As part of my hunt for the best moisturiser, the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream sits outside the top 10. Despite its high hydration increase, and the strength of its real-world performance, the price is a major sticking point that pushed it below the likes of The Inkey List’s Omega Water Cream and much more affordable moisturisers, like The Ordinary Moisturising Factors.
This is a shame because it really is one of the best moisturisers I’ve ever used. Its ability to hydrate my oily skin, while helping improve its radiance and leave it looking plumper and more youthful is hugely impressive. This combination is also incredibly rare.
Since officially finishing my Magic Water Cream review period, I keep gravitating back toward it. I love how it feels on my skin, I love how it makes my skin and complexion look and I love its no-nonsense formula. Sadly, my bank balance does not love its price.
For that reason, I highly recommend it if you can afford it, and you have oily, or combination skin. However, if you’re on a budget, or you have dry skin, I’d give it a miss because it’s an expensive habit to break.
| Charlotte Tilbury | From £26 |
| Cult Beauty | From £26 |
| Sephora | From £26 |
The Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream is a fragrance-free, gel-like version of the original Magic Cream moisturiser
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How to use the Magic Water Cream
Magic Water Cream: At-a-glance
Charlotte Tilbury Water Cream review: Performance
Charlotte Tilbury has been relentless with launches recently, especially in the skincare realm.
Following the release of her Hydrating Mist, she followed up with a new version of its bestselling Magic Cream – the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream – in September last year.
Magic Water Cream is a gel cream that’s based on similar ingredients as the number-one, bestselling Charlotte’s Magic Cream, but comes in a much lighter, fragrance-free formula.
For my Charlotte Tilbury Water Cream review, I’ve spent the past three months using the moisturiser every morning and night.
Keep reading to see if the Magic Water Cream lives up to expectations, if it’s worth the price, and how it compares to the original Magic Cream.
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Charlotte Tilbury’s skincare range has steadily grown over the past few years and the Magic Water Cream sits alongside the following products:
mamabella Learn more about the comedogenic and irritation ratings in our Ingredients section at the bottom of this article
What is Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream? A lightweight, fragrance-free cream that contains what the brand calls Waterlocking Fusion Technology. This contains an ingredient called beta-glucan to help restore and maintain the skin barrier. It also contains niacinamide and an “Oil Balancing Extract” to help reduce the appearance of pores and rebalance oily and combination skin.
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream price: £26 (15ml), £79 (50ml)
How to use the Magic Water Cream: Apply to cleansed skin, gently massaging into the face and neck morning and night.
When to use the Magic Water Cream: Ideal for both morning and evening use.
Who should use Magic Water Cream? Suitable for all skin types, especially combination and oily skin types, or anyone looking for lightweight hydration.
Where to buy Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream: Charlotte Tilbury | Cult Beauty | Sephora
Magic Water Cream dupes: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel (£16.50); The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA (£12.80); Tatcha The Water Cream (£67)
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To get the most out of the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream:
Charlotte Tilbury also recommends using her “Tap 5-minute Facial Technique” when applying any of her skincare products. This technique tells you to:
mamabella | mamabella The texture of the Charlotte Magic Water Cream is light and refreshing. It absorbs quickly into the skin without leaving any greasy residue and it works well under makeup
As you can read in my Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream review, I’m not a huge fan of the original moisturiser. It’s a decent cream that performs well but I don’t like how strong it smells, and my oily skin doesn’t always like how thick it is.
With the Magic Water Cream, Charlotte Tilbury has solved almost all the problems I have with the original. The texture is light and refreshing. It absorbs quickly into the skin without leaving any greasy residue and it works well under makeup. It also doesn’t interfere with other skincare products and doesn’t pill when I add SPF on top as other moisturisers do. After using it consistently, my skin felt more hydrated and radiant.
I didn’t see any noticeable improvement in my fine lines or wrinkles, but my skin definitely looked plumper and healthier. At the end of the 12 weeks, my oiliness was more balanced and the redness that tends to gradually get worse throughout the day was drastically reduced. Some days my skin looked so even that it looked like I was wearing foundation even when I wasn’t.
In tests, it increased hydration by 16.7 percentage points, which is a very significant 64.2% increase. This is particularly good for a product designed for oily and acne-prone skin, as it hydrates without adding to oiliness or causing breakouts.
