Sofia Tilbury, AKA neice of your favourite beauty mogul Charlotte Tilbury, is the product and content creator as well as brand ambassador and celebrity make-up artist under Charlotte Tilbury cosmetics. The blonde bombshell’s vocations keep pilling up, but last week she ticked off a major moment from her bucket-list: creating the make-up looks for Zuhair Murad’s Spring/Summer 2022 Couture show. We wanted to know everything that went on backstage, before the show and during, so we spoke to Tilbury about what it was like to create the looks and work with the Lebanese couturier.
Grazia: This was your Paris Couture Week debut in real life! Has this been a bucket list event?
Sofia Tilbury: “I am so thrilled have finally been able to attend Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in person! It definitely is a huge moment in my career! I created the makeup look for Zuhair Murad’s Autumn/Winter ’21 Couture show remotely last year, so it was such a joy to meet him in person and feel the energy of the show backstage this time around!”
G: What was the best thing about working on the backstage beauty at Zuhair Murad?
S.T.: It is always such a privilege to work with Zuhair and help bring his incredible visions to life. My friends in the Middle East had told me how warm, kind and passionate he is, and when I met him, he was instantly so welcoming. He loves to use makeup to bring the story behind each piece to life, and gave us so much room to collaborate and get creative with this look!
Zuhair is incredibly dedicated to his craft and his attention to detail is inspirational! He truly knows how to use his artistry to make women look and feel beautiful and empowered. It is such an honour to work with him!
G: How did you decide what the makeup look would be? Did you work with the designer/fashion team to agree on a look?
S.T.: We met with Zuhair the day before the show to look at his beautiful couture pieces and collaborate on a makeup look together. We both wanted to complement the romance of the collection whilst capturing a rebellious spirit of adventure too.
Zuhair and I wanted the models’ skin to look fresh and natural, so we used Charlotte’s new Beautiful Skin Foundation to create a healthy-looking, dewy glow, with a light, cream bronze for a sun-kissed effect. I used the Hollywood Contour Wands on the cheekbones and temples to add warmth to the skin, and we also blended it across the bridge of the nose.
Zuhair loves a smokey eye, so we used neutral-toned matte and chocolate bronze eyeshadows to define the eyes and create a beautiful, diffused effect, with a sheer, metallic pop on the lids.
To finish, the brows were brushed-up and feathered for a full, fluffy, natural look, and we pressed on a sheer nude lip for a touch of freshness using Charlotte’s lipstick shades in Pillow Talk Intense, Coverstar or Kim K.W. depending on each model’s complexion.
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G: How would you describe the look in 3 words?
S.T.: Romantic, sultry and glowing!
G: You’ve shared the full product list on how to recreate the look, but what is your ultimate tip for bringing the whole look together?
S.T.: My ultimate tip for bringing this look together is to dedicate your time to perfecting the skin. As Charlotte always says, you can’t have beautiful painting without a beautiful canvas, so backstage, we always spend a lot of time prepping the models’ skin with skincare, from the Cryo-Recovery Face Mask and Eye Serum to Charlotte’s iconic Magic Cream – which is the ultimate instant turnaround for dull, dehydrated looking skin!
We also used Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Foundation, which improves the look of your skin with every wear! Paired with Charlotte’s pore-blurring, soft-focusing Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder as a finishing touch, it gives you medium, buildable coverage with an instant glow that lasts all day!
G: Zuhair Murad is a Lebanese designer with a huge following and clientele in the Middle East. Why do you think Arab women will be drawn to this look?
S.T.: Zuhair really knows how to make women look and feel beautiful and confident, and this makeup was an extension of his romantic, dreamy and empowering vision for Spring Summer 2022 Couture.
I know how much everyone in the Middle East loves GLOWING skin and sultry, smokey eyes, so this makeup is a match made in heaven! The diffused smokey eye we created was incredibly easy as we used the blendable, buildable mattes from the Super Nudes Easy Eye Palette and glide-on-and-go Eyes to Mesmerise, which are both fool proof!! The key is to use neutral-toned shades on the eyelids to create a soft, diffused effect before adding lashings of Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes Mascara and creamy, brown eyeliner along the waterline.
A quick, easy smokey eye with fresh, flawless skin and a nude lip is one of the most sophisticated looks for a dialled up evening event, so Arab women will love experimenting with this!
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G: Any upcoming Celebrities or events you are working on soon?
S.T.: We have so many exciting celebrity events, runways and red carpets coming up soon—from Fashion Month to Cannes, the Oscars, Met Gala, and the BAFTAs! We worked with the incredible Kate Moss, Phoebe Dynevor and Jourdan Dunn for the launch of Beautiful Skin Foundation, which was ICONIC, and we have SO many exciting NEW innovations launching this year too! I can’t wait for everyone to discover the secrets we’ve been keeping!!
