Michelle Regazzoli Stone is finally ready to accept that she has it all.
A loving husband, the perfect family, a stunning mansion, a thriving career (with over 180k followers online), a hugely popular makeup brand, and Michelle now finally has the confidence to say she deserves it all.
The celebrity makeup artist and businesswoman is our Goss Cover Star for December, and who better to feature in our festive glamorous photoshoot than Mrs Glam herself?
The brunette burst onto our phone screens as a top makeup artist, first coming into the media spotlight when she did her signature glam on Rosanna Davison for her Ibiza wedding in 2015.
Since then the mother-of-four has turned her passion for beauty into a full-blown beauty brand (MRS Glam, owned by bPerfect Cosmetics) as well as growing a huge, loyal following on social media.
On her channels she shares beauty tips but also shares her family life, from building her dream home to the realities of being a working mother.
She has won the most awards at The Gossies to date, with nine awards under her belt (eight for Best Celebrity Makeup Artist). As well as being a much-loved figure online, she has also created her own makeup range with BPerfect Cosmetics, called MRS Glam – which she launched in March 2020.
Michelle met her husband Mark when she was just 17 years old, and the pair tied the knot in Ibiza back in 2013.
The couple have since welcomed four gorgeous children together – Max, 14, Hugo, 12, Gio, 3, and Alessa, 2.
With her 40th birthday just around the corner, Michelle has everything she could have ever wanted – and she has worked damn hard to get to where she is today.
A huge part of Michelle’s appeal is her “what you see is what you get” attitude to life, and this was evident on the morning of our shoot when she arrived with rollers in her hair and a massive hug for everyone.
Over the years I’ve come to learn that Michelle is as real as they come. Her humble beginnings have kept her grounded in a business that can be incredibly fickle at the best of times.
Today I sit down with Michelle to discuss why this might be the best time in her life so far.
“At this point in time, quite overwhelmed because it has been such a year… I’m happy and content. I don’t ever want to sound arrogant, but right now I have it all,” she said.
“I have my parents, I have my children, I have my house. I don’t know what else I need.”
“I don’t ever want to sound arrogant, but right now I have it all”
It’s clear that Michelle is incredibly grateful for everything that she’s been blessed with, but the fear of it all being stripped away is all too real, and the Meath native admits that she has had crippling fears of death.
“Like any family, there’s bad days, there’s being burnt out, getting tired, getting fed up. We’re very balanced right now, but that could change in a minute,” she said.
“When I share things and people say ‘you have the perfect life’ – there’s no real perfect life because it’s all hard, it’s all tough and strenuous and exhausting and busy.
“But yes, in terms of having a lovely holiday once or twice a year, all my children being healthy and safe, right now is perfect. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have been confident enough to say that to you. But as a 39-year-old, going into my 40s now in January…,” she said, before pausing.
Michelle then explained: “For the last two years, I have been completely consumed with (the idea) of me getting sick and something happening to me. I have been consumed by thoughts that I’m going to die, that I’m going to get breast cancer…”
“I’m going to get sick, something’s going to happen to me and who’s going to look after my kids? Whereas now that I’m actually nearly 40, I’m like, now it’s just time to live. What am I worrying about?
“I’m kind of like why am I anticipating something happening to me when it could be another 20, 30 or 40 years when it happens to me? But I think sometimes when things are so good, we are always on this little backfoot of ‘any minute now this is going to change’.
“I think I’m so passionate about gratitude because when you come from a really humble background, like totally humble beginnings, that when things happen for you you really appreciate it, but the fear of losing it sometimes is even greater.
“I don’t know if that’s an insecurity thing as a female. I don’t know if we’re always a little bit just built with insecurities.”
“This is the first time of my life that I feel like I deserve everything that I have,” Michelle admitted.
“I feel like I can actively call myself a businesswoman. I feel like I can be proud of the children I’ve reared. My children are beautiful, they’re so well-mannered.
“We’re starting up a little chocolate company with my older boys. We do everything slow and steady, whereas 10 or so years ago we wanted to be in and quick and everything to happen fast.
