NYLON Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 78) WEIRD SCIENCE FACTORY GIRL PLAYS BEAUTY AND THE GEEK IN RIMMEL’S HEADQUARTERS, AND LEAVES WITH A FRESH COAT OF GLOSS In all my travels as NYLON ’s accessories director and Factory Girl, for some reason, I’ve never made it to London. So when Rimmel— the city’s biggest cosmetics empire—invited me to infiltrate its lab, I jumped on the first Virgin Atlantic flight faster than I could say “Cheerio, mate.” No sooner do I drop my bags in my room at the Haymarket Hotel— whimsically designed lodgings with quirky touches like a graffiticovered marble bust and an honesty bar, where you pour the drinks yourself and pay using an honor system—than I get down to the first order of business: Topshop. The Kate Moss collection is in the store, and given that Kate Moss is the face of Rimmel, I can call this research, right? Two hours and 900 or so potential outfits later, I leave with two dresses and a jacket—and I feel so guilty for making shopping my first priority that I atone by going to the National Portrait Gallery. (Call me a Philistine, but everyone immortalized there resembles George or Martha Washington.) The next day—slightly hung over from an evening at the honesty bar, though in all honesty I can’t keep track of how much I drank— I’m off to Rimmel’s headquarters and factory in Ashford, Kent, a two-hour drive from the city. My first stop is the lab, which reminds me of my high-school bio days, or maybe the set of Grey’s Anatomy. (Where’s my McDreamy?) We’re talking white lab coats, beakers, fluorescent lighting, the works. I meet with a duo of Rimmel’s expert technicians, director of industrial chemistry Jean-Michel le Pape Clockwise from top left: A genuine London lass in my Kate Moss for Topshop top and new bowler hat; inside Rimmel’s lab; Rimmel lip gloss in rhythm; me and my McDreamy?; color me beautiful, baby; in fume-retardant gear; the thick-as-crumpet-cream vats of pigments factory girl
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