Cat Deeley: ‘Injectables can get to the stage where everyone starts to look the same’
The buttery blonde-haired, infectiously friendly 48-year-old Cat Deeley is one of the most familiar faces on our TV screens. As the host of ITV’s flagship daytime show, This Morning, Deeley broadcasts live to around four million viewers a week. She knows a thing or two about looking presentable on camera without too much effort, so it’s apt that the prime-time presenter is our guest judge for the inaugural Telegraph Beauty Awards this year, the results of which were announced on Friday morning.
“At 48, I now know what suits me and what doesn’t. I know what suits my lifestyle and how much time I have for beauty and fashion – it’s incredibly boring and there’s nothing groundbreaking, but I’m good with that,” says Deeley when she speaks to me from her home in north London. It’s precisely this refreshingly straightforward approach to beauty that made Deeley the perfect choice to judge some skincare and make-up categories for our awards. She evaluated sun creams on holiday, trialled lip glosses under studio lights and put mascaras through their paces to help our in-house judging panel decide the winners.
“I love discovering new products; there are ones I tried throughout judging the Telegraph Beauty Awards that have gone straight into my This Morning Studio kit,” Deeley tells me, brandishing her carefully prepared notes on each product. Since discovering it through the judging process, the Monika Blunder Lip Oil – our winner for the lip category – has made it into her daily arsenal. “I haven’t seen a product like that before, it is glossy and oily and comfortable but also leaves a bit of a stain as it wears off.”
Many millennials, myself included, will remember Deeley from the late nineties and early noughties presenting the Saturday morning television show SM:TV Live alongside Ant and Dec. Deeley and husband Patrick Kielty moved from London to Los Angeles in 2006 after she landed a job presenting the reality series So You Think You Can Dance, a show which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Host in 2011.
Alas, after 15 years in LA and with two young children – their sons Milo and James – in tow, the family moved back to London just as the pandemic hit. Wanting to live closer to family and for their sons to go to school in the UK, Deeley worked on various projects before being announced as the new host of This Morning in March earlier this year, alongside co-host Ben Shephard.
And yes, she is as friendly and warm off the screen as she is on; her focus is to look presentable and then just get on with her day. “I’m the same as every other woman, the juggle is real,” she sighs, with a smile. “We’re all trying to do the best we can. I think having your hair done helps – you wear your hair every day. I mean sometimes I look at my hair and think ‘ugh bore off’ because it’s so boring,” she laughs, rolling her eyes. “But if it works for you and makes the best of what you’ve got, that’s all that matters. I don’t have fancy nails but they always look clean and nice, so I can go anywhere. They never look groundbreaking but they are presentable.”
At 5ft 9in (before heels) with yoga-toned limbs, Deeley is practically Amazonian – by way of Birmingham – with a perfect, just-bronze-enough tan. I’m intrigued to know if she has a spray tanner on speed dial. “I don’t have time for that,” she says, shaking her head. “I just try to keep my tan topped up on a semi-regular basis following any holiday. I like fake tan to help me not look Casper the Ghost white, but also not nineties ‘gravy brown’ fake,” she laughs. Deeley has been using the Endless Summer Gradual Tan by James Read, or the “cheap and cheerful” fake tan by St Moriz, £4.99, which she applies all over with a big brush.
Endless Summer Gradual Tan, £44, James Read
When she needs her hair colour done, Deeley’s hairdresser Chad Maxwell will come to the This Morning studio in White City and “start doing me as soon as we come off air,” she tells me. “I can be in a production meeting and have my hair done at the same time. Because then I can make it back home before the boys come home from school. Likewise, with my nails, I have a lovely lady called Irena who comes to my house. I can do that while the boys are at football; I can do my prep for This Morning; watch anything that shouldn’t be seen or heard by them and make notes. I am the ultimate multitasker.”
Indeed, as the ultimate multitasker, Deeley is also co-founder of a perfume brand, E11even, which she launched in the pandemic with her make-up artist friend Amanda Grossman. The grounding, soothing blend of essential oils smells uniquely different on every person, and is now stocked in the UK through SpaceNK priced at £80. “We are not business moguls, we’re making it up as we go along,” she smiles. “But it’s a very special perfume that had been twenty years in the works before we launched.” Next for the brand, Deeley tells me, is potentially a candle and a yoga spray.
E11even Fragrance Oil, £80, Space NK
Aside from a roll of her own perfume, Deeley’s own skincare ethos is to have a consistently good daily routine that means you don’t always need to pull out the big guns with lots of treatments. What are her views on other tweakments, I wonder. She points to her forehead, “I have a little Botox, and I wouldn’t be adverse to it,” she says. “I think whatever makes you happy. My advice would be to always go to someone reputable and do it in tiny little increments. Injectables can get to the stage where everyone starts to look the same.”
Deeley tells me that she believes charisma and individuality in women is far more beautiful: “I love women who do slightly break the mould, the people who make you look twice tend to be women who are incredibly comfortable in their own skin like Cher, Barbara Streisand, Monica Bellucci and Grace Jones. These amazing women broke the mould for every reason including their beauty.”
As for her skincare regime, she tells me, “I’m very good with my skin on a daily basis. I believe that if you do a little and often and look after your skin, then you’ll have better skin and won’t have to wear as much make-up. I don’t like wearing much make-up in everyday life.” Deeley uses an exfoliating face wash by Dr Lancer, a dermatologist-to-the-stars she met while working in LA. “My skin changed in LA because it’s essentially a desert, so my skin wasn’t turning over as often, so he got me to start on a scrub.”