“Whereas now it’s like, let’s do this and do it right and do it well. And that’s the best thing I’ve learned in the last 10 years.”
The term “slow and steady” reminds me of the time Michelle documented the construction of her house on Instagram.
“This is the first time of my life that I feel like I deserve everything that I have”
While many influencers show off their ready-made mansions in an aesthetically pleasing house tour, Michelle brought her followers on the very real journey of transforming her home bit by bit – highlighting the lows as much as the highs.
“Keeping the reality of life was so important to me because I was coming up at the same time as other social media influencers who might have got a lucky break really quick and financially did very well,” she admits.
“And the toxic environment around money and success ended up making people for a few years turn on influencers.
“I think now, with having maybe the likes of me or other really real influencers, it’s coming back where people now, they’re just not involved in what they don’t like to be involved in, or watch or what makes them feel bad about themselves.”
“People now are way more aware of looking at things that works for them and makes them happy. So that’s why people have stayed with me. I literally have followers writing to me probably for eight to ten years.”
This, I believe, is what sets Michelle apart from many other popular influencers – Michelle’s authenticity has never waivered, whether she’s having an amazing week or a terrible day, Michelle is refreshingly honest on her channels.
Her followers know how hard Michelle has worked to get to where she is today. Early followers will have seen Michelle driving the length and breath of the country from 4am onwards to paint the faces of excited brides – something she still does today.
Michelle smiles as she admits she has her parents to thank for her strong work ethic.
“If my mam got a job in a cafe, she would be the manager and running the place literally within two weeks. This is who she is, and my Dad is no different.”
“It’s the most valuable thing my parents could have given me. Firstly they’re still together, thankfully, which is one great thing they’ve given me, but also a work ethic that I can never be knocked because I know I always will have the ability to work.”
“Like I said, I come from a really humble background. My dad is a painter and decorator, and he used to tell me that people used to hand him cups of hot water at the back door for him to make a cup of tea.
“They wouldn’t let him into his house because they didn’t regard him enough. How anyone could treat a human being like that, I’ll never know. But it’s what has kept me driven and humble.”
“I’ll never change. I will never, ever not be grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.”
“I’ve stayed completely real and authentic and genuine to myself. The nice thing about me is I know who I am. I know what I’m about. I’ll always remember where I came from, and I have pure pride from where I came from,” she continued.
“I’ll never change. I will never, ever not be grateful for the opportunities that have come my way”
“Growing up when you’re comparing yourself to other people and what they have and what you don’t, it actually ends up working in your favour because you have a point to prove and you want to be more in life, and you’ve watched your family be more.
“I nearly feel sometimes sorry for people who get everything handed to them. They don’t really have much of a value in things. I value absolutely everything that is given to me and comes my way. And again, I’m so grateful for it.”
It’s clear that family means absolutely everything to Michelle. This was evident at her MRS Glam Christmas Party event earlier this month, where her entire family had a part to play in the day – from her boys Max and Hugo selling their Schwizz chocolate bars, to her husband Mark dressing up as Santa Claus.
At the start of our chat, I ask Michelle how she was feeling coming towards the end of 2024.
While she expressed how happy and content she was in her life, she also noted that it had been a really “rocky” year.
Back in March, Michelle’s family banded together like never before when her young sister Selina was assaulted by a man in an unprovoked attack in Cork city, which left her with a dislocated and fractured ankle.
Although Michelle can’t get into the specifics of Selina’s attack due to court proceedings, the 39-year-old admitted her sister will “never ever be the same again”.
“It has been the strongest, toughest, most vulnerable I think we’ve ever all been as a family,” Michelle said.
“Selina is absolutely incredible. She is doing very good, and I can use very good because four months ago, it was only okay. She took so many little wins this year, like simple wins of getting her foot into a runner and feeling comfort.
“So she is very good. She just got a promotion. She’s a very strong on character, but this has taken a lot of her and from her. She’ll never walk down the street comfortably as a female ever again,” Michelle explained.
