annebarone.com
French Chic & Slim
|| 18 March 2018
Testing Charlotte Tilbury
As I promised in the previous Nouvelles, today I will share my own (brief) experience with two Charlotte Tilbury skincare products. Several months ago our Chic & Slim Special Correspondent Kat, enthusiastic about Charlotte Tilbury products, sent me samples of the night cream and the eye cream.
I saved the samples to try immediately before writing about them. And since Kat’s comments in the previous Nouvelles about Crème de la Mer prompted her comments on Charlotte Tilbury, it seemed the moment.
To put my test in context, I must say that, though I am in my mid-70s, adequate French-inspired care through the decades and my naturally very oily skin has my face showing few wrinkles. Certainly far fewer wrinkles than many other American women of my age.
However . . . months of long sessions in front of the computer screen working on the new book, and dry air in the house from the winter heating had stressed my skin. My face had some definite face wrinkling and dark circles under my eyes to challenge the product samples.
Kat, in her comments on Charlotte Tilbury, said she used the eye cream and the moisturizer. She did not care for the night cream that she described as “too gooey.”
Cream is rather a misnomer. The consistency of the night cream is thick and sticky. It reminds me of a superglue product we have here in the USA called Gorilla Glue. The first night I tried a small test patch to make sure I had no unwanted reactions. When nothing adverse transpired, the next night I applied the night cream as directed to face and throat, avoiding the eye contour area reserved for the eye cream.
I must say that I never remember trying any skincare product where the results were so immediate. Most of us are well familiar with the caution on labels that the product “requires six weeks to show results.” Not this stuff.
My face the next morning did appear smoother and the texture more refined. My skin had a glossy aspect that I believe is often described as “dewy.”
The eye cream also achieved overnight results. Applied at night as the package directed, the next morning the dark circles under my eyes were gone. So were the lines around the eyes. Though by mid-day, after working steadily at the computer, the dark circles were definitely returning — as were the lines at the corners of my eyes.
So have I placed my order for either the $145 Charlotte Tilbury night cream or the $60 eye rescue cream?
No.
First, at this point in my life, when the majority of the time I am writing at a computer or standing on a ladder with a paint brush in hand, I do not require or see benefit from the better skin these pricey products might give. My current products and techniques, some that I write about in the new Chic & Slim Toujours 2, give satisfactory results while being friendlier to my bank account than Charlotte Tilbury.
Second, like many French women I am reasonably tolerant of the signs of age. In any case, my chief problem is my breakout-prone skin. The motivation (desperation?) some women feel to erase all signs of age is just not there. Also I live in an area of very low air pollution. I do not require products that protect against the increasing urban skin damage from air pollution.
But it was fun to have the samples and see what these products would do on my own face. (Merci encore, Kat.)
A final word: Charlotte Tilbury products are high in botanicals. Anyone who has any allergic tendencies should surely test patch a sample before paying the high purchase price for a full pot of the product.
be chic, stay slim — Anne Barone
Image : Samples of Charlotte Tilbury products.