We have been fans of Charlotte Tilbury for a number of years as we love her approach to creating inclusive products, ensuring that these items truly work as well as including innovations within her assortment of makeup and skincare. You also know that she's just as passionate at making her celebs and red carpet beauties look fantastic as well as her fans. Her niece, Sofia Tilbury has this same passion and works with her aunt to continue her initiatives. We find out more about the brand, her makeup journey and more.
ATHLEISURE MAG: What is it about the beauty industry that inspired you to work in this field?
SOFIA TILBURY: Growing up in Ibiza, makeup, fashion, art and beauty were always around, so it’s hard to remember when I first became inspired by the creative world, but I always looked up to my aunt Charlotte in her career as a makeup artist. Photography and art were my favourite subjects at school, so my first real experience with makeup was looking at fashion magazines and trying to recreate Charlotte’s cover looks on my friends so we could take photographs!
When I started to get into beauty, Charlotte’s biggest blessing was to let me come and work for her. She said the most important thing for a career in beauty was assisting someone, so you can watch and learn first-hand, and she was SO right. Working with Charlotte is the best makeup training you could ever get!
AM: A number of people dream of working with as well as being mentored by a visionary in their field. How is it to work so closely to an industry icon as a makeup artist as well as to learn the business from your aunt?
ST: When your aunt is Charlotte Tilbury and you want to be a makeup artist, there’s a huge pressure to be incredible, and you definitely feel like you have a lot to prove, but Charlotte is all about confidence and she empowered me every step of the way! I had to start where any other makeup artist would, and I had to work my way up, but it was the best way to learn. Charlotte is the most incredible mentor, so I feel super lucky to have been able to follow her and learn how she works her magic!
AM: What has been the best beauty tip that Charlotte has shared with you?
ST: One of the best makeup tricks I ever discovered through Charlotte was the power of a feline flick! It’s something she taught me from a young age. Your eyes are the most mesmerising part of your face, and when you use a gorgeous, creamy liner (like the Pillow Talk eyeliner) to elongate their shape and make them look more feline, it transforms your whole look! It works on everyone!
AM: Can you tell us about the positions that you have held at Charlotte Tilbury and what you do currently at Charlotte Tilbury, what is your role like and what areas do you cover for the brand?
ST: When I was 18, I worked full-time at the Charlotte Tilbury counter as an artist for two years and I learned so much. Retail is hard work. I was surrounded by all these incredibly talented and experienced makeup artists and I had to learn fast! I loved it. Then, behind the scenes, Charlotte started asking me questions about what was selling well, which products customers were asking for and what was missing from the range. That was how I started working closely with Charlotte on product development and the brand side of things.
I’m currently a Brand Ambassador and Product & Content Creator at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty. No two days are ever the same! One day I could be part of a campaign, the next I’m testing colours with the product development team or dashing to do a VIP’s makeup for an event like the Golden Globes or the Oscars. I particularly love the opportunity I have to create content for Instagram. It's always amazing and inspiring to see my followers trying a look I’ve created and feeling like a more beautiful, confident version of themselves as a result. Charlotte has always talked about the power of makeup to transform your energy, and in those moments, you do feel incredibly humbled by it.
AM: As a Celebrity Makeup Artist, what have been some of your favorite projects or people that you have worked on?
ST: I’m fortunate enough to work with some of the world’s most inspirational, beautiful women—from Sienna Miller to Irina Shayk; Romee Strijd to Candice Swanepoel—and at events like the Met Gala, the Golden Globes and the Oscars, so it is impossible to choose a favourite!
One of the highlights of my career was my first ever time as the Lead Makeup Artist at London Fashion Week in September 2019. I created the makeup looks for Agent Provocateur, Temperley London and Olivia Rubin shows. It is incredibly fast paced and exciting backstage and working with the designers to create looks that complemented their vision and artistry—from the prints and fabrics to the cuts of the dresses—was an absolute dream come true!
AM: What are your 3 must have products in the line that are your essentials?
