Charlotte Tilbury: Pillow Talk Palette

Sofia Temmuz 23, 2021

At the start of the year I outlined my goals for the year in my post, Life Changes for 2020 and the first goal I wrote about was my dream of obtaining a new job. Well I completed it, at the start of March I began my new role at a new company. Having worked in the same job for 3 and a half years I felt incredibly nervous and unsure about starting a new job but I have surprised myself with how well I have kept it together. I am not a fan of change and this is one of the greatest changes you can experience so after successfully moving across to my new job, I decided to reward myself.

Usually when I start a new job, I like to use my first pay check to treat myself to something I can remember that job by. With my first ever pay check from my first job I bought a Ted Baker Bag which I still have to this day. From then on I have always treated myself with my first pay check, except with this new job. When my first pay check came into my bank account, we had just begun lockdown so I did not have the same opportunity to treat myself. Luckily after working a week of my new job, dealing with the stress of my first week and because I wanted to, I decided to get myself a treat.

This treat was not as grand as my usual treats but it was a treat none the less as realistically I did not need it and it was the Pillow Talk Palette from Charlotte Tilbury. I was walking past the counter and I noticed they had 20% off the palette and immediately I thought fuck it and bought it. I have used my Pillow Talk Quad so much that I figured a whole palette based on the Pillow Talk range had to be a winner. The question is, was it a winner? I have now had the palette for a good few months so I've had a decent amount of time to test it

Charlotte Tilbury

I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about my general thoughts on the Pillow Talk collection from Charlotte Tilbury because I have some. At first I loved the lip liner, that was back when it was the only Pillow Talk product and I was so excited when the brand announced that a matching lipstick was coming out. I had always used the liner as a lipstick because I just loved the shade. However I never ended up buying the lipstick and it was because I've had such a hit and miss relationship with the formulation of the Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks.

Next they launched the 'Pillow Talk Collection' which was a quad based on the lipstick shade and one of the brands Cheek to Chic blushers. When I first laid my eyes on that Quad, I knew I had to have it and luckily Really Ree posted an early access link to her Instagram so I managed to order the quad a couple of days early and I was thrilled. I adored and still love the Pillow Talk quad, it creates the most beautiful soft pink, romantic eye look and the formulation is pretty spot on. I thought that would be it for the collection but no, at the start of the year they launched their biggest Pillow Talk collection yet and I have to say I wasn't impressed.

Now the entire thing seems over done. I get the quad and to some degree the blusher but a 12 pan eyeshadow palette stemmed from one lipstick shade seems too far to me. I feel like the original colour has been taken away and now anything that has a slightly pink hue is now part of the 'Pillow Talk line' which shouldn't be the case.

The brand launched a deep burgandy eye liner as part of the collection which I bought and I love it but it isn't Pillow Talk, it is a completely different shade. The only reason they have put it under the Pillow Talk name is because they know it is a popular product so hopefully people will be more interested in it due to it being part of that collection. I actually didn't care that it was part of the Pillow Talk collection, I just loved the colour.

After this massive Pillow Talk drop I think they need to step away from making more Pillow Talk products and actually do something a little bit different for once. However seeing as they have just launched the Jewel Pot and a sparkly lipgloss in the Pillow Talk shade, it doesn't seem like their Pillow Talk expansion is going to slow down anytime soon.

Pillow Talk Palette

Despite all of this I did buy the Pillow Talk Palette and I have no regrets, it is a beautiful palette but it shouldn't have been the Pillow Talk palette. There is one shade which kind off looks similar to the lipstick shade but the others are all completely different tones. I can't even say I would wear the lipstick with each of the looks in the palette, I think the Desk look is stunning but I wouldn't pair it with the Pillow Talk lipstick, I would want something a little bit more peachy to match the peachy shade in the look.

Forgetting that this is a Pillow Talk palette I do think the shades are beautiful and the looks you can create are actually really good. There are 12 shades in the palette broken down into 4 different looks which each hold 3 different shadows. The looks are: Day, Desk, Date and Dream. The only look I really struggle with is Dream as it is made up of: 2 dark pink shimmer shades and a deep magenta pink which is a look I never go for and can't imagine I am going to adopt anytime soon. However the other shades are all gorgeous and I get a lot of use out of them.

Shade Range

The shade range in this palette is actually pretty good, it has every type of pink shade you could possibly want and it is all very wearable. As I said before the only shades I struggle with are the three shades which feature in the Dream look, they are slightly too bright pink for me. When I create a pink eye shadow look I want something a little bit more muted. Thankfully this palette caters to this preference.

