I am a sincere believer that an understanding of both history and science sit at the very core of good, objective beauty commentary. The amalgamation of those elements is clear no more so than when we study colour theory- one of the true fundamentals of makeup.
Colour theory extends back as far as 1666, when Sir Isaac Newton explored the colours refracted when light hit a glass prism and, in turn, developed the colour wheel. My personal education in colour theory comes directly from what I believe to be the Beauty Bible, Rae Morris’ Makeup Masterclass– a book that took two years to develop and is deeply rooted in the science of beauty. While the shapes Rae creates using eye makeup are based on the specific ratio of Phi (a story I will save for another time), the colours she uses are determined following the principles of colour theory.
In eye makeup, colour theory is used to either intensify (create a contrast) or complement the colour of one’s iris. While the concept itself is centuries old, Charlotte Tilbury has revived the building blocks of beauty through her new Eye Colour Magic collection– a line of eyeshadow quads and eyeliner duos designed to intensify the colour of your eyes using colour theory.
The Charlotte Tilbury Eye Colour Magic collection promises to “Create the illusion of sparkling, brighter-looking eyes with contrasting and harmonious hues for every eye colour, inspired by colour matching artistry and eye colour magic,” making “blue eyes look bluer, hazel eyes look gold, green eyes look greener and brown eyes look amber.”
The collection consists of four eyeshadow palettes and eyeliners grounded in colour theory- Copper Charge for blue eyes, Mesmerising Maroon for green eyes, Green Lights for hazel eyes and Super Blue for brown eyes.
Despite this, it is worth noting that there are truly no hard and fast rules when it comes to makeup application, and the deciding factor should come down to how a product and colour make you feel. “You don’t have to be a blue-eyed bombshell to get the copper effect,” Charlotte Tilbury agrees, using her Copper Charge palette as an example. “Once you know the rules, break them!”
The four new eyeshadow palettes share their colour-by-numbers principle (four shades named Prime, Enhance, Pop and Smoke) and formula with Charlotte Tilbury’s existing portfolio of Luxury Eye Palettes, which sit amongst my very favourite eyeshadow formulas- creamy (so much so that the Pop shades are best applied using your fingertip) , richly pigmented and charged with finely milled light reflecting particles. I much prefer the Luxury Eye Palette formula to that of Charlotte’s larger 12 pan palettes, as the latter doesn’t provide quite as deep a colour payoff as the former.
The double ended eyeliners each include one matte and one metallic shade in a pencil with a width somewhere between a fine liner and an eye crayon. This is my ideal eyeliner width, as it presents you with options to both line the eyes in a traditional sense, or scribble and smudge for an easy eye look.
The Eye Colour Magic luxury eye palettes and liner duos are available individually or in Magic Trick Kits, each containing one palette, one liner and a Legendary Lashes Volume 2 mascara.
The Charlotte Tilbury Eye Colour Magic collection is available now on charlottetilbury.com
GLOW JOURNAL RECOMMENDED READING:
THE SECRET LIVES OF COLOUR, KASSIA ST CLAIR
MAKEUP MASTERCLASS, RAE MORRIS
Photography and styling: Gemma Watts
Products have been supplied to media without any obligation to review and all opinions are the author’s own.
Charlotte Tilbury quads are so so good. The colour combinations are always so well thought out.
Aren’t they beautiful?! The tutorials on her YouTube channel are so wonderful too!