In 2013, Charlotte Tilbury launched her namesake label with Magic Cream, the not-so-secret-secret base for the makeup artist’s world-famous looks on models and Hollywood stars. 13 years later, on Thursday, Tilbury introduced a new iteration of the hero product: same look, same name, but a brand new formula.
“Everything I create is born out of necessity,” Tilbury told The Business of Beauty. For the original Magic Cream, that necessity was the broken skin barrier of Tilbury’s jet-setting clients in desperate need of some fast-acting glow. For the new reformulation, the need was to introduce the breakthrough, proprietary multi-peptide Recoverstem to the world after Tilbury’s team of scientists developed it in the lab. Unlike traditional synthetic peptides, Recoverstem showed in vitro to effect five biomarkers, including NAD and pro-collagen. “That’s when we knew we had something powerful,” Tilbury said, to take Magic Cream “even farther into the future.”
Brands like Tilbury’s reformulate their hero products for two main reasons, according to Fiona Glen, head of projects at beauty consultancy firm The Red Tree: “One, because you have to. And two, because you want to.” For Magic Cream, reformulation was mandatory, as the original formula contained silicone cyclopentasiloxane, an ingredient the European Union will ban by 2027. Estée Lauder’s Double Wear and Armani’s Luminous Silk, both of which have seen reformulations launch this year, also contained the silicone.
While reformulation is never a decision to be taken lightly, retouching a hero is an ultimate risk. A change in efficacy will be fatal, but even slight alterations to texture or scent could also deter long-time fans.
To avoid that fate, Tilbury is focused on educating shoppers about both the efficacy and exclusivity of the new technology, partnering with dermatologists like Dr Ifeoma Ejikeme, and broadcasting the results of clinical trials. “Four out of five said it felt like a facelift in a jar,” said Tilbury. “Last year was the year of the silent facelift. And this year everyone will be asking: darling, have you had a silent facelift, or have you just been using the magic of Magic Cream?”
Reformulations are also like facelifts: the best results are improved but virtually unnoticeable; the same, but better. Brands have to balance this magic trick with the challenge of communicating the change to shoppers who have used the product for years, or decades.
“Marketing has to be really focused on that ‘new and improved’ perspective,” said Glen. “If you say, ‘we’ve taken this out because it’s bad,’ then people panic about what they’ve got in their cupboards.”
Pulling Off the Product Reformulation
Reformulations are constantly taking place across the industry, but a number of high-profile brands — from Tilbury to Lauder to Olaplex — have recently reintroduced their hero SKUs. The first step of that process is finding out precisely what a customer loves about the original product — as well as what’s not quite working.
Olaplex relied on three key touchpoints for the recent revamp of its Number 3 pre-shampoo treatment: its customer, its professionals and its science, said chief executive Amanda Baldwin. Through consumer feedback, the brand learned that the pre-shampoo Number 3 product could be simpler to use, as well as have more immediately-felt benefits. “Touching a hero SKU is not something to be done lightly, you only want to do it because you have the chance to make something even better,” said Baldwin. Their new Number 3 formula, she said, takes the application time down from 10 minutes to three, and adds more instantly-conditioning benefits.
As Magic Cream is already beloved, Charlotte Tilbury’s strategy was to take the features that customers already loved — such as glow, hydration and firmness — and amplify them. “In our biggest clinical trial to date, we saw wrinkles reduced by 33 percent, glow boosted by 40 percent, and redness reduced by up to 90 percent,” said Tilbury.
As well as clinicals, customer feedback is also key in ascertaining if a reformulation simply does not land, such as in 2023, when Glossier had to revert its short-lived vegan Balm Dotcom reformulation to the original following months of backlash.
Saving Face for Angry Shoppers
So-called “stealth reformulations”, wherein a brand doesn’t proactively inform its customers about a reformulation, are a calculated risk that rarely ends well. Nail care brand The Gelbottle Inc recently learned this the hard way in February when, following months of backlash from nail technicians, the brand circulated an email revealing that a new reformulation of its hero “Builder in a Bottle” product had begun rolling out in mid-2025. “We recognise that we did not communicate these updates to our professional community as clearly or as early as we should have,” the brand shared in a statement to The Business of Beauty.
Explaining the “why” of a reformulation is key to avoiding this fate. “It comes back to education marketing, not just announcing it, but actually taking people on that journey with you,” said Janet Milner-Walker, founder of beauty consultancy firm The Bespoke Advantage.
With the new Double Wear, Estée Lauder took the opportunity to add skincare benefits to the product, in response to the “skinified” demands of the current market. It also tapped Gen Z actress Daisy Edgar-Jones — known for her fresh-faced makeup looks — as its new face. Olaplex tapped comedian Chloe Fineman for a campaign as the brand’s “chief hair officer” to educate and entertain its audience, and updated the product’s title to Number 3.Plus “to signal to the consumer that there was something different in the formula and that it was additive,” said Glen.
For brands that nail the execution, a high risk reformulation could also lead to high reward. “It’s a chance to modernise,” said Glen. Even growing a hero SKU’s sales by 5 percent can lead to more revenue than a net new product launch, she added.
That’s the goal for Magic Cream, which is the one best-selling premium moisturiser in the UK and quickly gaining momentum in China and the US. “It’s important that when you have something that has this iconic status, you’re still keeping all of your consumers happy, but then [taking] it to the next level of kind of scientific breakthrough,” said Tilbury. “And it really is the magic in the science.”
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