While two million-plus subscribers certainly earns her the label, ‘YouTuber’ doesn’t quite cover the laundry list of Lisa Eldridge’s professional accomplishments.

As a make-up artist, the New Zealand-born Brit has spent over two decades painting the faces of some of the world’s ‘most beautiful’ women (Cindy Crawford, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Dua Lipa, to name but a few), yet the multi-hyphenate still falls short.

These days, Eldridge could be labelled an entrepreneur, creative director, author, make-up artist or YouTuber—and so she is. All at once.

“I was an early adopter of the digital world—one of the first makeup artists with a dot-com and the first professional with a high profile in the industry to regularly upload tutorials to YouTube,” Eldridge tells me. “I was nervous about starting it. I had a lot of celebrity and high end fashion clients and, at the time, people thought that YouTube was a bit naff, but I really believed in it.”

Shortly after uploading her first beauty tutorial to the platform in 2009, Eldridge earned a reputation as one of the most detailed and trustworthy beauty ‘gurus’ on the platform, translating the professional techniques and trends she’d mastered to the everywoman.

“The makeup community I’ve built since then is truly one of my proudest achievements and no matter how busy I am with my celebrity jobs, editorial shoots and building my brand, I still try to make time to film my videos,” she says. “That balance of having a large, global online following, while maintaining a high editorial profile, is still something that sets me apart today.”

What also sets her apart is a commitment to authenticity on the platform; to date, she’s never accepted payment to promote any products or brands online.

“My views are my own and 100% of my YouTube advertising revenue goes to charities that focus on female education and health,” she says. “My followers trust me and know that I won’t feature a brand or a product unless I truly believe in it. If it’s not good enough to go into my professional kit, it’s not good enough for my online channels.”

What some might say she’s ‘losing’ in ad revenue and sponsored content, however, she’s more than making up for in long-term partnerships. Off the back of her videos and wider work in the industry Eldridge was appointed Creative Director for Boots No7, where she was responsible for developing, re-designing and re-launching the brand, from 2003 to 2013, and then became the Global Creative Director of Lancôme.

And if that wasn’t enough, she launched her very own line of beauty products in 2018, starting small with three red ‘True Velvet’ lip colors.

“I hadn’t really planned to create and launch a lipstick first, but had a dream that I was doing someone’s makeup using lipsticks that were made out of velvet,” she says.

Inspired by the dream, she used real velvet fabric instead of lipstick on a shoot with Teen Vogue, and became obsessed with the idea of turning it into a wearable product.

“The pictures looked fantastic but, as you can imagine, it wasn’t very comfortable for the model!” she laughs. 

Though producing a lipstick that didn’t exist had many challenges, Eldridge and her team eventually managed to create a brand new mould using groundbreaking technology and unique color undertones (for example, blending blue undertones in a red lipstick with orange, terracotta, or pink).

“That’s what gives my lipsticks their chameleon quality, I call them my secret pigments!” she exclaims. “There were months and months of testing, tweaking and reformulating to get every shade and every texture just right, but I loved—and still love—seeing the look on people’s faces when they first saw the product. They always said ‘wow!’ and then ‘how?’ I knew I had made something pretty special.”

The lipsticks have become such a cult favorite, in fact, that film and TV producers are now writing them into scripts.

“I was thrilled when I saw Michelle Pfeiffer wearing Velvet Ribbon in French Exit—to see the shade immortalised in film, on an actress as luminous and epic as Michelle, was truly an incredible feeling.”

But she’s not stopping there. Today, Lisa Eldridge The Brand is launching its very first complexion range—Seamless Skin—with two new products; the ‘Elevated Glow’ Highlighter and ‘Enlivening Blush’.

“Complexion is really my thing—it’s my first love!” she says. “I know that people have been waiting for me to launch face products for a while—it’s a question I’m asked all the time—but I tend to do things organically and in my own time. Often, unconsciously, doing the exact opposite of what people expect.”

The ‘Elevated Glow’ Highlighter is a chic and seamless skincare-hybrid highlighter, available in four shades, that flatters in all lights and blurs as it perfects.

“I’ve always wanted to ensure that my products are backed by incredible science and innovative ingredients,” says Eldridge. “I actually first discovered Filmexcel, one of the ingredients in my Elevated Glow Highlighter, quite a few years ago and was determined to include it in my first complexion launch.”

Filmexcel is a brilliantly clever, film-forming bio polymer that gives a sculpted and lifted effect to the skin, as well as being hydrating and protective.

“Having worked on countless faces over the years, I know that the areas of the face we like to highlight can be problematic—the last thing we want is to draw attention to fine dry lines, pigmentation and pores, so it made sense to create something that imparts glow and helps to treat the skin.”

The ‘Enlivening Blush’, similarly, provides subtle color in a unique and innovative makeup/skincare, available in six gorgeous shades, with a natural ‘skin-like’ finish.

“My Enlivening Blush colors are also packed with antioxidants like Rosemary Leaf Extract and Bilberry and Raspberry Seed Oils, plus a cutting-edge spherical powder that gives a soft-focus effect to the skin,” she says. “I’m excited that they’re finally ready to be released into the world.”

As part of the day’s numerous launches, Eldridge is also bringing back her sell-out Gloss Embrace Lipgloss— the first drop of which sold out in just 45 minutes.

“There really was no master plan—and hasn’t been for anything,” she admits, “so I was surprised, and thrilled, at how quickly the glosses sold out last time.”

The non-sticky and nourishing gloss is now available in ten shades (with four brand new colors for 2021), all of which enhance and replenish lips with nourishing oils and butters.

I always have at least two in my handbag at any time, but Songbird is the shade I’m personally reaching for most often right now—it’s a light beige/putty pink that’s perfect for summer.”

But wait, there’s more (!) with seven new shades of Eldridge’s Luxuriously Lucent Lip Colours—true to form as the brand’s only semi-sheer coverage lipstick with a satin finish.

“Overall, I have a lot of first-hand experience and a well-rounded, 360 education that a lot of people who launch brands don’t have—and this is something that I hope comes across in the products I produce,” she says.

Still, even with an in-depth, inside-out knowledge of how the beauty business works at its highest echelons, she isn’t planning on ditching YouTube or client work and competing with the likes of Shiseido, Boots or Lancôme any time soon.

“What I love most about my job is the variety—one day I’ll be in a lab creating products, the day next I’m on a shoot with a celebrity or doing an editorial for an international brand campaign, and the next discussing the history for my documentary series or studying my vintage collection for inspiration,” she says. “There really is no master plan.”

Confident (but the farthest thing from cocky) about her position in the industry, her philosophy to beauty and work has never really changed.

“Although I’ve worked with many of the world's top brands and been in a premium position for such a long time, my audience tells me they trust me, and feel like they can really talk to me—that’s something I never want to lose.”