By Emma Skipper & Kay Montano.

It’s forever the season of new (and sometime pointless?) makeup launches so it’s a novelty to be excited over any range of cosmetics that comes out of leftfield and get’s us wanting again. In this instance, whether a French patisserie, a photographic studio, a natural Aussie skincare brand or a King of the red-soled stiletto, unexpectedly innovative brands from brands have appeared that have an extra edge based on their origin .…

It seems that if you’ve got a great brand, create a namesake make-up brand..

At KMHQ we could not start this particular post without a nod to French macaroon house Ladurée who have, as of this year, teamed up with Albion to create the most tasty looking makeup collections we’ve ever seen, Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée.

The collection was recently launched in Asia and will be heading to Europe at the end of the year apparently… and how can you not be excited when it looks like this:

Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée consists of patisserie style cosmetics with a floral twist and includes everything from the divine flower face powder to the lovely little lipglosses and eye palettes; all of which come with the signature pastel colour palettes and golden embellishings.

Look out for the collection later this year or view the Asian site: www.lm-laduree.com/products

Shopping for something that combines two glamorously wearable things that don’t incur post traumatic dressing room syndrome?        Shoes and Make-Up.

Shoe designer, Christian Louboutin has just announced that he will be launching his own beauty line, Christian Louboutin Beauté, come 2013…        Too long to wait for a line that is bound to be ornamentally fabulous…red or black signature around lipsticks with stiletto shaped lids? Leather-look palettes opening up to laquered red?

Matte leopardskin against black laquered edges?  It’s all too exciting.. nail polishes too?

Forget It-bags, do I hear ‘it cosmetics’ anyone?

Another brand that came out a brand stems from the famous LA based photography studios, Smashbox. Smashbox studios are a huge photographic studio ‘lot’ in LA that now backed by Estee Lauder. The co-founding Factor brothers were the great-grandsons of a certain makeup legend Max…so it’s almost no surprise that they’d probably know a thing or two about makeup as well as production and as such they launched their own range of professional grade makeup in 1996.

Smashbox cosmetics got off to a rough start to say the least in the UK with a member of the PR team allegedly being drugged and raped by a friend of the brothers, a crime that was neither proved nor charged. Hence, coverage over in the UK was minimal in protest and obviously the brand suffered as a result. Years later the range was acquired by Estee Lauder and has some brilliant products in the collection. In particular Kay loves the Smashbox Halo Yellow Colour Correcting Hydrating Powder, which is great for olive toned skin and is a firm favourite of her darker skinned clients such as Thandie Newton and Salma Hayek (who actually has Kay’s last pot of the product!). It also comes in a great small pot with a twist-and-shave lid that makes using it on shoots amazingly easy as it reduces the spill, controls the amount delivered to the brush and is hygienic as well as only the product you dispense is in contact with the brush… which is handy to say the least as loose powder is one of the most important elements of a makeup artist’s kit. Kay also loves the Halo Highlighting Wand, which leaves a beautiful glow with such a fine formula you can barely tell you’re wearing anything at all, she uses it on the mid-outer cheekbone, underneath eyes, it’s a “red carpet spesh”.

Another weird addition to this list comes from Jurlique who, until one day when they decided to branch out with just the one makeup product,  have only ever produced skincare. We both love the skincare ranges (we’re currently sitting with the Citrus Hand Cream bathing our mitts as we type) but find it surprising that they only ever creating the one makeup product, The Silk Finishing Powder. The powder itself is truly transparent (Kay talks about the ‘incredibly fine mill’), you can’t see it, even in daytime and is excellent on-set for controlling shine and maintaining coverage- plus it smells amazing-plus it’s available in Rose, Lavender or Citrus! Why they only decided to create just the one product is beyond us. Please Jurlique, can we have some more?

