Archive copy by Jenni Baden Howard

For beauty companies, a famous “face” is worth a million dollars (or, more accurately, several). Uma Thurman’s successful collaboration with Lancome is a case in point, and illustrates the growing trend for red carpet casting. More and more of the industry’s main players are wooing stars of the big screen with lucrative modelling contracts.

This season, 20 year old French actress Lou Doillon - the daughter of Jane Birkin and sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kate Barry - makes her modelling debut for Givenchy, as the “face” of its autumn/winter make-up collection and new-look Prisms. Meanwhile, Sofia Coppola appears in the ads for Marc Jacob’s eponymous new fragrance, shot by Jeurgen Teller.

The promise of buying into a little movie star mystique is an enduringly powerful one. Never mind the clever light-reflective pigments and intriguing top notes, the real pull is the irresistable notion that, with a spritz of scent or lick of mascara, a little Uma-like gorgeousness might rub off on us. Other famous collaborations have included Sophie Marceau and Guerlain, Carole Bouquet and Chanel, and Emmanuelle Beart and Christian Dior. And then, of course, there is our very own Elizabeth Hurley, the reigning face of Estée Lauder for 7 years.

As a Lancome muse, Thurman certainly breaks the mould. She’s blonde, for a start. Pre-Uma, the company had consistently chosen sultry, European brunette actresses to lend its fragrances, make-up and skincare lines allure.

Spanish-born and Paris-based actress Inès Sastre is the raven-haired, olive-skinned “face” of the Trésor scent, along with this season’s ultra-glam Chic make-up collection and the forthcoming Christmas look. On the big screen, Sastre has co-starred with the likes of Gerard Depardieu, as has fellow Lancome “face”, the young Belgian film and stage actress Marie Gillain. Currently representing the Oui! and Poeme fragrances, along with the Vinofit skincare and Aroma Fit bodycare range, Gillain, too, calls Paris home. Thurman’s third “co-star” is the Brazilian-born, half-Italian and - mai oui - Paris-based Cristiana Reali. Previous Lancome muses have included Juliette Binoche and Isabella Rossellini, who went on to create her signature Manifesto range at the end of her 14 year career as the brand’s sole “face”.

As Lancome’s first American femme fatale, Thurman was initially ‘surprised, shocked, astonished and amused’ about being approached. ‘Actually, I’m really proud of Lancome for making what I consider to be a strange and eccentic choice.’ Her employers beg to differ, describing their newest recruit as much more than a luminously pretty face, with an ‘enigmatic gaze’.

‘For a start, she’s international,’ says Luc Nadeau, Lancome’s US general manager (Thurman’s Swedish mother, Nena Von Schlebrugge, is a former model). ‘She is also uniquely beautiful, and women can relate to her as a wife, mother and actor.’

Besides being ‘very flattered’ about being courted by Lancome, Thurman was drawn to the idea of working with a brand whose advertising images she had grown up with and long admired.

‘I looked back over their advertising and realised that I’d always particularly liked it,’ she explains. ‘I found the advertisements to be very editorial and beautiful. I also liked that they seemed keen to represent different kinds of beauty. There’s a human element, it’s sophisticated but somewhat real. There’s also a very glamorous side, and something quite expressive. As an actress, the actual creative part of being a subject of photography has always been fun for me. I thought that I would enjoy it.’

Right now, Thurman is positively relishing her double life as a devoted, hands-on Mom and (seemingly effortlessly) glamorous star. Based in New York, she and her husband Ethan Hawke are currently expecting their second child (their first daughter, Maya Ray, is now three).

Despite Thurman’s protests that Lancome’s casting choice was a brave one, it would seem to be paying off. The modern, uplifting Miracle scent - the ad campaign, shot in the hills of Provence, was Thurman’s first assignment - is now an international bestseller, and has scooped prestigious awards - most notably Best New Prestige Female Fragrance at this year’s UK FiFi Awards, the fragrance industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.

A Miracle Radiant Body Water, Shimmering Fragrance Stick (perfect for Christmas party handbags) and super-luxe Sublime Body Cream will all join the existing line-up this winter. The recently-launched Amplicils mascara - Lancome’s most vampish lash-lengthener to date - is also flying off counters. (Along with a slick of lip gloss, Thurman lists mascara as the one item of make-up she won’t leave home without).

Finally, a word of advice for cinema’s leading men: get ready for that call. Lancome looked to the world of cinema yet again in casting the “face” of the forthcoming Miracle Homme fragrance, thirtysomething French actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz. Will the dark, broodingly handsome Kassovitz do for the mens’ version what his Miracle co-star has done for the original? Time will tell. Watch this face ...

• Lancome’s Photogenic Ultra Confort Light-Reflective Moisturising Make-Up SPF 12 will be available from 1 October. Miracle Homme launches on 15 October.