Beautician to the stars

Shropshire Star feature writer Sue Austin meets a county beautician with A-list connections, and ambitious plans for the future.

Shropshire beautician Deborah Mitchell has found herself in heaven . . . quite literally.

Her life today is a world away from a few years ago when she used her only money to buy some false nails to do nail extensions, and with the money she made from that set herself up as a mobile beautician.

Today she has a London salon and give facials and other treatments to such A-list stars as Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Schiffer. She flies to America for clients, and people like Victoria Beckham and Dannii Minogue have been more than happy to endorse her range of Heaven beauty products.

Heaven, an exclusive range of organic and vegan-friendly products are now sold across the world, from Britain to America and South Africa. Deborah is now negotiating to see them sold in Dubai.

Deborah admits that once or twice she has had to pinch herself to make sure she is not dreaming. But her success has been down to simple hard work and knowing exactly what she wanted for the beauty products that she creates.

At times the runaway success of Heaven has taken her aback. So why, when there are literally hundreds of beauty products on the market, has Heaven, both the treatments and products, become so popular with celebrities and so talked about in magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

Deborah believes it is down to the very ethos of what she does: "What we do at Heaven is a completely holistic approach. I have always been interested in spiritual things and herbal remedies and have built that interest into our treatments.

"My products are completely organic and accredited by the Soil Association. They are vegan friendly and have all gone through stringent tests, sometimes for many years. I design it and then improve on it."

Her extensive knowledge and skill in creating products began at Telford College of Arts and Technology where she did a beauty course.

Her commitment to the college and to Shropshire is very evident. She has donated products to the college and says she would never dream of moving headquarters from her Heaven salon in Shifnal.

Despite Deborah's constant commuting to London she loves returning to Shifnal to see her clients, many of whom have been with her for years. She lives close to the town with her husband and children, Ella, 11 and Christopher, 10.

"I could never give up my clients. They are why I love what I am doing. It is the satisfaction of making people happy and relaxed."

So popular did Deborah's methods become that she began training others to be therapists, firstly in her Shifnal salon and then in London and abroad.

We have 170 therapists in London," she says proudly.

She is equally proud of her new product, which is causing a real stir in the beauty world. Heaven's Bee Venom mask irons out wrinkles before your eyes - I had to do a double take when I saw the difference that it made when Deborah put in on half my face.

"My clients are clamouring for the product, these are really exciting times," says Deborah, who is pleased that she did not take up an offer from none other than Dragons' Den member, Theo Paphitis.

"It was before he was on Dragons' Den. My products were in the exclusive department stores and he approached me and offered me £150,000 to create a cheaper version. But I wouldn't accept - I wanted to stay with the exclusive range.

"I have never borrowed anything - what I have invested in Heaven I have earned. When the money hasn't been there, somehow something has always come up."