Backstage With Paul & Joe

I honestly do not know how jet-setting super bloggers do what they do because a mere 24 hours in Paris on a press trip did me in for a fortnight. At the very end of Paris Fashion Week I was lucky enough to be invited along to see not only the backstage but full show with Paul & Joe Beauty. Rather hilariously I've never been to any such event at London Fashion Week but off I popped to St Pancras with absolutely no idea what to expect from my Parisian excursion.

I met celebrity makeup artist, Mark Carrasquillo (who's worked on some seriously ICONIC shoots, including Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover) who was so passionate about his vision for the show, his excitement was infectious. He also gave me an insight in to just how serious the beauty side of a show is, what to me looked perfect to him was just not right and needed to be fixed. His vision for the models was 'British teenage girl', a girl just starting to wear makeup who would reach for a light base and a black eyeliner before throwing other boyfriends shirt with her skinny jeans. It was grungy and effortlessly cool. Think Kate Moss, at any age.

The backstage was less manic than I'd expected, eerily quiet and not at all glamorous, everyone is there to do a job. The rehearsal was a little more stressed as a sense of urgency descended and tensions ran high but even then, pretty laid back. The show itself was like attending the world's shortest party, everyone makes their way to their seats, there are drinks, there's chatter and then the music starts. Approximately 5 minutes later it's all over, that day of prep.. for 5 minutes. A totally bizarre thing really but then compared to how long it takes to plan the average wedding, probably not that mad these days. This particular show was different for a couple of reasons, they chose a new location, by the river and sunset, there were no costume changes, a girl for every outfit, and it was the last show of fashion season! It was exciting, an experience I'm so privileged to have had and fantastic to see everything come together in the show but I felt very much more at home backstage than I did front row. 

In other news, I've developed a small crush on Annika Krijt and you can buy Paul & Joe beauty at ASOS