Make-up artist and author Wendy Rowe joins me in this episode to talk candidly about having been an ambitious child who wanted to mingle with the greats - and how she made that happen, to explain how grief and losing her parents affected her, to discuss why she reveres eating healthily, and to share a fair few beauty tips - including the one Sienna Miller taught her. P.s. Wendy also brings up Elvis of her own volition. I didn't prompt or bride her in any way to do so, FYI. P.p.s. Do let me know ...
May 21, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Season 4Ep. 7
In this episode, I'm joined by beauty editors George Driver and Perdita Nouril, and PR Holly Hope Harper to discuss their career paths, how the beauty industry works (along with some of the pitfalls and perks), how bloggers and journalist's jobs intersect and where they diverge, and whether posts or pages in a magazine containing adverts can still have integrity. We also have a bit of a rant about anonymous websites which allow trolls to flourish, and discuss what we would change about the indus...
May 15, 2020•1 hr 2 min
'I would see not just in American media, but in Indian media, which actually hurts me more, that fair was considered beautiful. And it was the only thing considered beautiful. I felt like I had to look like that to ever be accepted or thought of as beautiful or to find friendship or love. I love my skin colour so much now that I really, really want girls, men, anyone growing up today to recognise that.' Deepica Mutyala knew from a young age that she would shrug off the expectations place on her ...
Apr 30, 2020•41 min•Season 4Ep. 6
‘These days everyone wants to put cameras everywhere. I refuse to have them in the dressing room, because that is sacrosanct. Those are the two hours where the person in the chair becomes the person that’s going to be in front of the camera that day. Sometimes that’s themselves, sometimes it’s somebody very different. It’s not just about the physical act of doing the hair and the make-up, it’s the psychological act of becoming.’ I’m joined by the legendary hair stylist Sam McKnight . Sam’s caree...
Apr 23, 2020•38 min•Season 4Ep. 5
'I just feel a bit like "why do I think I'm entitled to look younger than I am?" I am 40. I don't actually want to look younger than I am, I just want to look like a good version of where I'm at. For me, botox would not be the path to looking like a good version of me now. I don't really mind if my friends or people I meet think "oh she looks her age." That doesn't freak me out. I just think "well, yeah, that's as it should be."' Singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis Bextor joins me on this episode to ...
Apr 16, 2020•43 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Leanne Pero founded her award-winning The Movement Factory in 2001 at the age of 15, which has to date impacted over 500,000 young people through its programmes. The catalyst for Leanne learning to dance was a period of abuse suffered while at the home she ended up fleeing at 13. In 2016, Leanne was diagnosed with cancer. During her treatment, she realised how underrepresented the BAME community were in the dialogue surrounding cancer - and how many misconceptions abounded. Her response was to f...
Apr 09, 2020•54 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Bobbi Brown is a woman so synonymous with the eponymous make-up brand she started in the early '90s, that it was somewhat surreal to be sitting with the real, human Bobbi Brown. In this episode she teases the two Bobbi's apart, talking about both how she made hers a household name for make-up before leaving the company three years ago, and the human endeavour behind it. We also talk about Bobbi’s life today, from her pared back approach to beauty (towards the end we look through her travel beaut...
Apr 02, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Author, presenter, and founder of TRINNY LONDON joins me in this episode to talk about everything from growing up with acne while her older sister breezed through adolescence with spot-free skin, learning to loathe fake tan, managing an addiction to sugar, handling her mental health during challenges like IVF, tackling money issues, and the thrill of not knowing 'what's behind the closed door.' ‘Your make-up can age you, and define the decade in which you felt your most beautiful. Taking away th...
Mar 26, 2020•48 min•Season 4Ep. 1
'I feel uncomfortable with doing something interventionist to my body that means that it's somehow kind of disguising what I really am. I have a sort of Dorian Gray feeling about it, that you know somewhere this person, this old crone will be there underneath it all and you're wearing a kind of mask.' Journalist and former editor-in-chief of Vogue, Alexandra Shulman , joins me in this episode to discuss her life, and her 25 years at Vogue, candidly, touching on everything from the expectation to...
Dec 19, 2019•48 min•Season 3Ep. 12
‘As soon as you feel great, however that is presenting yourself - for me it’d be just having something on to feel a bit more polished in terms of my make-up - that impacts the way you present yourself. Yes, it’s kind of a shame that you feel “I need to have this make-up on to feel great”, but I think that’s overridden by the positives that would come from any interactions you’d have when you feel great.’ Blogger and make-up artist Rose Gallagher is a much-loved figure in the beauty industry for ...
