When I look at Estee Lauder’s latest A/W make up collection called Blue Dahlia created by the make up artist legend and new Estee Lauder Creative Makeup Director that is Tom Pecheux- it makes me smile.
I’ve been in the beauty industry for a decade and first went freelance when I was 24. I had worked at Tatler and In Style magazine beforehand. I was young and fearless and thought this freelancing lark seems alright, I’ll give it and go and off I went- that was 8 years ago. Back in the day I had a bit less shame (not much less) and was queen of polite stalking. I had been commissioned to write a piece for Sunday Times Style and knew I had to get quotes from the make up artist genius that is Tom Pecheux.
Now to put this into context, make up artists and hair stylists are like rock stars and big names like Tom are considered to be like demi gods in the beauty industry. There are lots of rules and regulations regarding interview access with such biggies, which would make divas like Mariah Carey and JLO’s eyes water. The usual rules entail having to go through their agencies, faxing questions to be checked, deciding whether they approve of the questions and you have 15 mins to chat but can’t ask about certain things blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I didn’t have time for all that and somehow got Tom’s home number in Paris (don’t ask me how -it was an out of body experience). Anyway, I thought F*** it and called Paris, where a very sweet and polite "bonjour" greeted me. Now the 24 year old me realised holy crap, I have the equivalent of Mick Jagger on the phone here and I am invading his space by calling him at home. I explained who I was and that I was a huge fan and knew it was a rather unorthodox way of contacting him but could I have a 5 min chat with him. Now Mr Tom Pecheux was the most chilled and lovely man and didn’t bat an eyelid. We had a lovely 30 min chat and he was totally generous, wonderful and really interesting. Bless him he never asked how the hell a random 24 year beauty journalist from London got his home phone number in Paris.
I have found that the most talented people in any field, be it backstage like Vivienne Westwood, movie stars like George Clooney (he stepped on my foot at the Baftas and was charm personified he could have stepped on it all day for all I bloody cared) or pop stars like Mariah Carey are really lovely. They have the goods and have grafted all the way to the top so they have nothing to prove and once you get past their scary ‘people’ are rather fabulous and normal.
Anyway, Tom’s new collection for Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia is totally delicious. What a clever move on Estee Lauder’s part to have Tom on board. Estee’s make up has always been elegant and timeless but this new collection adds some guts and cool to the brand. I love the blues and purples he has used for A/W in the Pure Color Five Color EyeShadow Palette in Blue Dahlia, £34, http://www.esteelauder.co.uk/flash/seasonal/seasonal_look.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT26908&PAGE=all and Pure Color Five Color EyeShadow Palette in Surreal Violet, £34, which are a world away from safer browns and traditional autumnal shades. The Pure Color Gloss Stick in Orchid Dream, £17 is also a hero product. It’s a grown up gloss with lots of pigment and staying power. I’m also itching to paint my nails with the Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Blue Dahlia, £12, a cool goth ish deep blue/black but it seems a bit wrong in August. I will wait a few weeks or will rock it on my toes. Congrats Estee Lauder for an exciting new direction and thank you Tom for being so lovely all those years ago!
No comments:
Post a Comment