Memories of my mother:a mist of Madame Rochas, super-soft skin and a shapely berry lip. She was an aromatic assortment of lipstick, powder and perfume, the scented culmination of the contents of her handbag. A truly classic lady, resplendent in dogtooth and sunglasses, her look was instinctively 1950s, right up until the end.
Me? I’m a little more bohemian, a late 1970s chick meets Pre-Raphaelite. I rarely wear lipstick, only apply a hint of mascara, but I do share her lily-white skin, and my mama bestowed upon me the best-ever beauty advice: keep out of the sun. She taught me to love being pale, to respect my skin and to never try to tan. As I now reflect on my experimental art college days when I’d return home with multicoloured hair extensions, wearing a kaleidoscope of eye colours, I recall she embraced it all, never criticised and never once questioned my playfulness.
I realise I’ve been rather more controlling with my own daughters. At various stages since they were tiny, my two girls, Olivia, now 24, and Phoebe, 18, have wanted to colour their red hair (I said no, as they both have the most glorious shades that would be ruined by artificial colour); cut all their hair off (no! It’s blissfully soft and tumbling); have lip fillers (Phoebe did experiment by sucking on a bottle top aged 13, only to have a bruised upper lip for 48 hours); and microblade their eyebrows (they are adept at using makeup to alter their brows; no need to make it semi-permanent).
Controlling I may be but I’m grateful they bothered to ask and, in the main, listened to me. I’ve never really preached but when it comes to transformative beauty treatments that would take a moment to regret and years to reverse, I have stood my ground and stated with all my experience as a beauty editor, why not to go there. The normalising and availability of tweakments for young women nowadays terrifies me.
Makeup on the other hand? Now that’s fun! It’s temporary, individual, experimental and it comes off, so you can start all over again. But here’s where this generation is so different from mine and my mother’s: they learn on screen.
Phoebe, for example, loves YouTube tutorials and Kendall Jenner and Danielle Marcan on Instagram. She and her friends are brush-wielding, palette-loving princesses and their choices are all cruelty-free, preferably vegan. My ‘mother’ friends and I all prefer to use our fingertips. Give us a palette and there’s usually considerable fear followed by a complete rejection of 90% of the shades therein. Plus, our kids are lucky – they’ve grown up with more choice, especially when it comes to foundation shades and makeup textures that are just beautiful. My first sparkly eyeshadow at 14 felt like sandpaper, while today’s technology makes it feel like silk.
Shop the GH beauty team's favourite vegan makeup
bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Hydrating Foundation Stick SPF 25
Yet, truth be told,I just can’t do makeup the way my girls can. "I’d quite like to get highlighter on you to contour your face more, and I think you should use bronzer," says Phoebe. Hmm? I’m not too keen on a super-shiny nose, but somehow, Phoebe makes highlighting down the centre of hers with MAC’s golden Strobe Cream look fresh and cute. Not only do I not have the patience for all that blending, my eyesight is rapidly failing, too. So much so, that in the past few weeks alone, Olivia has said on a couple of occasions, "Ooh Mummy, you need to check your foundation in the mirror, it’s not quite blended in." Oh, the shame!
But what I lack in makeup skills, I’ve made up for in successfully passing on skincare secrets, such as say no to face wipes (they’re not good cleansers and most don’t biodegrade); treat your skin kindly (don’t mix lots of different actives and acids, which young skin really doesn’t need); stay in the shade; and use SPF30+ at all times...
Shop the GH beauty team's favourite SPFs
Neutrogena® Neutrogena Hydro Boost City Shield SPF Moisturiser
La Roche Posay La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Ultra Comfort Cream SPF 50+
I also like to think I’ve taught my girls to love themselves the way they are. The fake tanning of their lily-white skin has stopped for now and they have yet to tamper with their uniquely beautiful shades of red hair. Makeup is worn to please themselves and no one else. "I think what I’ve learned most from you is having the confidence to love the skin I’m in," said Phoebe to me recently. I’d say the exact same words to my own mother were she here with me today.
Shop the products Phoebe used in Jo's makeover
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