Beauty Full Lives

In this episode, I’m joined by journalist and novelist Rebecca Reid to discuss female pleasure in association with Smile Makers, who offered up points from their Smile Makers Report to prompt our conversation, and who are celebrating the launch of The Poet. We discuss our sex lives along with general themes including masturbation and different facets of sex, so please be aware that the content is...

In honour of National Fragrance Week, I'm joined by the sublimely talented beauty journalist and fragrance expert Alice du Parcq. She’s won an army of fans on instagram for her lyrical descriptions of scents and for her series, Desert Island Spritz, in which she invites a guest to share the scents they most love and which have a special place in their hearts. In this episode, we discuss how Alice...

In today's episode, I’m joined by Alex Light, a woman who is on a mission to promote body confidence and to discuss eating disorder recovery on her platforms. As a former sufferer, Alex wants to challenge the narrative of thinness equalling happiness, and to raise awareness of the fact that the idea of single ideal perceived body shape is just that - an idea, held by some people, at some moment in...

In this episode, Chief International Correspondent for CNN, Clarissa Ward, talks about how 9/11 changed her career and how she now balances said career with motherhood (Clarissa is a firm believer that, in her words ‘you can have it all - but not at the same time!’). We also run through what Clarissa packs to go to a war zone from tampons to make-up, how simple grooming moments provide a much-need...

One of the most sought-after violinists of her generation, Nicola has been showered with awards and accolades, including a grammy, a classical Brit award, and an MBE and then a CBE. She has played in some of the most prestigious venues across the world, including The Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Westminster Abbey, and has released 11 albums.  Today, well as playing concerts, Nicola is...

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 Elvi...

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...

'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...

‘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...

'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...

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 commu...

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 Bo...

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.' ‘Y...

'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 d...

‘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...

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)...

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 w...

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 thin...

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&...

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...

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 ju...

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 a...

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 heal...

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 m...

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 gi...