Radiant Revelations: Unveiling the Magic of Charlotte Tilbury Branding

Darling, work your magic on me.

Of course, we all want that special glow of the shining stars from Hollywood. No matter how much powder and shimmer we apply, even red lipstick won't make us look like a Hollywood star if we don't do it right. We are already quite mature, working hard, most of us mothers to cute children, especially during the cursed days of the war, and simultaneously need to work with a child on our head and a daughter feeling like Picasso on the kitchen wall. Do you remember the last time you slept 8 hours straight?

Are the glowing stars in Hollywood above this?

We grew up with the conception that they were born shining and wake up smiling in the morning with a natural glow on their way to ruin a rainbow. Because they are not human, especially the older ones, like J.Lo or Jennifer Aniston who have crossed the terrifying jubilee line. Something in our perception thinks they are not human. But they are also mothers. They are terribly tired. Because of their demanding career, the concept of sleep simply does not exist for them. Assuming they are lucky to have a nanny and/or a father who shares parenting equally, they wake up at 4 in the morning for the morning run and workout, because it's not a choice, their career also depends on their body, and they are not getting any younger. At 5:30 after the shower, a bowl of yogurt granola, and after leaving the kids with the nanny, they leave the house and by 6 in the morning at the latest, they have to be on set ready for the makeup session. At 5:50, if one of the paparazzi happens to be awake, their secret is exposed as they grab a third takeaway coffee and get into the car on the way to the set. Thus, you understand that they look like your worst day.

At 6:00, the magic happens. That's the hour when the same exhausted mom who wants the whole world to go to hell and urgently needs another coffee - turns into a radiant, fresh, and energetic star. Believe it or not, not all of them look like Gal Gadot without makeup (I met her once, bless her). The secret to a fresh and glowing look is a regular workout routine, yoga, healthy and proper nutrition, sufficient and organized sleep...

Does it seem so to you?! We need Aunt Charlotte! Charlotte Tilbury, the British redhead with the big mouth, is a celebrity makeup artist who has learned all the makeup secrets of the highest shining world in the glittering skies since she was 13.

She worked with the big names like Alexander McQueen (...deep breath), Tom Ford, Burberry, and more. She adorned all the prestigious magazine covers in the world like Vogue or Vanity Fair and is a regular makeup artist during the fashion weeks in London and Paris, always working on Christian Louboutin or Prada heels.

Charlotte is not a social media influencer. She is not an internet content guru. She invested in the brand just like anyone else - strategy, creativity, media investment: billboards, magazine ads, internet banners, Google ads, and a lot of investment in social media and email marketing, and an e-commerce site with excellent micro-copy. And most importantly, before all that, in her branding.

From the day she founded her makeup and cosmetics brand, Charlotte was smart enough to open a YouTube channel and make her knowledge accessible to "the common people" to use her products in the best way possible. She did makeup demonstrations on celebrities like Kate Moss and Jennifer Aniston. Jeffree Star and Kat Von D were professional makeup artists, but Charlotte is a makeup artist among the most important in the world, in the league with Bobbi Brown, Pat McGrath, and Kevin Aucoin. A sort of professor emeritus, so to speak.

She holds the title MBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) which she received from the Kingdom of England, no less. The number of awards and titles she has received would explode this post, but it is important to note that among the titles she received were for the best brand in England.

Charlotte Tilbury was born in London in 1973 to Bohemian parents who moved to Ibiza in her youth and were involved in the bohemian and clubbing life on the island. Charlotte's mother, a producer by profession, was always meticulous with red lipstick and high stiletto heels. Yet they lived on the island, a place where everyone has a certain range of tan, satisfied with a bit of gloss and voilà - fabulous.

But little redhead Charlotte dazzled everyone with her pale British skin (story of my life). When she returned to London and started middle school, she saw that all the girls were heavily made up. Thus, she began to apply generous mascara, blush, and lipstick. Suddenly, she saw a different figure in the mirror. Understand how dramatic the change of a red-haired girl to a pale beauty who always looks sick without makeup (which was never endowed with glaring beauty except for red and splendid hair). When she returned to Ibiza for spring vacation, she became popular overnight and received hundreds of compliments.

She really loved the feeling! Thus was born the legend of Charlotte Tilbury that everyone talks about: her husband has never seen her without makeup!

