Right On Target.

Byline: editor: Sarah Brown

Plum Sykes heads to Hampshire to catch up with British makeup pro Jemma Kidd and see the inspiration behind her chic new venture.

Along a crunchy gravel drive, past banks of buttercups and dandelions, through swaying archways of oaks and beech trees lies the idyllic Hampshire cottage in which 34-year-old makeup artist Jemma Kidd and her husband, Arthur Mornington, spend weekends. When I arrive one sun-splashed morning to talk with Kidd about JK, her fashionable new line of makeup for Target, she appears outside the clematis-covered redbrick house with a friendly "Hi, darling!" and ushers me into a cozy, slate-floored kitchen. An English rose with edge, Kidd is porcelain-skinned with a platinum bob, pale, aqua-colored eyes, putty-hued lips, and the wardrobe of the classic country girl. Today she is in tight riding jodhpurs, socks, and a T-shirt, although she pulls off McQueen ball dresses with the same nonchalance for the parties she attends in London. While brewing up some instant coffee, Jemma explains that she has been at Wellington Riding, the stables down the lane (owned by Arthur's family, descendants of the Duke of Wellington), since early this morning.

At the back of the cottage is an unexpectedly grand Victorian orangerie overlooking a wonderful walled garden. "I get inspired by being in this room. It's known as the Camellia House. It was once full of camellias planted by the first duchess," explains Kidd. "I look out into the rose garden, see the soft colors of the petals, and I'm like, 'That's a blush!'" Kidd has laid out row after row of products from her JK line on an old oak table that was once used by the first Duke of Wellington's servants. She shows me where the wood has been worn away by generations of elbows and feet. "You can imagine the gossip that's been around this table!" she says, laughing, as she hands me a hot-pink tube of Lip ID Colour Adapt Gloss to try.

I squeeze a little of the clear, plasticky goo onto my lips. Slowly, they turn a pleasingly natural shade of pink. "It reacts to the pH level in your lips and produces a completely personal, perfect shade match," says Kidd. This miracle stuff, whatever it is, does indeed make my lips look perfectly, poutily pink.

The line for Target, Kidd says, is the ultimate evolution of the expertise she has amassed in her career in makeup. Kidd started out eleven years ago as a humble assistant to the British makeup artist Mary Greenwell. Along the way, friends asked her to teach them how to do their own makeup, and eventually she opened the Jemma Kidd Make Up School in London. "It was so uncool to be a teacher!" Kidd recalls of the first lessons she gave. "Everyone said I should be working on fashion shoots. But I hated the travel, and I always wanted to be more than just a makeup artist. My heroines are Estee Lauder and Helena Rubinstein." The school, a studio-like space in Notting Hill, has become the place in London to learn makeup, whether during a six-week course for aspiring professionals or a four-hour class for career girls hoping to perfect their ...