70 ·^ COSMOPOLITAN
OH (GOLDEN) BALLS!
I ONCE RECEIVED A CALL FROM
THE AGENT OF SOMEBODY
CALLED VICTORIA ADAMS. APPARENTLY
SHE ADORED RUBY & MILLIE LIP GLOSS AND
WOULD LOVE IT IF WE COULD DEVELOP
AND NAME ONE AFTER HER. I HAD NO
IDEA WHO SHE WAS – JUST A MEMBER
OF SOME GIRL BAND CALLED THE SPICE
GIRLS. I WASN’T INTERESTED, SO
DECLINED, HAVING NO IDEA SHE’D FORM
ONE FIFTH OF THE MOST ICONIC GIRL
GROUP EVER, THEN BECOME A FASHION
DESIGNER, BUSINESSWOMAN, MUM OF
FOUR AND THE WIFE OF DAVID BECKHAM.AS TOLD TO LUCY PARTINGTON AND BECCA GREEN. PHOTOGRAPH MANOLO CAMPION/THELICENSINGPROJECT.COMEYE EYE, CAPTAIN
I was applying a dark, inky
kohl liner on one of my
first ever clients and
I flinched, catching it on one of her
eyes. I panicked that I may have blinded
her. When she opened her eye she had
a large streak of black across her eyeball.
I felt flustered but she carried on chatting
away as if nothing had happened. I was
sticking cotton buds in her eye and all
sorts, but she barely even blinked – instead
she just said, “Oh, don’t worry, darling.
That’s a glass eye. Let me pop it out and
give it a wipe.” I froze, turned away and
pretended to clean brushes while she
carried on with her ablutions.
KENNETH SOH, MAKE-UP ARTISTMILLIE KENDALL MBE, CO-FOUNDER
OF BEAUTYMART AND RUBY & MILLIEDR BARBARA
STURM,
COSMETIC
DOCTOR
SHIPS IN
THE NIGHT
I was flown to
New York for a
consultation with an
A-list celebrity couple. After three
days waiting in a five-star hotel for
their PA to arrange a convenient
time for us to meet, I took things
into my own hands and called to
find out what had happened. Turns
out the PA had forgotten I was even
there, and the couple had left for
LA an hour after my arrival.
IAN MARBER, NUTRITION
THERAPIST & HEALTH WRITER
BLOODY HELL
A client came to
see me wanting
an MC1 Cream (a
moisturiser made using
proteins from your own
blood). Once I’d finished
taking blood he asked if
I could take some more.
I said what I had was
sufficient. He asked
again, so I asked why
- he said he wanted
to drink it.
NOT SO
PEACHY
Back in 2001, we
were on QVC
every four hours around the
clock and one day, we went out
for a Chinese before the next slot.
About 10 minutes after we’d
paid, my tummy started to
cramp. By the time we were
back on air, I’d thrown up three
times, was sweating buckets and
holding my stomach. I had to
keep running off to throw up,
then restart my pitch as though
nothing had happened. By the
end, my once-perfect hair was a
wet mess covering half my face,
but that show ended up being
one of our most successful ever,
and helped get us more airtime.
JERROD BLANDINO,
FOUNDER OF TOO FACEDBLONDE AMBITION
A well-known female TV star used
to come and see me once a month
and was always very particular
about the shade of blonde she
wanted, so I asked her to bring in a photo. She
showed me one of her straddling a sun lounger
wearing nothing but some very small, red bikini
bottoms. Her arms were behind her and she was
pushing her chest forward. There was only the
two of us in the salon and she looked straight
into my eyes, held my gaze for about three
seconds too long and said, “I love it just like this- could you give it to me?” There was an awkward
silence as I contemplated whether it was a) a
come-on, b) a joke or c) a genuine reference to
the hair colour. I went for option C and, luckily,
she loved it, but she never came back...
DEAD TO
THE WORLD
I was at a fashion
designer’s house to
do a facial and halfway through he
started to itch, saying one of the
products was burning and irritating
him. I said, “Don’t worry,” and removed
it. The redness quickly disappeared,
but then, 10 minutes later, I noticed his
breathing was slowing down. Falling
asleep during a facial isn’t unheard
of, but when his breathing came to a
sudden halt, I thought it was strange.
A few seconds passed without a
breath and panic started to set in.
I started a deep massage with a
slight shaking movement to try to
wake him up. Minutes passed and
there was still no breathing. I thought
about who to call first – the police,
his PA or an ambulance? After what
felt like an hour, he took the biggest
breath and carried on snoring. I finally
finished the treatment, woke him,
and asked how he was feeling. “I feel
like I’ve been in a different world!
I’ve never felt so relaxed. What
did you do to me?” he said. When
I asked if he’d ever stopped breathing
in the past, he said, “Oh, yes, darling- I have sleep apnoea. Why?” ◆
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, CELEBRITY
HAIR STYLISTMICHAELLA BOLDER,
CELEBRITY FACIALISTT AND RUBY &D