Roisin McAuley

By Anne Marie Scanlon

Men often bemoan the fact that they just don't understand women. We're from Venus, they're from Mars and they'll never figure out what makes us tick. Rubbish. Want to know a woman? Take a look inside her handbag.

OK so it's not that easy to rummage around in a lady's bag, so here at the Irish Examiner we regularly do it for you. This week's Bag Lady is author Roisin McAuley. Roisin's latest book Meeting Point a whodunit with a romance mixed in went on sale in the U. S. earlier this year. Although the main characters are Irish the majority of the action takes place in the picturesque South of France. Claire Watson left both the police and Northern Ireland to start a new life in England when she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. A decade later when she's vacationing in the French Riviera her past catches up with her.

When Claire is, quite literally, bowled over by a handsome stranger she has the feeling that they've met before. They have. Ten years previously Claire unsuccessfully investigated the suspicious death of a woman and the man she's now involved with is the chief suspect. The case was never cut and dried, did his wife accidentally fall to her death from a cliff or was she pushed? And if she was pushed, then by whom? The story of the original case is told in a series of flashbacks while in the present Claire becomes more and more attracted to the man she once tried to put in jail.

Both Northern Ireland and the French Riviera are vividly rendered in a novel that the Irish Independent newspaper called "a great rollicking read." It's no surprise that the descriptions of Northern Ireland ring so true as Roisin grew up one of a family of seven in Cookstown Co. Tyrone. After studying History at Queens University Belfast Roisin became the first female and first Catholic newsreader on BBC Northern Ireland. It was 1969 and all around her history was being made but while her male colleagues were out at the barricades McAuley was stuck in a studio behind a desk reading reports about them. When Roisin made it out on to the streets she realized that the reports she was reading bore very little relation to what was actually going on and she was determined to get out of the studio to report the news and not a sanitized version of it.

After working for the Irish Times, the Irish Press, the London Evening Standard, the London Times and the Cork Examiner Roisin moved into television and began working for Spotlight, a documentary program. She continued to make documentaries and worked on some of the best examples of the genre on T.V. including Panorama and Brass Tacks as both a reporter and producer. She also continued working in news and was a reporter for the highly prestigious BBC Newsnight.

In the early 1990s Roisin got married to a keen golfer and, as she says herself, 'fell madly in love' with golf! Her first book, a non-fiction work, Emerald Greens: Essential Guide to Holiday Golf in Ireland was all about her new love. Writing the book proved to be a turning point for Roisin. Although she had always loved fiction and liked writing she was daunted by the size of a novel, but when she wrote the golf book Roisin thought, 'what's the problem'. Soon after Roisin began work on her first book Singing Bird. Like a lot of writers she tends to avoid fiction when writing herself and likes to read biographies, history and 'lots of poetry.' Roisin doesn't favor any particular genre when she does read fiction, "I don't believe in 'genre'," she says. "Something is either well written or badly written and I just try to write well."

Meeting Point is certainly well written and well worth a look. So is Ms. McAuley's handbag, let's see what's inside.
I have a handbag organizer (made by a French company, Tintamar www.tintamar.com) which I transfer between handbags. Right now it contains my wallet (banknotes and credit cards, library cards) a pen, notebook, small change purse, business cards, lipstick (Prescriptives) emery board, powder compact and brush (Guerlain) tissues, comb, publicity postcards for 'Meeting Point". There are one or two golf tees knocking about in there as well.

How many handbags do you own?
About six.

Do you have a favorite handbag, please describe?
My favorite is usually the last one I bought. In this case, a Lulu Guinness bag in pinky purple linen which I will use this summer. I also like the bag I'm using today - a soft brown suede bag with two outside pockets (very useful for mobile phone and camera) by Longchamp.

Why is it your favorite?
It is both beautiful and useful.

