After Christmas, I created a list of things that I wanted to do this year - and one of them was to have my make-up done by Charlotte Tilbury. We have one in our local Selfridges and people always talk really positively about the experience, so yesterday I bit the bullet.
There are 10 Charlotte Tilbury "looks" to choose from ranging from - amongst others - "the Ingenue" to "the Sophisticate", "the Bombshell" and "the Rebel". You just go and choose the look you like, they make you up and then you can buy the make-up to re-create the look you've chosen.
As I was going to parents' evening, I decided not to go for the full on rock chick look but instead I opted for Uptown Girl, which is a pared back version of rock chic (and obviously I looked just like the model below!!!!)
All started off really well. First of all my make up was taken off - the lotion or cream used felt a bit gloopy but that's just one of those things. Then the make up was applied by the lovely Sharon in the following order:
Foundation, Eyebrow pencil, Eye shadow x4, Eye liner, Mascara, Concealer, Bronzer, Highlighter
Blusher, Lip liner, Lipstick, Lip gloss - now that's a lot of make-up! But Sharon was great, showing me in the mirror how she did things, talking me through why she was doing things and so on. The difference for me was the smoky eye with a pale lip look. I wasn't sure if it suited my colouring and wearing so much make up, I felt, made me look older. Sharon said to go home and see what my husband thought.
The Ingenue - Fresh faced and effortlessly cool
The problem came in my right eye, which quickly started to water. Which made my eye make-up run. And then my nose started to run too. I asked Sharon whether anyone had ever been allergic to the make-up and the answer was no. So I didn't think any more of it.
After I'd had my make-up done one of the girls on the counter kept looking at me. And then she came over. I was sure that she was going to say how lovely my make-up looked but instead she said:
"Did you know that your jacket is on inside out? It's a bit like when you have a leaf in your hair and no-one tells you and I couldn't let you walk around like that all day. "
Pride. Fall. Lesson learned.
The rock chic - she's the coolest girl around
And then I got home and my eye continued to water and my nose continued to run. And before parents' evening I had to wipe all the black marks off my face. By the time I got to parents' evening, I felt lousy. And then when I got home and looked in the mirror and I saw what the poor teachers had had to look at (plus all the parents I'd spoken to) I felt very sorry for them. Deep creased eyeshadow, a smudged face, watery eye and runny nose. Great.
And by the time my husband saw me? It was not a pretty sight. By that time not only was I all of the above but I was also tired, hungry and grumpy and rather than admiring my gorgeous new "Uptown Girl" make up look, everyone ran away from the runny eyed, runny nosed, grumpy person.
The Rebel - Brave, bold, beautiful
Do you want to hear the story of me trying to take it off? No? Well I'll share it anyway. After about 55 wipes my face was streaked with black from the industrial creosote type mascara. The lashes were spectacular, as was the mess the mascara made. Oh the relief in getting it all off. I felt like me again (warts and all!)
So would I go back? Absolutely. Fortunately the base make up that they used was out of stock as I'm sure that's what caused the reaction but I bought the eye palette, the blusher and the lipstick. The make up brushes and the lip liner was also out of stock which wasn't a great selling point but hey ho.
The Bombshell - Born gorgeous, empowered by make-up
I had to swallow a little before I paid for what I'd bought but I can't actually remember the last time that I bought any make up so I bit the bullet. And then when I got home? Luckily the tax man had refunded me the exact amount that I'd spent on the make up. I took that as a good sign.