ST: This is always SUCH a hard question!! I can’t live without any of our products! I’m a lip liner girl so my first pick would have to be a Lip Cheat. I never apply lipstick without liner! My favourites are Hot Gossip—a peachy nude—and Supersize Me—the perfect rosy-pink shade that resizes and reshapes the appearance of your lips instantly!
Magic Cream is always in my handbag. I have a tiny little travel sized pot that I use whenever my skin is dry—whether it is for priming my skin for a makeup tutorial or hydrating my arms and legs before a night out! I also love to use Charlotte’s new Magic Cream Light—which is a lightweight, supercharged version of Magic Cream. It’s perfect for combination skin going through an oilier phase, or for humid summer weather! It just leaves your skin looking glowing and hydrated with a satin-matte finish.
And third, Magic Away Concealer is my ultimate skin saviour. I wear it every day. It has incredible stretch and coverage so when I’m tired or my skin is not looking so great, it just blurs out all the imperfections and lifts your confidence straight away. You could event wear it on its own without foundation if you wanted to!
AM: You do several tutorials for the brand with a focus on an array of looks, how important is it to have that content and education?
ST: On social media, people are constantly asking me for tips and tricks on how to recreate my celebrity makeup looks from red carpet events, how to get the perfect smokey eye, how to cheat the perfect lip shape—so it’s super important to me that I’m constantly creating content to answer those questions and decodify those makeup secrets!
While I’ve been in isolation, I have spent my time creating content that hopefully will uplift and empower people through the magic of makeup, whether it’s how to make your eyes look bigger and brighter with the Pillow Talk Luxury Palette or how to use your night-time skincare routine to carve out a little selfcare. Makeup and skincare are incredibly powerful, so I love to share that knowledge with everyone!
AM: With a number of us doing a lot more video calls, what is the best way to get a healthy glow to our skin as well as adding a pop of color?
ST: I think the key to looking good on video calls is having gorgeous, glowing skin so you look happy, healthy and radiant!
For the past few months I’ve been using Charlotte’s new Magic Serum Crystal Elixir and the way my skin looks and feels is AMAZING! It has never been so hydrated, smooth and poreless—and that really is the key if you’re going to be in front of a camera all day! It has a magic matrix of supercharged ingredients, including Polyglutamic Acid—which is four times more hydrating than Hyaluronic Acid—so it creates a beautiful, hydrating filter effect on the skin and it makes makeup application so much easier too!
I layer Magic Cream over the top to intensely hydrate my skin and give it a dewy look, and then I glide Hollywood Flawless Filter over my cheekbones to really give my complexion a boost. There is nothing like glow for transforming your mood!
When you look tired, you feel tired, so my next tip would be Magic Away concealer. It has incredible stretch and coverage so you can use it on its own as a base if you’re being called into a last-minute Zoom and want to look fresh and bright-eyed! I always like to use a lighter shade under my eyes to bounce the light and counteract any darkness, and then I use a shade that matches my complexion to conceal any redness or imperfections.
To lock that in, I use Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder—this is the best powder EVER. I don’t know a single makeup artist or celebrity who doesn’t swear by this! It is so finely milled, it glides on like silk and blurs out pores and fine lines in an instant. It’s like a filter for your skin!
For a glowing pop of colour, I like to swish and pop the Pillow Talk Cheek to Chic Blush over the apples of my cheeks. I love that it has a highlighter shade in the middle for the perfect kiss of glow!
AM: We’re fans of Instant Eye Palette in Pillow Talk and loved seeing it throughout the red carpets during Awards Season. In April, the brand dropped Charlotte’s New Magic Serum Crystal Elixir. Can you tell us about this new launch and feel free to share any other products that we should know about?
ST: The Magic Serum launch was incredible! We launched it with the first ever virtual press day for the brand and beauty industry, and it created a huge buzz, so it was super exciting to be a part of that. It had a huge 10k waitlist, which is just incredible!
So many people are obsessed with how this serum has transformed the look of their skin—myself included! It’s a high-performance, potent yet comforting formula and it’s great for sensitive skin too.