Do you have a favorite handbag design/designer and why?
I used to buy only Enny handbags. I loved the strength, softness and quality of the leather, and the designs. On one occasion, about 20 years ago, I drove 15 miles not knowing my Enny bag was trapped in the car door and trailing on the road. When I got to my destination, the bag was intact, the strap hadn't broken, and the leather, although badly scuffed, hadn't worn through. I still have the bag. Enny bags went out of business a few years ago. Now I buy Longchamp and Lulu Guinness.

What is in your makeup bag right now?
My make up bag in the bathroom contains Janet Sartin Dual Performance make-up, Clinique mascara, Chanel eyebrow pencil, two lipsticks - Chantecaille and Lancôme - Yves St Laurent Touche Éclat, Lancôme crème blusher, two Lancôme eye shadow, Prescriptives liquid foundation and Chanel powder blusher.

What would your fantasy make up bag contain? Please be specific as to brand etc, i.e. Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, stila long lasting mascara etc.?
Pretty much what it contains at the moment. If I can include hand/bath soaps in my fantasy bag, I would love the soap Guerlain stopped making about ten years ago and which I had used since I was a student - Fleur des Alpes. Before that I used Guerlain's New Mown Hay until they stopped making that too. I love good quality soap.

How much money do you spend on makeup? How often would you purchase makeup, is it a habitual thing or do you 'treat' yourself?
When I find something I like, I tend to stick with it. I've been a Janet Sartin user for 30 years. I started buying her skin care products in Dublin in Brown Thomas, then in Harvey Nichols in London. Neither of these stores stock JS anymore and I now get it posted from her salon on 5th Avenue, New York. When I was last in New York I treated myself to a Janet Sartin facial. My skin glowed for weeks afterwards. I use Janet Sartin Gentle Cleanser, Super-fatted soap, Dual-Purpose foundation, Eye Serum, and Face Powder. I use the Dual-Purpose foundation on my nose, chin and forehead, which tend towards oiliness, and Prescriptives foundation on the rest of my face - it's individually made up so the color is right for my skin. I buy lipsticks, mascara, eye-shadow and blusher from Chanel, Chantacaille, Lancôme and YSL. I always use moisturizer with at least factor 15 sun protection and I always wear a hat in the sun. I probably buy a new lipstick once or twice a year. Mascara about three times a year.

Do you cleanse tone and moisturize? (In other words are you good at taking off your make up at night and do you have a beauty regime that you stick to?)
I remove my make-up every night using Janet Sartin Gentle Cleanser and Chanel eye-make-up Remover. In the morning I cleanse my skin again with Gentle Cleanser and follow with Super-fatted soap and water. I believe in keeping my skin as clean as possible.

Which cleanser, moisturizer and toner do you use?
I cleanse with Janet Sartin Gentle Cleanser and Super-fatted soap. I change moisturizers. Currently I am using Olay moisture fluid (sun protection factor 15) and Boots Line Filling Collagen Booster.

What is your all-time favorite brand and why?
I have several favorites - principally Janet Sartin, Lancôme and Chanel.

What cosmetic/cleansing item could you not live without?
Janet Sartin Gentle Cleanser.

What was the first piece of makeup you ever purchased and what was the occasion?
I didn't purchase my first piece of make-up. My parents had a Chemist Shop and sold cosmetics. The first piece of make-up I remember getting from the shop was a lipstick by Innoxa. The shade was Fire Coral. I loved it and wore it all that summer. I was fourteen and my friends and I had just discovered barbecues. This was the early 1960s in a small town in Northern Ireland and we thought barbecues were the height of sophistication. (My father made the barbecues by piercing holes in a square biscuit tin which was then suspended between two bricks and covered with a new, sterilized, door-scraper!)

Would you have cosmetic surgery and do you have any strong feelings either anti/pro cosmetic surgery?
I can't imagine having a general anesthetic for anything other than life-saving reasons. I do not use Botox. I hope to age gracefully. I am more worried about losing my mind than losing my looks.

Do you prefer handbags or shoes?
Shoes. I have shoes I bought more than twenty-five years ago - and still wear. Having said that, I have handbags that are even older, and still as good as new.