So earlier in the week I covered my skincare routine (
see here) & today I'm going to share what make up I use.
Like my skincare I've recently overhauled my make up after a make over with the Charlotte Tilbury counter in Selfridges a few weeks ago. Previously I'd been a Bobbi Brown girl through & through & couldn't imagine changing brands for either my skincare or make up but I kept reading so many positive things about the Charlotte Tilbury range that I was intrigued. The icing on the cake was when a lovely make up artist friend (Allison I'm blaming you!!) also started raving about them that I decided to book a make over with my mum (another Bobbi devotee) to see what I thought.
The girls on the counter were lovely & spent ages on the make over & talking me through the products. Strangely enough the girl doing my make up had previously worked with Bobbi Brown so it was really useful to be able to compare & talk through the products that I was at the time using. Plus I hadn't realised that Charlotte Tilbury is heavily responsible with several big beauty brands including Bobbi Brown, Tom Ford & Mac, another factor that seems to suggest she knows her stuff. I also learnt that in the twelve months since the brand began it has achieved in one year what it took Mac ten years to achieve. If I wasn't convinced by the make over then you can't ignore those facts can you?!
Suffice to say that after the make over both my mum & I were total converts as not only did the make up look stunning, the products felt so lovely on our skin & really light too not as if you were caked in make up. Naturally we ended up buying a few products there & then & I have over the course of the past few weeks found myself gradually adding to my collection. I haven't swapped over to her skin care as I'm loving the La Posey Roche products that I blogged about
here & intend to stick with them but my make up has been total overhauled.
So here's what was recommended for me.
First Charlotte Tilbury's Wonderglow which is a make up primer/beauty flash lotion that can either be used under foundation, on it's own or even over foundation. If you click on the below link you can read all the benefits but I just love the tiny flecks that really do give my skin a glow & pick me up. Plus I think this will be lovely on it's own on holiday once my skin is sunkissed too. I apply this all over my face as a base prior to my foundation.
Now it's been many years since I last wore foundation instead opting for tinted moisturiser even in the winter as I hate the feeling of heavy make up on my skin. So when they applied their foundation I really didn't expect to like the look or feel or it. But as silly as it seems it feels lighter than my tinted moisuriser & covers my skin without looking as if I'm wearing foundation. Again you can read all the benefits by clicking on the link but I was sold instantly & believe me for me to be raving about a foundation is nothing short of a miracle!
Despite being a Bobbi Brown lover I had recently started using YSL Touche Eclait as my concealer & again didn't expect that Charlotte's version would be any better but once again I was impressed. Plus the beauty of this is that not only can it be used to conceal your dark circles etc but it's also a concealer for any imperfections/spots you may need to cover too, I simply love products that do more than one thing.
So that's my base sorted, although on the day they also applied a small amount of powder, which I'm not using & is something I've not added to my routine as having used the foundation on it's own for a few weeks now I don't feel I need it & the foundation stay puts without any shine.
One Bobbi Brown product I've decided to stick with is my shadow for filling in the gaps between my eyebrows as although I'm sure the pencil Charlotte Tilbury does a great job I find powder so much easier to work & make look natural.
Moving onto eyes, which for me was the thing I was most keen to try as whenever you see pictures of Charlotte Tilbury or her make up the eyes really stand out. Now I seem to have nightmare lids meaning I had to stop wearing powdered eyeshadows many years ago as they always seem to crease & melt so had been using Bobbi Browns long wear ones, which aren't the easiest to blend but at least they stayed where they were put. So when the make up artist doing my make up showed me the pallete I explained my problem but she assured me these would be fine. I honestly didn't expect these to stay on my eyelids but was intrigued to see how to apply powdered eyeshadow so decided to just see what they did. The palettes all have different names but the girls suggested I try 'Uptown Girl' to help define my eyes.
Having only been using two colours at most for eyeshadows the four colours seemed a bit daunting but basically the palette covers all scenarios. The girl doing my make up explained that the top two were to be used for a natural day time look with the bottom right added for evening or for a more dramatic look for day & the colour in the bottom left was what they called 'disco' & is used for adding a pop to your eye make up & for evenings out.
As I've said in the past I'm really no expert on beauty products but I'll try & explain how I was told to apply them. The top left hand colour was swept across the whole eye socket up to the brow line. Then the top right was applied to the lower lid to the crease & then blended out. For a heavier look the bottom right colour was applied to the crease of my eyelid & blended & also added along both the top & bottom lash lines (this can be applied heavier for a more dramatic look for evening). Finally they applied the bottom left by rubbing their ring finger onto the powder & then literally just patting into the centre of my eyelid.
Having not been able to really blend my long wear eyeshadows in the past I loved the look they created but didn't buy this product immediately as I fully expected it to slip & crease on my eyelids but I was amazed to see it stayed put resulting in a cheeky online purchase & the binning of my Bobbi Brown long wear shadows.