Lancer Exfoliating skin polish, £113.74, Amazon; Charlotte’s Magic Cream, £52, Charlotte Tilbury
If she’s off to work on This Morning, she likes using the Magic Cream by Charlotte Tilbury, followed by a face oil by Jurlique, before sitting in the make-up chair. “I once read about Marilyn Monroe using Vaseline before make-up for a glow but the oil does that for me,” she laughs. For sunscreen, Deeley enjoyed using one of the products she tested for the Telegraph Beauty Awards: the Mecca To Save Face Brightening Sun Serum SPF50, gave her skin “a glow”.
To Save Face SPF50 Brightening Sun Serum, £38, Mecca Cosmetica; Rare Rose Face Oil, £32.80 (reduced from £41), Jurlique; Decleor Lavender Iris Seum, £38.95 (reduced from £79), All Beauty
In the evenings, Deeley is committed to the Take The Day Off Balm by Clinique, from £13. “It’s not super luxurious and it doesn’t re-invent the wheel, but it’s just so good. It takes everything off – from waterproof mascara to a full face of foundation.” In the evenings, she also uses the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum, from £52, which is so popular it won the Telegraph Subscriber’s Choice Award. “I then slam on the Lancome Nutrix Rich cream on top followed by a lavender oil by Decleor.”
Clinique Take The Day Off cleansing balm, £13, M&S, Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum, £52, Boots; Lancome Nutrix Nourishing and Soothing Rich Cream, £43.40, John Lewis
It seems like a lot? She pauses, and bursts out laughing: “I go to bed like a greasy potato chip, you’ve never seen anything like it. I could probably slip through a straw that big,” she says, rounding her hand into a tiny circle, “and I could just wiggle out.” It must get all over the pillows, I ask. “Oh, it’s all over the pillows. Poor Paddy!” Once a week she’ll apply a face mask by Ella & Jo (“it’s got just enough bite but not too much that you’re scared”) and that’s it.
The Miracle Mask, £34, Ella & Jo
Life in LA for 15 years also made her consider wellness a lot more, too. “I’ve become much better at listening to my body,” she explains. “I found out there that the ethos was to try to be as healthy as possible so you don’t have to wear loads of make-up. It really is the holy grail to have such good skin that even when you’re not wearing make-up it looks good.” Deeley has regular shots of Vitamin B12, a key vitamin to help with tiredness and fatigue. “I have the shots if I’m feeling run down or if I know I’m going to be running around, like in the run-up to Christmas. I’ve got two schools, two Christmas concerts, pre-records and live shows for This Morning, so I know I need the extra vitamins once in a while.”
She books in for the occasional infrared sauna and a cryotherapy treatment at London Cryo, and also takes biotin for her glowy, glossy hair. After having Covid during the pandemic she noticed her hair thinning, so she takes good care of it. For her skin, she has mesotherapy every now and again, a popular treatment that involves a cocktail of vitamins and minerals injected into the superficial layers of the skin to give the skin more hydration and glow. For mesotherapy, she sees Dr Joney De Souza in Marylebone, and for facials she sees Katherine McKenzie Paterson in Mayfair (Paterson is a Telegraph beauty desk favourite, too).
As for her fashion sense, Deeley describes her style as “classic with a bit of a polished seventies vibe, maybe a little boho, Isabel Marant-y, French-y.” This is very much a style that she adopts both on and off screen: “my style is very relaxed and I don’t have a stylist,” she tells me. “I love Celine and Saint Laurent, but I also love vintage shops and high street pieces.”
Deeley ran a campaign for #SecondHandSeptember with Oxfam earlier this year. “I don’t think it’s about everything being expensive, but it’s about working out what suits you, suits your style and works with your wardrobe. I will wear a Celine leather coat but wear it with Boden jeans, and I’m fine with that. I will wear a H&M jumper on the show and I will take a lot of my own stuff in.”
While This Morning’s fashion department will put a rail together for Deeley, it seems a very collaborative process: she will send pictures over WhatsApp of clothing she has and they’ll work together on the outfits. “I don’t want to buy more clothes, it’s wasteful. For instance, I don’t need another pair of skinny blue jeans, I’ve got a great pair already. I’m good. I’ll take in things like my Ann Demeulemeester trousers, my shoes and some second hand bits.”
For special occasions, Deeley doesn’t buy new pieces but collects things over the years to “hold it” for a special event. For the Harper’s Bazaar Woman Of The Year event last month, Deeley wore a stunning golden gown by Raey from her own wardrobe, and had it tweaked to fit her like a glove. “The head of the fashion department on This Morning, David, is an amazing tailor. So with that Raey dress, I loved it but it wasn’t quite right, so David cut the straps and made it into a halter neck so it was less chesty. Job done. It was so comfy and wasn’t terribly expensive. I think there are always ways and means of making it work.”
Similarly for the National Television Awards, Deeley tracked down a vintage Saint Laurent dress on the internet, a different colourway of the same cut that she wore for her wedding party in 2012, “so I knew it would work for me”. For the Pride of Britain Awards earlier this year, Deeley wore a bright yellow parachute silk dress by Mancunian designer Matthew Williamson.
“I remember seeing this yellow dress in one of Matthew’s shows years ago, so I called him up – we’re friends – and asked him if he could fish it out of his archives for me. We had a few tweaks to tailor it and it was so lovely,” she smiles, before breaking out into her laugh. “I mean, it was held up with a hope and a prayer, but I felt amazing in it.” Accessoried best, as Deeley does, with her wide smile and year-round holiday glow.
