Main Content



The rules for wearing make-up during the shooting season

For our Beauty in the Country columnist Netia Walker, August is all about the start of the grouse season. Her advice? Mind the midges and forget a faceful of make-up...

05 Aug 2016

Tebay Services on the M6, the A1 and the sleeper train from Euston station are THE places to be seen this month to demonstrate that you have bagged one of the most exclusive invitations that money can buy: the Glorious Twelfth, which hails the start of the grouse season.

Many a grown man will admit that an invitation to shoot grouse gets an immediate reply; a rush of adrenalin, no 'can I just check with the wife?' - in fact, stuff the wife, she goes on the back burner. No one in their right mind refuses a day's grouse. Bertie Hoskyns-Abrahall, a partner at Withers, agrees: 'If you are lucky enough to be invited grouse-shooting, you need to be on your best possible form - there is a waiting list, so if you make the cut, go for it!' In other words, don't get overexcited the night before and hit your host's cellar too hard. You need your wits about you, and a hangover isn't going to get you invited back.

An invitation to shoot within the first two weeks of the season puts you up there as a very popular fellow. You can spot someone who has had an early invitation if they are proudly sporting a bit of white heather in their flat caps, a sort of 'grouse badge of honour'. Journeying to Scotland to shoot for one day is considered completely normal - if you see a tweed-clad man in a filthy 4x4 laden with spaniels zooming north this month, with a huge grin on his face, you know where he is heading.

So, why all the excitement about grouse? Grouse are wild and therefore far rarer than reared game, like pheasants. They are also exclusive to the British Isles, so many foreigners pay huge sums of money to be part of the action that they can't experience in their own country. Grouse can be very difficult to shoot in windy conditions, especially after they have been driven a few times - they get to know where the lines of the butts are (a dug-out area in the heather where the guns sit) and pack up into big numbers, which is very exciting for the guns but also rather daunting. If 100 pheasants flew straight at you, you would probably hit a large number of them as they fly in a predictable way; grouse, however, can turn on a sixpence and are impossible to read, making them tough targets. When asked to explain the difference between shooting pheasant and grouse, Frank Speir from Prime Purchase says: 'It's a bit like shooting a B-52 (pheasant) compared to a Spitfire.'

Which is all good and jolly. But if you get the call-up with your man, how do you play it? The answer is simple - GO LOW-KEY. Grouse are very alert and react to bright colours, so for heaven's sake don't go out bedecked in shocking-pink cashmere, and if you have very bright highlights or very blonde hair, wear a cap. (Don't let the boys have any excuses that your brightness spooked the birds and hampered their performance!) Lots of my girlfriends prefer to 'beat' and spend the day walking through the beautiful moors with the line of beaters rather than sit quietly watching their men being macho. There is A LOT of walking to be done and people forget that it's meant to be the height of our summer so can be boiling. Remember this as you dress - you don't want to be carrying armfuls of discarded tweed along with you all day. It's not advisable to spend hours trowelling on make-up, as the chances are it will end up dripping down your face. It is also crucial that you look like you have made no effort at all. Try Oxygenetix Foundation (£45) - it makes skin look flawless, is sweatproof, breathable and lasts all day. To perk up the eyes, a sweep of waterproof mascara like Tom Ford Waterproof Extreme Mascara in Noir (£35) will do the trick.

Be warned - the midges can be a complete bore and nibble away furiously. One of the most popular deterrents is to smoke (!), but be careful - one friend of mine nearly set fire to his grouse butt in a desperate bid to deter the little blighters. Otherwise, products can help. I once walked in on a burly, Ben Hur-like gamekeeper covering himself with Avon's Skin So Soft OriginalDry Oil Body Spray (from £5). I coughed to announce my arrival as I felt I was intruding on something I shouldn't be seeing, but he explained that it was the only product he had ever found that repelled the midges. It just goes to show - tough guys CAN do products.

I also asked Frank what advice he would give any female accompanying him in his grouse butt. 'No talking, don't get in the way and keep your head below the line of the butt,' he replied promptly. Hardly the ideal first date...