PERFECT INSTINCT
For her second collection with Estée Lauder, Victoria Beckham proves she still knows exactly what women want. By Remy Rippon.
For her second Estée Lauder collection, Victoria Beckham proves she still knows what women want.
Victoria Beckham is at heart a girl’s girl, and her natural affection for women and love of all things girlie started early in life. As a child, Beckham recalls watching her mother meticulously apply her make-up: “I remember what her dressing table looked like, with all of her fragrances.” Fastforward to the 90s and her affinity for women would, with the help of the four other Brits collectively known as the Spice Girls, see her introduce the phrase ‘girl power’ into the vocabulary of an entire generation of young women. What followed was an often attempted but rarely fruitful career pivot from music into fashion, which has seen her applauded by critics ( and cynics) for her tailored and considered approach to women’s wardrobes. Beckham trusts her instincts, and women trust Beckham. “I love women and I love to support women and I think that more women need to support women,” says the 43-year-old.
It seems a perfect podium from which to tackle the world of beauty. After all, it is widely known that most women purchase cosmetics on the advice or recommendation of a friend or someone whose opinion they trust. Beckham’s tried, tested and trusted formula is the ultimate endorsement. “I am not the only woman looking for that perfect nude lip or that perfect eyeliner. I’m not alone and I know that other women want what I want,” she says with a strong English lilt.
The proof, it seems, was in the success of last year’s capsule make-up collection in partnership with beauty powerhouse Estée Lauder: the Modern Mercury Highlighter and Eye Metals Eyeshadow sold out in under 24 hours. “I think the first collection was very focused, and that was a great starting
“I had an entire dining room table full of make-up, all colours that I’d mixed up myself, products that I liked, that I just wanted to tweak a little bit”– Victoria Beckham
point,” she says of the 14-piece capsule, which featured sultry metallic shadows, an inky kajal liner, a clever skin-mimicking lip pencil and a handful of other core makeup products that take her from the red carpet to photo shoots to school drop-off.
For her follow-up collection, Beckham is bringing back the 10 most popular products (don’t fret, Morning Aura Illuminating Creme isn’t going anywhere), along with a further 18 offerings, all of which have passed a stringent set of standards she affectionately dubs the ‘Victoria test’. “I test everything on myself,” she says over the phone from Beijing – she’s jetted in with her Estée Lauder family to greet her evergrowing beauty fan base. “And I’m quite difficult to please.”
It’s a benchmark that has served the mother of four well. The new Aura Gloss is like a shimmering honeypot which, when smoothed across lips or skin, deposits delicate light-reflecting touch-points. The Smudgy Matte Eyeliner in Graphite, meanwhile, hovers somewhere between sooty and velvety, the perfect texture to master an imperfectly smoked-out eye. Beckham has also expanded the shade range: “We had a bronzer in the first collection and it’s great that with this collection we can have another tone, for lighter skin tones as well.” With her first capsule representing Beckham’s favourite cities, London, Los Angeles, Paris and New York (“The first thing I like to do when I go to a different city is check out the brands that we don’t get in the rest of the world”), Beckham adds Miami to the fold. She calls the US city her “total escape”, bringing a colour injection to the range via the Eye Matte Duos in an unmistakable electric blue.
Despite the now-synonymous rounded edges of the 50s-inspired packaging, it is clear that when it comes to business – be it fashion or beauty – Beckham never cuts corners. The keystone of Beckham’s success is that she is in tune with her customer, mostly because she is her own most discerning critic. “I’m a perfectionist,” she says. “I’m not a make-up artist. I work hard and I’ve got children. I don’t have hours and hours to apply make-up, so I’ve made it simple for my customer, which I think is key. Women are busy and we don’t have as much time as we would like to get ready, so it’s about making it simple and very focused for the customer.”
It explains why the textures (glowy, not glittery) and colours (bold but sophisticated) of the products are spot-on. She recalls her first- ever meeting with the Estée Lauder team: “I had an entire dining room table full of make-up, all colours that I’d mixed up myself, products that I liked, that I just wanted to tweak a little bit,” she explains. “I really had a strong point of view of exactly what it was that I wanted.” Thankfully, Beckham has met her match in the Estée Lauder team, for whom quality, precision and excellence are binding criteria. “I think that’s why we work so well together,” she says happily.
It’s refreshing hearing Beckham speak of the partnership with such gusto, especially when a ‘collaboration’ may involve wildly varying degrees of involvement from the respective parties. “I look forward to going to work every day, whether I’m working on the ready-to-wear collection or whether I’m working with [Estée Lauder lead global partnership initiatives] Sarah [Creal] and the fantastic team at Estée Lauder,” she says with the self-confidence of a woman who has successfully navigated the difficult terrain of women’s wardrobes and beauty cabinets. “I feel very passionate about everything that I’m doing. I’m very proud of everything that I’m working on.”