popular products from her beauty kingdom, launched in 2013.

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