Charlotte and the magic cream

I met Charlotte Tilbury for the first time at Selfridges London in 2015, during a demo of her Eyes To Mesmerise collection. The ground floor of the luxury department store had women and men crowding around the golden Charlotte Tilbury gondolas and vanities known as Beauty Wonderlands. Amid the dozens of bent heads was a shock of red — Tilbury herself. The founder of the award-winning make-up brand kept an eagle-eye on her make-up artists as they engaged eager customers about the ‘moussey’ jewel-toned eyeshadows that have graced the lids of Amal Clooney, Kate Moss and Priyanka Chopra. Tilbury, who calls everyone ‘darling’, spoke openly about how decades of being a make-up artist also entailed years of formulation research. I knew then, this make-up artist and her gold-encased products would linger in my mind — and on my vanity — for years to come.