There was a slight drop in hydration points (by 2.1 points) after an hour but overall, it maintained a 56.2% increase in hydration, which is really impressive.
My biggest complaint, though, is how fast I get through it. During the 12-week review period, I got through almost two pots of the Water Cream. By comparison, it took me more than eight weeks to get through the original Magic Cream.
I’ve tried using less but because the texture is thin and absorbs so quickly, I don’t feel like I get quite enough coverage for my face and neck. At £79 a pot, or even £69 for a refill, it makes the Water Cream an expensive habit.
I’d also caution against the Water Cream if you have really dry skin. While it’s hydrating, it’s not as rich and nourishing as the Magic Cream or other thicker creams.
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mamabella | mamabella As part of my hunt for the best moisturiser, the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream sits outside the top 10. Despite its high hydration increase, and the strength of its real-world performance, the price is a major sticking point that pushed it below the likes of The Inkey List’s Omega Water Cream and much more affordable moisturisers, like The Ordinary Moisturising Factors.
This is a shame because it really is one of the best moisturisers I’ve ever used. Its ability to hydrate my oily skin, while helping improve its radiance and leave it looking plumper and more youthful is hugely impressive. This combination is also incredibly rare.
Since officially finishing my Magic Water Cream review period, I keep gravitating back toward it. I love how it feels on my skin, I love how it makes my skin and complexion look and I love its no-nonsense formula. Sadly, my bank balance does not love its price.
For that reason, I highly recommend it if you can afford it, and you have oily, or combination skin. However, if you’re on a budget, or you have dry skin, I’d give it a miss because it’s an expensive habit to break.
FURTHER READING: Best moisturiser for combination skin UK
The TikTok hydration test results are shown in the video below.
@victoria_woolly_web This is not only the highest hydration increase of any product I’ve tested – even pure hyaluronic acid on damp skin – but it’s the highest hydration my skin has ever reached. What’s more, the original Magic Cream didn’t perform very well at all so this is significant and is seriously impressive from @Charlotte Tilbury. The Magic Water Cream lost points because it’s expensive and the brand isn’t fully vegan and there is one potentially icky ingredient in the formula but even with all of that, the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream jumped straight into 13th place in my best moisturiser list. Excuse the different setup, I’m visiting my parents for the summer holidays with my youngest so had to improvise #mamabella #bestmoisturiser #lockedinhydration #hydrationtest #bestbalm #skincare #dryskin #charlottetilbury #magiccream #magicwatercream #tilbury #charlottesmagiccream #hydrationnation ♬ What’s Poppin – Stefflon Don & BNXN
For my review of the Charlotte Tilbury Water Cream review, I applied the cream to cleansed skin, morning and night, for 12 weeks. It was the only change I made in my skincare routine and this meant I could accurately gauge not only how well the cream worked, but could pinpoint any problems to the Water Cream.
In addition to my hydration test, I scored the Water Cream based on how it made by skin look and feel, if it made my oily skin worse, or better, and if it led to any breakouts or other reactions. I also monitored any changes in the appearance of my pores, fine lines, and wrinkles.
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The Magic Water Cream contains:
The following list of ingredients is taken from the INCI Decoder website. You can hover over each ingredient to find out more about it.
sii|h 0 0, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter 
emo|vc, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride emo, Squalane sii|emo 0 1, Propanediol solv|h, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, 1,2-Hexanediol solv, Glyceryl Glucoside h, Niacinamide cci|sb|aacne|h, Mannitol h, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice so|h, Carbomer vc 0 1, Camellia Oleifera (Camellia) Seed Oil emo, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil emo, Caprylyl Glycol h|emo, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer vc, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil emo 0 0, Sodium Gluconate chel|h, Sodium Hydroxide buff, Tocopherol aox 0–3 0–3, Beta-Glucan so|h, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Backhousia Citriodora Leaf Extract, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Cranberry) Fruit Extract, Plumeria Rubra Flower Extract, Ascorbyl Palmitate 
aox 0 2, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-11, Citric Acid buff, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-9, Potassium Sorbate pres, Sodium Benzoate presHover the mouse / tap over an ingredient for short explanation. Read more on INCIDecoder.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
