As far back as I can remember I have been fascinated by make-up and how it can transform the face. As a young girl I would borrow my mum's make-up and spend hours experimenting with various looks and copying the images of TV stars. I particularly loved the romantic smokey-eyed looks of the 1920's and 30's, which influences my own make-up even today. When I left school I already knew I wanted to be a Make-up Artist, but at that time I was not old enough to join the most obvious route into the profession, the BBC. So my mother packed me off to hairdressing college and although it was not where I wanted my future to lie, it turned out to be a great starting point for my career.

After a couple of years hairdressing, I went to Art College, loved it and specialised in Fine Art, particularly life drawing and sculpting. Subsequently I joined The London College of Fashion and studied specialised make-up, which was excellent training and is now a BA course. During work experience on the film Batman, my interest grew in prosthetics, assisting make-up man Nick Dudman. After finishing the course I flew to Milan to `gain more work experience with Nick on the film 'Frankenstein Unbound', where I achieved my first screen credit (it has always been such a buzz for me to see my name up there!). I was now part of Nick's team but work was thin on the ground, due to the writer's and actor's strike in Hollywood and the 1990 recession. Not every film requires prosthetics, but every film has straight make-up, so I aimed in a new direction, which turned out to be the best decision I have made in my career, as working with straight make-up offers more variety and contact with actors. Being such a people person this was the right area for me.

As my experience in straight make up continued to grow and in 1996 I started working with the brilliant make-up artist Paul Engelen. We have regularly worked together now for over 10 years on screen epics including Gladiator, Tomb Raider, Troy and most recently Casino Royale.

It is a passion for women's make up and my wealth of experience gained in the film industry that has led me to start a new chapter in my career, by training in image consulting and bringing make-up transformations into the real world with Make-up Matters.