Mary Greenwell is a makeup artist who has worked with some of the most famous faces in the world including Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, David Bowie and Cate Blanchett. Her less-is-more approach has won her plaudits in the beauty industry and she became Princess Diana’s makeup artist of choice.Mary was born in Sussex and left school at 16. By the mid-1970s she was living in Los Angeles where she started out on the door at the legendary Joe Allen restaurant, escorting the likes of Paul Newman and Jack Lemmon to their tables. She received her one and only makeup lesson from the award-winning Ilana Harkavi and shortly afterwards created a look for 12-year-old actor Brooke Shields.Mary’s big break came when she moved to Paris in 1984 and began working with the original supermodels; Christy Turlingon, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Tatiana Patitz. In 1990 she met Princess Diana on a Vogue photo shoot and became her go-to makeup artist and friend.In 2025 Mary was appointed an MBE for services to the beauty and fashion industries and her charity work.Mary lives in London. DISC ONE: Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan 
DISC TWO: I Am Enough - Tallulah Rendall 
DISC THREE: Suzanne - Leonard Cohen 
DISC FOUR: Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed 
DISC FIVE: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 
DISC SIX: Cold Little Heart - Michael Kiwanuka 
DISC SEVEN: Diamonds - Rihanna 
DISC EIGHT: Heroes - David Bowie 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
LUXURY ITEM: A bed
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Am Enough - Tallulah Rendall Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinleyThere are more than 2000 programmes in our archive available for you to listen to. We’ve cast away other hair and beauty experts including the makeup artist Pat McGrath, and hairdressers Vidal Sassoon and Trevor Sorbie. Cate Blanchett, one of Mary’s clients, is in our archive too. You can find their episodes on BBC Sounds or on our Desert Island Discs website.

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

Mary Greenwell, makeup artist

Desert Island Discs

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews