After years of placing Charlotte Tilbury’s products at the top of my makeup wishlist, I have finally purchased my first item from the brand — the Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Eyeshadow Palette in ‘Pillow Talk‘. During my trip to Selfridges in London, I finally splurged on this $53 quad and am here with an honest-as-always review.

{Packaging}

Charlotte Tilbury is known for its luxurious, vintage-inspired packaging and the inside of this little compact remains true to the brand’s image with its rose gold metal and mirror. The top of the lid, however, is a chocolate plastic, which I found to be slightly disappointing. For the price, I wish the whole case featured the rose gold material, similar to their Filmstar Bronze and Glow palette. On the bright side, it is still pretty, functional, and sturdy.

{Shade Range & Finishes}

Now, for the entire reason I purchased this product in the first place: the famous ‘Pillow Talk’ hue. This quartet of rosy neutrals is truly breathtaking — breathtaking enough to make me spend my entire life savings on eyeshadow! The top left Prime shade is a soft, shimmery champagne with pink undertones. It works well for highlighting the brow bone and inner corner and for applying all over the lid. The top right Enhance shade is a light beige pink with a matte finish and warm coral undertones; it is a stunning transition color that can be adjusted to a few different skin tones depending on the amount applied. The bottom left Pop shade is a rose gold glitter with warm copper undertones, perfect for placing on the very center of the lid. The bottom right Smoke shade is a medium rosy brown with a matte finish and warm undertones. It is not dark enough to use as a true liner but it is wonderful for the outer corner. I can tell how much thought was put into the color combination; these shades create a stunning monochromatic look, making pink more wearable than ever. I think the balance of two shimmers and two mattes is wonderful. This specific palette is more suited for light to medium tan skin tones — both warm and cool undertones — as I do not think they will show up well on deeper ones.

{Quality & Formula}

Aside from the shade range, my favorite aspect of this product is how easily and quickly each of the shadows apply and blend out. Regardless of brushes or technique, they blend beautifully with as minimal effort as possible, contributing to a foolproof neutral look; it is virtually impossible to end up with an uneven or unblended look, making this ideal for beginners. In addition, these are impressively long-lasting; after around 12 hours of wear sans primer, my eyeshadow look was still intact.

Although sheer and buildable in now way means poor quality, the pigmentation of these shadows is not what I was expecting. The Prime shade has a dustier texture that tends to fade away when blended out, so I recommend only blending the edges with a more precise brush. The Pop shade was the most disappointing of all for me. It looks so gorgeous and opaque in the pan but as you can tell by the swatch, it is very sheer. There really is no base color so that lovely rose gold translates to mere flecks of copper glitter. If you do not want these to be sheer, apply them with a wet brush or with your fingertip using swiping (not patting) motions.

I prefer the two mattes in terms of quality and actually enjoy their buildability, as it creates a complex, multi-dimensional effect. The Enhance shade is very buildable and took around three layers to achieve opaque coverage, but I also like how it looks with just one. The Smoke shade was the most pigmented of all.

These shadows have a dry rather than creamy texture with some kickback, similar to the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk or New Nudes palettes but with less color payoff. Due to the level of pigmentation, I recommend using an eyeshadow primer or light cream eyeshadow as a base.

I think Charlotte Tilbury’s eyeshadows are intended to be a muted, buildable wash of color, so if you are like me and love intense mattes and foiled metallics, you are likely to find the color payoff disappointing.

Although these are some of the prettiest colors I own and I genuinely enjoy using this, I find the quality average and ultimately underwhelming, especially when there are so many incredible palettes for far less expensive. If you are not worried about the price and enjoy more sheer eyeshadows, then I think you will love this, but if you are on any kind of a budget, then I do not think this is worth the money at all.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this product. I would love to know your thoughts if you own or want it.

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