If you’ve been to the Cotswolds recently, you probably found yourself wondering how the women get that Gloucestershire glow. You know the one – that not-too-overdone, glossy look you suspect probably costs thousands of pounds to maintain.
Well, I can tell you their secrets. I’ve lived in the Cotswolds for 13 years and am the founder of the Lucie app, the go-to resource for finding and booking the best beauty and health experts for these women.
We cover the Cotswolds and London as well as Ibiza and Paris and have built up a great roster of high-profile clients who are either full-time residents in the area or have a countryside residence in the ‘Golden Triangle’, including pop star Natalie Imbruglia, entrepreneur and partner of Simon Cowell, Lauren Silverman, and Portia de Rossi, actress and wife of US star Ellen DeGeneres. I know exactly what the glossy Gloucestershire set are having done – and who’s doing it.
People don’t realise that looking good in the Cotswolds is very different to looking good elsewhere. Women get dressed up here far more than anyone in London does, for example.
Where my girlfriends in the capital will go out for dinner in jeans and a nice top, in the country it’s more often a cocktail dress, even though most big events typically happen in people’s houses. This level of glamour and entertaining dictates their beauty routines, too – and means they’re doing more of everything. Blow-dries two to three times a week; back-to-back nail appointments; lymphatic drainage massages, and so on. All in the name of looking as good as they possibly can.
A lot of socialising also happens around exercise at venues like Soho Farmhouse (sohohouse.com), the Bamford Club (bamfordclub.com), or the recently-opened Chloe’s Pilates near Chipping Norton which everyone is obsessed with (chloespilates.com).
A lot of effort goes into selecting the matching gym wear (Varley, Alo, LuluLemon) alongside the Chanel bag and the Marfa Stance coat but beauty-wise it’s just hair typically scraped back in a high ponytail with a Silke London hair tie (£35 for 6, silkelondon.com) and Sarah Chapman Skinesis Skin Insurance SPF50 tinted cream for the no makeup glow (£74, sarahchapman.com).
I’d say 99 per cent of the high net worth individuals in the Cotswolds are getting their treatments done at home. Yes, younger clientele might turn it into a social meet up and have a pedicure together at Farmhouse, for instance, but that’s more of a luxury treatment compared to the client who regards these appointments as a necessity.
Lucy Russell is the founder of the Lucie app, the go-to resource for finding and booking the best beauty and health experts
At Lucie we know all the best local practitioners – and we try everyone out before recommending them. We also bring down dedicated specialists from London for our clients. Overall our women always want a ‘natural look’ above all. But what, and who, is most in demand right now?
Ditch the brunette and go blonde
There are acres more blondes in the Cotswolds than brunettes – if you’re telling a story and refer to a skinny blonde woman in a Range Rover, you could be talking about practically anyone – and they’re certainly not embracing the grey.
There was a time when everyone was getting colour done locally, and it was all a very similar hue of brassy blonde, but now colourists like Raphael Cheesman are coming down from London (£300 for a half head of highlights), there’s much more variety of blonde and a lot more caramel tones.
Raphael used to work at Daniel Galvin Junior and Nicky Clarke, but now comes to clients’ homes – though he only specialises in colour so don’t expect a blow-dry afterwards; you’ll have to schedule that elsewhere.
Most women here have regular blow dries costing about £80 (which, yes, could easily add up to more than £200 a week). People love Morgan and Charlotte on the app. Big bouncy 80s hair and rollers and are a definite no-no – it’s about the beach wave, straight hair, or the slicked back ponytail.
Nailing a Cotswolds manicure
I’d say clients tend to get gels rather than polish (from £60 for mani and £65 for pedi). A tiny few will ask for extensions and occasionally, when Wilderness festival is on, we might we get some nail art requests.
You might think that gels are also good for practicality – you don’t want to risk ruining your mani if you slip in the mud in your Le Chameau wellies – but I’m not sure that is something anyone worries about here. It’s more about looking understated yet polished. As for colours, all our manicurists have to carry Essie’s Sugar Daddy (a very pale creamy pink) or something similar. And if a client’s going for more impact, it’s a deep red such as the Gel Bottle’s Couture. They’ll have the same colours on fingers and toes. You won’t see an unpedicured toe in any of your yoga classes in the Cotswolds.