“It’s so sad. She literally shakes from head to toe, even if we’re with her. She will never, ever, ever be the same ever again. The minute a man touches you, in broad daylight.”
Michelle said it’s been beyond heartbreaking to see her sister’s confidence completely shattered since the shocking incident
.”This girl has travelled the world, lived in Miami, Barbados, France, Florida, has had the best life, and literally it’s been taken from her,” she continued.
“She’ll never be the same. I’ve never seen a recovery like it. Oh my God, I don’t know how she’s done it. I really don’t.”
I ask Michelle if the traumatising incident has influenced her decision to try and live more in the moment.
“It does make me live in the moment a bit more and realise just how lucky I am and just what I have with my family,” she said.
“As long as I have my parents and my kids and we’re all healthy. So what happened to Selina only makes us stronger, but because she’s affected, we’re all affected. And we’re all not trying to show her we’re affected, and she’s not trying to show us she’s affected, but we’re all affected.”
“But if she breaks, we break, and if we break, she breaks, so nobody breaks. But every now and again, we break.”
Something I really admire about Michelle is how much she spreads positivity, in person and online she exudes a positive outlook, even when speaking about difficult topics, it’s clear Michelle is always focusing on the good.
“I actually think being positive is very hard,” she confesses. “I look at some people who choose to be negative and choose to tear people apart and rip people apart, and in actual fact, that’s the easy way out.”
“I have never taken the easy way out, just like my parents haven’t. Going back to my dad, he is the most happy-go-lucky little roguey Dublin head, he is the funniest character I’ve ever met and he wakes up every morning happy and excited for a new day. I’ve never come across anyone like him.
“So you get that influence, firstly, and then you get the fight in you to want to be a better person. And then when my children came along, I thought they’ll never walk behind me on a phone and go, ‘Why did you write that about that girl, mam? That’s so mean’. They will never, ever know what that is like because I never want them to have insecurities or low self-esteem.”
“And that’s where I push and fight to be positive every day because it’s not easy. Some days you’re rattled, some days you’re shook, some days you get a comment off somebody, and it’s a really low blow.”
“Some days you’re rattled, some days you’re shook, some days you get a comment off somebody, and it’s a really low blow”
On the topic of trolling, I ask Michelle how she deals with negative comments online.
“If I’m really honest, I don’t get much. I also don’t look for it. I protect my inner peace. I am very careful now with what I post online, because people just completely and utterly pick things apart,” she says.
“And I’m not even going to say that they particularly focus on mothers, it’s like a female thing. I look at some of the Irish female influencers, beautiful girls, innocent, just working away, doing what they want to do.”
“Some of them are a bit silly, some of them have a bit of growing up to do, some of them have their own personal traumas or issues going on in their lives, and they are just ripped to shreds. And it’s so sad. I just don’t get it.”
Michelle admits that the most of amount of trolling she’s ever faced was when she welcomed her daughter, Alessa, in April 2022.
The makeup artist had always longed for a little girl, and was accused of “forgetting” about her son Gio – whom she had welcomed one year prior.
“I don’t know if it was people that weren’t happy for me, but I used to get messages every single day, people being like ‘Poor Gio, the forgotten child, poor Gio’,” she said.
“And I was constantly getting anonymous fake accounts writing to me every single day.”
Despite the nasty comments, Michelle didn’t let them dull her shine, and gushed over how “special” it was to finally have her baby girl.
So now that she has her little princess, I ask Michelle is her family now complete?
“I absolutely love children. And if I had my way, I’d have 10. I just don’t like driving a space wagon,” she laughed.
“So no, we’re done with the kids. Even like, I was looking at one of my friend’s babies the other day, and I was like ‘oh, I’d love to go again’. But I’m absolutely done.”
With Christmas right around the corner, and a very busy household of six, I ask Michelle what Christmas is like for the Regazzoli Stone family.
“Christmas in my house is all about family, food and traditions,” she said. “We’ve go into Grafton Street every Christmas Eve to buy flowers and see the lights. We go home to get into your pajamas and get Santa’s treats ready and when we wake up it’s chaos.”