It may not seem that leftfield that there would be a cosmetic inclusion to Tom Ford’s empire but he is a man after all, perhaps not a bloke but still, we love that he has such a highly developed, luxury range. With his impeccable attention to detail and eye for colour, perhaps it would have been rude for him not to have bought out a huge and fabulous make-up line with palettes mimicking the sound of an expensive car door closing. For real. Unsurprisingly, his love for exclusivity is reflected in the price. Kay loves the blush in Flush and the bronzing and contour palettes… although to quote her; ‘I don’t think I’d be satisfied until I owned every bit of that range’.

However if Mr Ford’s range would max out the plastic to scissor time, we’re both really looking forward to the launch of Marc Jacobs new beauty line that has only just been announced. Rumours are it will hit shelves next year, but if his laser-cut collection for Louis Vuitton SS12 was anything to go by I’m more than a touch excited about the impending colour palettes and attention to detail.

Let us know what you think and do let us know of any other unexpected beauty brands you’ve heard of, we’d love to know!

London-born Liberty Ross grew up in LA until she was 7 when her family moved to Ladbroke Grove, West London. Liberty began her pro modelling career on a shoot for Vogue with Mario Testino. She was in Madonna‘s ‘W.E‘ earlier this year and is currently in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘, directed by her husband Rupert Sanders. They live in LA with their 2 children.   

Here she tells me about the importance of family life, why she loves her job, how friendship turns into collaboration and hiking in the canyons of LA -plus clothes, shoes and make-up.

What was family life like growing up?                                                                                 

I am blessed with my family. I love my sibs, my Mum & my Dad! They rock my world. I was raised in an extremely non-conventional way with serious highs and lows, but we always had each other and that has taught me so much. Family is everything to me.

What did you want to be when you grew up?  I wanted to be a mum.

Where are you?                                                                        

In London.

What are the aspects that you love about LA?                                                              

The sun! The wildlife, the beach and the vegetation.

What do you miss about London?                                                                           

London is where I am most inspired. I miss walking around and seeing interesting people, shops and all the brilliant things that people are creating in art, music, fashion and film. It will always be my home and where I feel the most comfortable.

At the London premiere of SWATH below

Tell me a bit about being a mum…

I have 2 children and they are the most brilliant thing in my life, they make me laugh out loud every day. Motherhood is WAY harder than I ever expected though. It’s constant and challenging but ultimately extremely rewarding.

How did you become interested in acting-and who inspires you in film?                           

I was a really shy kid so it still amazes me that I do model and act. Weirdly, I have always done bits and bobs of both since I was really young. When I started modelling full time it was a great way for me to come out of myself. Everyday I was in a different situation, with different people and performing as someone other than myself for the most part. That’s the bit that I like the best. I like disappearing into someone else’s world and feelings, it excites me like nothing else. I love the whole process and everything that goes with it-the crews, the sets, the costumes.
Favourite film? The Social Network – my brother Atticus wrote the score which is amazing. W.E. obviously! Then there’s ‘Snow White and The Huntsman’….

                                                                             below with Charlize Theron, Kirsten Stewart & Lily Cole

What are the things about modelling that you’ve enjoyed, and not enjoyed?                     

I have always been careful about the jobs I choose as a model. As I said I do like to take on characters and challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone as much as possible. I have never been a ‘jobbing model’ as such. I think I’ve been lucky that way, but then again I have never necessarily aspired to be the most wealthy or well-known either. I won’t do a job unless I feel passionate about it on some level and that is why there is nothing that I have not enjoyed about it. I love my job and everything that goes with it.

What were your first shoots?                                                                      

My first shoot was for I-D Magazine-I think I was 7!

I also posed as Ozzy Osbourne’s bride for an album cover back in the day (Liberty’s the one on the left).

I didn’t start modelling properly until I had finished my A-Levels. My first shoot was for Vogue with Mario Testino on my 19th birthday. I remember thinking ‘wow I’m going to be in Vogue!’ .We drank Champagne, it was fun.

One of Liberty’s first shoots with Mario for Vogue

What are you up to at the moment? I’ve just returned from LA. (premiere of Snow White and The Huntsman).

You also had a small  role in W.E. how did this come about?                                                    

I met with my manager who told me about the project.  The next day I put myself on tape for the role of Connie Thaw. A couple of days later I was on a plane to London to meet the director (Madonna). Filming W.E was a great experience-I love acting and I I loved working with Madonna.

