Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter and Its Golden Globes Debut

At the Golden Globes in January 2018, Charlotte Tilbury put a product nobody could buy yet on the faces of Greta Gerwig, Mandy Moore, Laura Dern and Susan Sarandon. Allure reported it at the time: Hollywood Flawless Filter, which Tilbury called her top-secret elixir, used on celebrities for more than 25 years. It reached stores that March.

The brand was only a few years old then. Tilbury, a British makeup artist, launched Charlotte Tilbury Beauty in September 2013 with Magic Cream and around 200 products, according to Space NK's brand history.

So here is what the Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter actually is. It is a liquid complexion booster that blurs, smooths and adds glow. The brand says it was inspired by social media filters and Hollywood lighting, and it gives four ways to wear it: alone, under foundation, mixed with foundation, or over it. Cosmopolitan called it the brand's most viral product, and the brand site lists 12 shades.

The first grid is four Flawless Filter shades plus the Tilbury pieces I would pair with it. The second grid is eight liquid glow products from other brands, for when you want a different kind of light.

My test for shade: swatch two shades side by side on your jaw, not your hand, and step over to a window. The one that disappears but leaves your skin looking lit is the right one.

The four Flawless Filter shades here run from 2.5 Fair through 4 Medium and 5 Tan to 7 Deep. The numbers matter more than the names. It is a glow product, not a foundation, so you can go a touch deeper than your skin for warmth, but not lighter, which can look grey.

The way I use it most is mixed in. A pump of foundation, a dot of Filter, stir on the back of your hand, and apply. On a no-makeup day I wear it alone on the high points of the face: cheekbones, the bridge of the nose, the top of the lip.

The rest of the grid is the Charlotte Tilbury kit around it. Wonderglow Face Primer goes underneath, and the brand says it uses light-reflecting microspheres for a soft-glow focus. Unreal Skin Sheer Glow Tint is a light coverage foundation stick in 20 shades, a nice match if you want some coverage without losing the glow. The Beauty Highlighter Wand in Pinkgasm is a gel you dot and blend as a highlighter or a blush. Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray finishes it, and the brand claims up to 16 hours of wear in its own test of 30 people.

What I would skip: the primer and the Filter together if you have oily skin. Two glow layers can tip over into shine by mid-afternoon, so pick one.

This grid is for anyone who wants the effect with a different feel. They are all liquids, and most can be mixed into foundation the same way.

Dior Forever Glow Star Filter is the most direct comparison, a liquid illuminator that the brand says enhances and smooths the complexion. Too Faced Born This Way Super Glow is similar, a skin enhancer you can wear alone or with makeup. Saie Glowy Super Gel is lighter and sheerer, and it is labeled noncomedogenic, which helps if you break out easily.

Then the true highlighters. Rare Beauty Positive Light is a silky liquid with a soft, luminous finish. Hourglass Unreal Radiant Glow claims up to 12 hours of buildable glow. Westman Atelier Liquid Super Loaded adds vitamin C, and Dior Forever Glow Maximizer in Rosy brings a pink tone to the cheekbones. rhode Highlight Milk is the shimmeriest one here, built on the brand's glazing milk formula.

A pairing I like: a sheer glow product all over, then a highlighter only on the cheekbones. That way the light seems to come from the skin, and the shimmer stays in one place.

What I would skip: rhode Highlight Milk all over the face if you have visible texture. Shimmer sits on bumps, so keep it to the tops of the cheeks.

I think the trick with the Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter, and with every bottle in the second grid, is restraint. Tilbury's pitch was a filter in real life, and real light only hits a few places: cheekbones, the nose, the brow bone, the top of the lip. Put glow there and leave the rest of the face soft or bare. Choose one filter, one highlighter and one setting step, and learn how they layer before you add anything else. Most of the magic is in the placement, not the bottle. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Charlotte Tilbury Foundation and Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick.