Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp Luxury Colour-Coded Eyeshadow Palette Review, Photos and Swatches

The Charlotte Tilbury collection recently launched at Holt Renfrew in Canada, and after finally getting the chance to see the products in person, took a deep breath and made a purchase. Yes, the Tilbury products are pricey but the quality is exceptional and sometimes it's worth it to treat yourself.

I bought the Vintage Vamp Luxury Eyeshadow Palette and the Barbarella Brown Rock N Kohl Eye Pencil. In this post I'll review the Vintage Vamp Luxury Eyeshadow Palette. It costs $64 CDN and contains four eyeshadow colours.

Charlotte has designated each shade in her palettes as the Prime shade, the Enhance shade, the Smoke shade and the Pop shade. Diagrams are on the back of the box and on the back of the compact to show which shade is which.

The box and the compact are a shiny deep red with rose-gold detailing and type. 

More packaging photos.

Charlotte's whole philosophy is that makeup is a secret weapon, that it can change your life and empower you. She's inspired by beauty icons, and creates looks and products to enhance your sex appeal.

The power to mesmerise is in your eyes. With this make-up, hypnotise.

It sounds even better in french. 

Le pouvoir de fasciner repose dans vos yeux. Grace a ce maquillage, hypnotisez.

Inside the compact are the four eyeshadows, and a good sized mirror etched with a small star in the upper right corner. 

From top left clockwise, the Prime shade, the Enhance shade, the Smoke shade and the Pop shade.

The Prime shade is a soft, shimmery lilac-pink with a hint of gold to it. The Enhance shade is a muted pink-burgundy with a coppery shimmer to it. The Smoke shade is a deeper, richer burgundy with a little bit of shimmer, and the Pop shade is a copper-gold glitter shadow.

Prime, Enhance, Smoke and Pop shades.

All four shadows apply beautifully. The texture of all of them, and particularly the first three is creamy and buttery. The Pop shade is glitter-heavy, so it's not quite as creamy, but it's certainly not dry. They can be applied lightly or more heavily and blend incredibly well. These are easily some of the best eyeshadows I've ever used. 

With four shadows there are a variety of different ways to use this palette. Here's the first look I came up with - a softly smoky look. 

I applied the Prime shade all over my lids, and in the inner corner of my eyes, the Enhance shade in my creases and on the outer corner of my lids, as well as along my lower lash lines. I smudged the Smoke shade along my upper lash lines and then applied the Barbarella Brown Rock N Kohl Eye Pencil on top. I'm wearing a bit of Benefit Rockateur blush on my cheeks and some lip balm on my lips. My base is MAC Face + Body and I've got MAC Pro Longwear Concealer under my eyes and MAC Prep + Prime powder to set everything. I've filled in my brows with Anastasia Dipbrow and I've got Benefit Bad Gal mascara on my curled top and bottom lashes. I'm also wearing some NYX Stick Blush in Pink Poppy on my cheeks.

I also tried Charlotte's own looks for this palette, which she's got on YouTube here. 

The day version of her Vintage Vamp isn't terrifically different from the look above, with the Prime shade used all across the lids, and in the inner corners. The Enhance shade is is applied to the outer corners of the lids, and softly in the crease. The Enhance shade is smudged along the upper lash line and three-quarters of the way along the lower lash lines. Then you apply the Barbarella Brown Rock N Kohl Eye Pencil along the top lashes. Apart from the eye pencil and the eyeshadow palette, I do not have the other products she uses in her video so I improvised with ones I do own. My blush is MAC's Pink Swoon, my lipstick is the Bite Beauty Lip Lab lipstick I had custom-made for myself. I applied it as Charlotte does in the video, making it look like my lips are stained as if I've been eating cherries.

My base, concealer, powder, mascara and eyebrow products are as in the above look.

And here is the night version of Charlotte's Vintage Vamp look. Starting with the look above, I applied the Smoke shade on the outer corner of my lids, and through my crease, bringing it up in a roughly triangular rectangle in the outer corners to mimic the flapper look of the 1920s. The Smoke shade is smudged quite low along my lower lashes for a vampy effect and the Barbarella Brown Rock N Kohl is applied to my waterline. Finally, I used my finger to apply the Pop shade on the inner half of my eyelids, and on the inner corners.

This was my favourite of the three looks, but not one I can wear everyday. I'll save the other two for that. But next time I have the occasion to do such a dramatic, vampy, sexy look, I'll go full Vintage Vamp.

Yes, Charlotte Tilbury's products are high-end but from what I've experienced, they're worth the splurge. I love the philosophy behind them, and the passion and experience Charlotte puts into the collection. There's magic to her make-up.

Charlotte Tilbury's collection is available at Holt Renfrew stores in Canada, and on her website. 

Grade: A

Bite Beauty Lip Lab and Custom Lipsticks!

