with Apple’s famed chief design
officer, Jony Ive—“the king of black
glass,” according to Creal.
Still, Beckham is committed to the
idea of building this new project in
what she calls a “small, humble way.”
Squint hard, very hard, and you can
almost picture her and Creal as the
ambitious bootstrappers they were
back when they began their careers in
beauty: Beckham as a perfume
spritzer in an Essex shopping mall
and Creal at the Clinique counter at
Bergdorf Goodman. Much has
changed since then for both
women, of course—perhaps most
notably that they’re not just
entrepreneurs but also mothers.
“Working mums get the job done,”
Beckham declares over a crackling phone
line from Italy, where she is on holiday with
David and their family. (The couple and
their three youngest children—their 20-year-
old son Brooklyn is working—have already
been on a run and to the gym.) She’s relaxed—
not just because this is about as close to being on
vacation as she gets but because the forthcoming
launch doesn’t faze her one bit. “I don’t feel like I have
to prove myself at all,” she says. “This is not a vanity
project. I’ve never just gotten out the checkbook and
gone crazy—what I’m creating is what I can’t find
and what I want in my makeup bag.” Beckham is also
savvy enough to know that what people want in their
makeup bags isn’t just her products but a window into
her life. It’s the reason Victoria Beckham Beauty will
soon branch out beyond makeup to skin-care, fragrance,
and a wellness category that aims to capitalize on her
own rigorous fitness and supplement regimen, which
includes everything from
fish oils and vitamin D
to Elysium Health’s
popular Basis capsules
for energy, sleep, and
cellular function.
That the inaugural
drop would be all
about eyes was never in
question, though. “If
you were to say to someone, ‘What is the signature look
for Victoria Beckham?’ they would say ‘A smoky eye,’ ”
she says. The line’s four debut eye-shadow palettes
reference established looks she wears on the regular.
The earthy warmth of Tweed evokes summer days spent
in the Cotswolds, while Tuxedo’s gray scale calls to
mind innumerable red-carpet photo calls. Royal features
a cobalt color that she wore to the Duke and Duchess
of Sussex’s wedding, which got nearly as much traction
on social media as the event itself. The collection is
rounded out by four crystal-infused shadow toppers and
three liners—which include a sharpener
opt-in or opt-out program to reduce plastic
consumption. Every product also comes in
a 100% postconsumer-recycled box.
The fact that a mascara is missing from the
curation is deliberate. “It’s been a nightmare finding a
clean formula,” Creal reveals of a commitment to
ingredient transparency that is as important to the two
women as the design of the reusable slimline horn-effect
compacts and caps brought to life by Ezra Petronio.
Beckham is betting on “clean” as the future, not a
fad. Although she’s keen to reemphasize that Victoria
Beckham Beauty is “not perfect”—the phrase has
become an unofficial brand hashtag—the collection
meets the checklist for non-toxicity set out in The Credo
Clean Standard (no cyclic silicones, formaldehyde,
parabens, or phthalates, among other potentially
harmful ingredients) and surpasses that of Sephora.
“It’s for women, by women. We’re creating beauty
solutions that help fuel your life,” Creal says of the
ethos behind the project, which will be available at an
“affordable luxury” price point. (The Eye Brick
shadow palettes retail for $54 each.)
The two women speak about what they’re doing as
“beauty in motion”—meaning not just beautiful
products for busy women but an equally agile business
model with a considerable amount of runway. Recently,
Creal—who has two young daughters—saw a post on
Beckham’s Instagram that made her pick up the phone.
It was a shot of Beckham in the foyer, with a cereal
bowl in one hand and a coffee in the other. “I was like,
‘Your post today is you. It’s me. And it’s really every
person I know in this day and age,’ ” Creal recalls. Could
this kind of relatability eventually cause Beckham’s
beauty business to outstrip her fashion empire?
“There’s potential,” the designer says coyly as she
dashes off with the kids. “There’s so much to come.”
—harriet fitch little
CASE LOGIC
DESIGNED BY EZRA PETRONIO, THE
SLIMLINE EYE-SHADOW COMPACTS ARE
REUSABLE, AND THE GOAL IS FOR EACH
POT OF LID LUSTRE TO BE MADE FROM
100% RECYCLABLE BLACK GLASS.
“I don’t feel like I have to
prove myself at all.
What I’m creating is what
I can’t find and what I
want in my makeup bag”
VLIFE
108 OCTOBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
