How Lottie Tomlinson Went From Self-Confessed Beauty ‘Geek’ to a Style Icon
Main image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
Lottie Tomlinson, 26, might be the half sister of arguably one of the most adored men on the planet, but she’s long been adored in her own right too.
Digital creator, wellness queen, entrepreneur, author and mother to two children, she’s certainly making her own mark on the world without the kudos of having a brother called Louis.
And speaking of adoration, she’s just launched her new makeup line, ‘Adored By’ which is already being praised for its effective formulas and realistic prices (hello cost of living).
We sat down to chat to Lottie about how her much sought after collection came about, the one skincare item she says has totally changed her skin and why she feels the self-care element in beauty can make a positive difference to your mental wellbeing.
Getting into makeup
Every girl’s obsession with makeup has to start somewhere. For Tomlinson, it all began with a Benefit concealer aged around 12. “We had a family computer, and I was just researching different brands, different products and it became an obsession,” she explains.
Image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
“Then my mum said to me, ‘you can buy one makeup product.’ And I was so excited and happy. It was a little concealer pot from Benefit which they don’t even sell anymore called Erase Face. I remember literally scraping what I had right to the very end, and it just went from there. I’d go to Boots and buy little palettes and beg my sisters to let me do their makeup.”
YouTube played a part too. “A massive part,” she says. “All the work that I did with makeup before I moved more into social media was all learnt from YouTube tutorials. I never did a course or anything like that. I just used to watch the videos. It’s amazing what you can actually learn through watching it on YouTube.”
Her biggest beauty inspirations
“I remember watching Pixiwoo [Sam and Nic Chapman] and they did the most amazing videos. It was step by step and really in-depth teaching of how to do the basics,” she explains. Any other icons she looked up to? “Growing up, I don’t feel like I really had an icon in terms of a pop star or TV star, I would just get obsessed with certain makeup YouTubers or Instagrammers.”
Lottie Tomlinson unveils her first beauty launch with Adored By. – a curated edit of everyday make up essentials for her effortless, signature glam. Adored By. x Lottie Tomlinson is available now from Adoredbeauty.com. Image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
And she’s not a fan of trend hopping either. “I follow people on Instagram and get inspiration, but I just try and really be myself and go with my own look,” she explains. “It’s easy to just jump onto trends but I just stick with what really feels authentic to me.”
So how does Tomlinson feel about being other people’s style icon? “It’s crazy,” she says. “It’s surreal to realise that little girls who are in a position that I was back in the day might look at me as that person. Sometimes I’ll get messages on Instagram and it’s so nice.”
Self-care VS mental health
Very sadly, Tomlinson lost both her mother and sister within three years of each other, and as a result she has done lots of work with grief charities. With so much personal experience with grief, can she identify a connection between beauty and self-care and its effects on mental health? “Yeah definitely,” she says.
“It played a huge part. If I can get up and put that makeup on, make myself feel better the instant change in my mood is just crazy. When you feel more yourself, you feel like you can tackle your day and whatever you’re dealing with.”
It’s not always easy to commit to though, she explains. “I remember times when I was going through harder times and I noticed that I lost that interest in wanting to get ready and wanting to make myself look nice. But it really does go hand in hand.”
Now though, she makes self-care a priority. “I prioritise getting up, putting on a little bit of makeup, even if it’s just for five minutes, and sorting myself out. It does change the mood of my day, completely.”
Creating her own beauty lines
So, imagine already being obsessed with makeup and then being approached to start your own collection. “It was really exciting because it was a lot of creative control for me, which is always an exciting project,” Tomlinson explains. “I do a lot of endorsements for other brands and products, but this was something I could really get my teeth into – choose the shades, the formulas, the packaging. It’s been really nice to finally see it all coming to life.”
Image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
And she says that working on beauty projects like Adored By and also her own tanning line, Tanologist, makes her feel like herself. “I just feel my most ‘me’ because that’s just what I love,” she says. “I mean, that’s where the name Tanologist came from because I was just obsessed and a geek over beauty!” Oh Lottie, we can relate!
So when it comes to Adored By, what’s her main aim? “It’s really important that everyone feels that they can be part of it and it must be fun,” she explains. “I feel like we’ve done a stable collection of my go-to products.”
OK, we want to know all about it. “We’ve got the Matte Stack Eyeshadow which is great because there’s a range of shades in there so you can create a daytime or a nighttime look,” she says. “The Lucky Lip Trio is just my favourite combo ever, I’m obsessed with it. I’m so glad that I managed to get those shades exactly how I like them.”
The bronzer and blusher in the collection also have two shades each. “I wanted to make sure that we were catering for fairer skin tones and deeper skin tones so hopefully there is something for everyone.”
Image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
If she had to pick one that she couldn’t live without though? “Definitely my Luckiest Dew Boost Lip Gloss,” she says. “I feel like it goes over so many different colours. I just wanted a good topper that you can pair with any kind of lip combo and that really is the shade.”
When it comes to skincare…
We’ve covered makeup but we can’t chat to Lottie Tomlinson without talking about skincare too. I mean, have you seen her skin? Turns out she loves a good moisturiser and, “being able to look hydrated,” she says. “Lately it’s been a barrier cream. It’s something I’ve recently discovered, and it’s changed my skin.”
She explains for her combination skin, “having a light barrier cream in the evening has really changed it because I’m waking up feeling like my skin’s still hydrated, rather than sometimes when I’m using just a standard moisturiser.” Any barrier cream in particular? “Byoma Barrier + Repair Treatment [£17],” she says. *adds to basket immediately*
So if she had to choose between makeup or skincare, what would it be? “For every day, skincare and makeup go hand in hand,” she explains. “I can’t do one without the other and to create a really nice, natural look, a big part of it is skincare.” Amen sister!
And her skin and makeup routine is pretty simple. “I like to have a really hydrated face and then I put a skin tint over that and my contour stick,” she continues. “A little bit of a lip, a bit of mascara and then I feel like I have a look.”
Lottie’s best beauty tips
Let’s hear it straight from the queen of beauty’s mouth – what is the biggest beauty lesson she’s learnt over the years? Simply, it’s to use a makeup setting spray. “I know it sounds like an obvious thing to say but I used to think they were a bit of a con, but it really genuinely has changed my makeup routine!”
Image – Micheala Tornaritis for Adored By
Once finished applying her makeup, “I spray my face a lot, so it feels wet, then I’ll dry it down by [using my hands like a fan] and then put powder on top and it really locks my makeup in place.”
The takeaway
We were lucky enough to receive Tomlinson’s new makeup line ‘Adored By’ and it really is rather chic. It includes easy-to-use, foolproof products with well thought out shades and gorgeous packaging. Make sure you check out the eyeshadow stack – its swivel mechanism is particularly savvy.
At aged just 26 and with so many past and present life experiences on her shoulders, you’d be forgiven for thinking Lottie Tomlinson might not *quite* have it all put together. But oh how wrong you’d be. In fact, she seems to know *exactly* what she’s good at, what she wants and how to get it, all whilst tackling motherhood and going through the relentless journey of grief. It’s no wonder she’s looked up to by so many.
Get Glowing!
