I remember back in my assisting days, one artist I worked with had the most sumptuous, luxurious body lotion, that I spent many a shoot slathering onto various celebrity and model limbs.  It smelled amazing, and was beautfully rich without being greasy.  She kept it in a little unlabelled bottle and whenever I asked her what it was, she told me it was a special mix of products that was her top secret recipe.

I still wake in the night sometimes in a cold sweat, thinking about what was in that bottle. Well, I certainly find myself thinking about it sometimes, and I promise I won’t do that to you lovely people!  I’ll always tell.  One of the great things about fashion week in particular, or the good old days of assisting, is the chance to have a nosey at other artists’ kits, and the goodies within, and I fully intend to share some of those goodies with you.  I feel slightly as though I may get thrown out of some non-existant Makeup Magic Circle for this type of thing, but I’m pretty sure I’m safe.

I don’t want to shoot my load too soon, pardon my French, so let’s just start with a couple of sneaky treats shall we?  First up, the Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer Pencil Case.  Now that’s a snappy name if ever you heard one right?  This is the little fella I’m talking about;

Many of you may be thinking, what’s with the stupid pencil cases Lucy, are the school hols over already?  But many a makeup artist will be thinking “Hand me my brushes, I need to put them in there immediately!”  I am an organisation junkie and no mistake (my Mother may disagree upon sight of my bedroom), but when it comes to my kit, I’m always looking for handy ways to pack up and unpack and use it’s contents.  I swiped this idea a couple of years back when assisting the awesome Lucia Pieroni for Versace, she had a similar style of case, and believe me these took a good bit of tracking down, but I finally found them for £8.99 (turns out the Japanese are the Dons of uber stylish stationery), and I LOVE THEM.  Simply unzip, fold down the open case, stand them up like a pot and off you go.  I use mine for  eye and lip pencils, and they don’t half look dinky when my kit’s all laid out for a shoot (BONUS).

Next up, drumroll please…….. Lucas’s Paw Paw Ointment!  This little baby could really get a post all of it’s own but, I’ve started, so I’ll finish.                                                                                   

I first met this shiny, red, plastic little beauty a few years ago.  My friend Milly and I were both on courses of Roaccutane at the time (that’s definately another post altogether), but to cut a long story short, Roaccutane is a prescription only acne medication that has the side effect of causing insanely dry skin.  Nose and lips especially, eeeesh.  One night our lovely Aussie mate Sophie cracked this out, and I’ve not looked back since.

Any Australasian readers will be more than familiar with this product already, it’s kind of to Australians what Vaseline is to us Brits (but it’s way, way better!).  Pawpaw, another name for Papaya, in ointment form can be used to treat a list of skin ailments so long I won’t even begin to reel it out here, but let’s just say it’s a bit of a miracle balm.  It’s loved by celebs such as Alexa Chung, Jemma Kidd, Naomi Watts and no doubt a lot more I just don’t know about as yet and believe me, you need this stuff in your life.  I use it not only on lips and chapped skin, but as a cheek and eye sheen, on elbows, knees, feet and underarms, to tame brows, the list goes on…

I’ve started to notice this dinky red pot popping up in the kits of more and more artists over time, it’s a cracking replacement for the rather more expensive Eight Hour Cream, also great for vegans or vegetarians who aren’t a fan of the lanolin used in said product.  Some get it sent over from friends and fam Down Under, some buy it online. Us Londoners are spoiled as we can pop into the fabulous Guru Makeup Emporium in Fulham, who’ve recently cottoned on and started stocking the PawPaw goodness in their store.  

But my super sneaky tip?  If you ever find yourself in central London, in the Covent Garden area, pop into the Australia Shop on Maiden Lane.  That’s where I like to sneak in and pick up a tube of the good stuff for £5.95.  And pick up some chocolate Tim Tam biscuits while you’re at it, there’s nothing better to suck your tea through.

Don’t say I never give you anything!

…x