“Full of joy from start to finish. We do Christmas dinner for about 14 people in the evening and I adore Christmas dinner it’s my favourite meal.
“Christmas is my favourite time because I had such beautiful childhood memories, and hopefully I’m passing the same memories onto my children.”
Michelle’s children are central to her world and they regularly make an appearance on her Instagram. With many followers watching her children grow up.
But now that her eldest two are that bit older (Max is 14, and Hugo is 12), I’m interested to know if she’s more conscious of what she shares of them online.
“They had a word with me on holidays,” Michelle confesses. “It was the last night of our holidays and we were sitting and chatting, and I said ‘Can we get a selfie?’ And we did. And they said, ‘Will you not post that mam?’
“And I said, ‘No, I won’t post it’. And they just said, ‘We just want to have a word with you… We would like you to be more aware of what you’re putting up of us and always ask us before you do’.
“And I thought it was the most mature thing that they could have done, and the way that they worded it. Because I knew they didn’t want to upset me,” she smiles.
“So if we’re walking down Grafton Street, we see the Christmas lights and I’m like ‘Lads, I’m going to take a picture. Is that okay?’ ‘Yeah. Yeah, fine’. But we don’t snuggle in the bed anymore and take a little selfie because that’s not fair.
“It’s about respect. But, with showing my kids online, we have a really fabulous life because of it. We got to go to Lapland last year, like memories that will last forever.
“So they know the value of what we can create. I just don’t need to over-expose them.”
Michelle has been a working makeup artist for over 20 years, from abroad weddings to red carpet events – Mrs Makeup has seen and done it all.
She worked for MAC Cosmetics for almost ten years before she decided to become a freelance artist, specialising in bespoke bridal and media makeup.
In 2014, Michelle’s popularity reached new heights when she did former Miss World Rosanna Davison’s bridal glam for her Ibiza wedding in 2014.
As someone who has followed Michelle for many years and remembers all the times she posted about being up at 4am for a wedding across the country, I asked how she managed it all – especially when she had young children.
“I honest to God don’t know. And I feel sometimes very guilty at just how much pressure I put on my family,” she admits.
“People say to me ‘you look after your family very well, you’re all going on holidays and that together’. When I lived in the cottage, my mother slept on the couch four or five nights a week because I was gone at half four in the morning to drive down to Killarney to do a wedding,” Michelle explained.
“Because I had two young kids, I didn’t want to leave them all the time. I honestly look back and go, how did I do it? But it was all down to my mother. She slept on my couch every single night of the week for years.
“I remember one July, I think it was 2017, I worked every single day, every single day in July. And they’re all early starts, so it’s not like you’re having to lie in until nine o’clock and getting out.
“I’ve never gone to a job hungover, or tired… I’ve never gone and not been professional. My thing, especially with bridal, is this is their day. This is not about me.”
“And what I love now, people are so kind is that if I walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh, my God, here’s MRS Make up, come on in, we’ll make you a cup of tea’. And we all have a laugh and a joke now because I’ve become a bit more of a household name.”
“But it’s not about me. This morning is about a bride, her mother, her father, her family.”
“I’ve seen other people, vendors from weddings, kind of coming in and taking over, or dictating the day, or being moody or grumpy or arrogant. Just ruining the vibe. I just melt into the background.”
It’s no secret that weddings are a hub for heightened emotions, and I can only imagine some difficult brides out there, drama breaking out the morning of a wedding, I’m sure Michelle has seen it all.
“There are stories that stick out in my mind, good and bad,” she tells me.
“I had one girl and she was marrying like a New York businessman or something like that. And she screamed at her mother all morning, screamed at her son, he was only two years old. He was only a tiny little thing.”
“Nothing was good enough. There was nothing anyone could do for her, and it was so sad. I remember thinking to myself, she’s going to have this beautiful big lavish, expensive wedding and not even enjoy it.”
“[She was] miserable, made her mother’s life hell, and I just thought it was actually really sad. She thinks she has it all, she doesn’t actually have anything.”
