Charlotte Tilbury: The Golden Goddess Eyeshadow and Pillow Talk Lipstick Review

Let me be the first to say that Charlotte Tilbury products are ridiculously expensive. Like, for the price of one of her eyeshadow quads, you could buy an entire Urban Decay Naked palette. That’s 12 eyeshadows from UD for the price of four from CT. One of her lipsticks could get you two from MAC. So when I say expensive, I mean it. Having said that, I recently decided to treat myself. I had been doing really well at saving money and my birthday had just passed, so I decided to splurge and get two items from her collection.

The biggest influencer in my decision was that Charlotte Tilbury had just released a new lipstick in the shade Pillow Talk. The color was previously a lipliner, and a cult favorite at that. So when I saw it was a lipstick, I knew I had to have it. I had also binge watched a bunch of her YouTube videos, and fell in love with the palette the Golden Goddess. I loved the warm tones, and how it would create the perfect, everyday look.

The packaging on these are classic to Charlotte Tilbury. The lipstick is housed in a rose gold bullet with a lined detail on the outside. The eyeshadow is in a dark brown/maroon case, with a rose gold stripe down the center and her logo in a diamond. The inside is also rose gold, with a full mirror on the top.

I’ll start out with the lipstick. The formula is pretty comfortable, it takes about 4-5 hours for it to start feeling drying or uncomfortable on the lips. It does separate a little bit, but only at the very back of my lips by my mouth, but that’s pretty common with lipsticks. The bullet is a square, which I actually like. It makes it really easy to apply all over the lips, and the corners help to apply to the color to the smaller areas like the cupids bow.

The lipstick color is a rosy pink nude. It’s great for everyday, because it’s a my lips but better shade. When applied, it has the slightest pink hint to it, but still a nude shade. It reminds me a little of MAC’s Shanghai Spice, but more opaque and matte.

Now onto the eyeshadow quad! The concept is that there is a color to prime the eyes, one to enhance the shape, one to smoke out the shade, and one to make the eyes pop. The prime shade is a light, shimmery gold. The enhance color is a shimmery brown with the slightest hint of pink. The smoke shade is a shimmery brown with red undertones. Finally, the pop shade is a pure glitter shade. It’s a very light brown with brownish gold glitter.

All the colors apply well with a brush, except for the pop shade. Because that one is pure glitter, it applies best with the fingers. The formula is very smooth and buttery, but doesn’t have too much kick up. The closest formula I can think to compare it to is shimmer Anastasia eyeshadows.

I do like this palette, I think all the colors in it are really pretty. Having said that, I do wish there was a matte shade in the palette. I don’t love using shimmers in my crease, because they make my eyes look hooded. I’m also not the biggest fan of the Pop shade. It’s very glittery, so when using it there is a fine line between subtle shimmer and a chunky glittery mess.

Final thoughts on the products? I actually really like the lipstick. I adore the color and the formula. Having said that, it’s ridiculously expensive, and the color could easily be duped with MAC or a drugstore brand. Not to mention you could get a bunch of different colors for the cost of just this one lipstick. The eyeshadow is gorgeous, but once again, easily duped.

Charlotte Tilbury products are amazing if you want to treat yourself to some high quality, luxurious makeup. I can see myself buying something else from her in a few months. But I definitely don’t think her stuff is a must. The price is so high for not a lot of products, and with so many amazing, lower priced makeup brands, splurging isn’t necessary.

Have you tried anything from Charlotte Tilbury? If so, what are your thoughts on her products?