Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter vs. the E.L.F. Dupe

Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter has amassed a near-religious following because it makes people’s skin look blurred, dewy, and somehow naturally flawless — at least online and in photos that I’ve seen. But it costs $49 per bottle. Enter E.L.F.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter, which fans cite as the more-affordable counterpart or, dare we say, dupe. It doesn’t lean into the same “filtered skin” fantasy in its marketing. But, at just $15, it seems to be a much more-affordable way to get a glowy complexion.

Both products are complexion-boosters — meant to function as a glowy, light-to-medium-coverage foundation — but they are marketed differently. E.L.F.’s product is pitched as a multitasker you can wear over makeup, under makeup, mixed with foundation, or as a highlighter. The marketing for Charlotte Tilbury’s product leans harder into the airbrushed, “your skin, but like way better” filtered fantasy — meant to mimic a social media filter. But is the Hollywood Flawless Filter really three-times-the-price better? I had to find out.

So I did what any self-respecting glow-chaser would do — I put them to the test, side by side. Although I have used both products on and off over the past year, I put them under a testing microscope for three weeks.

I wore E.L.F.’s Halo Glow every day for one week, and I wore Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter for another. I layered each product under my usual mix of complexion products (including foundation, concealer, contour, bronzer) for a few days, and then I wore each one solo for another few days.

Each time, I wore the product all day to see how it would hold up during activities ranging from a.m. workouts to alfresco dinners. I checked each one in natural light, office light, and the dreaded bathroom-at-a-bar light. I regularly asked friends (including a makeup artist and my very honest mother) what they thought of how I looked. Then, for another three days straight, I wore the two products side by side: one brand on the left side of my face, the other on the right.

This is what I found. One gave me dewy skin that reminded me of my 2-year-old nephew’s skin. The other one made me feel bad for anyone who’d spent nearly $50 with great expectations.

Best worn under makeup, this product gives the top layers of your complexion a glow-up.

With this product, you can turn foundation, highlighter, and concealer into one step.