Michelle has built up a long list of celebrity clients over the years, and has worked with stars such as Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle, Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison, TOWIE stars Samantha and Billie Faiers, and former Miss World Rosanna Davison – to name but a few.
When asked who has been her favourite, Michelle admits: “I loved working with the girls from TOWIE, Sam and Billie Faiers. I think the reason why they stand out for me the most is because I got so many amazing opportunities with them.”
“I worked with top photographers from OK! magazine, Hello magazine. I got to work with the Very group over in the UK. I remember even with Samantha, we got very close and they brought me out to Majorca to do a photoshoot for her fragrance.
“We had five days in Majorca in this beautiful hotel, brought off to beautiful restaurants and locations. It was just life-changing, and the confidence it gave me was incredible. I really feel like those two girls really, really helped my career. They’re great people.”
“It was just life changing, and the confidence it gave me was incredible”
Michelle has seen and done incredible things thanks to her career as a makeup artist, but I’ve noticed she’s now taking on a lot less clients.
“I’m going to be really honest. I haven’t really taken any bookings for next year, which is the first year I have ever done that, literally in about 20 years. Purely because I just want to see what it’s like to have that type of freedom,” she admits.
“Now, I don’t have freedom because we have big plans for next year with MRS Glam. So I, again, don’t necessarily have the freedom”.
“I just don’t want to give away the 28th of July and then it ends up that the boys are going to a camp, or there’s something that we’re going to go and do together. So I just wanted to have maybe a year of seeing what it’s like.”
While Michelle is slowing down in terms of how many bookings she’s taking on, she insisted she will “always go back to it”.
“I’ll always keep my finger at the door. And I’m not saying I’m not taking any work next year, but just at the moment, I really want to focus on MRS Glam because we have so much coming,” she said.
“And I think it’s really important as somebody who is the head of a makeup company, to do makeup. I don’t see the point in creating makeup if you don’t know how to work on somebody’s face.
“That is my brutally honest opinion, and probably a bit controversial, but I just don’t understand how you can… Like fair enough, you can like what you like, but there’s a way bigger picture with makeup.”
“I’ve seen products come out from other people who aren’t makeup artists, and everything’s just full of oil, and there has to be balance.”
With such a stellar career under her belt and a beauty brand that continues to sell in huge numbers, I ask Michelle now, what’s next for her beauty brand?
“I’m literally going to cross my fingers and toes for this – MRS Glam Foundation,” Michelle told me. “We’ve been trialling it for two years.”
“MRS Glam Foundation will hopefully be here sometime in the first six months of next year. But I say that hopefully because we’re still testing, we’re still trialling it, I’m too fussy.
While Michelle is the face of MRS Glam, she doesn’t own the brand as its a part of BPerfect Cosmetics, which was founded by Brendan McDowell in Belfast in 2012.
“In an ideal world, I would own it,” Michelle confessed. “I would have my own makeup brand, but then I wouldn’t have my family, I don’t think.”
“In an ideal world, I would own (mRS Glam) but then I wouldn’t have my family”
“If I did it by myself, something would have given. I should have done it eight years ago, even twelve years ago, when I’d only had Max and my career was really taking off. But I couldn’t find what I was looking for, and I didn’t want to put my name on just anything.”
“And I was approached by loads of brands, particularly in Ireland, to collab with them, and I just kept saying no,” she admits.
“There was always something a little bit amiss for me, formula-wise, whereas I feel like what I get from BPerfect and Brendan and the team is exactly what I want. So I always question, could I have done this to the same level as what he’s done for me?
“I love what I have. Even more so I love that I have a relationship with Brendan where he is literally like my best friend. He’s like a brother. I don’t see him with many people like that, so I feel really honoured to have that.
“And again, I just don’t know if I could have done things to the level as what he’s done because he’s done all the really hard graft and taken some major life lessons and major business lessons.”
Michelle stresses how running a business can be a “very lonely place” and admits she has made “so many mistakes” throughout her career.
“But I’m glad I’m not doing this part alone. Because it’s not only making mistakes with stock orders, it could be something financial that could ruin everything,” she added.
