Over the years, I have made a number of confessions in this blog. Like, the one that involved an embarrassing number of Vogue magazine issues, or the one about my strange hunting habits. Hence, it won’t be a total surprise if I reveal another one. So, here it goes guys. Ready? When it comes to makeup, I am weird.
This might require a bit of clarification, though. I don’t mean I enjoy painting my face green or drawing a clown smile around my mouth (no, the lockdown hasn’t made me lose my senses quite yet). What I mean is I can be rather peculiar and picky about makeup. Let me illustrate with an example.
As a teen, my friends and I would visit the closest drugstore together. They would spend a little fortune there every single time, getting as much mascara and blush their pocket money could buy. As for me? I would spend one hour looking for the perfect berry lipstick and leave the place with my wallet intact and the heaviest disappointment. So at the end of the day, I would spend the money on the movies or another book simply because, in my mind, those things were easier to get.
For starters, the young me did not understand a thing about skin undertones or chromatic palettes (as much as this might surprise you, I wasn’t very girly as a teenager) but my issue with makeup was deeper—as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t choose a lipstick simply because none was special enough. All those inexpensive plastic tubes looked the same on the shelves, and so did the never-ending variety of cheerful red shades. Everything was dull and, funnily enough, felt colourless too.
As I grew up, this feeling never disappeared and I made it all the way through my early twenties owning an eye pencil and half a dozen lipsticks that spent most of their life forgotten on a dusty vanity bag. I didn’t apply foundation until I was about twenty-five and didn’t even enjoy it that much back then.
In my mid-twenties and during a casual conversation, an old friend from my uni days suggested that the reason I could not find anything I liked was I was probably looking in the wrong place. “Drugstore makeup it´s all well and good”, she said, “but it’s not for everybody. Have you tried high-end makeup? ” And guys, I hadn’t. As a matter of fact, it hadn’t even crossed my mind until she mentioned it but at that moment, something clicked in my mind.
Now, I am not suggesting the moment I entered a high-end store my attitude towards makeup changed overnight. However, I felt more and more attracted to certain brands and products and, eventually, I started buying makeup on a regular basis. To this day, my tastes are still quite rare but as time goes by, I have built a solid relationship as a customer with a few brands and my makeup collection has benefited from it.
Over the years, Charlotte Tilbury has become one of my favourite brands and I totally trust her as a customer. Not only does the packaging and design offer that wow factor I was always looking for, but their product range is unique, and they feel truly good when applied.
I’ve always been fastidious about eyeshadow palettes, specifically. Like, I always find a way to hate at least half of the colours a palette displays. As a consequence, I rarely can justify the expense of a good palette because I do know I will only use half of the colours (and by that, I am being very generous here…). So I was shocked when Charlotte Tilbury launched their Pillow Talk Instant Eye Limited Edition Palette and I loved every single colour. For a moment, I thought I was suffering a stroke or something.
Charlotte Tilbury’s website describes the palette as follows: “From the shimmering rose gold, peachy-caramel and dreamy champagne pink eyeshadow shades of the Day and Desk looks to the soft tawny brown, shimmering rosy pink and blushed berry-rose of the Date and Dream looks, create a Pillow Talk gaze that takes you ANYWHERE”. It brings four different looks—day, desk, date, and dream, each of them designed for a different occasion.
The first thing to catch my attention was pigmentation. All the colours are super intense and you need very little product to finish every look so, I can feel this palette is going to last for ages.
Regarding texture, the shadows come in a shining and matte finish, leaving a soft and light feeling when applied. I have very sensitive and dry skin and even so, I didn´t notice any discomfort or creasing around the eyes area which is always a nice extra touch. When it comes to eye powder, most products don’t look good on me—and by that I mean I usually end up looking like a white walker, only OLDER— but to my surprise, I haven’t experienced this issue with the Instant Eye palette.
As for lasting power? I applied my make up at 10 in the morning and took these pictures about three in the afternoon. It looked exactly the same at that point. I removed it about 7 that evening and by then you couldn’t say there was much of a difference.
Overall, I would say this is a new favourite of mine so I am going to give this guy a 5/5.
I am impressed in terms of packaging and presentation, chromatic palette, pigmentation, and lasting power. Actually, I am already checking the Charlotte Tilbury website looking for other palettes and guys, the young me might not have given a damn about her makeup collection, but this thirty-something woman is about to expand hers… Beware of the beauty category extravaganza coming your way.
What about you? Any interesting beauty purchases lately?
