5 Minutes with Makeup Extraordinaire Charlotte Tilbury
We speak to the visionary about her humble beginnings in makeup, her brand and more
Known for her eponymous beauty brand and makeovers of stars like Naomi Campbell, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez, Charlotte Tilbury has stepped to the forefront of beauty’s vanguard. Her multi-million dollar beauty empire almost speaks for itself, with celebrities and beauty aficionados opting for her trendy beauty products to elevate their glamour routine.
What is it that makes Tilbury stand out in a sea of makeup artists and entrepreneurs? Her hands-on approach to everything and anything makeup, as well as specialising in the classic Hollywood glamour that you relate to 1990s supermodels and stars on the red carpet. Despite being one of the busiest beauty business owners in the world, she finds the time to give her celebrity friends and clients the full Charlotte Tilbury experience.
Below, Tilbury shares her humble beginnings in the makeup industry, the motivations behind her innovations, her favourite celebrities to work with, and more.
How did you get your start in the industry?
I discovered the transformative power of makeup as a teenager. I loved doing makeup on all my friends in school, and it made me realise that having the right makeup could instil confidence in everyone. After attending makeup school and assisting a makeup artist, I went on to head up my own team of artists.
The 1990s was such an exciting time to be starting out. I was working backstage on countless fashion shows with supermodels including Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and of course, my gorgeous friend and beauty muse, Kate Moss, as well as creating red carpet looks on celebrities like Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara and Salma Hayek.
What was the driving factor behind you creating your brand?
I was frustrated by the standard of beauty products back then. The concepts, formulas, quality and performance just weren’t there. People would constantly ask how they could get Kate Moss’ smoky rock chic eyes, filmstar cheekbones or gorgeous golden glow. I knew I had to bottle that celebrity DNA and share all my tips, tricks and secrets with the world so that everyone, everywhere could get the gloss of Hollywood stars and airbrushed finish of the supermodels. The beauty industry was crying out for radical change!
What has always driven everything I have done with my brand is my belief that if you give everyone the right makeup, skincare and fragrance, they can conquer their worlds. I knew that by launching my own brand, demystifying my Hollywood secrets and creating fail-safe looks and products, I could give everyone the power to look and feel like a star.
There was also a huge gap in the market and I could see whole categories that were desperate for reinvention, as well as new ones that I wanted to invent. This was an opportunity to revolutionise and disrupt the beauty world.
How did you build your beauty community?
I started building my community on YouTube before I even launched my brand. I would work with my incredible team to make videos that showed you how to recreate a look step by step. I was passionate about making them both easy and fun, and take all the guesswork out of application so it meant that anyone could do it!
The recent advances in technology have allowed us to continue building our community with a digital-first approach via our app, Easy Beauty for You, which is like having me in your pocket.
And of course, social media has played a huge role in reaching our customers directly. I quickly understood the power of social media, which has become as critical to my vision as creating the products themselves. We have been able to gain so much momentum and buzz online, with many of my products going viral, thanks to our ability to connect with our community.
I’m also so grateful and in awe of the amazing content creators who support my brand and demonstrate the transformative power of makeup, skincare and fragrance with such passion, creativity and talent!
Who are some of your favourite celebrities to work with?
I have worked with some incredible women over the years including supermodels like Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, plus stars like Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Amal Clooney, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, Sofia Vergara and Salma Hayek.
All of them have been an integral part of my career journey over the years and several have become my close friends. We all share a common value. Like me, they all understand the power of beauty to make them feel confident and to change the frequency of the energy in the room.
They are such an inspiration to me, so much so that I’ve even named products after them! The shades from my two Hot Lips lipstick collections pay homage to some of the world’s most mesmerising stars that I’ve worked with throughout my career.
Tell us about some of the career milestones you’re most proud of.
There have been many milestones! One of the biggest has, of course, been launching my eponymous brand. When I started 11 years ago as a female entrepreneur, I was largely underestimated by my competitors. By the time they sat up and noticed, there was so much momentum around what I was doing that they couldn’t do anything about it!
Today, I am so proud to be a British businesswoman who has taken her brand global, leading a female-founded business that creates meaningful employment for women around the world. Having visible role models is so important, and I am proud that our executive team today is 80 per cent female.
I’ve also been so incredibly proud to open more doors for women in motor racing. Charlotte Tilbury Beauty is both the first beauty brand and female-founded brand to sponsor F1 Academy: Formula One’s ambitious new project to develop and prepare female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition, so it’s an incredible achievement that signals progress for inclusion, representation and diversity.
And then this year, I’ve fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine! I am so proud to see my vision for my new Fragrance Collection of Emotions come to life. This passion project harnessed the expertise of world-renowned perfumers, science, cutting-edge technology, and over forty years of research. Collaborating with the International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF), I bottled six universal emotions that I know we all need more of in our lives and that will
resonate with everyone, everywhere; the feelings and frequencies of love, happiness, seduction, serenity, energy and empowerment.
Lastly, what’s next for Charlotte Tilbury?
Charlotte Tilbury Beauty will continue to do what we’ve been doing from the very start, which is innovating and disrupting the beauty industry, as well as leading with technology!
I am beyond excited to share that we are launching a brand-new product at the end of August. I can’t reveal anything further just yet but it’s going to be incredible. We will also be revealing our annual holiday campaign, which is going to be bigger and better than ever.
And darlings, I hope to be visiting Singapore very soon and meeting some of the wonderful L’OFFICIEL readers!