When Charlotte, at the age of 13, saw what makeup could do for her, she decided she would never stop wearing makeup. Therefore... she goes to sleep with makeup. She returns home from work, removes her daytime makeup, takes a shower, applies a nourishing mask, and then starts her nighttime makeup with which she goes to sleep. True, it's 2024, and this is a terrible message for girls who are not comfortable with their beauty. However, Charlotte wholeheartedly believes that all were born beautiful, but a little touch of magic can maximize your natural beauty without turning you into something you're not.

"I like being sexy and glamorous. I wear makeup, I wear heels, I wear dresses. I love it. That’s what I’m really into!"

You don't need to be her best friend to feel her captivating personality bursting out in just one word, "darling." Israelis know this well, how terms of endearment like "mami" accompanied by a light touch greatly help to bridge the gap between the service provider and the client. Charlotte's distinct British accent is evident every time you read the name of one of her products. "Hollywood Flawless Filter" must be said in a Charlottean British accent. So far, I have written about my favorite makeup brands. Unlike others, I develop a love for makeup because of the brand story, its marketing, its content world, etc. Since I live and breathe in the worlds of advertising and marketing, storytelling of branding and digital marketing is my greatest passion. For these reasons, I shudder at the products of the big conglomerates sold in Super-Pharm or April. They are more expensive than the other brands I mentioned, they are boring, have a poor or too old story, conservative marketing communication, and mainly do not align with the values of the new world. Yet, I must set aside my communication hat for a moment and look at the products through the eyes of a woman who spends her hard-earned money on makeup and purely choose the best quality makeup. After all, the consumer audience does not analytically dissect the brand's positioning in the market, the competitive arena, or the brand values and decide based on marketing communication messages. They fucking came to buy powder!

From this standpoint, Charlotte Tilbury wins first place - her products are truly and sincerely the best in the market, in my opinion. The number of her products is not large, and she offers a set of items for the functional woman who needs in her makeup bag only the necessary items to dramatically upgrade her natural beauty without looking dramatic. Yet, ordinary consumers do not ignore the branding, especially when it comes to an expensive product. The consumer pays some premium for the product, in addition to the function the product serves. People often do not buy a product, but buy the personality attached to the product or its emotional value. The beauty in Charlotte Tilbury's brand is the magical harmony between Charlotte's personality and her brand. I hear her voice at every step when I use her products (and I have almost all of them) due to extensive viewing of her YouTube channel, I hear the support and warmth she gives me as she stands on my shoulder like an angel to counter my judgmental devil on the other side. I hear "darling" every time I need a little fix. I hear her Charlottean exclamation of astonishment when I look in the mirror, "Flaaaaaawless!".

Her most famous collection is the "Pillow Talk," and it's the little thing that belongs to me and my friends. The collection, which started from a nude lipstick suitable for everyone, presents Charlotte's visual world: antique pink satin colors, silk robes, luxurious and soft pillows, a pink rotary phone from the past, a pink eye mask, and mainly, a world of friend meetings that provide the warm and cozy pink greenhouse with Pillow Talk (a term meaning intimate conversations). Despite the impression of an outdated branding from the past, it is not so. It does not drive women away from a variety of colors and ages. Her main target audience is mature women, and she has invested resources and attention to those needs that women over 30 have: loss of skin elasticity, dryness, dullness, tiredness, dark circles under the eyes, pigmentation, wrinkles, and expression lines, all of you. It's hard to believe, but most of the products literally suit everyone. Charlotte's goal is to combine her strong passion for makeup with empowering all women, even when they are not sparkling in the skies in their daily diary.

Her way is makeup, and she believes that each of us can become a radiant Hollywood star with the magic wand available within reach for all of us. I love you, Charlotte Tilbury, I never felt as pretty as I feel today, despite my age.

P.S.

One last little story to close the story. Until a year ago, I hadn't worn makeup beyond mascara and red lipstick for a decade. I thought my eye area was no longer built for it. I wasn't excited by that world. But in my early twenties, I used to invest in MAC makeup. Palettes were really a thing then, especially since the eyeshadow palette of Barbara Wolf that I bought with my allowance at the mall next to my school in 10th grade. I would invest nearly a hundred shekels on each single eyeshadow while being a poor student. In one of the purchases, I bought my first shimmer. A golden shimmer that was part of a rare limited edition by Alexander McQueen, two years before his death (2007). Since he is my favorite fashion designer, this is the oldest makeup item closest to my heart. Last year I discovered a marvelous detail during my investigation: the person who developed this collection with McQueen and MAC was none other than Charlotte Tilbury...

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