Charlotte Tilbury is one of the most influential names in the beauty industry. As a renowned British makeup artist with decades of experience working backstage at fashion shows and on editorial shoots, she leveraged her deep knowledge of cosmetics and skincare to launch her own beauty brand in 2013. With an intuitive understanding of what consumers wanted—combined with a flair for glamour and innovation—her namesake brand quickly became a household name.
What began with a curated selection of makeup products and skincare essentials has now grown into a global beauty empire. Charlotte Tilbury Beauty has gained international recognition for its luxurious formulas, iconic product design, and empowering brand message. The brand’s philosophy centres around making high-quality beauty accessible to everyone, whether it’s the everyday lipstick wearer or a celebrity preparing for the red carpet.
In addition to its successful ecommerce store, which offers a seamless and highly branded online shopping experience, Charlotte Tilbury’s products are now widely available in some of the world’s most prestigious retail spaces. In the UK, her collections are stocked by leading department stores such as Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Fenwick's. Across the Atlantic, the brand has made a significant impact in the United States, securing shelf space in Bergdorf Goodman, Sephora and Nordstrom.
The Challenge
Since its launch, the brand has achieved remarkable acclaim, collecting over 300 prestigious global awards across the beauty and cosmetics industry. This widespread recognition is a testament to the brand’s excellence, innovation, and unwavering commitment to quality. In 2018, Charlotte Tilbury herself was honoured with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List—an accolade that reflects her outstanding contribution to the industry and her influence on the global beauty landscape.
As the business continued to grow at a rapid pace, it became clear that the next step in its evolution would involve refining its brand presentation and sustainability efforts. To support this new chapter of expansion and elevate the customer journey, the brand made a strategic decision to invest in custom packaging . This move wasn’t just about aesthetics—it was a conscious effort to align the physical packaging with the brand’s luxurious identity while also addressing growing environmental concerns.
By embracing custom packaging , Charlotte Tilbury aimed to completely eliminate single-use plastics from its mailers and product presentation, opting instead for more thoughtful, eco-conscious materials. The result was to be a custom packaging solution that not only looked beautiful and felt premium, but also enhanced the all-important unboxing experience—transforming it into a memorable brand moment that customers genuinely would look forward to.
The Problem
Lil Packaging was first approached by Charlotte Tilbury in early 2019 with an invitation to tender. Our Product Development Manager had sent a sample of the Lil Breezebox, which we believed to be the perfect custom packaging product for eliminating single use plastic and enhancing the customer unboxing experience. Upon receiving the sample, Charlotte Tilbury’s Commercial Director James Houston was absolutely blown away by our custom packaging - the Lil Breezebox. He cancelled the tender altogether and decided to work solely with Lil Packaging on the custom packaging project.
Soon after, a meeting was set up at Charlotte Tilbury’s distribution centre, where it very quickly became evident that CT were using too many different box sizes which were causing a lot of confusion amongst the fulfilment team and needed to be streamlined. Furthermore, a vast amount of void fill and tape was being used which was having a negative impact on the fulfilment speed and the customer unboxing experience.
The Solution
Having studied Charlotte Tilbury’s most popular selling SKUs, Lil Packaging were able to effectively streamline CT’s custom packaging range down to four Breezeboxes vs the seven sizes that they were previously using. The integrated Breeze tissue paper, patented by Lil had a major impact on reducing the amount of void fill used and significantly enhanced the customer unboxing experience. Moreover, the Breezebox's pop-up construction had shown to increase fulfilment speed by at least 20%. Another custom packaging positive especially during busy periods.
The Outcome
Charlotte Tilbury discovered that custom packaging in the form of the Lil Breezebox proved to be the perfect solution in eliminating void fill and improving the customer unboxing experience. Furthermore, the warehouse team benefited from at least 20% faster fulfilment and a streamlined easy to use ecommerce box range.
A key element supporting Charlotte Tilbury’s rise has been the use of custom packaging . Every product is presented in a way that reflects the brand’s signature rose-gold elegance and glamour. From intricately designed lipstick tubes to thoughtfully structured ecommerce mailers, the brand understands the power of first impressions. High-quality, custom packaging not only protects delicate cosmetic products during transit but also plays a vital role in customer experience and brand storytelling. Whether opening a product in-store or unboxing it at home, customers encounter custom packaging that feels as luxurious and distinctive as the product inside.
As the beauty market grows increasingly competitive, Charlotte Tilbury continues to stand out—not just because of product performance, but also because of the emotional impact and elevated feel delivered through carefully considered custom packaging solutions. It’s a brilliant example of how custom packaging can enhance both perceived value and brand loyalty in the beauty space.
To this day Charlotte Tilbury remains a loyal customer of Lil Packaging and are still extremely happy with their Breezebox custom packaging and the excellent service provided. In fact, Charlotte Tilbury are now exploring international supply with Lil Packaging.