Charlotte Tilbury Just Told Me the Secret to Her Most Flawless Holiday Party Makeup

Holiday season is now in full swing, and I needed some makeup inspiration. Every year, I tend to do the same kind of look for parties and events because I’m a lazy girl at heart, but I thought, who better to ask for makeup advice than the queen of holiday glam herself Charlotte Tilbury? The iconic makeup artist told me this is her favorite time of year. “Darling, I always look forward to the holiday season—the fun never stops, and it’s the perfect time to experiment with makeup,” Tilbury tells me.

She also agreed to let me in on her best-kept holiday-season secrets—including her go-to looks and best makeup-application advice. More on the looks later, but Tilbury says there are a few key things you should remember when doing holiday makeup first. “Not everyone knows this, but setting spray can be used throughout your makeup routine to prime, intensify, and set for a flawless makeup look that lasts,” she says. You can also use a setting spray directly on your eye shadow brush before blending it onto your eyelids. This will help your eye shadow really stick for hours on end.

Another hack she loves? She calls this one the sandwich hack. “I am obsessed with [this],” she adds. “[It’s] the ultimate airbrush fix! Simply set your finished makeup look with my Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray ($38). Once it has dried on the skin, apply my Airbrush Flawless Finish down the center of the face and underneath the eyes if you’ve applied concealer, and follow with a final mist of setting spray. By applying powder in between layers of setting spray, your makeup will look flawless all day and night!”

If you’re dying for more of Tilbury’s holiday makeup advice, keep scrolling. She shared all her favorite party-season looks and products ahead.

Dreamy, Soft-Glazed Eyes

Tilbury considers a dreamy, shimmery eye look one of her favorites to create during the holidays because it’s so versatile and works for so many occasions. “I love to create [it] using my new Hollywood Instant Look in a Palette,” she shares. “It is all my trusted, mistake-proof powder formulas in one palette for the eyes, face, and cheeks, mapped out into seven easy steps that anyone can follow. It’s like painting by numbers!”

In order to achieve the ethereal soft glaze that Tilbury loves on the eyes, she recommends tapping a shimmer shade of your choice onto the center of your eyelids with your ring finger for next-level color payoff. If you really want to dial up your look, before adding shimmer, start by blending warmer nude or even brown-hued shades for darker skin tones across the eyelids. “Use a windscreen-wiper motion to diffuse it upwards and outwards for an eye-lift effect,” she explains. To add more depth and smokiness, Tilbury recommends finishing with a darker, smokier shade of your choice through the crease of the eye and along the top and bottom lash lines.

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Flawless Velvet Skin

Tilbury says every holiday look needs a velvety-smooth base—it’s the key to achieving flawless, borderline poreless skin. “I adore a flawless complexion that looks airbrushed, blurred, and soft-focused but still looks and feels like skin,” she shares. “Some people find full-coverage foundation intimidating, but darling, remember that less is more here. You don’t always need a whole pump to get the most out of your foundation—sometimes all it takes is half a pump for complexion perfection!”

The first step is absolutely key. Tilbury says that you’ll always want to start with a rich, hydrating moisturizer as a base. If you’re a primer type of girlie, now would be the time to apply that too. Personally, I love Milk Makeup’s Hydro Grip Primer ($38) because it creates tacky (not but sticky) base to apply your foundation onto. Any time I use it, people always ask me what I used to get my foundation to look so great—it’s always the secret!

If you’re wanting to go in with a full-coverage foundation like Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless formula, here’s how she recommends applying it. “Apply half a pump of my new Airbrush Flawless Foundation onto the back of your hand, picking it up with [a] brush then buffing it in from the center of your face outward. Not only does this give you better control and a seamless blend; it helps you achieve a more natural, second-skin finish!”

Tilbury recently updated her classic Airbrush Flawless Foundation formula, and honestly, I’m obsessed. She’s not wrong about needing the smallest amount. I barely needed half a pump to cover my entire face—the formula just keeps going and going and creates such flawless coverage. According to Tilbury, the formula is now infused with skincare ingredients tht target fine lines, uneven texture, and hyperpigmentation.

Even if you aren’t into full-coverage formulas because they’re too heavy, don’t worry. You can still achieve this look with a medium-coverage foundation—you just have to pick the right formula. A few of my personal favorites for a look like this are below.

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A Signature Tilbury Glow

“Glowing skin is always in, and there is nothing I love more than a luminous, lit-from-within complexion—especially for the holidays!” Tilbury says.

There are so many different ways to achieve a lit-from-within-glow, but you can start by using a luminizer like Saie’s Glowy Super Gel—my absolute favorite product for a radiant look. It’s never too over the top but is perfect to have handy when you want to add extra warmth for a holiday look. It also comes in several gorgeous shades ranging from more of a bronzy glow to champagne- or rose-colored. I mix a pump of it with my foundation, and the result is just magical—it gives you a little extra shimmer without making you appear oily.

Tilbury likes to opt for her any one of her Beauty Light Wands when creating this kind of look. They contain light-reflecting, luminous, and pearlescent pigments that give a dewy, high-gloss highlight. “One of my favorite techniques is applying the shades Spotlight and Pinkgasm in a ‘C’ shape from the temple around to the cheekbone for a stunning, luminous rose-gold glow,” she explains “You can also apply Spotlight down the nose in an exclamation mark for a flattering button nose effect and dot it on the inner corners of the eyes for a bright, Bambi-eyed gaze.”

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Strawberry Chocolate Lips

Taking after the many dessert-inspired beauty trends we’ve seen the past few years, Tilbury’s favorite holiday lip look is one she likes to call Strawberry Chocolate Lips. “Darling, this is my secret to the perfect wearable red lip,” she says. “Many people find a bold lip intimidating, but my strawberry chocolate lip trend is the most modern way to wear red. To get the look, start by tracing a neutral, brown-toned lip liner along the edge of your lips. This will then blend into your red lipstick, neutralizing and harmonizing it with the rest of your look. It’s the first step to making a red lip super flattering and wearable!”

Next, Tilbury says to follow with a matte red shade of your choice. Naturally, she loves her Matte Revolution Lipstick in Walk of No Shame (a gorgeous berry red) for a look like this, which is also an all-time favorite of mine. But you also shouldn’t sleep on formulas like Violette_FR’s Petal Bouche Matte Lip Color in Cerise Désir ($31). It’s so rich, pigmented, and the perfect holiday red shade.

To blend your red shade, Tilbury says to start at the center of your lips blending it in softly using your fingertips. “This is about melting the color into your lips, so you don’t need to apply multiple layers,” adds Tilbury.

This is where the look really goes off. To top it all off, Tilbury recommends finishing with a layer of plumping gloss. While you can definitely use a clear gloss here if you’re going for a deeper red lipstick shade, Tilbury says a pink-hued gloss will look gorgeous with a berry red lip color. “Finish with a layer of my new limited-edition Big Lip Plumpgasm in Strawberry Chocolate, which gives the most stunning pink diamond effect and a 3D glazed finish on the lips,” says Tilbury. “My plumping lip gloss is powered by Plumpgasm Heat + Ice Technology, which makes your lips instantly look 93%* bigger! It is the perfect lip-plumping topper for the holiday season—darling, everyone deserves a Plumpgasm!”

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