'She was unpleasant'

If you haven't been listening to our weekly podcast Girls With Goals... you're late. Around forty episodes late to be exact, but have no fear, that means you genuinely have HOURS of content to catch up on (yes, I'm aware I present the podcast but sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader). Ready... OK!   via GIPHY If you're just discovering Girls With Goals, let's give you a little break down: each week we welcome fascinating women (and men) to come on the show. We talk about life, love, their careers, what inspires them, and sometimes conversations about vaginas and ice-creams creep in, they just do. Of all the guests we've had on, a familiar name kept cropping up. From Angela Scanlon to Laura Whitmore and Millie Mackintosh... 'Cloochy' was the name on all their lips when they mentioned anything to do with makeup. What is a 'Cloochy?' I wondered, and more importantly, where can I get one?   Turns out Cloochy is in fact Christine Lucignano, an incredibly successful, world renowned makeup artist whose client list is eye wateringly impressive. Her career began in fashion, but she's been painting faces exclusively for the best part of three decades. Click play below to hear the full story. The really juicy stuff ( like the aforementioned 'wagon') is at 14.27.   In the world of fashion and beauty, it's not all about the jet setting lifestyle and glamorous events, as Cloochy found out the hard way:

'I had a massive heart attack in September, I so shouldn't be here. My left circumflex, my artery, exploded into my heart. I  had a three or four day leaky heart attack and I was still working, day in day out, on the beach painting girls. I was on a flight back from the States, I fell asleep for eleven hours and when I woke up I had this pain in my arm and my jaw, I thought that I had just slept wrong.'

After seeking help and getting the treatment she needed, Cloochy was told she HAD to slow down by her doctors:

'I've always been Superwoman, doing ten jobs at once and pleasing, pleasing, pleasing, so I think I just let it all get to me. I had five significant people in my life die in the last five years... and I just kept getting back up, and then I think my body just said 'I'm done.'

Her life has changed drastically in the last year since her terrifying ordeal, she told us a lot of that is down to meditating, and finally saying no to jobs:

'I'm having to just be very careful, do a lot of meditation and think differently about everything. I say no to a tonne of jobs now. If I know that there is an a**hole hairdresser on the set that I don't want to be around, I won't be.'

Words to live by in our books... if there's an a**hole nearby, steer clear! Cloochy also told us about an exciting new project that she'll be launching soon, listen in at 1.05 to hear all about it.