Lisa Rinna slept through her alarm this morning. She was supposed to wake up at 8am, as per her usual schedule, but the British Fashion Awards were last night. Rinna was in full glam as early as 4pm, posing for pictures with Chet Lo, the British designer who crafted her spiky, vampirish gown, and didn't wake up til 12pm today.
The BFAs were one of Rinna’s first big events of the festive party season, and she had a lot of fun, especially when crossing paths with her daughter, Amelia Gray, on the red carpet (“‘Cos like, when do you get to spend time with your 22-year-old!” she declares, gleefully) and chowing down on some room service chicken back in her hotel room.
For party season, Rinna has a strict set of rules for some aspects - always washing her face before bed, rocking a signature lip above all else - and plays fast and loose with others (she can get ready in 15 minutes door to door, if she has to. Like, really has to.)
Before she donned her non-famous-person disguise and slipped out into the streets of central London on a quest towards Dover Street, ES Magazine caught up with the queen of reality TV to talk about her ten Christmas party commandments. Here's her key party protocol.
1. On the three essentials to fit into a teeny tiny party purse
“Rinna beauty lip gloss, Tylenol, credit card.”
2. On arrival times
“I’m perfectly on time, but I’m working on being fabulously late. I’m way too functional, I have way too much OCD, I have to force myself to be fashionably late because I really should be. But I’m very punctual - so, you know, it's a cross I bear. But I work with it.”
3. On goodbyes (or lack thereof)
“It depends on the party, but I like a French exit. I call it a Houdini exit.”
4. On how to leave boring conversations
“First of all, ‘Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom,’ secondly, ‘Oh, my husband just walked in,’ thirdly, ‘Sorry, I need to leave.’
5. On extra long queues for the bathroom
“It used to work really well when I was pregnant because they’d let you right into the line. Now, you know, it’s my own damn fault for holding it that long.”
6. On high-speed GRWM routines
“In 15 minutes - put on a really good black dress, really good black boots, and a black bag. Slick my hair back. Tinted moisturiser, lips, tiny bit of rust coloured liner, do my eyebrows real quick and then a little top mascara, that’s it.”
7. On statement eyes or statement lips
"Signature lip, always. I mean, it’s Lisa Rinna’s lips! My lips have had a career of their own. You’ve got to give the people what they want."
8. On the perfect pre-party skincare routine
"I believe in consistency, but I also believe in freaking your skin out a little bit, changing it up [...] Less it more, which I know coming from me is an oxymoron, but less is more, and good quality skincare never goes wrong. You also need to drink a lot, a lot, a lot of water. An obnoxious amount of water."
9. On five-step skincare routines at 3am
“I rarely make it home at 3am these days, though last year we left Chiltern Firehouse and were walking the streets at 3am. I don’t do a five stepper but I always wash my face. Two steps, maybe. Just get the makeup off, get in bed.”
10. On the best post-party snack
"They have this thing here [at my hotel] that’s Southern buttermilk chicken breasts, with greens and parmesan and lemon [...] I’ve had that meal three times since I arrived in London. I ate it at one o’clock in the morning last night."
