Victoria Beckham Swears By This Glowing Skin Trick & It’s Completely Free

Victoria Beckham is a little late to our phone interview but I have to let her off the hook. She's juggling a fashion and beauty empire (both of which she's navigating remotely) with making sure her children are locked into home-schooling, all while preparing for her upcoming London Fashion Week presentation and promoting what is arguably her most popular beauty product to date: Future Lash Mascara.

While Victoria's contribution to fashion has cemented her status as one of the most successful celebrities around, it's her skincare and makeup range which everyone's going wild for. Ahead, we talked all things beauty with Victoria, including her entire skincare routine, the biggest makeup regrets from her Spice Girls days and whether she'll ever go back to her iconic Posh bob...

"Clean is what I look for in my products," said Victoria. "It is centred around the ingredients that we use, ensuring that they are safe, free from harmful toxins and are high performance. Taking a clean approach was the priority and before starting the brand I spent over a year consulting with experts and really educating myself about ingredients. I found it confusing, to be completely honest. It was very time-consuming, finding out exactly what ingredients were in which products, but I've realised that you don't have to compromise. You can create really great formulas that work. We always use the hashtag #notperfect because we are not perfect. But we are doing pretty well and we looked at every single area to make the products kind to ourselves and the environment. Even the outer packaging uses 100% post-consumer waste and minimal plastic."

Victoria hasn't just put her name to the beauty brand, she's the brains behind it. You might even spot her wearing a brand-new makeup product before it has been launched. "I'm very involved because ultimately, it's about creating what I want in my makeup bag and what I can't find out there," said Victoria. "We worked really hard from the ground up on Future Lash mascara to make sure it covered all needs," Victoria told R29. "We wanted it to be smudge-free and sweat-proof, to lift and condition the lashes and to deliver flexible volume. I wanted an ultra black, fluttery lash look, nothing that was cloggy and old fashioned. I wanted this to feel very modern and to give you a real fashion finish. I work really closely with my team and I honestly have the best developers in the industry. We've all been working remotely, though, so there have been lots of packages going backwards and forwards with new products inside, whether that's makeup or skincare! There's so much I want to do next, too. We're about to announce something quite exciting that's part of the strong beauty look in my upcoming fashion presentation during London Fashion Week..."

"When I wake up with a puffy face, perhaps after travelling or having a glass of wine, I learned a trick from Melanie Grant who is an amazing facialist and now a good friend. She told me to dunk my face into a bowl of ice water, or to take some ice cubes and roll them around my face to take down the puff. I try to look after my skin as much as possible with regular face masks and I love the 111Skin Celestial Black Diamond Eye Masks and the Sarah Chapman 3D Moisture Infusion Mask. Masks are important! I like to steam my skin as much as I can, too, and I have a great little portable steamer which I travel with. Every morning I like to have a hot water and lemon and a couple of spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar; that's before I have my coffee. I do as much as I can to look after my skin and drink as much water throughout the day."

"I make sure that I cleanse my face properly, exfoliate a few times a week and ensure that I use the Cell Rejuvenating Power Serum twice a day every single day and our Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturiser. Even throughout the day I'll use this to rehydrate my face. I dab it on top of makeup to refresh my base and all of this is a conscious effort to look after my skin."

Self-care is also a big part of Victoria's daily routine. "Harper and I always do face masks together but we also try to go on lots of walks as a family and getting outside has been key. Epsom salt baths are always pretty good and Harper and I do little manicures on each other. It's so wonderful having a girl that loves to do that kind of thing. We really appreciate the time that we have together to pamper ourself."

"I have never, ever, ever been to bed without taking my makeup off. Never," said Victoria. "Not even if I've had a drink. I always take my makeup off every night." Her diet also plays an important role in looking after her skin. "When I was younger, I never knew how bad fizzy drinks were for you. I make sure I eat healthily, so I eat tons of avocado and oily fish, lots of nuts, lots of really healthy fats that are so good for your skin and general wellbeing. It's not just about what you put on your skin but what you put into your body. I'm not trying to turn the clock back or trying to look younger. It's about embracing and celebrating who you are and being the healthiest version of yourself. Not just so that you look good but so that you can feel good. I want to be the best professional, mum and wife that I can be."