They also love a hand cream, and the favourite right now is 79 Luxe, the British independent luxury brand founded by Karen Cummings-Palmer (£33, 79luxe.com). For a more locally-based brand people love Bertioli by Thyme Water Meadow Hand and Body Lotion (£55; bertioli.co.uk). We’re also seeing more men coming in for nail care these days. Our top nail techs Sabina and Alicia are based locally, but we also work with London-based Imarni (@imarninails) and bring her to the Cotswolds to see our clients (POA). She has done the nails of practically every celebrity on the planet including Lily Collins, Lily Allen, Emma Stone, Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, and Olivia Dean.
If you’ve been to the Cotswolds recently, you probably found yourself wondering how the women get that Gloucestershire glow
The eye trick that means no mascara needed
The glossy Gloucestershire women might spend £200 on a home make-up session, which is significantly less than our London clients, who spend around £600.
The art of it lies in nailing the spontaneous, low effort look: they absolutely do not want to look as though they’ve just had their makeup done, in other words.
They tend to get lash extensions but very natural-looking ones for a minimal look – they’ll get a half set rather than a full set – which means they don’t wear mascara. They’re also more about tinted moisturisers than heavy foundations and all want the Victoria Beckham Beauty Foundation Drops (£104, victoriabeckhambeauty.com).
Charlotte Tilbury is also in everyone’s makeup bag especially her highlighter Beauty Light Wand (£30, charlottetilbury.com). Brows are simply threaded. I think makeup always gives away who is a local and who is a hotel guest at Soho Farmhouse or Estelle Manor – the Cotwolds is low key chic, whereas lots of the tourists and hotel guests are more full glam, heels, and as much volume in the hair as possible.
Most of the lips in the Cotwsolds are nude (though you might see the odd red lip at a big event) and nothing beats a subtle shade of Rhode Peptide Lip Tint (£20; rhodeskin.com) or Chanel Rouge Coco Gloss lip gloss (£37; chanel.com).
The facial with a months-long waiting list
People either want real medical facials that focus on deep tissue cellular treatment or things like acne, pigmentation or skin texture – or they go for a really sculpting facial using lymphatic drainage to reduce puffiness and refresh the skin. They will leave with armfuls of skincare products from heavyweight brands like ESK (eskcare.com) and Obagi (obaji.com)
Our top guy is Lee Harrison (£250 per facial), a leading A-list medical facialist who works with brands including Obagi, Dr Levy, Priori, Skin Better Science, ZO, and IS Clinical. Lee covers the Cotswolds and London and his facial includes extractions, EMS (Electronic Muscle Stimulation), dermaplaning, an enzymatic peel, high frequency and dermal LED Light Therapy. Many of our clients have their facial schedule planned out months in advance as they’re not going to risk not getting their appointment. For special occasions the Red Carpet Facial – also known as the Cinderella facial – is popular. It’s results-orientated and non-invasive for an immediate boost to skin leaving it brighter, firmer, hydrated and giving a natural glow that lasts for up to 48 hours. Tunde is a popular therapist for this.
Charlotte Tilbury is in everyone’s makeup bag, especially her highlighter Beauty Light Wand
The subtle rise of tweakments
These are everywhere – and always low key. Everyone starts with Botox and people will have minimal filler – if they have any in their lips, it’s very subtle – because no-one wants it to look obvious.
We either send clients to Dr Vicky Dondos and Sadaf Jaffari in London or for our VIPs, they come to them. The look they all want is a very natural one – fresh faced with a glow. People are also having Profhilo (injections of hyaluronic acid at £800 per treatment course) and mesotherapy treatments using micro-injections of vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants (£270 upwards) for their face.
We are seeing more inquiries about blepharoplasty (eye lifts) and also for facelifts. These days most of our clients will avoid sun on their face at all costs and wear SPF 50 all year round. Brands they love include Sisley Sunleÿa Anti-Ageing Sun Care SPF50+ (£223; Sisley-paris.com), Dr Barbara Sturm Sun Drops SPF50 (£125; drsturm.com) or MZ Skin Expert UV Protector SPF50 (£110; mzskin.com).
- lucieapp.co.uk
- As told to Edwina Ings-Chambers