Alongside the soft pink shades are some warmer brown shades which stop the look from resembling pink eye which is always a fear I have when it comes to pink eye shadow. There is also a gorgeous peachy shade. The deeper brown shade in the Date look gives the opportunity to create a bit of a smoky eye. My one criticism is that I would have liked to have seen a deeper shade, perhaps a dark burgundy instead of one of the really pink shades in the Dream look.

I might have criticised the Pillow Talk range but the Pillow Talk eyeliner goes with most of the looks you can create with this palette. The only one I wouldn't use it with would be the Dream look but it suits the rest of them and brings out the pink hue within the shadows. The liner can also be used to create a bit of a smoke so in a way I have the burgundy I would have liked to have seen in the palette.

In a way the shade range reminds me of The New Nude from Huda Beauty but the Pillow Talk palette is definitely much warmer.

Formula

The Pillow Talk Palette stands out a little bit amongst the Charlotte Tilbury palette line up as it is mainly made up of matte shadows which is hardly ever the case with Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadows. The brand is all about being glowy and a matte shadow would be the opposite of this but I think it works for the shades in this palette. This palette is designed to create some romantic looks and I don't think a shimmery pink eyeshadow quite says sexy, more like 'Hi, I'm 5 years old and I've done my own makeup today.'

All of the matte shadows are really pigmented and when you swatch them, they border on feeling quite dry but when you apply them to your eye they blend beautifully and look bold. The shimmer shades are just as beautiful and pigmented. The only one that is a bit of a let down is the very first shade as it does not have much colour, it is just more of a golden shimmer. It is very pretty but I just don't think it holds up against the other shimmer shades and it doesn't quite pack a punch like the rest of them. Overall the formulation of the shadows is smashing and the colours are wonderfully pigmented.

Comparison to the Pillow Talk Quad

In addition to the Pillow Talk Palette, I also own the Pillow Talk Quad which I have loved from the moment I first used it. If I am honest I prefer the subtle tones of the Pillow Talk Quad but the formulation of the palette is much better. If you look in the picture above, you can see the 4 shadows on the right are much bolder than the four on the left. The four on the left are the 4 shadows in the Pillow Talk Quad whereas the four on the right are similar shades in the Pillow Talk Palette.

The good thing is that the shadows are different in both palettes so if you have one and want the other, it doesn't really matter. The Pillow Talk Quad is going to give a lighter, more subtle look whereas you can do more with the Pillow Talk Palette and add a more seductive, darker tone which you cannot do with the Pillow Talk Quad alone.

The greatest difference between the two palettes is that the quad contains a 'pop' shade. I believe Charlotte Tilbury are trying to steer away from the pop shades as the newer quads now have a more wet look Celestial shimmer in them, opposed to a glitter. I actually quite like the Pop glitters as they are quite different from other shadows and to be honest Charlotte Tilbury has succeeded where other brands have failed and they have made a glitter that is actually easy to apply and doesn't end up all over your face. The shimmer shadows in the Pillow Talk palette are more like the new Celestial shadows which is why they are so bold and pigmented. The Pop shades were always a light colour with plenty of glitter.

With the Pillow Talk Palette you could definitely make a look similar to the Quad meaning you would not need both but I already had the quad and to be honest it is much better for my makeup bag as the quads are so compact. The Palette is still relatively small for a palette that holds 12 shadows but realistically the looks I like to create with the palette are very similar to what can be done with the quad.

Considering the amount of shadows you get in the palette for £60, the quad seems quite expensive in comparison. The quads are now £40 each which is expensive for only 4 shadows, that makes each little pan £10 each. I did not pay £60 for the Palette, I paid £48 as it had 20% off, I did however pay full price for the quad so I only paid £8 more for the palette for an additional 9 shadows. If you are interested in the Pillow Talk Quad, I would say it was worth checking to see if the Palette has 20% off because it does make it a better purchase with that discount.

Final Thoughts

I didn't bother speaking about the packaging but it is the embodiment of the Charlotte Tilbury brand. The palette is a compact, slim, rose gold palette with a gorgeous 1920s design on the front. In my mind it is the type of product you would have seen on Daisy Buchanan's dressing table. The packaging alone tells you that this is a luxury product.

Was it necessary for me to buy this palette? Do I have palettes very similar? Yes, most definitely yes but this was a great addition to my collection and it is a palette I use quite a lot. I love that it is broken down into looks as it makes it super easy for makeup novices like me. I am glad I did not spend £60 on it as I definitely will not use those bolder pinks on the end but I regularly use the rest of the palette.

This is a limited edition palette but we all know limited edition is a loose term for Charlotte Tilbury, this palette has been in stock for months. This was launched at the end of last year and it is still available so I imagine you are going to be able to buy this for a while. Charlotte Tilbury is not my favourite brand and I would like to see something different, in terms of colour, from the brand but I cannot deny that the brand creates some stunning products.

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