Dec 12, 2019•40 min•Season 3Ep. 11
When road and track cyclist Dani Rowe and I first met, I was really struck by her candid nature and fascinated by her anecdotes about her extraordinary career as a thrice world champion and Olympic gold medallist, so felt she'd be a perfect fit for the show. Happily, she agreed to come on and in this episode talks openly about everything from meeting the Queen (the rules: no selfies, no questions), how she geared herself up to cycle in the Olympics (music played a role), the pay gap between men ...
Dec 05, 2019•45 min•Season 3Ep. 11
As a budding (ahem) florist, Nikki Tibbles was often required to wake up very early in the morning and had little time and even less inclination to put on make-up. Fast forward 23 years, and Nikki's time is even more stretched; her Wild at Heart business is flourishing, and she's also at the helm of the Wild At Heart Foundation , which she founded in 2016, with the mission to bring an end to the world's 600 million stray dog problem by organising rescue projects, sterilising as many as possible,...
Nov 28, 2019•43 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Between straddling the roles of producer, mother, and designer of FROST yoga wear, it's little wonder that Sadie Frost has had to make an effort to prioritise creative and family time and therefore has a very streamlined and efficient routine. In today's episode, Sadie and I discuss that routine, along with how she balanced having a career with motherhood ('I’d get myself to a situation where things would be going really well and then I’d get pregnant again. But I’ve always been driven and I’ve ...
Nov 21, 2019•35 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In the first of this season's bonus episodes, I’m joined by the award-winning beauty journalist Sam Silver and the fashion and celebrity stylist Gemma Rose Breger who jointly founded This Is Mothership , an online platform designed to share practical tips and tricks on beauty and fashion for busy mums. In today’s episode, we talk about how - and why - Sam and Gemma came to found This Is Mothership , their own pregnancy challenges, how having babies affected their careers, and they of course impa...
Nov 14, 2019•39 min
Make-up artist and beauty industry maverick Ruby Hammer MBE's story speaks of her innate chutzpah and inner conviction, and includes ditching plans to work for the UN n favour of make-up artistry after a chance encounter, hard graft while growing her career as a mum to a young daughter, and launching a huge brand while going through a divorce. Her advice to her younger self? ‘When I was young, I was always an optimist and I was pretty naive, and I think now I realise is that life is not all sing...
Nov 07, 2019•45 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Yoga teacher Tashi Dawa ( @tashi_dawa_yoga ) believes that beauty has nothing to do with exterior but rather is about one's experience of life: ‘This is the oldest we’ve ever been and the youngest we’ll ever be again so this moment is passing. Feel your feelings, explore the adventures; life’s short and it would be terrible to live your last couple of breaths going “I was really scared of being judged.” That deep respect for the miracle that we are - not so concerned with what it looks like as a...
Oct 31, 2019•45 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Over her 30 plus years in the beauty industry, Alison Young has noticed a seismic shift in the attitudes of beauty customers. Where once she found herself advising people merely on what to buy, she now more often than not has to tell people to scale their efforts back, buy fewer products, use the things they already have to get the best result. She is unreserved on the topic, claiming many of us are over-egging the pudding. Her views on the role beauty should play are equally as sensible, with h...
Oct 24, 2019•39 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Singer-songwriter Joy Crookes made the transition from extracurricular singing at school to artist over many years, or, as she puts it 'it was so gradual - my life has been so gradual.' And despite Vogue calling her 'one of the most exciting artists to emerge on the music scene this year,' her approach is still steady and careful, dodging people who 'blow smoke up your a***,' and with a healthy dose of wariness when it comes to social media. Her attitude towards make-up similarly started with so...
Oct 17, 2019•35 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Writer and author Sophia Money Coutts doesn't remember seeing any make-up during her young life because ’the posh old school thing is that women aren’t supposed to wear a lot of make-up - or if they do they’re certainly not supposed to look like they’re wearing a lot of make-up.' Aged 11, vitiligo started to leach pigment from her skin, and when Sophia eventually started to use make-up, some of her efforts were directed at the white patches. In today's episode, we talk about how make-up has neve...
Oct 10, 2019•57 min•Season 3Ep. 3
By the age of 30, make-up artist Gucci Westman had already had a hugely successful career, working on films like John Malkovich and with a client list which included Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. Ever after a new challenge, Gucci decided to leave the film industry to try her hand at editorial work. She initially hit a bump in the road with Creative Director Grace Coddington, but once given the opportunity to show what she could do, Grace declared Gucci to be one of the greatest talents she'...
