'To become a beauty, you have to be yourself'

THE woman sitting in the chair looks like a little uneasy. She's come to Fenwick, in central York, to have a make-up consultation, and now her husband has escaped, she's left conspicuously alone. Then Alan Pan arrives to greet her and his charm soon has her smiling and relaxed. She is about to be transformed by the accomplished make-up artist.

As the distinguished guest of honour, it's clear that Alan is in charge. The other staff behind the counter - all well-groomed women, as you'd expect - are glad to serve his every need. He is predictably effusive, addressing everyone as 'darling', and with his warm, familiar style, he can't be other than endearing. He asks the woman, called Dorothy Cook, what kind of look she would prefer, then with the smoothness of a pro, diverts her onto something else.

The reason Alan has come to York is that he works for Estee Lauder, and as a member of its 'trend team', strives to push its latest fashions. Though he now lives in the UK - he's based in Worthing, in West Sussex - he is originally from Malaysia and says he never saw his fate as being to end up doing make-up.

"It happened quite accidentally," says Alan. "I was trained as a beauty therapist and I used to have a beauty salon, relying on people to come in and do the make-up for me. One day I had a bridal appointment and the make-up artist didn't turn up, so I just had to do it myself. I trained as a make-up artist and haven't looked back since."

This happened several years ago - while Alan is coy about his age, he will admit he's in his 40s - when it was hardly seen as normal for a man to study make-up. He does concede that he was rare, but says he's glad he's helped to change things. "I feel like a pioneer," says Alan. "When I started there weren't a lot of men working in the cosmetics industry, so I feel like I've inspired a lot of young people. Nowadays there are a lot more men in the industry. Generally speaking, I think a lot of ladies prefer male make-up artists because they see things in a different way. When we put on make-up, we put it on the way men would like women to be."

The one thing standing in his way was that he'd never mastered English. He moved to Britain to learn the language and ended up not going back. As Alan honed his make-up skills he found the work came flooding in. "I used to be (the Bodyshop founder) Anita Roddick's personal make-up artist," he says. "It was absolutely marvellous. I did make-up not only for her, but for her mother and daughter."

He went to work for Estee Lauder as a result of being head hunted and says he's made a lot of progress since the company took him on. He has an international role promoting all its various products and aims to demonstrate to women how to make themselves look good. "Gradually I've been promoted to become international make-up artist, so I'll be doing my personal events all over the country to show ladies how to make themselves even more gorgeous and sexy," says Alan. "Primarily, I'll be working in New York and Dublin, but I'll be travelling all around the UK and Ireland because they're my favourite countries."

Where Alan brings his skills to bear is in his clever use of colour. Applying shadow to Dorothy's eyes, he chooses subtle shades of pink to make them seem a lot more blue and with a flash of inspiration, adds just a hint of sunshine yellow. The end result is pretty flawless, and though it isn't what she's used to, Dorothy loves her fresh new look. This is what Alan really thrives on and what makes the job worthwhile.

"I find that everybody is a canvas for me to work on, and I prefer ordinary women to celebrities," he says. "My favourite saying is 'to become a beauty, you have to be yourself'. Basically make-up is there to enhance your beauty."

He may be happiest in stores transforming ordinary women, but Alan also sees his share of famous clients through his work. Among the stars he has made up are Lily Cole and Sadie Frost, and he has also used his skills to help enhance Liz Hurley's looks. A favourite client he once had was the comedienne Ruby Wax. "I think she's so sweet," says Alan. "She may act very crazily, but she's a very intelligent lady and she's very respectful."

While he believes that British women in the main are well clued-up - "I think ladies in the UK are very, very good at applying make-up. They're very fashion conscious," says Alan - he does believe they are inclined to go a little overboard. His top tip is that less is more and that what's natural is best. "The most common question I get is 'what colour do you think will suit me the most?' and I always say 'you can wear anything, but you must find the right shade'," he says. "Different people have different tones, so therefore different colours will help to enhance them."