I’m intrigued by your work with Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, seems you’ve become an ‘art project muse’. How did this happen?                                                                                          

I first met Nick on a POP Magazine shoot with cardboard cut-outs made by John Galliano. I had been a huge fan of his for years so it was amazing to finally shoot with him. From that moment on it was a natural development of friendship/collaboration. I recently started blogging for him and we are working on another big project together. It will be layered and interactive, just like ‘Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down‘ below.

Who was your beauty icon when you were a teen?                                                       

My Mum and Kate Moss.

What did they represent to you?                                                                                   

The utmost in cool, sexy sophistication.

Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction/poetry/other, or in real life?               

My brothers, sisters & my Mum & Dad.

Where do you find inspiration? Almost everywhere.

Is there another creative outlet would you like one day to pursue?

I want to direct a documentary. I’m working on it right now…

What quality do you most admire in a woman?   Honesty & curiosity.

What quality do you most admire in a man?  Honesty & curiosity.

In what ways has your life turned out as planned?                                                           

In every way and if it hasn’t. I know it was meant to be…

If money were absolutely no object, how would you live your life?                               

Just the same as I’m doing right now.

In one word, what does the world need most right now?  Love.

                                         Fluffy Stuff

Favourite Clothes Shops: I don’t shop that much but when I do it’ll be vintage shops, occasionally, wherever I am. Otherwise I’m in jeans & t-shirts. Designer-wise, it’s Azzedine Alaia (I love him), Pucci, Mark Fast, Rick Owens (it’s a dream to have his cashmere/mink jacket!), Louis Vuitton. My friend Gaby Basora makes great clothes too, her brand’s called ‘Tucker’ and I just shot a film for her with Zoe Cassavetes (she gave me a leopard print jacket). Jewellery designer and friend Solange Azagury Partridge is also amazing. 

Shoes: The most worn are my Black Converse. Otherwise Alaia, Chanel, Jonathan Kelsey below.  Having returned from London I realise I enjoy ‘dressing’ more there, I like the layering. In LA it’s easy to get lazy-just living in cut-offs and flip flops as though it’s your holiday every day. LA is less sophisticated than London , it’s more the land of Ugg boots and Juicy Couture. I have to admit-I own both-but strictly for beach only!

Skincare:  Skinceuticals and Aromatherapy Associates.

Dematologist? A lovely man in LA called Dr Weiss

Make-Up? I never wear make-up in the day but when I go out I usually apply a smoky eye, lots of mascara and not much else.

Exercise/Yoga/Activity/Hobby? I love Yoga, I’ve been practising for a long time. Buy my favourite thing to do is to take long walks on the beach or hike in the amazing canyons that California has so many of.

How do you relax? Hot baths with candles and bubbles OR a BBQ on the deck over the ocean with friends and family-that’s the best.

Read the Latest on Liberty via her VOGUE BLOG HERE

See LIBERTY ROSS WEBSITE HERE

Follow LIBERTY on twitter HERE    

Watch Liberty in a Solange Azagury short by Sam Taylor Wood.

make-up km

Summer is here (if you are in the UK at least there’s a m-up collection that is) and holiday-inspired palettes are popping up on counters accordingly.

As an ambassador for Chanel in the UK I previewed the new Chanel Summer Collection a month ago and have been keeping the secret safe with a double bolted CC until it was out in store (tres difficile!) So here we have it – the lovely new collection from Chanel for summer 2012.

To begin there’s the Le Vernis polishes (£18). Again, the collection comes with three shades and unusually, they are a range of HOT orange (Holiday), pearly pink (Island) and molten gold (Delight). Not the most typically harmonious colours which is exactly why I love them  and add an interesting turn on what can so easily become yet another perfunctory set on shimmery wearables (zzzzz) but not Chanel!

In the lip range and there are two Rouge Coco Shine shades (£24) and another two Levres Scintillantes shades (£21). Each product has a fiery coral shade (I’m a big fan of the coral Coco Shine in En Vogue and matching gloss in Calypso) and subtle nude for anytime, anyplace, anywhere kinda lips.

