The Beauty Hall in the basement of Selfridges Exchange Square is the ultimate destination for any make up lover and houses many of the world’s most coveted beauty brands including Chanel, Illamasqua, Charlotte Tilbury, Clinique and Tom Ford to name a few. I was recently invited along to visit the Charlotte Tilbury beauty counter for a makeover and I was really looking forward to transforming my regular make up style and having the opportunity to try out a completely new beauty look.
I made my way over the the Charlotte Tilbury counter which emulated old school Hollywood glamour with lots of rose gold metallic accents and rows of bulbs surrounding all of the mirrors. I was greeted by make up artist Amy, who is one of the team leaders at Charlotte Tilbury and was taken through the different make up looks on offer that I could try out. At Charlotte Tilbury, you can choose from one of ten signature looks ranging from the ‘no make up’ make up of The Ingenue to the full-on nighttime glamour of The Rebel.
As I was talking to Amy, I said I wanted something in the middle of the make up spectrum and she suggested trying The Golden Goddess look. The Golden Goddess look is all about a relaxed, sultry style that delivers beautifully soft bronzed skin and shining metallic eyes reminiscent of Giselle, Jennifer Lopez and Sienna Miller – of course who wouldn’t want to look like one of these beauties?! As someone with an English rose complexion, I was excited to see what I would look like as a bronzed beauty; eyeliner flicks are also a daily staple of mine, so Amy suggested dialling up the eye make up for more of a dramatic evening look.
My appointment began with a quick skincare prep and after the majority of my own make up was taken off, Amy applied the Multi Miracle Glow Balm which acts as a 3-in-1 Cleanser, Mask and Balm. Enriched with vitamins and floral extracts, the Multi Miracle Glow Balm helps to purify the skin, removing any traces of make up and revealing a dewy, baby-soft finish. Next up was Charlotte’s coveted Magic Cream, which bloggers, celebrities and beauty lovers alike rave about. With a secret blend of hyaluranic acid, Bionypmh Peptide Complex and floral extracts, the Magic Cream delivers an instant moisture boost to the skin for a plumped glowing complexion.
These products felt really lightweight on my skin and left it feeling really moisturised and soft, which is great for my normally dry skin. To finish, Amy applied Wonderglow, a make up primer that offers a beautiful soft-focus effect and a natural ‘lit from within’ glow that is crucial to the Golden Goddess look.
The next stage of my makeover was to apply the base, Amy decided to use Charlotte’s Magic Foundation and matched my skintone to Shade 2 in the range. Heralded as a ‘Miracle in a bottle’, the Magic Foundation offers full coverage with a really natural finish; I must admit I don’t think my skin has ever looked so flawless – all of my pores and imperfections seemed to vanish and any redness around my nose and cheeks now looked like it had been airbrushed away! I do struggle with colour matching a foundation to my English rose complexion, but the Magic Foundation just effortlessly blended and perfected my natural skintone, this is honestly the first time I have ever been fully satisfied with my foundation.
I had a couple of breakouts on my forehead and chin, so The Retoucher Concealer was used to cover these blemishes and also used underneath the eyes to minimise any dark circles and fine lines. To set the base and eliminate any extra shine, the Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder was used. With nano-particle technology, the powder blurs away any last imperfections for a bright, illuminating finish that also has a cashmere soft texture.
To define my bone structure, Amy used the Filmstar Bronze & Glow palette across the sides of my forehead, cheeks and jawline in a ‘3’ motion for a really natural, sunkissed look that instantly warmed up my complexion. The highlighter part was also used to add luminosity and radiance to my brow bones, forehead, nose and cupid’s bow.
Amy then decided to focus on my eyes and began with filling in my eyebrows using the Brow Lift Eyebrow pencil. A handy 3-in-1 design, Brow Lift features a brush end to comb hairs, a brow pencils to fill in gaps and a central highlighter to lift the brows and accentuate the shape.
Each of Charlotte Tilbury’s signature looks comes with its own Luxury Eyeshadow palette that specially caters to each individual style. The Golden Goddess Luxury Palette features four shimmery shades in golden metallic and rich brown hues that are extremely blendable and buildable to suit your look. Amy used the Prime shades to open up my eyes, whilst the Enhance & Pop shades were used across my eye lids for a rich metallic finish. The Smoke shade added an extra dimension to the look for a sultry, glamorous finish that’s perfect for evenings.
To dial up my Golden Goddess look, Amy used the Eyes to Mesmerise Bette Cream Eyeshadow on the centre of my eyelids and the Colour Chameleon Eyeshadow Pencil in Amber Haze underneath my bottom lashes for dramatic impact as the shades made the green in my eyes really pop. As I’m a big lover of eyeliner, Amy used the Classic Sophia Eye Liner and the Feline Flick across my lash line and drew subtle flicks to open up the shape of my eyes and add sultry definition. My lashes were then given a generous coating of Full Fat Lashes Mascara for dramatic volume, lift and length.
As the eyes are the main focus of the Golden Goddess look, a nude lip completes the style. The Lip Cheat pencil in Pillow Talk was used to trace just outside of my natural lip line for a fuller, more symmetrical effect, then the K.I.S.S.I.N.G Stoned Rose Lipstick was applied for a rich glossy finish. For a more dramatic finish, the Ibiza Nights Lip Lustre was applied for extra sheen and a voluptuous pout.
For the final finishing touch, Amy added a touch of the Cheek to Chic Blusher in Ecstasy to the apples of my cheeks for an extra pop of colour and luminous finish to my dewy complexion.
Overall I was extremely happy with the finished result, my skin has never looked so flawless and bronzed! This is not a make up look I would have normally gone for, but I’m really pleased I got to try something new to help expand my horizons and I will definitely attempt to re-create this look. I got my makeup done at midday and it still looked perfect when I went out that night, all it took was a light dusting of powder and an extra slick of lip gloss and I was ready to go.
A big thank you to Amy as she was amazing and really knew what to use to accentuate my natural complexion and my bone structure for a look that really suited me. I will definitely be visiting the Charlotte Tilbury counter at Selfridges Exchange Square again; I really want to book myself in for my work’s Christmas Party and go for one of the more dramatic looks, as well as pick up a bottle of Magic Foundation – truly it is amazing.
The price of a Charlotte Tilbury signature makeover is £35, which is fully redeemable against the purchase of products at the same time. You can also purchase gift boxes containing the key make up items for each of the ten signature looks from £145-£165; for the Golden Goddess gift box, it contains the key eye and lip products as well as Cheek to Chic blush.
To book yourself in for your own Charlotte Tilbury makeover at Selfridges Exchange Square Manchester, call: 0161 838 0600 or email: [email protected].
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