In episode 152 of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Dimond talks to Fara Homidi in an Australian podcast exclusive.

You know Fara Homidi’s work, regardless of if that name is familiar to you or not. Whether you’re invested in beauty and had been counting down to her namesake brand’s arrival on Australian shelves, or if you’ve had a peripheral scroll through Instagram and seen a Miu Miu campaign or an i-D cover- based on the extent to which she’s shaped 21st century beauty, I can just about guarantee you’ve seen her work.

I’ve always been visually very drawn to the way Fara applies makeup and approaches beauty overall, but it’s been so interesting to listen to the way she speaks about that approach. I’d read a quote from her, years ago, in which she said she’s more interested in makeup looking “alive” than “pretty,” so I pushed her on this a bit as I wanted to hear more.

She explained that, for her, it’s more about creating something for the female gaze. When Fara talks about sexy, she’s acutely aware of what women find sexy- that’s who she’s creating for. In the early 2000s, for example, when she was finding a lot of her work for magazines was being airbrushed to oblivion, her way of rebelling was to seek out teams of women- female photographers, stylists, creative directors, women who were more interested in something that looked “lived in” as opposed to this idea of “perfection.” That’s how Fara rebelled, and it’s something she’s taken through the decades with her and has since woven through Fara Homidi Beauty.

While Fara was in Australia to launch the brand into Mecca, she shared what she thinks some founders miss by never having worked in consumer-facing beauty, how she strikes the fine line between artistry and consumer understanding, and how she convinced Kendall Jenner to bleach her eyebrows for the most recent cover of Vogue Paris.