Eyes, my favourite place on a face.. this a real keeper, it will be in your make-up bag until long after the CC‘s wear off.

Eyeshadow Duo in Sable-Emouvant (£30) looks great blended together and for a more intense look over a brown or black pencil (always brown underneath, black on top) or you could use the lighter shade in a variety of ways during the day. To intensify, there are also two lovely pencils; a Precision Eye Definer in Brun Intense and an accompanying Intense Eye Pencil in Peche Cuivre (a subtle golden shade) – both £17.

Finally,  the wonderful brand new bronzing palettes. Hard to break into the enticingly striped hues, who’s not got box-fresh-love?

But they look as good on the face too. Take a deep breath and dive in with your brush.  I’ve got the Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Rose and Sable Beige (£34) in my kit and believe me, I’m getting through it. Rather than being ‘uni-tonal’, each has an array of shades incorporated into the palette to really boost your bronze. I particularly like the redder shades in the Sable Rose for darker skin tones.

Here is  my fellow ambassadress Laura Bailey (right), who I made-up using Summertime de Chanel last week.

The Summertime de Chanel collection is out on 25th May 2012. For stockists call, 020 7493 3836.

Peony Lim shows the update on natural make-up..

The great hairdresser Vidal Sassoon died today.

A true legend, renowned for his iconic 5 point haircut and other geometrically shaped strokes of genius,  He was the first fashion hairdresser to have a hugely successful signature haircare line. The ‘pixie crop’  created for Mia Farrow for her part in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby was another iconic haircut, and one with a great story.

“Film director Roman Polanski asked me to fly to the US to work with Mia Farrow,  who was married to Frank Sinatra at the time and working on a film with Roman, Rosemary’s Baby.

I told him I would have to cancel appointments and meetings, so it would cost him $5,000. He said ‘no problem’ so I went over and did her hair in the middle of a boxing ring. It was a circus, and she couldn’t understand why they were interested in her hair when she wanted to ‘talk about the problems and issues surrounding American Indians.’

It was on television.

It was in all the newspapers…. at Paramount, Studio 13 I think.

The press was supposed to stay out of the ring and photograph from there.

Well, that lasted about two minutes.

There was one guy under the chair photographing upwards.

It was a total madhouse.”

  On making headlines when he chopped off Mia’s Peyton Place locks.

I did the Barbara Walters morning show, and she was really shocked by the work. She said I was making beautiful women look like boys. She gave me an award for making women look ugly on the show. And I gave her the award for retrogressive thinking. It was very playful.”

Watch Vidal cut Mia’s locks amidst ‘the circus’

Watch the Trailer for Vidal Sassoon, The Movie

Vidal Sassoon

17 Jan 1928-

9 May 2012

Read Kathleen Baird Murray’s beautiful piece on knowing Vidal in his final years here

Finding a home for one’s pictorial past lives in one’s present one was how I found myself last week. I decided to confront my large cardboard boxes, you know, the ones that get marked ‘miscellaneous’ when you move, and in my case, remain in temporary accommodation permanently. While digging through tchochkes, bulging Snappy Snaps bags of party days, girly holidays, fashion trips and boyfriends best ripped-up, I came across a lovely surprise that gave me the excuse to put the cardboard box back in denial for another year and post pictures of Eva Herzigova behind the scenes of Ellen shoots instead.

 Eva top, signing autographs on a Wonderbra shoot and in Ellen’s old Paris apt on a shoot for The Face when Eva was just 17.

Eva at 17 in Ellen’s Parisian bathtub for The Face and later, ‘Inferno’

                                                        Hair Drew Jarret Editor Camilla NickersonI mentioned the snaps when I worked with Eva a few days later on a beauty shoot for The Sunday Time Style (click here to see). As we reminisced I said ‘remember that crazy night shoot we did in Paris when Ellen made that funny film in a bar….’ and Eva said “that guy who was in it, you know that was Vincent Cassell?”. Off to YouTube I went, the curious little film was called ‘Inferno‘.

