Ruby Hammer is taking the guesswork out of enhancing your innate beauty with straightforward techniques and products from her namesake brand, Ruby Hammer Beauty. The multi-award-winning London-based makeup artist has lived and breathed beauty for decades in the company of fellow makeup royalty like her dear friend Bobbi Brown. She paved the way for the next wave of brands to follow in her innovative footsteps and, in 2007, was awarded an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to the cosmetics industry. Here, she shares how her lifelong passion for makeup led her to launch her multifaceted brand in 2019.
I’m 62 now, and I've been a professional makeup artist for the last 40 years if you include my apprenticeship. I always loved doing makeup because my mum was a very young mum. She had me when she was 17, and I was always there to see her transformation when she put on a wig and lashes and did her makeup. That love has always been there for me, but I never knew that people could make a living out of this. I’m an Economics grad, and I was going to be a doctor like my late dad or I was going to work at the United Nations. By fluke, I fell into makeup by meeting someone who threw me this pass to British Fashion Week.
I did mostly editorial beauty makeup, for better magazines and lesser magazines, on location and ad campaigns, and there was no social media. When I branched out into TV, it was mostly makeover programs — always about enhancing the subject, whoever was in front of me, whether she was an A-lister, a model or a normal person.
One of those big life changing opportunities was creating Ruby and Millie, which was a huge brand. It was a partnership with Boots, the biggest retailer on the High Street. In the end, we were probably too far ahead of our time. Unfortunately, they probably didn't see the potential of this brand. I always say founders are like gladiators. You’ve got to step into an arena and you’re either going to be slaughtered or you’ve got to be prepared to slaughter.
When I lost my mum, I was in the grieving process, and that threw me into menopause, which took its toll on me, too. Suddenly, I had to reinvent myself and ask, “What am I about?” And putting it into context for beauty, I felt there was an awful lot of noise out there. I decided to do it small, slowly and self-funded because I want to set a good example for my daughter and other women out there.
Everything in the Ruby Hammer line is gentle, easy to throw in your bag and complements the other things you may have bought from all the wonderful brands out there because I’m like that in my kit. I want it to be “as well as” not “instead of.” Because we’re starting fresh, all the formulas are vegan. They are cruelty-free, everything is reusable, recyclable and sustainable, where possible. My goal is to work towards everything being sustainable, but I can’t make that claim yet.
I always want to talk to a consumer wherever she is and do the best I can to offer her something, even if it’s expertise. If you don't want to buy my thing, that’s fine. Ask me a question and I’ll guide you. I have enough knowledge to say, “This might not be right for you but you can use this from this brand.”
But when something’s not needed, why add another step? That’s always been my philosophy of the brand. It’s like an unsaid. You need to just spend 30 seconds looking at yourself like a pro would and say, “Okay, I’m going to need a bit of work there, but that’s lovely.” And prepare yourself that way, as opposed to having 30 items and thinking you must use the corrector and this contour and put on a highlight you can see from outer space, a lip pencil and a lipstick and a gloss on top. Your makeup bag is a wardrobe. That’s what I want to convey.
