Fragrance campaigns can often be quite… Like there's a woman abseiling across a roof and then bursting into flames and it's all very supernatural. So I think it's really nice and quite new to have a campaign that feels quite real, and to create a world that actually has meaning for people. Fragrance campaigns are renowned for having bizarre plotlines - like waking up with a sailor in your bed. It's like, that's a really hilarious story and I wish I could tell that as an anecdote from my life, but it's always these rarefied strange situations. So what's nice is that the Black Opium narrative feels like a real story that could and probably has happened to you and people you know. I think that is just a bit more real and relatable.
A lot of it is filtered straight through my agency and they're like, no, no, no, no, yes, no - and then if it gets through that we have a discussion about who the photographer is, what the moodboard is, what it's going to look like and who'll be working on it. So do I want to work with that person, or do I think I can produce something good with this person? Also, whether it's right in that moment for my career. So a million different criteria - a complex filtration system!
Yes. I like to keep it busy but manageably so. I keep it very bearable. I'm like: "I don't think I want to work this week, I think I'm a bit tired". I don't want it to get to the stage where I turn up at work overtired and make it horrible for everyone else and myself.
I think a big party and a lot of dancing. I like to go for it when I go for it, but be selective about when I go for it. Choose your moment, then really take it to the nth degree. So I'd say really good music and at least six hours of dancing in really comfortable shoes. And no silly prissy outfits - you've got to be feeling good. And stunning creatures everywhere, stunning men all around you. Good vibes.
I am trying to wear make-up more often. I think there's a lot to be said for looking really nice. It's something I'd forgotten about. So a bit of mascara - I'm pretty boring. Eyeliner, done. I do wear foundation too because when I drink I get really bad booze rouge, so I am taking pre-emptive action. So I paint myself white before I leave the house, then a quick glass of wine and I'm back to normal. I use YSL's Le Teint Touche Éclat Foundation, and the new Neutralizer Colour Corrector is good for redness too.
You do pick up tips. It's like: "Ooh Pat McGrath has really nailed my eyebrows, I see what she did there". In some ways they're all quite specific to you and your face, but I do think curl your eyelashes, it makes a difference. I've got really straight lashes and it's not a good look. Also really work mascara in - when you go for the eyeliner too, really scrub it in. And no space between the liner and the lashes, that's my worst. I use a pencil eyeliner - scrub it on rub it off, scrub it on rub it off. And really go for it.
I do remove my make-up and I take care of my skin but really my mum's got really good skin, my granny's got good skin, my dad's not a spotty man... I use Avène because I think it's quite light and gentle, it's not perfumed or anything like that. And I don't go in the sun, I'm not a tanner at all. In fact I'm quite scared of the sun, so it's SPF50 all over. I got really burned as a five-year-old on my back and couldn't lie down - it scared me. I don't tan anyway, I'd only burn if I went in the sun. So I think that does help. And when I'm really hungover I like to lie in my bed with a Korean sheet mask on my face. I probably do more stuff than my friends, but then I do get given stuff. They'll be like: "What are all of these lotions and potions that you're using?" and I'm like: "Well this does this and this one does this." I'm not into facials but I do like a massage - I go to this witch who lives around the corner from me, she's really good.
Ok hair I know about. I've got it down. Guido Palau cuts it. He's given me so many silly haircuts though. He did the mullet which was great, but he's given me a really short fringe in the past which wasn't working for me. I actually sent him a screenshot of a newspaper headline today which was like: "Woman sets out to kill hairstylist for giving her a bad haircut". So I was like: "Just saying…" I kind of wait until he's in London doing the Christopher Kane show or something and then get him to give me a cut.
For colour I see Josh Wood. My natural colour is really bland and if you have short hair you need those summery highlights. Guido's always like: "You look really drab", so then I think it's probably time to change it! I usually go to bed with wet hair so when I wake up it's out at all angles. So back in the shower, wet it again and then air-dry it and scrunch it up. When you have short hair you have to go for it with products or you end up with helmet hair. I use stuff from this great Paris salon called David Mallett - it's so nice. In the summer you can sit on the balcony and let your hair cook in the sun and have a coffee. He has really good products, a really good salt spray and a really good volume spray. Then I just put a bit of serum on the ends.
A really good book. I'm reading a book called Night by Edna O'Brien at the moment which is great, she's a really feisty Irish woman who writes about her - slash her imaginary character's - sex life in Thirties Catholic Ireland. So she was the first one that really went for it. I also try to travel with the right adaptor, my passport - not going to get very far without that - and then Caudalie Beauty Elixir. I haven't really nailed the travelling thing. I'm not organised enough to be like: "This is my travel bag which I always have with me". I have four half-packed bags in my flat. I'd love to have, like, a Paris one with euros and an American one with dollars and an American adaptor, but unfortunately that's not going to happen for me. I've let it go, I'm too disorganised.
*Edie Campbell is the face of YSL Beauty's Black Opium Nuit Blanche fragrance. *
