When I interviewed Bafta and Oscar winning Makeup Artist Valli O’Reilly for my ‘Makeup Moments’ series (click here to read it), she also chatted about her favourite products to use on set and on herself, as well as her new skincare venture. After years of working very long hours on film sets here are the products she really rates:

L.E. What are some of your favourite products?

V.O. I use a lot of Lancôme products on myself. There’s one called Black Coffee Kohl that’s like a brownish black. The pencils are soft but they are still firm enough to drag and smudge. Sometimes I’ll put it underneath the top lashes.

L.E. And what about Mascara?

V.O. I go between Lancôme and Rimmel. I think Lancôme are pretty much the best but I also really love Rimmel.

The Rimmel one is in a black tube with a yellow lid. I like the extreme black, it’s so black and what’s also good about them is that they’re cheap.

When I'm making people up for a job I’ll buy a whole bunch of Rimmel and just say “Keep this”, I can’t use those disposable mascara wands, they’re horrible for applying. I do sometimes use them for combing out the lashes and combing removing excess mascara but that's it. 

L.E. What do you use for concealing?

V.O. My favourite concealer at the moment is the By Terry Reflective Pen, but it changes all the time. I also love the waterproof Lancôme ones; they stay on really well and don’t go crepy.

L.E. Do you have any ‘must have’ skincare products?

V.O. Cle de Peau Beaute Synactif Soap, it’s a bar of soap, it's really expensive but it lasts for about 6 months if you use it properly. You can take off all your makeup with it including eye makeup and it doesn’t dry your skin. It also has a pore minimiser and it makes your cleansing ritual so fast!

I’ve recently started my own skin care business called Beauty Decoded. In America, often companies say they have no preservatives or that their products are natural and then you look at the ingredients and see a list of hidden parabens, so my partner, (an aromatherapist) and I started a bespoke skincare line. It's a line where all products are made locally (California),except our salt comes from Utah, nothing comes to us shipped on a plane. Everything has sustainable packaging as we use glass bottles and every product has a shelf life. 

We create products depending on people's skin type and we work out what herbs and ingredients they need. There are dates on everything so you have to buy in small sizes, if you want bigger, we have to put a natural preservative in.

We’re also donate money from the proceeds to the plastic coalition in America.

Thanks so much to Valli for a great interview and chat.

If you haven’t read how she created the look on Helena Bonham Carter for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, click here. To follow her on facebook click here and for more information about her new skincare range click here for Beautydecoded.com