While Michelle is so synonymous with makeup, I ask would she venture into other industries? She tells me she already has, thanks to her entrepreneurial sons.
“Myself, my boys and my husband found a chocolate factory in Ireland and have created the Schwizz bar. And we have a couple of different flavours and varieties and different things like that.
“So we have exciting projects coming up that we’re going to do together as a family. And I feel like there’s no a major big high value in a chocolate bar. It’s a bit of entrepreneurship, and a bit of fun, and it’s chocolate so if nobody else eats it we’ll eat it!”
“One thing I live by, a little motto of mine, is always trust the timing of your life.
“In two year’s time, I might have a fragrance, or in five year’s time, or ten year’s time. I don’t limit myself anymore to thinking, ‘Well, I’m going to be 50 in 10 years, I won’t be able to do it then’. I absolutely will. So I’m trusting the timing of my life.
“I’m trusting the timing of my life”
As Michelle mentioned before, she’s turning the big 4-0 in January – a major milestone, which can also be a daunting one.
The glamorous mum-of-four admits she’s feeling “overwhelmed” by it.
I got a glimpse of this feeling at the end of our photoshoot, as Michelle started to tear up during our final takes. It’s clear doing this shoot, talking about her career to date, really means a lot to her, as does the next chapter in her life.
“It’s strange. I don’t want to be there, but I’m really glad I’m there because of what I’ve achieved. So it’s a double-edged sword, isn’t it?” she says.
“My husband turned 40 a few weeks ago. I’m glad we’re doing it together, because he’s my best friend, he’s the best in the world, and then I have the kids. So it’s just another milestone.”
“I’m avoiding having a party, but everyone in my family wants me to have a party. I keep telling everyone online that this is the golden year. This is going to be all about me and the golden age.”
Given Michelle doesn’t want a party to celebrate her next decade, it’s clear she’s feeling conflicted about turning 40.
“I think when you have everything and you’re in this bubble of craziness in your 30s, you’re trying to make it, you’re trying to buy a house, there’s something wrong with this, there’s something wrong with that. It’s all so hectic,” she admits.
“We quite enjoy being in the hectic-ness. So I don’t know if my 40s make me fear that life is going to get quieter. Because I don’t want life to be quiet. I like busy, I like chaotic. I like always having something to do.
“In two years time, Gio is going to be gone to school and I’ll be bawling my lamps out as a 42 or 43-year-old mother, and then a year later Alessa will be going. There’s never going to be a quiet time.
“But yes, it’s a real milestone. Forty is like you’re going into the second third of your life.”
It’s safe to say Michelle doesn’t want life to slow down anytime soon, so I pose my final question: what would she like her 40s to look like?
“Oh, God. That’s such a deep question,” she laughs. “I’d like to stay where I am right now, in the sense that all of my family are happy and content.”
“I also want to always have the ability to work. And that’s the saddest thing about what happened to Selina this year was somebody took that away from her for a long time.
“So that’s the fundamental thing of being safe, being happy, being healthy, and the chaos continuing. Because I love a bit of chaos!”
SHOOT CREDITS
Creative Director: Alexandra Ryan
Interview By: Kendra Becker
Photos & Video: Claire Boshell
Styling: Laura Mullett
Hair & Makeup: Jordan Reddy
STYLE CREDITS
Look One (Cover Shot)
Earrings €85 – Enchant.ie
Pink feather dress €245 – Mizzrio.ie
White coat – Stylist’s own
Look Two
Black and white lacy playsuit – (@karan_burness_fashion – price on request)
Tights €20 – tightsdept.com
Look Three
Red dress €199 – AliciaandChloe.com
Look Four
Phoenix V co-ord – Price on request
Look Five
Dress €225 – Mizzrio.ie
Look Six
Jumpsuit €895 – Mizzrio.ie
Bow €145 – Mizzrio.ie
Look Seven
Earrings €105 – somethingbluestudio.ie
Bodysuit €85 – Vacious.ie
Velvet skirt – (@karan_burness_fashion – price on request)
Look Eight
Faux Fur Hood €100 – Rashhiiid