So I thought I’d post that too. Looking for more work we’d all done together, I ended up down an Eva Herzogova www.rabbit hole that reminded me of how great her collaboration with Ellen has been, and what a great duo they make. So I thought I’d post those too. Enjoy EVAWORLD..

Eva’s GUESS campaign with Ellen

ps What it about Eva? Not About Ellen I know but I found these behind the scenes of our STStyle shoot the other week and thought I’d post them too.

That’s all folks

Eva Herzigova was discovered at a Czech beauty pageant and went on to become one of the most memorable models of the nineties with the Guess Campaign and that traffic-halting billboard Wonderbra campaign-both shot by Ellen Von Unwerth, for whom she has been a frequent and valuable muse.

I love working with Eva, she’s such a pro and always has such a sweet energy.

We’ve done a variety of work together over the years and like all of the ‘supers’, you can really collaborate with her- women like Eva have worked with the absolute best after all, confidently knowing what works and what doesn’t so you never waste valuable creative time. Having said that, we were laughing as the fear struck when I moved towards her with my favourite ‘vintage Palm Beach heiress’ coloured lipsticks for the Sunday Times Style shoot below. The excellent Jem Mitchell was at the lens though the STS used just 2 pictures in the end, so I thought I’d post them all together.

More Eva love coming soon..I found some old behind the scenes snaps and some film footage…starring Vincent Cassell.

Hair: Karin Bigler at D+V Management

Nails Adam Slee at Streeters

Thanks to Christabel Draffin aka makeupmole.com for being an excellent Pru

Millie Kendall MBE is a beauty maven who likes to do things differently. Whether it’s launching a Japanese brand in a quintessential British store, selling make-up with an LA style of service, launching a professional haircare range in a dept store -or her namesake brand to a high st retailer, Millie Kendall has, and continues, to do everything before everyone else in the business of beauty.

I met up with Millie at her Lubetkin apartment in Highgate, made her up & took pictures whilst she told me her fascinating career story plus all about her latest venture, BeautyMART.

Millie (above+left with her brother William) landed in LA from London at 12 yrs old amidst a sea of Farrah Fawcett clones who bullied post-punk Millie for her London style by squirting ketchup sachets at her. Unsurprisingly she left school at 15 years old but on Dad’s orders, reluctantly got a job at Toni&Guy. She was part of the YTS scheme (one of Margaret Thatcher’s better ideas) like most of the juniors. There, they learned basic accounting and business.

“I became very adept at shampooing hair”

Despite this, Millie’s teenage restlessness didn’t stop her  “flip-flopping between LA, playing truant, dying my hair, being manipulative” and although she didn’t want to be a hairdresser “standing on my feet all day” she ended up at 19 working at hairdressing empire Bumble and Bumble in NY.

Millie did, however, become obsessed with make up, loving obscure ranges such as WIlliam Tuttle above, Il Makiage below and the beginnings of Mac, which was sold in the Bumble and Bumble salon.

After a couple of years clubbing (Paradise Garage, Sound Factory and Black Market) and hanging out with the likes of Miss Kier, Millie ended up in LA again.  Millie’s father, growing weary of her inability to cut hair and full ability to party, ended up helping her get yet another job at little known Japanese brand (that was struggling to launch it’s first U.S. store) called Shu Uemura within a shopping mall called Century City between LA and Santa Monica.

Soon after Millie began working there, a feud broke out between the brand and the store manager who then staged a walk out, taking all staff-including Millie- to Millie’s dad’s hair salon around the corner for some advice. Millie’s father promptly told his daughter who had walked out with the rest of the team to “Go back there and take the store managers job!”. So she did. 

After a time working as manager, the Shu store was visited by Mr Shu Uemura himself and the rest, as they say, is history. He immediately took a shining to the bright young thing that had saved the store from revolt and began asking her to travel around the States opening more stores. Millie was 21 years old.

“I used a mirror to sell from…it makes women all connect, seeing each other together….”