It has Golden Vitamin C in it, which is a non-irritating alternative for anyone who has ever struggled with traditional Vitamin C serums like I have. It helps even and brighten your complexion without causing breakouts or redness. The Magic Serum also contains Niacinamide, which is like a bootcamp for your pores.
Another thing I love about this serum is that it actually has CRYSTALS such as Rose Quartz, Moonstone and Amethyst in it! I’m from Ibiza, so I grew up around crystals and a bohemian way of life. I wear crystals every day; I really do believe in the mood-boosting, holistic healing aura of crystals, so this feels extra special and powerful right now.
I like to use 4-6 drops on cleansed skin, really taking the time to warm it between my fingertips and massage upwards and outwards over my face.
We’ve also just launched the most incredible new smoothing, pore-blurring Airbrush Bronzer that literally makes you look airbrushed! I like to apply it to my cheekbones, temples and across my nose using the new Air-Brush bronzing brush— creating broad strokes wherever the sun naturally hits you. It smoothes, blurs and enhances the look of your facial architecture. It also contains Hyaluronic Acid, so it actually hydrates the skin while you wear—it never looks dry or cakey like some bronzers! It mimics the look of a sun-kissed tan!
AM: As someone who has a number of makeup tips, how can we find a nude lipstick that works for our skin tone?
ST: For fair skin, I find cool blue-pink nude lipsticks like Charlotte’s award-winning Pillow Talk and Matte Revolution Lipstick in Very Victoria look fantastic. Glossy textures like the Lip Lustre in Pillow Talk can also help create that plump, kissable look that is amazing for a day look.
With medium skin tones, you’ve really got the option of going cool or warm. For a more cool or neutral nude, opt for a shade like Penelope Pink or Nude Kate and use a lip liner in a slightly peachy shade, such as Hot Gossip, to help it blend into your natural lip shade. My skin is a little warmer, so I love tawny-nude shades like Superstar Lips in Glow Kiss or Hot Lips 2 in Glowing Jen. They give a really beachy, sun-kissed nude that looks amazing on olive skin too!
For deeper skin, the key really is the lip liner. I love to use the Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk Intense or Foxy Brown to really give the lips a perfected, rich brown colour that helps any lip shade blend beautifully without washing out the skin! The shades Stoned Rose, Angel Alessandra and Superstar Lips in Everlasting Kiss look stunning as nude lipsticks on deep skin tones. They give you an instant goddess pout!
AM: What is your go to skincare products to prep your skin prior to makeup as well as after washing it off?
ST: The first thing I do when prepping my skin or removing makeup is double cleansing with the Goddess Cleansing Ritual. I begin with the Citrus Oil Radiance Cleanse, which is a coconut-oil based, citrus-oil blend that melts your makeup away. I then follow this with the second ritual, which is a purifying charcoal cleanse. It draws out impurities and tackles deeper-rooted environmental dirt, helping to unblock pores and eliminate excess online, which I love.
Next, I’ll use my Instant Magic Facial Dry Sheet Mask or my Goddess Skin Clay Mask. When we were working on the dry sheet mask, Charlotte was super inspired by Korean beauty, so we worked with some amazing labs to create this formula of genius ingredients–including vitamin B3, crocus bulb extract, peptides, oils and butters–to penetrate deep into the skin using a biomimetic vector delivery system. If my skin is a little oily or congested, I’ll use the clay mask—which is rich with almond oil and Spanish Clay. It doesn’t crack or dry like other clay masks do! Every time I use this on myself or one of my clients, I’m blown away by the way it makes the skin look baby smooth!
Another one of my favourite tricks I learned from Charlotte is facial massage— her celebrity clients call this the “Tilbury Tap!” When prepping a client’s complexion before makeup, I pinch along the jawline and cheekbones, tap my fingers around the eye area and massage Charlotte’s Magic Serum and Magic Cream up and out with sweeping, open palms to help stimulate lymphatic drainage and micro- circulation.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Sofia Tilbury
Read the June Issue #54 of Athleisure Mag and see Darling on the Rise with Sofia Tilbury in mag.
