One of the most oft-repeated slurs against the beauty world is that it is filled with empty promises, assertions of greatness - miracles even - when in reality, many of the products in question deliver nothing more than a faint trickle of excitement. It's made us hardened to big promises, and believe it or not, beauty directors are the most steely-eyed, scrupulously cynical of them all. 

So, please bear all this in mind when I tell you that Charlotte Tilbury's Rock'n'Kohl Liquid Eye Pencil in Eye Cheat is the most instantly transformative make-up product I have happened across in well... ever. Here's the deal: at base level, it's a nude eye pencil, something those in beauty circles know to be pretty fantastic at dispelling the strip of redness that stretches across the eye's waterline whenever you're tired/stressed/dehydrated/no longer 25 (delete as appropriate). Nothing new there. Except, Charlotte's eye pencil is spectacularly different. 

Thing is, most nude eye pencils do the job for which they are intended, in that they take down the red. A bit. But all too often, the slide along this little moistened bit of the eye-line with very little colour pay-off at all. After a few swipes, the redness of my eyes always seems to get worse, not better.

And so it was, that this morning, I ensconced myself at my desk, feeling a little spent from the weekend and I pulled this pencil out from the beauty cupboard. There's seriously some magic in her formula, because Charlotte's pencil glides with as much ease as a nylon stocking on a freshly waxed leg, instantly leaving a trail of peachy freshness in its wake. Instantly, it enlivened my face, seemed to make my complexion look brighter and widened my eyes. 
Plus, as you'd expect from a make-up artist brand, it lasts well too. I was still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come lunchtime. 

Without really working hard for it, I now looked almost a decade younger, fitter, happier and healthier. And if this sounds like hyperbole, well, then so be it, because it's pretty impossible to underplay the power of this pencil. It works on most skin tones, even darker skins - just reduce the amount of layers you pile on. The only snag is Charlotte advises applying it the upper waterline too - the fiddly bit in between the lashes - but I'm still a bit far off from mastering that. 

So, instead, I'm taking my tips from Charlotte's bigger, brighter eyes tutorial, below. If she has her way, Charlotte will make Bardots of us all...