In a world where skincare often promises the world, then at best fails to deliver, at worst, damages your skin, presenter Rochelle Humes is breaking the mould with her capsule collection, Eulah.
“I’m not going to sit here and say my skincare is the same as going for a facial,” Rochelle says realistically. “You’re not going to look like a different human overnight. I’m not making Botox in a bottle. I don’t like it when brands come with claims like that.”
Instead, Eulah, named after Rochelle’s grandmother and her own middle name, promises to meet users where they are, supporting their skin barrier rather than compromising it with actives.
“There’s a time and a place for actives, but there’s a real simplicity to Eulah, and that’s what’s really been important for me,” Rochelle says.
“The ingredients I didn’t include in the formulas were just as important as what I did,” Rochelle says of paring back the ingredients. Her hero ingredient in the range is calming rice water, which she discovered in lockdown and is now huge in K-beauty.
The simple yet effective approach is one Rochelle has adopted in her thirties (she’s 37 now, having been famous since she was a preteen). “I know what makes my skin look the best,” she tells me via video call, looking just as glowing as she does on my TV screen presenting This Morning and The Hit List alongside her husband, JLS star Marvin Humes. “My skin is best when it’s calm, when skincare is gentle. I think there’s something to be said for stripping it all back.”
Rochelle has had a hand in every element of her new collection – including the enticing names of her range, which has cosy, cocooning monikers such as Lip Blanket, £8, Cloud Cleanse, £10, and Yogurt Balm, £10, making me want to try it even before I read the ingredients list, which has a stellar lineup including calming cica, barrier-supporting squalane and damage-repairing vitamin E.
“I always tell Marvin, ‘This is why my skincare cabinet looks the way it does; it’s all research!'”
A dream come true
While she founded her kids’ range of hair care and bath treats, My Little Coco, in 2020, skincare for adults – particularly adults her own age – has always been a dream for Rochelle. “A lot of skincare is marketed at Gen Z, or mature audiences, and I ask myself, ‘Is my skin mature now?'”
I can confirm that it looks anything but mature – as dewy and line-free today as it looked when she burst onto our screen in S Club Juniors in the early 2000s, when she was just 12 – younger than Rochelle and Marvin’s oldest daughter, Alaia, who turned 13 in May.
© InstagramRochelle and Marvin are also parents to Valentina, nine, and Blake, five, and it’s being mum to young, impressionable girls that made Rochelle feel like she has a “responsibility” when creating Eulah.
“I know that skincare appeals to people who are younger and younger now,” she laments. “When I was growing up, the best I had was a cucumber collection from Boots, but now pre-teens are getting their hands on products with ingredients that aren’t safe for them – because the packaging looks appealing.
© Instagram“Launching something new comes with the responsibility that it could possibly get into the hands of someone that it wasn’t created for. That was definitely in the forefront of my mind,” Rochelle says.
“Alaia was asking me for certain brands, and I had to tell her, ‘Darling, those are for grown-ups’, so I was sure to create something that wouldn’t be damaging if young people did get their hands on it.”
Speaking of the punchy branding, Rochelle’s Eulah packaging is crisp and clean, in baby yellow packaging. “I wanted to choose a colour that the market wasn’t saturated with,” she tells me. “I was really aware that I wanted it to stand out on the shelf and not get lost. But I didn’t want it to be something boring that you want to hide when guests come over.”
She’s hit the nail on the head with the subtly Rhode-inspired, elegant packaging, which looks both effortlessly modern yet timeless.
Trying the collection
Samples are in short supply, such is the demand for Eulah, but prior to talking to Rochelle, I sat with her ‘Eye Cushion’ under-eye patches on, swiftly removing them as Rochelle logged on to the video call. “You should have left them on; I’d have loved that!” she exclaimed.
© LuceroThe under-eye patches, infused with green tea, cica and hyaluronic acid, are beautifully thin, meaning they don’t slip down when you’re wearing them. My eyes looked fresh and wide awake after wearing them for 15 minutes, and I’m excited to try the rest of the range – especially the Carve Butter, which Rochelle created to be used in facial massage.
“I wanted something to use with a gua sha tool, purely for a moment of indulgence,” Rochelle says. “Time to ourselves is a moment of luxury, and if I can help people create that with my range, then I’ll be happy.”
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