Kiran Branch meets the woman behind MyShowcase.com, Legologist and Beauty Editor Kate Shapland to find out exactly what's in her bathroom cabinet...
GTG has had an exclusive snoop around the beauty stash of The Telegraph Magazine's Beauty Editor, co-founder and Editorial Director of MyShowcase.com, Founder of Legology and all-round beauty maven, Kate Shapland .
On her handbag must-haves...
KB: What make-up would you hate to live without?
KS: It’s all lipstick, blusher, lipstick, blusher, lipstick, blusher with me. I’m not particularly bothered by mascara, but I’m uneasy if I leave the house without a choice of lip colours, lip balm and Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in 76 Frivole , £31 - or Clarins Multi-Blush in 03 Grenadine (available to buy from Spring 2014).
The current handbag lip colour stash consists of; Dior Jelly Lip Pen in Copacabana (Limited Edition), £16.15, Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss in Dusty Rose , £18, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips and Cheeks in 16 Summer Pink , £19, NARS Cinemetic Lipstick in Full Frontal , £18.50, Chanel Rouge Allure in Extatique , £25, and Amanda Lacey’s Cupid’s Bow Lip Balm , £22.
KB: What else is in your handbag at all times?
KS: My Chanel sunglasses – we’re old friends. Notebooks held together with elastic – woe betide the person who tries to talk me into making notes and diary dates digitally. Not. Going. To. Happen. OK? I’ve only recently stopped writing cheques.
My iPhone – I have a complete love-hate with this thing. Needs must I guess. Just please don’t mention the words Candy and Crush.
My Kindle Fire – I go nowhere without it; bus, plane, train, tube. I have read more books in the past year than I have in the last 40 years. I’m a total Londonophile, and have read book after book on the city’s history. I’ve also worked my way through the entire library of SOE biographies – Violette Szabo, Eileen Nearne and all those heroines.
Also a bag of Liberty’s gift coins ready to be spent – it doesn’t take much to get me into the mecca of Regent St.
On her bathroom cabinet…
KB: What would we find if we rooted around your bathroom cabinet?
KS: Many, many bath salts, oils and creams, including (at the moment) –
Legology Air-Lite Daily Lift For Legs , £60 – my product! I couldn’t find the leg care treatment I needed or wanted so I made it myself, honestly. Air-Lite is a deep drainage cream which lightens your legs, and positively restores your energy from your toes up.
Guerlain Delice de Peau – just a lovely little body cream (Discontinued)
A body brush – boring to do, but unarguably beneficial.
Beatitude Patience Body Oil , £34.
Jo Malone Red Roses Bath Oil, £52.
Chanel No5 Bath Oil (Discontinued)
Chanel No5 The Foaming Bath (Discontinued)
INA Crystals with Gold Detoxifying Crystal Salt , £47
On her dressing table...
KB: What skincare do you swear by?
KS: Zoe Organics Extreme Cream (Not stocked in the UK) – I’m a hound for baby brands and was introduced to this by my good friend Julia Stringer who runs the Shen beauty boutique in NY. It’s made for babies’ skin, but as it turns out, it’s excellent if you suffer from psoriasis. I always have a tube of Doublebase Gel on the go too, which is deeply unsexy to look at, but keeps the most difficult skin supple. My other favourites are:
Guerlain Abeille Royale Face Treatment Oil , £58.
Chanel Le Jour, £60.
Chanel Le Weekend , £72 – loving this new dual treatment from Chanel.
James Read Sleep Tan Mask , £25 – a mask that you go to bed in and wake up with a restored, slightly sunkissed complexion. The man is a genius, what more can I say?
Guerlain Meteorites Perles Les Ors , £42 – I’m never without a Guerlain primer. Never.
On her work and personal life…
KB: What beauty items surround you at your desk?
KS: A surfeit of nail polishes (at the last count 30) including Chanel, Dior, YSL and Lumos Top Coat - the best varnish preserver you can buy.
KB: Would you say you’ve reached a good work/life balance?
KS: I’m an all or nothing person in every aspect of life, and will push myself to the point where I literally can’t put one foot in front of the other. I’m a total perfectionist and inclined to forget myself when I’m stressed. I walk to relax – I have two Scotties and take them on long walks around Richmond Park when I need to escape – and I do Pilates because I slipped a disc in my back last year after falling down while running (I was training for a half marathon, don’t laugh) and I promised I’d do this regularly for myself if I did nothing else.
On her health and diet…
KB: Do you top up with any supplements?
KS: Beauty Works West Youth , £64 – is anyone NOT taking this?
Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend , £19.99 - ditto.
Solgar Vitamin D3 , £20.49 – my first line of defence against psoriasis, but it’s important to get the dosage right.
KB: Are you a health fanatic?
KS: I eat clean and I only drink vodka. I like a good hot chocolate though, made with Charbonnel & Walker Drinking Chocolate , £7.50.
KB: Where do you go when you really need to be pampered?
KS: I’m the lowest maintenance person in the world. I can just about sit still for long enough to have half a head of highlights done, let alone these two below. There’s so much to do...
Amanda Lacey for facials – there’s magic in those fingers, honestly. And we have a damn good laugh while she does the facial. 360 degree tonic.
Aromatherapy Associates bespoke massage – the only massage worth having is tailored for you unless it’s G5, which works surprisingly well if you have a sluggish lymph and cellulite.