Oct 03, 2019•49 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Ayda Williams didn't stick to her plan in life. She wanted the reliable, to have a job that was dependable. She was fixed on that course, studying to become a tax attorney, and was, in her words, 'super square - I was a super student.' The death of her beloved grandmother changed that: 'I always wanted to be an actor, but I was too afraid. Everyone [in LA] was an actor slash model slash singer and I thought "I can do better than that, I'm good at school, I can do something with myself, by golly....
Sep 26, 2019•51 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Katie's first big beauty memory is unsurprisingly related to her mum. But rather than it being simply a memory of her mum's face or beauty rituals, Katie rememberers her singer mum's microphone, coated in lipstick. That symbol of glamour remained with her, and after a stint working as a manicurist, both in salons and latterly on shoots, Katie pivoted her career to work as a make-up artist. Today, her skills are in demand, working on shoots with hugely famous models (think Ashley Graham and Rosie...
Jun 21, 2019•44 min
Beauty industry insider, facialist, and brand expert Caroline Hirons commands a huge audience across her various platforms thanks to her reputation as a forthright, honest, and reliable skincare expert. To give you an idea of scale, at the time of the episode going live, Caroline has 270 thousand instagram followers, 180 thousand youtube subscribers, and 76 thousand twitter followers. In this episode, we talk about Caroline’s childhood, her work ethic and experiences in the beauty industry, the ...
May 14, 2019•55 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Jillian Lavender's work came to my attention around five years ago after a few friends learned Vedic meditation at the London branch of the Meditation Centre she co-founded. After the course, they were more focussed, calmer, happier - and all from twenty minutes of meditation morning and noon. Keen to learn more, I went to interview Jillian a few years ago for a feature and found her approach to be extremely sound. After leaving, I was quite astonished while researching by how many studies there...
May 12, 2019•30 min
Award-winning journalist and author Poorna Bell's family features heavily in her new book, In Search of Silence , in which she muses on and explores the new landscape of her life following her husband Rob's death by suicide. They are also a big part of her beauty identity, with Poorna talking in this episode about her grandma who always looked pristine despite her messy bedroom, and how her mum's dressing table held allure. We also discuss how appearance and beauty have had an impact on Poorna's...
May 07, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Season 2Ep. 13
After being in a car crash, Katie Brindle went from expert to expert trying to find relief from pain to no avail. Finally, Chinese Medicine provided it, and so convinced was she that its principles were founded in good sense, that she went on to train as a practitioner. That was in 2002, and Katie's since become something of a go-to for those in the know for both treatments and advice. Katie is now at the helm of several projects, including having founded the Ha'you Method range of Beauty Restor...
Apr 14, 2019•17 min
Blogger Natalie Lee was incentivised to discuss things that really mattered to her after she returned to blogging following a break to raise her children. Since then, Natalie's efforts - particularly on instagram and through her Warrior Women campaign - have propelled her into the limelight, and her account is now a hub of her own thoughts and experiences as well as a place for others to share their stories and frank images in order to empower others. In this episode, she tells her story of goin...
Apr 09, 2019•59 min•Season 2Ep. 12
As the erstwhile Beauty Director of Glamour turned freelance beauty journalist and influencer, Alessandra Steinherr's knowledge of beauty products is encyclopaedic. Her Alex Steinherr x Primark skincare collaboration was unsurprisingly therefore hugely successful, with the affordable products selling out repeatedly nationwide, while over on her instagram, her #SundayFacial and #AskAlex hashtags are hubs for skincare conversations. In this episode, Alex talks about her top products, how she came ...
Apr 02, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 11
As a cosmetic dentist and Clinical Director of London Smiling , Dr Uchenna Okoye has overhauled hundreds of smiles - mine included . What struck me as remarkable about Uchenna's work is not only that she's conservative, only making changes where necessary, but also that she's got an excellent eye for what looks 'right,' making her taste as important a part of her renown as her technical ability. In this Expert Slot episode, we talk about ideal home care for teeth, and Uchenna breaks down the ele...
Mar 29, 2019•25 min
Journalist and author Bryony Gordon has made it her mission to help remove the stigma surrounding talking about mental illness, and to promote having a positive body image. Both are the result of Bryony's struggles, and in this episode she explains how she has challenged mental illness, addiction, and self-loathing, and which tools and habits have been helpful to her, as well as talking about how she protects her health (both mental and physical) now, and which beauty products she enjoys using. ...
Mar 26, 2019•48 min•Season 2Ep. 10
