Some of my favourite beauty people II: Kathy Phillips

As British Vogue's former beauty director, beauty author and current beauty director for Condé Nast international, for Kathy Phillips launching her own product line seemed like second nature. This Works, like its name, is a simple, hardworking collection of aromatherapy-based skin, bath, home and body products that does what it says it will do, and smells bloody marvellous while doing it.
I was lucky enough to talk to Kathy last year when she was travelling Downunder for the launch of the brand in Mecca Cosmetica, and found her to be a woman who was as witty as she was clever, as well as a fountain of knowledge when it comes to the use of organic, high performance ingredients. Combining superior expertise in blending aromatherapy oil with insider know-how of the global beauty and health industries, This Works is a veritable survival kit for those suffering modern malaises, and looks a treat too with modern but clinical packaging designed by an art director colleague of Phillips' at Vogue.
“We designed it especially to appeal to the art directors of magazines that we hoped it would feature in,” she told me, “because we knew that if we won them over they would run our images bigger, no matter what!” Formulated using 100 per cent organically grown natural plant oils, all the ingredients used in This Works products have to be of a therapeutic standard in order to 'work' so the sourcing of essential oils is vital. No compromises are made in the choice or cost of the highest calibre raw materials, and the ingredients are sourced extensively from around the world to ensure top most quality - from the South of France to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Somalia and China, to mention just a few. Additionally, the brand's creators strive to source Fair Trade ingredients. “We just try our utmost to do what we think is right,” explained Phillips, “and we have our own high standards to meet every time we create something new.”
Beauty editors seem to fall into two very distinct camps: those that love to try whatever new lipstick is doing the rounds, and those who like to research what goes into the creation of the lipstick, those that want to know more. Phillips is definitely the latter, and a total inspiration.