With Mother's Day this weekend, HELLO!'s Beauty Collective wanted to pay tribute to the women who shaped us.
From our mums, sisters and other mother figures, these are the beauty lessons we learned from the most important women in our lives…
Glynis Barber: Immaculate manicures
"One of my lasting memories of my mother is her beautiful hands. I only have a few youthful impressions of her as she died when I was in my teens, but I'll never forget her incredibly well-manicured, exquisite hands.
"She had long, perfectly shaped nails (all natural) at the end of her graceful, slim fingers. It became my lifelong ambition to have hands just like hers.
"But sadly, I didn't inherit her genes when it came to hands. My fingers are shorter and stubby and my nails are a disaster. They break and split and if one of them manages to grow to a decent length, the others fail to do so.
"Every time one of my nails broke, I somehow felt I was letting her down. She spent hours looking after her hands, always moisturising and even wearing gloves to protect them. When one of her nails broke (an astonishingly rare occurrence), it was a major event, with everyone rallying round to comfort her.
"After years of trying and failing to emulate her incredible hands and nails, I realised it would never happen and I just had to make the most of what I had. I now keep my nails short and even cut them down if they start to get too long.
© @gelcare.official"I keep them tidy and always have them painted. It gives me great joy to see the flashes of colour on the tips of my fingers. I go for different colours and steer away from the traditional reds and pinks that she favoured. I love pale blues and greens which I find uplifting. This winter I discovered a wonderful khaki green by Rimmel called 'Crazy about Cargo', that has got me lots of compliments. People are always remarking on my nail colour choices.
"I feel she would be proud of me for keeping up the tradition of well-manicured hands, even if I've created my own version of it, with the shape and colours that resonate with who I am."
Sidra Imtiaz: Fragrance, always
"If there's one thing my mother knows and loves, it's perfumes. Having grown up in Pakistan, she only truly discovered the world of perfumes after she moved to the UK aged 19.
"I asked her if she remembered the fragrance that started it all, and she recalled my dad bringing her home a sample of Dior's iconic 'Poison' after a business trip to London. To this day, she is still a Dior girl through and through.
"I can remember her sending my dad on a hunt through all the department stores and airports after their 'Forever & Ever' perfume was discontinued, and when I got my first job, I gifted her a bottle of 'J'Adore', the floral scent I always associate with her from when I was a child, but these days, she loves 'Oud Ispahan' for special occasions.
"Never one for make-up or skincare, it was always glass bottles that adorned her dressing table as I was growing up, and to this day it's still the go-to gift for her. From her, I developed my own love of scents and my slight opposition to the idea of a signature scent.
"She had her favourites, of course, but was always open to a new scent, and never deterred by already having those that she loved. In fact, I distinctly remember her saying that she appreciates when we gift her 100ml bottles but would actually prefer smaller ones so she could continue to explore the world of fragrance without wasting a drop.
© Getty"Similar to my mum, I won't be restricted by a signature – after all, there are so many brilliant scents out there I'm yet to sniff. This adoration of smell goes beyond just perfumes, she explores any beauty product aside from makeup with what I call a nose-first approach.
"My breakout-prone skin favours fragrance-free formulas for my face, but she adores the delicate scents of products such as Charlotte Tilbury's 'Magic Cream'. Fragrance layering is relatively common now, but I'm sure my mum was doing it over twenty years ago, with scented body washes under rich moisturisers and a spritz of perfume.
"Arguably more so than any other sense, olfaction evokes the strongest of emotional responses, and I love that it is the part of the beauty world my mother and I share so strongly. I love to delve into her perfume collection when I'm home, and if I wear a new scent around her, I know she's going to be asking where or when I got it as soon as I enter a room. Her excitement around scents has nurtured a real love language over the years and sharing perfumes with her reminds me that she too, was and is just a girl, like me."
Melanie Macleod: Fragrance fans
"Just like Sidra, the beauty love I inherited from my mother is fragrance.
"Now in her 70s, Macleod senior is more invested in beauty than I remember her being during my childhood - in part due to my job and the stream of new makeup and skincare launches I give her, I suspect.
"As a child, I only really remember her being interested in fragrance - Chanel No5 which she always wore. She wasn't the only mother figure in my life who I associate my own love of scent with, though.
"Her sister, my aunty, had wardrobes full of fragrance which I dreamt of copying when I grew up (thus far I have a shelf…) On top of that, my nanny, who was in her early teens and twenties when she looked after me, always had a bottle of 'Charlie Gold' in her car glove compartment and I loved spraying it whenever I got the chance.
"When I was 10, my love of scent was solidified forever when my au pair at the time gave me a bottle of perfume from her native Czech Republic. I can't remember the scent, but I can remember it was a clear glass bottle filled with sequin stars, which I still think about to this day."
Donna Francis: Beauty from the inside
"My mum's approach to beauty was all about perfume, skincare and hairspray when I was growing up. Very 80s! She had a weekly blow dry but never dyed her hair - she was the original silver-haired queen.
"This is why she always tried to put me off from dying my own hair, but it was a lesson I didn't follow. I wasn't blessed with a beautiful streak of silver that ran through the front of her hair so I wasn't as keen to embrace my greys so bravely.
"I did take mum's advice about not shaving my legs when I was younger though. She took me for my first leg wax appointment at 12 and I continued with regular waxing until adulthood which I'm thankful for as I hardly have any hairs on my legs now!
"Mum was never really into makeup - she is still just a mascara-and-go kind of lady. She uses nothing else on her skin apart from quality skincare which is probably why I am a skincare addict and prefer the no-makeup makeup look. She has always been a big Clarins fan and it's 100% why I still have a great love and respect for the brand.
"Perfume for my mum has always been a big part of her identity - you can always smell her before you see her. Dior's 'Poison' was her signature scent in the 80s and I remember spraying it on my pillow that I took on trips away from home as it reminded me of her when I felt homesick. Le Labo and Hermes are her faves now.
"The main thing that my mum has taught me about beauty though is that it's not really about the aesthetic but about the beauty inside of you. I know it sounds cliche but the older I get the more I realise it is true!"
Vanese Maddix: A sister's influence
"There's a six-year age gap between my older sister and I, and one of my core memories is that every morning, like clockwork, when I'd come downstairs, my sister would sit doing her makeup for a full day of school (despite the fact that makeup wasn’t allowed at her school). I was always mesmerised by her rebellious ways and how effortlessly she applied her makeup.
"The steps in her routine that I couldn't get enough of was her eyeliner routine and how many passes she did on her water line (the limit does not exist). As I got older and began discovering my own beauty routine, eyeliner was a step that I'd never pass up on, as to this day it reminds me of those mornings watching my sister.
"The brand of eyeliner she'd use would vary but always be black. I think black is such a great colour on everyone, but I usually opt for kohl or crayon-type eyeliner in a vibrant shade.
"One of my personal all-time favourites is the Victoria Beckham 'Satin Kajal Liner', which boasts an ultra-creamy formula that glides on like no other. There is an array of shades to choose from in either a matte, shimmer or jewel finish. My go-to shades are a rotation between blue, pink and green.
"My sister's beauty-filled morning would always end in her dowsing herself in the sweetest smelling perfume, with 'Fantasy' by Britney Spears a firm favourite. She'd always remind me that there's never such a thing as too much perfume and you know what? To this day, I couldn’t agree more.
"My beauty routine isn't complete without far too many spritzes of Glossier 'You'. The sparkling pink pepper and ambrette make for a perfect sweet pairing."
