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Celebrity Looks Sophie Gets Lippy
December 2001

Pop princess Sophie Ellis Bextor mouths off about slimy men, Posh Spice and her trademark, make-up

Words: Alice Wignall
Article printed December 2001 issue of 'Celebrity Looks' magazine

We were a tad nervous about meeting Sophie Ellis Bextor. Well, wouldn't you be? She's the perfectly poised and immaculately groomed singer who's been involved in fierce chart battles with Posh Spice and Five. She's had massive success, first as the vocalist on Spiller's massive summer smash Groovejet (If This Ain't Love), and secondly as a singer in her own right, with a new album and a top five hit to her name. And, as an ex-model, Soph's one girl you'll never catch looking like she's just rolled out of bed. But if we were expecting Miss Ellis Bextor to be a bit on the gobby side because of it, we were in for a surprise. Sophie, you see, is more likely to say 'golly gosh' than use a rock star expletive, thinks that good manners are terribly important and is unfailingly polite about everyone. We got her to put three gorgeous lip colours through their paces whilst having a jolly good gossip...

Kiss and Make-up
There's no doubt about it: Sophie Ellis Bextor was born to wear make-up. Don't get us wrong, the raw material is top notch (totally flawless skin and cheekbones to kill for), but after a few minutes in the make-up artist's chair she looks utterly sensational - just look at the pictures. 'I'm lucky, because I suit make-up,' Sophie explains. 'I know that sounds a bit stupid, but lots of people don't! Every morning I look at all my make-up and think: What am I going to do today? I love it! Make-up's fun.' If you're thinking that it must also require a fair amount of space in the bathroom cabinet, you'd be right. 'I've got all these little clear Perspex drawers full of make-up,' Sophies confirms. ' There are stacks of them. I like anything and everything.'
Fortunately for those of us who have trouble just finding a good lipstick, even Sophie admits to having problems sometimes - especially with her trademark cat's eye eyeliner. 'I've always really liked the look of liquid liner, but it's tricky to get right,' she says. 'I've had everything - pencils and brushes and creams. By far the best one I've found is the Shu Uemera eyeliner pen. It's brilliant. Once you've got the pressure right it's really easy.'
But even a self-confessed cosmetics addict can have too much of the old slap. 'I do go without make-up,' she admits. 'I'm forgetful. I might put some on in the morning, but by five o'clock it has all come off and I won't remember to touch it up. I wouldn't wear too much make-up for a date either. I don't think boys like it. You just should turn up looking like it's taken you ten minutes to get ready when really it's taken tou three hours!'

Manners Maketh Woman
Make no mistake about it, Sophie doesn't believe in bitching, rudeness or sloppy habits. 'I'm not stroppy,' she insists. 'My parents did a pretty nice job of bringing me up, I hope. I think manners are underrated. I think they should be taught in school.' But what about last summer's well-publicised spat with Posh Spice over the number one slot? Wasn't that all a bit ill-tempered? 'It was all the paper's fault,' Sophie insists. 'It's a complete media invention. I think Victoria and I were good-natured about the whole thing, which is why I was making jokes about it. There was no animosity there at all.'
And if you think you're read some catty comments from Soph in the press, rest assured that she's just been misunderstood. 'Sometimes I don't articulate myself well enough for journalists to understand the point I was making,' she explains. 'Sometimes I've made jokes that have got blown out of proportion. It can be quite upsetting when you read it back and think, "Actually, that doesn't sound so funny." I think being nasty for the sake of it is pretty much always going to be a bad idea.' If only those Gallagher brothers would take a leaf out of her book.

Don't Mess With Miss Bextor
Sophie isn't always Miss Sweetness and Light, though. Press her, and she'll admit to getting a bit annoyed - occasionally. 'I do get cross sometimes,' she says, 'especially if people are rude. Moody shop assistants particularly annoy me because having worked in retail I know it's not that hard to be nice to people. It makes your day go quicker.' Hardly a rock 'n' roll tantrum though is it, Sophie?
And male bottom-pinchers of the world, you must also beware. Miss Ellis Bextor will not take kindly to your attentions. 'I had to do a gig once, and as I walked over this guy pinched my bum. When I got on stage I said into the microphone, "I'd just like to say to that man over there - you don't do that to a lady".' Atta girl, Soph! So is she a bruiser when it comes to bolshy boys, then? 'No, I'm really bad at that. You know when you find yourself chatting to someone for ages because you don't want to be nasty? Men are so bad at taking the hint. They'll come up to you and start chatting and you'll clearly be there with your friends, really not wanting to talk to anyone and they just don't go away. But I'm not nasty, because I feel sorry for them. You think: "That's someone's child, and his mum and dad don't know that everyone thinks their son is slimy!" So I'd never be too rude - unless they're really rude to me, of course.'

Teenage Kicks
So how did Sophie get to be so good? Perhaps it's in the genes. After all, her mum is none other than Janet Ellis, mid-80s Blue Peter presenter. It wouldn't have done her image any good to have had a tearaway daughter, now would it? 'That didn't occur to me at all!' Sophie exclaims. 'I think when you're a kid everything revolves around you, doesn't it? Kids don't think "I'll be goos because then my parents will look good". We didn't really like our lives like that anyway. My mum would never have imposed that on me.'
So Sophie was a nice little girl by nature then? 'I've got a good relationship with my parents. I think they brought me up with the right mix of strictness and liberalism. I think that's great, but it's worrying that even with that kind of upbringing you still rebel. On the whole I was OK. But then there wasn't much to fight against.'
Which isn't to say that there weren't any high jinks in the life of the young Soph. 'I once told my mum I was staying at a friend's house and she told her mum she was staying at mine and we went out for the night - on a school night, too. That didn't go down too well. It was quite handy because we had a basement bit in the house which is where I'd come in at night and my parents were right on the top floor. You could go in and say: "I've been home for ages," when you'd actually been home for five minutes.' And with that angelic smile, you can see how she got away with it.

The Fame Game
She may have impreccable manners, but surely every self-respecting celeb gets fed up with the paparazzi and the over-keen fans? Not our Sophie. 'People do come over when I'm out, but they're generally pretty nice,' she says, genuinely. 'They just say what they want to say and go again. I've never had anyone come up and be horrible. It's always nice to spend some time with people who are actually buying the music. It reminds you why you bother.' Right then, Bextor, picture this: you slog your guts out for months and months on something and then it gets slagged off. Surely that'd wipe the smile off your face, right? 'I always wanted to be one of those tupes that people either really love or really hate. I like it that people have such strong opinions about me. For every person who thinks you're lovely there's always someone who doesn't, so it all works out in the end. In something creative there's always going to be diversity. The biggest criticism I could have is if people thought I wasn't worth mentioning at all.' Well, luckily for Sophie, that's unlikely to happen in the near future. Sophie Ellis Bextor, we salute you: you're truly the nicest girl in pop.

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