History of Makeup: The Y2K 2000s Makeup Tutorial

Every 2000s makeup look starts with skincare! Before you turn back time with a flawless throwback makeup creation, moisturise and prime your face with my award-winning Charlotte’s Magic Cream. The iconic, backstage formula is designed to hydrate skin while boosting radiance and creating a silky-smooth skin texture – I never do makeup without it! Massage moisturiser into your face and neck using my Tilbury Tap technique, cupping your hands and guiding the rich cream formula with upward, angel wing motions. Magic Cream is powered by Cushion + Lift Mesh Technology that helps to lift the look of skin while creating a cushioning barrier between skin and makeup.

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When creating a 2000s makeup look, I reach for AIRbrush Flawless Foundation – it’s perfect for creating that super-smooth, velvety base that celebrities and stars would wear in the noughties. Once you’ve found your perfect foundation shade using my Foundation Shade Finder, smooth foundation onto your face and blend it out with the dense, flat-sided end of my Hollywood Complexion Brush. The natural-matte finish looks like porcelain on the skin, giving you full, flawless-looking coverage while looking and feeling weightless.

Tilbury Tip: Use Charlotte’s Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer to build coverage, brighten the look of your under eyes and create a soft, lift effect.

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Everyone was beautifully bronzed in the 2000s, darling! Bronzer was applied liberally all over the face to create a beachy, sun-kissed look and was also used to add dimension to the face. Use my Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Bronzer to give your complexion warmth and define the look of facial contours. Follow the hollows of your cheekbones and jawline and sweep bronzer onto the temples and nose to softly bronze and chisel the appearance of your facial framework.  

Tilbury Tip: My Magic Complexion Brush is perfect for buffing cream bronzer into the face and creating a seamless, sun-kissed glow.

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Discover how to apply bronzer to face and body

Powder is the secret to making your Y2K makeup look airbrushed and flawless! With my Powder & Sculpt Brush, softly tap into your perfect shade of AIRbrush Flawless Finish finishing powder and press it under your eyes and into the centre of your face. A light application of powder will help set your makeup into place while helping to smooth and blur the look of your complexion. This formula is finely milled and meshes beautifully with my AIRbrush Flawless Foundation to create a long-lasting, flawless-looking base for your 2000s makeup.

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The 1990s saw thin eyebrows come into fashion, and this trend continued into the  2000s. Instead of tweezing eyebrows into angular, pencil-thin shapes, people would opt for a more natural, barely touched brow shape in the 00s, keeping them simple and effortless with a kiss of brow pencil or tinted brow gel. To get the Y2K brow look, use the spoolie end of my Brow Cheat brow pencil to groom brow hairs into a flattering, pushed-up shape, then create a defined line beneath the brow to unlock the perfect arched brow shape for your face. To give brows a fluffier appearance, brush Legendary Brows tinted brow gel through your brow hairs for a soft, feathering effect.

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My Luxury Palette in Uptown Girl is perfect for getting the frosted eyeshadow effect that supermodels and stars loved in the 2000s. Use the cool grey tones to define the look of your crease and create a sultry, smokey look, then glide the PRIME shade underneath the brow for an icy brow highlight that’s so noughties! To make your 00s eye makeup look POP, tap the iridescent pink shade onto the centre of your lid to get that Y2K frosted finish.

Complete your 2000s eye makeup look by gliding The Classic eyeliner in Classic Black along the lash line to form a grungy winged eyeliner, and don’t forget to run it through your waterline for that classically 00s cat-eye effect. Then, apply [Exagger-Eyes Volume Mascara] to make lashes look 9x more volumised and 2x curled!

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Blush wasn’t the main event of Y2K makeup like it is today; instead, soft blush colours would be blended into the apples of the cheeks to give them an understated, healthy-looking flush. My Matte Beauty Blush Wands are perfect for giving cheeks the super-smooth, natural-looking blush look of the 00s – a couple of dots on the centre of the cheek is plenty to give them a dreamy, rosy look. For tan and deep skin tones, I recommend Dream Pop, a cherry red blush to give cheeks a burst of rosy colour, and for medium and fair skin tones, I recommend Pink Pop as the perfect pastel pop of pale pink.

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Discover how to apply liquid blush

Glossy lips were all the rage in the 00s! In the noughties, lips were lathered in light-reflecting, shimmering gloss and more was more! A quintessential Y2K lip combination needs a noughties nude lipstick, a darker shade of lip liner, and a glowing gloss to keep in your purse along with your flip phone. 

To get the 00s lip look, subtly overline your lips with my Lip Cheat lip liner in Foxy Brown – it’s the perfect shade to recreate the dark lip liner look of the 2000s. Next, add a lighter shade of lipstick to the centre of your lips; I recommend Nude Kate as it perfectly captures the pouty look of the era. Finally, my Collagen Lip Bath in Refresh Rose will give your pout a Y2K mirror-shine finish that was everywhere at the turn of the century – just swipe the heart-shaped applicator across your lips to turn up the gloss!

Tilbury Tip: You can give your Y2K pout an ultra-frosted look by dabbing my Beauty Light Wand in Spotlight onto the centre of your lips.

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Set your 00s makeup look into place with my AIRbrush Effect icon: AIRbrush Flawless Setting Spray. Spray on a generous mist of setting spray to lock your Y2K makeup into place for up to 16 hours!* Just like that, makeup looks smooth, pores appear blurred, and makeup stays all day!

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