From then on Millie was to travel with Mr Shu Uemura around the world and ended up being the only woman (at just 23 years old) to hold a place at a male-dominated conference in Tokyo. Each time a new product would come out, Millie was asked her personal opinion and it was that valued opinion that prompted the brand to offer Millie the job of launched Shu Uemura in Harvey Nichols, London.

As Millie arrived in London she was soon approached by Aveda who desperately wanted her on board for the brand. Not wanting to leave Shu, she decided to have her cake and eat it to by setting up her own consultancy firm, meaning she could work for both brands without the conflict of interest.

As a result and within just 2 years, Millie Kendall was earning around £70,000 a year at just 23 years old and went on to be the first person to advise sponsorship of Fashion Week shows plus being the first person to advocate buying credits from make-up artists to promote her brands. Which is how I met Millie!

When Millie was 27, the ex buyer at Harvey Nichols (then at Boots to reinvigorate their cosmetics dept) approached Millie showing serious interest in taking Aveda into the store. For Millie, launching Aveda in a department store had been a hard enough sell to the brands founder, Horst Rechelbacher, not to mention the admission to co-launch it on QVC. For a professional hair brand this was apparently commercial suicide and launching in Boots was simply not something Aveda had envisioned.

This was the inception of Ruby & Millie.

Below; Ruby & Millie after receiving their MBEs with their daughters

 Ruby Hammer’s husband had seen a picture in the Sunday Times Magazine (of two Russian Prostitutes!), one brunette and one blonde, and thought that the combination of two women in the industry would be quite dynamic. Ruby had wanted her own brand and although the marketing of yet another MUA brand didn’t appeal to Millie, the launching of a brand (that was the combination of the make up artist and the consumer-marketeer) like R&M would be uniquely different, to launch this in a mass market environment would be completely new. The term ‘mass-tige’ was about to become a concept………

Millie did not want to become a face of a brand so it still took 2 years to consider (coincidentally the start of this thought process was at a dinner in Bologna with Anna Marie Solowij, her current business partner).

Setting her terms to market and launch the brand in her own way, she finally agreed (left and above with Ruby).  Ruby & Millie launched in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges with a 3 month lead and then a roll out into Boots, a standard concept nowadays but Millie designed a completely unique model.

“We resigned from the Ruby & Millie brand in 2008, we felt we’d begun to lose creative control and direction.”

They took the prerogative to walk away however the brand still exists. Millie still receives enquiries from customers daily, responding to each one and continues to consult and develop other brands for people with her company Project Maven.

Below Runs in the family; Millie’s brother William’s painting on her living room wall

Millie blogging from home beside one of her her Miro’s. Dining set an original Warren Platner bought from The World Trade Centre

Juggling motherhood (she has 2 girls) with marketing, retail, PR and development, Millie says  “most importantly I love being on the shop floor”

“BeautyMART was born organically and not predetermined”

Anna Marie Solowij and Millie met back in 1990 on the same morning she met Ruby when they were shooting for Elle in Millie’s shop.

Millie’s miscellany, left

“I’ve had a long time relationship with Anna and when I came back to London from LA 3 years ago I bumped into her in the neighborhood I moved to. We got talking and we were both frustrated with the current method of retailing of beauty products in the UK. Nothing had changed since Nicky Kinnaird launched Space NK back in the 90′s. Originally it was a fashion retailer and I had the first & only beauty concession there.. being the experienced shop girl, I knew how it should develop. Anna was writing a piece on the future of beauty retailing and interviewed Daniela Rinaldi at Harvey Nichols. Dani said ‘put something together, we definitely need to do something new.‘ ”

BeautyMART’s pillars: Touch, feel and smell the products- plus;

1. To sell ‘Best In Class’ cosmetics crossing all price points. We know women shop across brands and price points but have no dedicated retail environment to do so and we wanted a customer centric shopping environment that is ultimately democratic.

2. We feel woman tend to shop from the pages of a magazine. They are keen to learn what the experts use and recommend and so part of our merchandising style and e-commerce style will be editorial, a magazine that has come to life. Products are cherry-picked from brands by our editor, so that customers are getting the best products the brand has to offer.

