Meeting Elizabeth Hurley for Estee Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

When I received an email from Estee Lauder offering me the opportunity to interview their global Breast Cancer Awareness ambassador Elizabeth Hurley, I nearly died!! Interview Elizabeth Hurley??! Yes yes yes, without a doubt, as long as I could hold it together!!

Elizabeth Hurley for Estee Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

I have always liked Elizabeth Hurley because she is such an icon for sexiness and youthfulness.  I never really knew how old she was but I remember watching her and Hugh Grant and loving ‘that dress’ and I was definitely younger. You would not know that she is 47! Not at all, not from any angle and certainly not on closer inspection. Flawless is the word.

She is so youthful and amazing. You really can’t fake that with makeup! She has the most gorgeous firm skin and bone structure, with a killer figure and arms to die for. And so feminine too.

Seeing her with Shane Warne and his son was so nice. They seemed like a genuine unit and it gave me a lovely warm feeling. Excuse the gushing!

It is easy to see that the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign is very important to Elizabeth Hurley. Having worked with Estee Lauder as a model for many years, she has developed a strong relationship with the company as a whole, and obviously Evelyn Lauder who died of cancer last year.

The relationship appears to be incredibly strong and Elizabeth is genuinely passionate about the cause. She is so involved and interacted with every member of the public that approached her. She shook hands, she made eye contact, she chatted and even pulled the little children up on her lap.

I was so impressed and I think they have exactly the right ambassador – gracious, friendly and very real. I wanted to kiss her! But she probably would have run a mile and I might have been taken to the floor by security. Who knows?! But I did want to!!

So get ready for my interview with Elizabeth Hurley herself, and can I just say now, thank goodness for dictaphones. I was so awe-struck, I didn’t remember a thing after!

RR: You have been working with Estee Lauder for 18 years, how big a part of it is the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign?

EH: During my 18 year ‘reign of terror’ with Estee Lauder (cheeky smile and a giggle from me) my part has really segued. Initially I was their only model they had, so I did every cream, every makeup, all the fragrances. Then gradually over the years, more models have joined in and now I normally represent one fragrance and a skincare line and then an awful lot of breast cancer – as part of their awareness programme and as a fund raiser for the BCRF.

RR: Has it changed much since Evelyn Lauder sadly passed away?

EH: I think Evelyn led us so fabulously. She led the foundation, and the awareness campaign for 19 years, I was there for 18 of those. but I think that since we have lost her it has actually strengthened our resolve to finish her mission which was to stop women dying of breast cancer. That was what she set out to do. There are now more than 180 research scientists spread out over the world and they have made really good achievements and I have had the very good fortune to talk to a lot of those men and women. They have told me that the only thing standing between today and the day when women are not dying of breast cancer is funding, and they need more. So that is why we are here. There is $380 million to date in the BCRF, $35 million of which came from Estee Lauder companies, and we just need more.

RR: I love your lip colours that you do every year for the pink ribbon collections. How do you choose your shades?

EH: Estee Lauder send round sort of 5 or 6 colours for me to choose from and I play with them. This is the first year I have had a pot, normally I get a wand. This time I stuck my finger in all of them and just fell in love with this gorgeous shade. It is a fabulous colour, I have been wearing every day since I got the sample pot. It’s called Pink Innocence.

Evelyn Lauder and Elizabeth Hurley Dream Lip Collection

RR: I know that you know Estee Lauder inside out. What are your three favourite products?

EH: My three favourites are probably, Advanced Night Repair, Re Nutriv Moisturiser and probably Sumptuous Extreme Mascara. Those are my three!

Then Elizabeth Hurley thanked me for coming (I know!) and told me how much she appreciated my support. I was so overwhelmed I nearly fell over!! I resisted the urge to kiss her again and scuttled off.

My huge thanks go to Estee Lauder for giving me the opportunity to speak with a true icon about such a worthy cause.