Make-up guru finds lockdown beauty spot for £1bn empire
She pulled off a stunning financial coup by selling a controlling share in her make- up and skincare empire in a deal valuing it at £1 billion — just seven years after she founded the eponymous company.
But the unstoppable Charlotte Tilbury, dubbed the Mariah Carey of Make-Up, has no intention of resting on her laurels.
Rather than allow her creative muse to ebb away during lockdown, the ever enterprising Tilbury is, I can disclose, currently running her empire from the island of Lamu, off the coast of Kenya.
‘She’s renting a house,’ a fellow visitor tells me, adding that Tilbury’s example is being emulated by droves of London’s Notting hill set.
‘They’re all camped here. everybody’s just extended the length of their stay.’
Swashbuckling Old etonian actor Dominic West headed to Lamu in January for a five-week stint after being snapped canoodling last autumn in Rome with the lissom Lily James. It is believed he was accompanied by his wife Catherine FitzGerald and their children.
Kenya has long been a refuge for the rich and famous ever since the days of the uninhibited ‘ happy Valley’ 1930s set, headed by the earl of erroll.
‘Most of the British visitors are in Shela,’ adds my informant, referring to the small settlement on the southeast side of the island, favoured by the late ‘Bunny’ Allen, a big-game hunter who helped the Duchess of Gloucester catch cheetahs and enjoyed affairs with Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner.
Tilbury, 48, who is married to film producer George Waud, will no doubt feel at home. She grew up on the party island of Ibiza, where her parents still live, and during her career has befriended both J.K. Rowling and Amal Clooney.
her spokesman declines to comment on her Lamu interlude, which may now be drawing to a close.
‘I assume she and George are coming home soon because Charlotte has school-age children,’ adds my source.
Tilbury has two sons — Valentine, with Waud, and Flynn, by her former husband Charles Forbes. Both boys have Kate Moss as their godmother.