"Let me tell you, there have been some shockers," Victoria told R29, "but I'm okay with that. It's been a journey. I look back at some of the makeup looks and the harder we worked and the longer we travelled back in the Spice Girls days, the more makeup we put on, especially blusher. I do tend to go for a more natural look these days but there has been a lot of makeup and a lot of lip liner. Of course, it was the '90s and eyebrows were definitely more plucked and thinner than they are now. But I smile at those pictures as those looks have made me who I am."

Victoria's posh aesthetic is iconic but did she ever wish she could experiment with makeup and fashion outside of that classic look she was so synonymous with? "I wouldn't say there was anything that scared me other than too much makeup but pink lipstick was something that I always turned my nose up at because I used to think it was a bit old fashioned," said Victoria. "I sometimes work with makeup artist Wendy Rowe and a couple of years ago she started using a pink lipstick on me. What I realised is if you add a bit of pink to a nude lip, even if it's in the centre of your mouth for example, it's really fresh and different. But I always felt quite free to try new looks, whether that was makeup or fashion. I think you figure out by the time you get to my age what works and what's fun but maybe not the most flattering. I still like to change things up because we all get stuck in a rut and it's important to stay fresh."

Recently, Victoria has been playing with more colour, in particular bold, blue eyeshadow. "I was always one for wearing a brown smoky eye so the Smoky Eye Brick in Signature and Tuxedo were my go-to palettes. Recently, my new obsession is our Smoky Eye Brick in Royal, and I mix the blue and brown shades. You get the most beautiful dark navy, which again feels fresher compared to what I normally would have done. I also love the Posh Lipstick in Pop, which is a red lipstick. Again, that's something that I might have been scared to try day to day. More recently, I'm enjoying experimenting with less eye makeup and wearing that red lip, changing it up from the nude."

"I love them all," said Victoria. "But there's a paparazzi shot of me and David back in the day. I've got a cap on, I think David is wearing a bobble hat. I'm also wearing tracksuit bottoms and trainers and we're trying to walk a very badly behaved rottweiler dog but my kids were like, 'Oh my god Mum! You were so cool! Look at you, you look amazing!' And it was really quite funny. I was cool with the kids again. I don't really look at anything and cringe; I look at things and smile. Once, me and David wore full leather outfits which were Gucci but we had the audacity to wear them to a Versace event. I look back now and that was a fashion crime for so many reasons but we were young and we were experimenting with fashion."

Victoria's most prized fashion possession might surprise you. "It was quite fun putting my wedding dress on again when I did the video with British Vogue a few years ago. My wedding dress, along with the Spice Girls costumes, were in storage and it was funny wearing all of those clothes again. I remember Harper came home from school one day and I was standing there in full-on sparkly Cavalli, even with the sparkly microphone. She just dropped her schoolbag and didn't know what to say."

"I usually wear a baseball cap most days because it hides a multitude of sins when I'm on Zoom calls," Victoria told R29. "Working from home doesn't slow you down and I feel like I'm busier than ever. By the time I get up in the morning, have a quick shower, catch up on emails and calls, set the kids up on their Zoom calls with their school, I don't have enough time to get ready as I would like. With regard to haircare I always use a hair mask when I can. I really like Josh Wood's products. Josh does my hair colour and he really is an expert. Both myself and Harper use his shampoo and conditioner."

Talking of hair, would Victoria ever think about bringing back her iconic, sleek bob when salons reopen? "I don't know if I'd dare!" she laughed. "What I like about having longer hair is that it's so easy. I spend most days with my hair in some kind of topknot or ponytail. But I don't know. I did have a lot of fun with that Posh bob. Harper had a little bob a few years ago, which she really enjoyed. I think we'll see what I look like when we get out of lockdown..."