Charlotte Tilbury invisible UV flawless poreless primer
Buy now £39, Charlottetilbury.com
First up, let’s talk about ingredients as there’s plenty to unpack here. According to Tilbury herself, the primer was years in the making as she worked with in-house scientists to fine-tune the formula. There’s a few hero ingredients that are used across the brand’s skincare line, including its “magic 8” complex, a blend of actives and oils that deeply nourish the skin; as well as hydrating hyaluronic acid and polymers that deliver an smooth, radiant finish.
But the star of the show is a breakthrough anti-ageing active called “collalift”. Derived from African mahogany tree bark (niche, we know), it acts as a protective shield, cocooning the skin while minimising pores, fine lines and boosting elasticity to leave skin feeling supple.
Unlike many other SPFs, the creamy formula blends effortlessly before imparting a subtle glow that’s not at all greasy. There’s no white cast or chalkiness either – in fact, if you told us this was a normal moisturiser or primer, we would believe you. We’d happily wear this on its own without make-up as the airbrushed, lit from-within-finish is really flattering on the skin.
Living up to its hybrid status, it has all the properties of a good primer too; the cream feels slightly tacky on the skin but this helps your base products stick and it successfully blurs pores while evening out skin tone. Our sensitive skin wasn’t irritated by this whatsoever and unlike with many other SPFs, it didn’t cause any breakouts during our testing.
We didn’t notice a huge improvement in the longevity of our make-up while wearing this product, but that’s not really the focus here as the high SPF protection it delivers – without any compromises on finish – is the big sell. Plus, the added radiance feels like a fair trade-off, and our make-up still stayed put well throughout the day.