Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Secret Salma Luminous Modern-Matte Lipstick Review

Hello everyone,

This is my newest purchase from Charlotte Tilbury and it’s part of her newly-launched collection “Hot Lips.” It has shades in both her formulas – the Kissing as well as the Matte Revolution formula. The new shades are inspired by and apparently created in collaboration with 12 iconic women with whom Charlotte has worked. What makes it even more special is that for the first 2 months (post launch), GBP 1 from each sale was donated to “Women for Women International.”

Product Description:
Darlings, I always say lipstick empowers confidence – it’s happiness in a tube! My beautiful new “Hot Lips” collection has been created in collaboration with 12 incredible, brilliant, hypnotising women for an incredible charity: Women for Women International! Featuring my revolutionary, iconic square-angled tip that is designed to mimic a lip brush, as well as my CEW award-winning formula enriched with Orchid Extract, and voluminising 3D pigments for cashmere-soft lips that look lit from within. Salma’s smouldering and sexy colouring is so enchanting that I wanted to bottle it! That natural deep-rose plum brings out her beautiful brown eyes, adding instant sultry Latin sex-appeal to anyone who wears it. The perfect addition to the alluring Dolce Vita look!

What Makes them magic:

• £1 from each lipstick sold will be donated to Women for Women International in the first two months of sales.
• Using lighting trickery, pigments and powders is a trick I use all the time on photo shoots, and have been working for years to re-create this effect in the slick of one lipstick.
• Antioxidant Lipstick Tree and soothing orchid extracts soften, protect and hydrate for healthier, younger-looking lips.
• 3D glowing pigments create the illusion of lit-from-within lips that appear wider and fuller.
• Revolutionary, square, angled tip mimics the shape of a lip brush for precision application.
• A perfect blend of oils, triglycerides and waxes glide on for buildable, long-lasting color.
• Ideal for a buildable and long-lasting, cashmere-soft matte finish.
• Paraben free.

Price:
GBP 23

My Experience with Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Secret Salma Luminous Modern-Matte Lipstick:

It is interesting to note that the price for this range has been kept the same as her existing one. Yes, you may argue that the packaging and weight, etc., is all same. However, when there is a collaboration involved, a certain amount of money goes towards the person with whom the brand is collaborating. Despite that factored into the cost, the price remains the same.

Packaging:  The statement rose gold case of the lipstick is quite stunning, very luxurious. It has the regular twist up mechanism. It comes packaged in the trademark Charlotte Tilbury cardboard cover. The cardboard cover is different from the regular one because of the Hot lips on it.  Also, the bullet itself has an imprint of “Hot Lips” on it.

Color: I wanted to try this range. I liked this shade from the first look – I believe the association with Salma Hayek also had a role to play in my selection. What to do – I get influenced!! The shade “Secret Salma” is a pretty, rosy mauve with just a hint of plum – quite muted and natural looking. The plumminess is more apparent on the hand swatch rather than the lips. It’s the kind of shade, which if applied lightly, will make it look as if it’s your natural lip colour – just rosier/pinker. Once built up, it is a gorgeous soft rosy colour with just a hint of mauve.

What I really liked about the campaign is that, if you go onto Charlotte Tilbury’s website to buy the product – you will see actual face swatches of each shade on various skintones and ethnicity – giving you such a clear idea of what the shade is likely to look on you, rather than you having to wonder what light these online swatches were taken in!!

Texture: The texture is extremely lightweight, very smooth and velvety. The shade is again, not a iron clad matte. It’s one of the modern mattes – so somewhere between a satin and a traditional matte lip. It’s extremely comfortable on the lips. There is no hint of any dryness or tug or pull.

Pigmentation: It’s got decent pigmentation. However, the non-intense pigmentation coupled with the soft muted nature of the shade and its proximity to my natural lip colour, if applied lightly, looks just like my natural lip shade – just pinker. Since the texture is so lightweight and the shade is muted, it would be perfect for a no-makeup look. The good thing is that it can be built up, the lipstick allows that, to give a beautiful mauve tinged rosy shade, which is very becoming.

Lasting power: The product lasted about 4-5 hours or so on my lips. There isn’t too much longevity for people who might be expecting a full day wear – considering it’s a matte shade. You know how we always expect or matte lipsticks to last the whole day! Also, there is a bit of transference since the formula is not too matte and borders on satin.

It’s suggested to apply this over the CT Lip Cheat shade Pillow Talk (CT Lip liner). Again, I tried that as well. With the lip liner under it, the lipstick shade does not need to be built up and last for a couple of hours longer. My rating of the product is on its own merit – not based on how it performs with the lip liner because it doesn’t seem fair to judge the product basis the use of another one (even if it is recommended). Everyone who wants to try the lipsticks may not necessarily want to buy the lip liners as well.

To sum this up for you:

Pros of Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Secret Salma Luminous Modern-Matte Lipstick:

• A beautiful sophisticated rosy pink with a touch of mauve and plum – quite unique.
• Lightweight velvety matte texture.
• Decent pigmentation.
• Extremely comfortable to wear – not drying at all.
• Easy to apply from the bullet.
• The lipstick applies smoothly – no tug or pull!
• No feathering or bleeding.
• Luxe packaging.
• Decent staying power.

Cons of Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips Secret Salma Luminous Modern-Matte Lipstick:

• Some may find the wear time to be low – especially since we generally expect better wear time from matte lipsticks.

IMBB Rating:

4/5 product.

Final Thoughts:

The product is of good quality and the shade is quite pretty. However, I don’t feel it’s a must have from the line. Does this look like Salma Hayek’s signature colour? Not really. I feel it’s a bid to use celebrity name/endorsement to sell product. A bit gimmicky, but is it working? Considering that I bought this and am reviewing this for you – I guess the gimmick is working! 😉

Yes, if you buy it, I’m sure you will enjoy this product. But if you cant right now – no need to lose sleep over it!

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