Bite Beauty is a Toronto company that makes natural lip products. They're available at Sephora and are fantastic - lip care products, lipstick and lipgloss all made with natural ingredients and safe enough to eat. In New York City they have a Lip Lab where you can have custom lip colours made. That's right, custom lip colours. You can have your own custom lipstick made. Why has no one thought of this before?

I got to have a custom lipstick made on a recent trip to New York. The whole process took about 15 minutes, and it was fascinating to see how lipstick is made.

The first step is to create your colour. When I first heard about the Lip Lab and decided to visit, I had two colour options in mind - a coral and a deep burgundy. When I walked in the door of the Lip Lab I had my choice made - I was going to have my own custom dark burgundy vampy colour created. 

The first step was to have the colour created. The first station was this one, where vials of colour were displayed. 

I told the beauty lab tech what shade I was wanting (dark, vampy burgundy) and what finish I'd like. Rather than a matte, which deep vampy colours tend to come in, I chose a cream finish. The lab tech started mixing colours. While she did that, I was given some of Bite Beauty's cherry lip scrub to get rid of any existing colour I was wearing and then some lip balm to hydrate.

I tried on the first shade she mixed for me - a combination of mulberry, scarlet and pomegranate - and I liked it, but it wasn't quite vampy enough, so I asked if it could be darkened. A bit more of the mulberry and scarlet was added and I tried on the new shade. It was perfect! I hadn't worn anything like it before. 

Getting the correct shade was so easy, I was surprised and even contemplated getting a second one made, but then remembered my budget. 

The next step was choosing the scent/fragrance. There were six options to choose from - citrus, mint, violet, mango, superfruit and cherry - and you could also choose a combination of these. All smelled incredible, but I opted for a combination of cherry and mint. Sweet and fresh.

These are all of the colours used to make the lipsticks. They kind of look like candy or colourful chocolates. 

The portions of mulberry, scarlet and pomegranate that were going to be made into my lipstick were melted down and then put into a centrifuge to be mixed. That's the white machine in the above photo. 

While my lipstick was being mixed, I was given the choice of four lipstick case lids. They're designed to look like four of the common shapes lipsticks are worn down to. I chose the one closest to how my lipsticks end up looking, the one on the right. 

After mixing, the liquid lipstick is poured into these gadgets to be shaped into that lipstick bullet shape. Then these gadgets are placed on a cooling unit to set. This gadget is so cold that you can't touch it with your bare skin. My lipstick is in the front gadget and two custom lipsticks were setting for a called-in order behind it. 

That's the thing, with my custom lipstick, I got a card with the recipe on it so I could get another made when I run out or lose it. 

The whole process took about 30 minutes and it cost $45 US. It's pricey, but it's custom!

I was warned not to apply the lipstick for 25 minutes after I left the Lib Lab since it would still take more time to set. 

So let's take a look at it. 

My lipstick was packaged in a sturdy grey box, just like the regular Bite lipsticks. It got a little bit smudged in the packaging, but I don't care. It's a messy process creating a lipstick from scratch and I'm impressed with how tidy the Lip Lab was, considering. 

Ingredients

And here's the sturdy, grey Bite lipstick tube with that playfully shaped lid. 

And here it is! I've been toying with some names for it and think I have one, though it's more related to this blog post and my camera than the lipstick itself. I'll reveal it later. 

In addition to the tube of lipstick, I was given a glass jar of product as well, containing almost the same amount as in the tube. So basically, I got two lipsticks for the price of one!

So what is the name I came up with for my custom lipstick? Furious. I am calling it Furious because trying to capture the colour of it accurately made me furious. I took over 300 photos of it, with a variety of camera settings and a variety of lighting and it kept reading as a bright red, which it is not. The last thing I need is another red lipstick, and what was made for me is not red, it's burgundy. But my camera would not capture it accurately. I got so frustrated and yes, at some points, furious. 

But I've included photos taken on my iPhone as these show the lipstick fairly true to reality. The photos just aren't as good quality as those I can capture on my camera, so I apologize.

iPhone photo, no flash, indoor light.

iPhone photo, no flash, indoor light.

iPhone photo, no flash, natural light

Furious is a burgundy but it's got more warmth than cool tones to it. When it reads more red in some light (and in many photos), it has almost a brick tone to it. 

So now that you've seen the true colour, here are some photos that will give you a sense of the sheen and texture. And you can also see the trouble I had capturing the true colour.

Here you can see how glossy the lipstick is and also, how opaque it is.

Swatched on the back of my hand. NW15 skintone. Flash.

 Another view.

Swatched on the back of my hand. NW15 skintone. Flash.

Here it is actually on my face, but looking like a glossy red lipstick, not a glossy burgundy.

NW15 skintone, with flash. 

NW15 skintone, with flash. 

This is the best photo I took with my camera that captures some of the burgundy colour, but it's lighter than in reality. 

NW15 skintone, natural light.

Furious applies beautifully, with a creamy texture. A colour like this requires precision, and really, a lipliner. I do not currently own a lipliner in a burgundy shade, so I did not use one in these photos. I did use a lip brush to carefully, carefully apply it. Since it is so creamy, it can be a little messy, so I'll be picking up a lipliner to use with it.

I can wear it like I do in the photos above, or I can tap a little on my lips with a fingertip for more of a stained effect.

The cherry-mint scent and flavour tingles a little on the lips and it smells and tastes delicious. It did not feel drying and it did not settle into the lines on my lips as nearly every lipstick I've tried wearing for the last few months has. 

This is a special occasion lipstick but I plan to make occasions to wear it. It's too exciting and awesome not to.

I highly recommend checking out the Bite Beauty Lip Lab in New York City. It's in Soho, at 174 Prince Street. And next time you're in a Sephora, make a point of checking out the Bite Beauty line. They're Canadian, they're food grade quality products and they're beautiful.

So what colour would you get if you could have a custom colour made?

C.

OCC Lip Tar in Vintage - Review, Swatches and Photos

Jill and I were in New York City for the Victoria Day long weekend (that's the Canadian holiday celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday on the last Monday before May 25 each year) and we took the opportunity while there to visit the OCC store on Manhattan's Lower East Side. 

Tucked onto a great little street is the OCC head office. We got there just before closing on Saturday night and probably annoyed the staff who were trying to clean up and close up to get out for their Saturday night. But we weren't going to rush that much. OCC is only available online in Canada although a handful of their lip tars can be found at Sephora stores. I wanted to swatch!!! I wanted to check out their concealers and loose colours and Jill hadn't ever tried any OCC products, so she wanted to check out everything.

Sadly, the new Stained Glosses weren't out yet so we didn't get to see/swatch those, but we had plenty to get excited about without them.

I ended coming home with a pot of concealer, Flawed loose colour, Zoom Zooms nail polish and Vintage lip tar. I'll review Flawed and Zoom Zooms in separate posts but let's take a look at Vintage.

Vintage is a lip tar I've read a fair bit about. I think it's safe to say it's one of OCC's most popular shades. I have number of the other lip tars, but since I'd ordered them online and didn't get to swatch them first, I played it safe with pinks and corals. Reds can be finicky colours to wear so you definitely should swatch them and/or try them on before buying.

As you can see in the above photo, OCC lip tars now come with a mini lip brush in little plastic cases with an instruction/information card. This is a very good idea considering that while these might look like a tube of lipgloss, they are not. A very little amount of lip tar goes a very long way and a lip brush is your best friend for applying it. 

Also, since I last bought OCC lip tars, they've changed their packaging. I photographed Vintage with one of my older lip tars (I think it's Anime - all the names of my lip tars have worn off, sadly) to show the change. The tubes are now opaque and the tips are no longer a large deer foot shape. With the old packaging, it's tempting to apply the product straight from the tube, like you would a lip gloss, but trust me, you don't want to do that. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much product on the lips doing it that way! With the skinnier tip you have better control with how much product comes out and it encourages you to use a lip brush too. 

I talked more about the OCC lip tars in this post if you're interested in learning more about them. I won't go into as much detail here. But, I highly recommend checking them out at your local Sephora or on their website. These are great, high-quality, vegan, healthy lip colours, although they're not for the faint of heart. These are not sheer, natural shades. 

Anyway, Vintage is just as you might guess from the name, a darkened red, like you might imagine a singer in a 1920s nightclub wearing. OCC describes it as a "deep, true burgundy".

It's definitely a deeper colour than a true red, but burgundy? I don't think it looks very burgundy on me.  When I think burgundy, I think purpley-red, like red wine. This looks to me like a bright red with brown and purple added, just enough to deepen the red slightly but not enough to dim the brilliance of the red.

See?It looks almost like a drop of blood on my hand.

Less like blood when swatched out but you can see the purple to it here. It's almost like true blue-red only slightly deeper.

That was a tiny drop on my hand and that's how much it is when spread out. This stuff is crazy-pigmented!

And here it is on me. 

In these photos, it's looking more like a true red, when in actuality it's deeper, more purple-brown-red. I love this colour. It's fantastically vampy. I'm one of those people for whom putting on red lipstick changes their personality. It makes me feel instantly sophisticated, sultry and fierce. Even with crazy curls in my hair!

In terms of application, lip tars are tricky and Vintage is no different. You have to go slow and start small. Vintage is like a liquid red lipstick. No messing around here! Using a lip pencil would be a smart thing, although I didn't in the photos here. And the lip tars last. They're quite wet when you first apply it but they dry down. As you might guess, they last a good long time too. No reapplication necessary for a number of hours for me. 

Here's where I kissed my hand after wearing Vintage for about 30 minutes. It's still fully intact on my lips but look at how little comes off.

I'll be wearing Vintage a lot, I think. 

Grade: A+