Backstage at London Fashion Week, the hair and make-up teams working on Harris Reed, Richard Quinn, Erdem and Marks & Spencer don’t have time for experimentation. With a full cast to turn around between looks, every product in the kit has to survive hot studio lights, repeated touch-ups and a strict clock, and backstage reports from this season’s shows point to the same handful of names appearing again and again.
That repetition is exactly what’s driving attention in the UK right now: search interest around what London Fashion Week’s backstage teams actually reach for has been climbing fast. It’s a shift away from obsessing over the clothes on the runway and towards the tools professionals trust when there’s no time for a redo.
What London Fashion Week backstage kits keep reaching for
At Harris Reed, Sofia Tilbury led the face; at Richard Quinn, Terry Barber worked make-up alongside reporting from Kim Wood, while Fara Homidi took charge at Erdem and Becca Wordingham at Marks & Spencer, with Amy Conway on Emilia Wickstead. Despite the different shows, the base products overlap heavily: Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin Enriched Face Base and Weightless Skin Foundation turn up repeatedly for a skin-like finish, layered over Estée Lauder’s Little Black Primer for grip.
Colour follows the same logic. Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Blush Blur and Vieve’s Icon Mascara appear across multiple backstage kit reports, while lips lean on MAC’s Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick and Groundwork Paint Pot, plus the Merit x Erdem Signature Lip Trio specifically tied to Erdem’s show. The pattern is a small, tightly edited kit rather than a trend-chasing one.
Hair tells the same story. Sam McKnight MBE worked Richard Quinn, Larry King covered Nanushka and Bora Aksu, and Anna Cofone and Lynsey Alexander moved between Erdem and Tove. Their tools repeat too: Hair By Sam McKnight’s Superlift and Easy Up-Do products, Larry King’s My Nanna’s Mousse, and a Dyson Supersonic for fast, controlled finishing.
Why grip, cream texture and touch-up logic beat trend cycles
None of this is about newness. A primer built for grip, like Estée Lauder’s Little Black Primer, exists to hold foundation in place through an eight-hour call under hot lights and constant re-touching, which is a different job entirely to a primer designed for a single evening out. Kit staples get chosen for how they behave under repeated contact, not how they photograph in a single shot.
The same reasoning applies to cream-to-powder blush technique: a cream base like Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Blush Blur, set with powder over the top, is built to survive blotting and touch-ups without shifting or caking, which is exactly what a quick-change show demands. Pre-show skin prep, from Eve Lom cleansing rituals to a myBlend Firmness Roller or a 111SKIN Exosome Express Facial, serves the same end: calmer, flatter skin lets make-up sit thinner and last longer without needing constant reapplication.
Hair works on a parallel principle. Sam McKnight’s root-lift volumising and Larry King’s ‘lived-in’ texture, built with clips and loose plaits rather than heat-set curls, are engineered to be undone and redone in seconds backstage. It’s a world away from Indie Sleaze’s deliberate undone look or a polished red-carpet blowout; this is texture designed to survive being pulled apart and reassembled under pressure, season after season, regardless of what’s trending on the runway that particular show.
How to build the backstage face in five minutes
The backstage logic translates fairly directly into a fast, wearable routine. Start with a grip primer over the whole face rather than a heavy moisturiser, following the Estée Lauder Little Black Primer approach, so whatever goes on top actually stays there through the day.
Next, a cream blush worked into the high points of the cheeks with fingers, then dusted with a little powder to lock it down, mirrors the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Blush Blur technique used across several shows. Skip eyeshadow altogether: one coat of a lengthening mascara like Vieve Icon Mascara and brushed-up, slightly undone brows do the work that a full eye look would otherwise take up time for.
For hair, a volumising mousse worked into the roots while damp, in the spirit of Larry King’s My Nanna’s Mousse, then finished fast with a Dyson Supersonic, gives lift without a lengthy styling session. On lips, a single product like MAC’s Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick can double as a cheek stain in a pinch, which is the kind of shortcut that keeps a backstage rail moving. Whether that five-minute logic holds up once it leaves the tent is the next thing worth watching.
Photo: Jaggery, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: subject cutout on an editorial collage background; montage licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