3. E-commerce in beauty is not synergistic with retail shopping environments. So instead of making a website like a shop, we decided to merchandise our products in our store like a website, this gives the customer the ease of shopping as if they were online but in-store where they can touch, feel and smell the products.

BeautyMART has started as a blog because because Millie says she is keen “to not just be about beauty, it is a forum for self expression, and we like a bit of humour, we think beauty should be light-hearted.”                

                                                  Lastly, a peek at Millie’s personals

See BeautyMARTblog       

Follow BeautyMARTblog on twitter here

Follow Millie Kendall on twitter here

Follow Anna Marie on twitter here

‘Kay Montano wields her dark materials and transforms Tallulah Harlech into a hardcore urban warrior.’

By Emma Skipper

Kay says, “Multi-tasking- pah- Is anyone really any good at it and who invented this folly anyway? For me, simply keeping the balls in the air alone without losing them is a sign of a good week. So before we make life even more complicated with decisions regarding make-up products, here are a few that you can chuck in your handbag, creating everything from touch-ups for day, bumping up a notch for night and a few products with more than one use.”

 Vitalumiere Aqua was recently released in compact form and is now more of a cult product than ever. Not only does it have one of the best light-reflective formulas around, but you can now take it around with you wherever you go – without the fear that the bottle will spill all over your Birkin (we can dream). It’s got SPF 15/PA++ and comes in a great pot with a large mirror and super little separator between the applicator sponge and the foundation (meaning less germs…!).

Once you’ve got your flawless foundation on the go, you can add colour to both your lips and cheeks using Bobbi Brown’s Pot Rouge. The creamy formula means it’s great for that pop of colour on your cheeks (and would be great blended with the creamy formula of the Chanel foundation) but is equally good a balmy lip colour.

Take Bobbi and Chanel away with you on holiday and those two little pots will serve your face well for the entire trip… and will save room for shoes in your luggage.

                     Below; Rita Hayworth and friend busy in the kitchen, wearing white

Moving on to your eyes, it’s a misconception that to achieve a beautiful look you’ll need a huge variety of products. Why not just use a smudgy brown pencil? says Kay on an item that’s been in her keeping forever. That’s why we love the new Eyeko ‘Fat Eye Sticks’ . Mascara and smudged-in-with-finger eye pencil (okay, perhaps a quick curl with Japonesque eyelash curlers first..) is all you need, unless you’re Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra (left) of course. 

Now for a palette to take you from day to night without going home for a cosmetic regroup. The new Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess palette in Bronze Sands. With metallic shades to suit anyone’s tastes, this palette is the perfect thing to take away with you if you’re tight for space.. There are paler golden shades for a shimmered daytime look, with a darker mahogany tone and beautiful teal to boost your look for the cocktail hour.

As for those lashes, we find that most women want a mascara that won’t flake yet comes off easily when we decide. Kay came across this little gem pictured underneath Liz above the other day; Bobbi Brown’s new Intensifying Long-Wear Mascara. It’s got a brilliant little brush – making top, bottom and outer lash coatings a walk in the park – AND it comes in a compact tube making it a great all rounder for your desktop or handbag.

We’ve already had the Bobbi Pot Rouge as a lip  all-rounder, however there are a few more multi-taskers that I can’t not mention.  Firstly we’ve got the now-cult Clinique Chubby Stick in 12 Oversized Orange. There are a number of shades but I’m in love with this new one, it’s very vintage Palm Beach. The formula is surprisingly balmy and really nourishing, as well as being a great colour stick. Again, it’s only small and great to pop in your handbag.

Lastly we’ve got another new product on the scene; by Terry’s new AquaLip Jelly Tint.  Although it looks neon orange in the packaging, this gel-like lip stain comes out a perfect posie pink and stains like nothing else (WARNING – do not try on parts of your body you want to keep clear for the next 24hrs). It will be a permanent resident in my handbag this summer, especially on holiday, as it’s great makeup at it’s most effectively minimal.