There was a party in a little shop in Clarendon Street this week to celebrate Annie Gribbin's success story. Eleanor McEvoy and her songwriting colleague, Brad Parker from Los Angeles, came along to wish her well. Paddy McCormack, a publican with a chain of three Dublin pubs, is also here. If they hang on in there, they are all likely to pick up some vital make-up tips from Gribbin, who set up the Irish branch of the French chain, Make Up For Ever, 10 years ago.
One of the two founding members of the company came over from France for the party too. "Unfortunately, I'm from Paris," says the leather-suited businessman, Jacques Waneph. He and his partner, Danielle Sanz, set up the company 20 years ago. "We made a love story and then we made our own line," says Waneph, who explains that he speaks English "like a Spanish cow".
Gribbin, who left film-star Alicia Silverstone, whose make-up she does, the night after the Berlin Film Festival in order to attend her Dublin party, has some words of warning for readers who wear makeup. She says it's vital to choose your foundation carefully. Now, you have no excuse.