For £400, you can hire in this crack team of professional make-up artists in sexy but prim Agent Provocateur-inspired uniforms, who will preen your lady guests with a VIP hair and make-up session — and they do it all in the loos. Katie Reynolds, Powderpuff’s girl-in-chief, says that, at weddings, they tend to be booked for the start of the reception so guests can have their make-up touched up before the next stage in a long day. “At late-night parties, though, you ’ll get women coming in who want a whole adventurous change to their look, mid-evening.”

Reynolds is a ballet dancer-turned-make-up artist, with a love of retro style. She says the Powderpuff Girls offer more than just a useful hair and make-up service: it’s a whole aesthetic. “I love Lulu Guinness’s look,” she says. “We’re coming from the same place, playing on that 1950s style, when women looked immaculate.”

Her favourite job so far was at the stylist Sophie Milton’s wedding reception, at the Rivoli Ballrooms, a kitsch period venue that’s all plush walls and chandeliers, in southeast London. “They have a proper powder room with red velvet and Venetian glass mirrors,” says Reynolds. “The reception had a vintage theme, so my girls were all dressed up in their 1950s glamour uniforms, dishing out shades of red lip gloss and tailoring people’s make-up to the period of their dress. It was perfect.”

The benefits of professional grooming will be obvious to anyone who has ever seen candid shots of celebrities without their personal make-up artist to hand — not pretty. Reynolds’s top Powderpuff Girl is Peche Petrie. “I usually work with models and actresses, where you are just part of their day-to-day schedule,” Petrie says. “Normal women never get that luxury. Powderpuff clients are so excited and appreciative. I love it. At one party, a girl wearing cowboy boots hadn’t been able to find a handbag to match them, so her mobile phone was stashed down her boots and she had nowhere for make-up. She’d come with a guy she fancied, and was really pleased we were there. ‘Wow, you’re going to make me look perfect all night and he’ll never know,’ she said.”

Mini-manicures have been a frequent treat at girlie parties, as the grooming element takes the night to the next level. Pout is also weighing in with a party launch service. Its foxy, black-clad girls have pitched up at events for Richard Branson, Vivienne Westwood and Wheels & Doll Baby, the Australian designers. Expect more to follow.

Overheard in a loo manned by Powderpuff Girls were the words: “This is the best idea ever — we’ve got to copy it.” Roll on the day when there’s a Powderpuff at every nightclub, bar and party. Reynolds knows the way to a woman’s heart is by making her look hot, even at 1am. “Having your make-up done in the loos is a pure form of decadence,” she says.

So next time someone says: “Come to the loo and let me powder your nose,” it’s an offer you shouldn’t refuse.

Powderpuff Girls: 020 7480 5094, dolls@thepowderpuffgirls.com.

Pout: 020 7557 9956, www.pout.co.uk

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