Now because of my heavy fringe I like to wear a decent amount of eyeliner so to finish the look they also applied eyeliner to the top & bottom of my lash line & also my inner water lines too. The Charlotte Tilbury eyeliner is a pencil but I really like my Bobbi Brown Defined Eyeliner so am planning on stick with this as it works for me & just in case I do poke myself in the eye I feel this will be a little kinder than a pencil!
I've been a huge fan of my
Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara & have to say I never thought I'd want to change but having run out the other day & hearing the girl who was doing my make up say she'd have placed money on not swapping from the Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye to Charlotte Tilbury but was now completely sold on Charlotte Tilbury it was enough to persude me to give it a go. I've literally just swapped over & have only worn my new one a couple of times but so far so good - seems to go on lovely, is easy to build up & does't clump.
The next thing I learnt from my make over was how to contour properly & where to apply it (just call me Kim Kardashian ;-) ). I also picked up a great tip as the make up artist showed me that to find out where to apply on your cheekbones (yes I'm guilty of in the past of just using a wide bronzer brush & applying liberally to my cheeks as I hadn't a clue). Basically use the tip of your handle of your brush & lightly run it down the side of your cheek until you hit a dip then apply in a diagonal line to just above the corners of your mouth & up slightly to by your hairline, blending slightly as you go. Then run the bronzer along your jawline on both sides meeting at the bottom of your chin.
Charlotte's bronzer also comes with a highlighter which is then applied above the bronzer on your cheeks, down the brow of your nose & dabbed in your cupids bow & at the bottom of your chin & it really does give your skin a lovely glow & boost.
Another thing that has surprised me about the range is that I was a total convert to cream blusher & didn't expect to like the powder blusher Charlotte Tilbury do but yup I was wrong again. As with all their products its really light in texture & not at all as I remember powdered blushers, really easy to blend. To use you run your blusher brush around the outside & sweep this colour across your cheek bones & then lightly dab the brush into the middle & dab this onto the centre of your cheeks.
Moving onto lips next & I have recently discovered bright lipsticks so I was surprised when the make up artist suggested the below colour. I think becuase she'd made my eye make up heavier then a more nude lipstick balanced the look out. Once again I love the product & have also recently purchased this lipstick.
Which I wear with the below lip liner & gloss.
For those of you that prefer a brighter colour these are the ones I tend to wear the most.....can you tell I have a hot pink obsession?!
Finally I fix whatever make up I'm wearing with this Clarins make up fix spray that was recommended by of the mark up artists on the Woman & Home Magazine photo shoot.
And here's a few other Charlotte Tilbury products I'm planning on adding to my collection.
First off the blusher in First Love, which looks quite beige in the picture but is actually a really lovely delicate & soft pink on my skin.
And also two of the Colour Chameleon eye pencils. These are sold on the basis of your eye colour with the lighter colour being for daytime & the darker for evening. Although of course you can wear both together. I had a demonstration & they applied the light colour up to the crease of my eye socket & then smudged out with their ring finger. The dark colour was then applied vertically on the centre of the socket & smudged across the lid with the focus being on the outer corner. Finishing with a brown eyeliner lining my water lines. Then the darker colour was used along both lash lines & smudged with their eye smudger brush (another product along with some of their other brushes that I'm adding to my ever growing list!).
And also this lipstick which is slightly brighter than the one I've bought but can still be worn with my lip pencil & gloss.
So as you can see I'm a total convert & have fallen head over heels in love with all things Charlotte Tilbury & it's not just me my mum has also converted too. Of course it could just be that old saying 'a change is as good as a rest' but I don't honestly believe it's just down to that. Yes it's nice to be reminded of make up techniques & pick up new tips but I feel the products feel better on my skin & there have been days when I have forgotten I've got make up on as the make up feels so light on my skin.
Plus having had a clear out of my make up bag I've far less products to weigh it down & so my make up routine has been simplified. On top of that I know the colours I'm wearing are designed to enhance my eye colour & it only takes 10 minutes to apply my make up from start to finish :-)
Finishing as usual with what I'm wearing today.
Top - Zara
Jeans - Zara
So has anyone else tried any of Charlotte Tilbury's products? If so what do you think? She certainly seems to be everywhere at the moment & from the products I've used I'm very impressed. Yes my bank account is a lot worse off but I'm loving applying & wearing my new make up & can honestly say I'm a total convert & can't wait to try some more products. If you want to learn more then take a look at Charlotte's website (
see here) as each product has brilliant video tutorials on how to apply the products correctly.
Apologises for the lack of photos from the makeover but we were having such a lovely time & enjoying watching how the make up was applied that I totally forgot to take any - oh well it's saved you from any unsightly close ups so not a total loss ;-)
See you tomorrow & happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dad's out there & as a little treat for all us mum's too Hush have got 20% off everything for today only, start shopping
here!
