Orla Maguire had a successful magazine career in Manhattan before founding her own range of beauty productsOrla Maguire in New York Sun Jun 21 2026 - 05:55 • 4 MIN READFashion has been a lifelong passion for Orla Maguire. Growing up on a dairy farm in Monaghan, she started working weekend shifts as a waitress from the age of 12 to fund trips to Dublin to buy clothes and make-up. In 1992 she embarked on a degree in fashion design at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in the capital. A chance meeting with a stylist while working part-time at Brown Thomas led to a role as her assistant, going to London Fashion Week.“At the time she was styling shows for Paul Costelloe and John Rocha and that exposed me to life in London. I was up close and personal with supermodels at the age of 17 and I saw the huge possibilities for an international career in fashion,” she says. Maguire finished her degree and started working for Irish fashion magazines including Image and Irish Tatler, which led to an internship at Vogue magazine in London. A successful green card application then brought her to New York.“Some of my best friends from college were already there so I knew I was going over to a supportive group. I went around with my CV and went to various agents that represented stylists, and the next day the phone rang. From that first day of working, I worked seven days a week for years. I think it was a lot to do with an Irish mentality of working hard and growing up on a farm. I was happy to do whatever was needed.”Maguire decided she wanted to work in magazines and ended up at Cosmopolitan, ultimately becoming sittings editor. “Magazines were where the real glamour was in those days. I got to go to some of the most amazing locations in the world on photo shoots.”[ An Irish woman in Milan: 'My early job interviews were mostly silent because of the language problem’Opens in new window ]Marriage to a Clones native and children led to a career break and a move from Manhattan to the suburbs, but as her family grew up, Maguire hankered for a return to the industry. “My last few years at Cosmo gave me a good insight into beauty brands and I decided I wanted to develop my own. I felt there was a gap there for a brand focusing exclusively on eyelashes. Cosmo was all about the fun, fearless female and I always felt that when your lashes were done, you get confidence, so I decided to concentrate on that.”In 2016 she launched her brand Lash Star Beauty, working with a range of global product formulators on ingredients and product design. The initial focus was on mascara, with other eye products following. “Mascara is one of the most important items in a women’s cosmetics bag. When a consumer is loyal to a brand, it’s very hard to switch her over, so I knew I had to have a really good product. It’s our hero brand and still gets five-star reviews 10 years later.”Within a few months, the brand had take-up in big retail outlets in the US, and she eventually expanded internationally. “I set up warehousing in Dublin and took on a sales associate in London. We got into Harrods and Selfridges. I was on QVC in London and in Italy.”Maguire says Covid led to a change in the retail landscape and a more challenging environment for smaller brands such as hers, so she has moved increasingly online, focusing on Amazon to drive sales, as well her own website. The online giant now accounts for about 30 per cent of her turnover. “When people find your products and then go for a repeat, they will always go to Amazon. With a Prime subscription, you can have it the next day with free shipping.”[ ‘The maddest job’: How competitive video games led one Wicklow native to NorwayOpens in new window ]Maguire is immersed in the Irish community and is heavily involved in the Orchestra of Ireland, a cross-Border initiative that has brought young people from Ireland to the US for sold-out concerts in venues including Carnegie Hall. “I have always had a strong friend group. In the early days I used to go home with more of a Dublin accent than an American one because that’s who my friends were. As we’ve moved to different parts of the city, we get together to go to the theatre, and a good friend of ours is director of the Irish centre in Queen’s so when he has events we go there to support him.” Maguire raised her two sons and two daughters near Pearl river in Rockland County, which is an Irish enclave in New York. Many of their classmates had Irish names. “They have always played Gaelic football. My second-oldest has a medal from Croke Park and my second-youngest is in college in Wisconsin and one of her classes is Irish cultural studies. She’s been reading Peig and Flann O’Brien.”On the brink of an empty nest, Maguire now has her sights set on a return to Manhattan and increased international travel, including to Ireland. “I can see myself closing the door on an apartment there and being back at home in Ireland for a few weeks at a time. Ireland is still a very big part of my life. I sometimes go home even for just a long weekend, as access is so easy. That’s the beauty of being in New York. My sisters joke that I sometimes see more of my mum than they do.” IN THIS SECTION