12 shades, 4 looks - the new Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette claims to cover day to disco, desk to date. Here’s what you need to know about the launch and its upcoming flash sale...
I have a bit of a penchant for eyeshadow palettes. Actually, it borders on obsession - a fact reflected by my dressing table drawer that’s creaking from the weight of them. However, my use of them is far from efficient. Like many people, I often don’t use all of the shades in one, darting from one palette to the next, using a couple from each until the metal underneath starts to show. So when I heard that Charlotte Tilbury’s new Instant Eye Palette offered ‘an entire eye makeup wardrobe’ in one palette, I was interested to see whether it could take the madness out of my makeup method.
Containing 12 eyeshadows separated into 4 looks, the collection is a culmination of Charlotte’s 25 years’ experience in smokey eye innovation. Her palettes are usually a favourite of mine (with Dolce Vita being a go-to for most of the girls in the office) and so a single carefully curated smokey eye edit from the makeup artist herself, is something I'm sure makeup fans will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on.
Look 1: Day
Separated into Day, Desk, Date and Disco, each trio of shades helps take the guesswork out of which ones to use to achieve certain looks. With a ‘Prime’ shade (to prep the eyelids), an ‘Enhance’ shade to add dimension and finally a ‘Smoke’ shade for creating intensity, its choice of neutrals and darker colours, as well as its selection of matte and shimmer finishes, is ample but streamlined enough to prevent palette colour overwhelm.
Look 2: Desk
Each shade has its place and I was particularly surprised by the universality of them - they’ll appeal to fair and darker skin tones alike (I was drawn to the Date and Disco looks in particular). Colour builds up gradually and they layer very well too. A massive shout out too regarding its packaging and weight too - it’s sleek enough to fit into your work bag yet wide enough to house the requisite shade selection. It also looks incredible too, with its high shine rose gold casing being the epitome of luxe (seriously, you’ll be Boomeranging it for hours).
Look 3: Date
The only downpoint that I can see is its price. At £60, there are certainly cheaper options. However, if I were to factor in how much I’ve spent on less comprehensive eyeshadow palettes in the past as well as my wasteful way of currently using them, it’s probably pretty cost effective for someone like me. Had this eyeshadow palette existed years ago, I probably could have saved quite a bit of money. Brush-wise, one would have been welcome. However, I personally prefer to use my own full-size brushes with a range of different brush heads or my fingers over palette-picked variations so for me, this didn’t really matter. With brands releasing their Christmas offerings and beauty advent calendars already, it's one to definitely bear in mind when shopping for the makeup enthusiast in your life - it's got that 'wow' factor.
Look 4: Disco
Launching on charlottetilbury.com and in Charlotte Tilbury stores on October 5th and nationwide from the 12th of October, I'm sure that it’ll be hugely popular. If you want to get your hands on it sooner though, it’ll be available to purchase during a 24-hour flash preview sale on September 21 from 2pm to 2pm the next day. We reckon that you’ll have to be quick though. It is, after all, a collection of Charlotte Tilbury smokey eye essentials in a single palette.