Coleen McLoughlin - Welcome to My World

At the hotel, we got dressed and I put my make-up on. I’m not a big fan of wearing loads of make-up, I prefer a more natural look. Usually, while I’m getting ready, Wayne will be telling me to hurry up. If he’s ready then he thinks everyone else should be ready.

There were quite a few players staying at the same hotel and we had Rio Ferdinand ringing up asking if Wayne had a spare pair of black socks because he’d forgotten to bring his; then calling back and saying he didn’t need them because he’d bought a pair at the service station. Then Wayne had forgotten something, so he had to pick it up from Steven Gerrard. They’re all as bad as each other.

If I’m on a normal night out – maybe clubbing with my friends on a Friday or Saturday – then I’ll go round to my mum’s or my mates’ beforehand, dress there and have a little drink before we go. The last thing I’ll pack is my handbag. I have the same routine and follow it religiously. In will go my purse, my phone, my keys, a small bottle of perfume, my make-up and chewies. At the moment the perfume could be Chanel’s Chance and Viktor & Rolf, but Chanel is my favourite because they do little compact bottles that fit in your bag.

If I’ve only got a small bag, like the Gina clutch bag, I try to limit my cargo to as little as possible. I never change my make of bronzer or blusher, so it will be St Tropez bronzer, blusher by Nars and a Chanel blusher brush. I’ll swap lipstick and lip-gloss around. At the moment my favourite is a lip-pump by Pout. I’ll take YSL mascara, although I’m not a big fan of mascara

You don’t have to spend hours in front of the mirror, trying on the entire contents of your wardrobe, to look great. Sometimes it’s the small things that have the biggest impact and turn drab into dazzling in the blink of an eye. For that quick fashion lift, try:

1. A pair of diamond or diamanté earrings for an obvious glimmer of elegance.

2. High heels worn with jeans, which will immediately turn casual into smart-casual and elevate you in more ways than one.

3. The right pair of sunglasses can lend mystery and midnight glam to any outfit, with a mix of rock-star attitude and screen-siren chic.

4. A sparkly clutch bag. Simple but effective.

5. A skinny glitter belt. Just a touch of disco will give you the sparkle you need for a night out.

6. Tuck those jeans into your boots. Let’s be honest, what’s good for Kate Moss and Madonna is good for everyone else. It’s amazing how something so simple can look so sexy.

7. Loads of necklaces worn with a simple T-shirt. Part festival-chic, part Mardi Gras, open your jewellery drawer and throw a few on. It looks like you’ve tried, but the beauty is that it’s so simple.

8. A designer bag – my personal favourite. They might be expensive but a designer bag is your access-all-areas pass to fashion. Are they looking at me or my bag? Who cares!

as the next day I usually have big black eyes! I like eye make-up by either Nars or MAC. Other than that, I’ll always take my chewing gum, green Wrigley’s Extra, my credit cards, and a bit of money just in case I need to get a taxi home.

When the time arrived to leave the hotel a car took us to the Beckhams’ house. I’ve been to quite a few big events but I still feel a bit apprehensive about these kinds of things, wondering if anyone I know will have arrived yet, who’ll be sat at our table, the usual things. At the entrance the paparazzi were lined up and there was an ITV camera crew filming people entering. As we walked in they asked me who my dress was by and how Wayne’s foot was getting on – in case you’ve forgotten, he’d broken his fourth metatarsal a couple of months before the World Cup and everyone was worried about whether he was going to be fit in time to play.

I’ll never get used to the red carpet. The first time I experienced it was at the Pride of Britain awards when there was a wall of paparazzi shouting at me, ‘Coleen! Over here! Coleen! Over here! Over here!’ In the end I just stood there twisting my head around from side to side and going, ‘Wait! Give me a chance!’ That whole walk makes me feel really self-conscious. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. At the National Television Awards, when I was making my documentary for Channel 5, I started thinking, ‘What if I stand there and they don’t even want to take my picture?’

We’d been to David and Victoria’s house for dinner a few years previously, but this time the party was being hosted in a marquee in the grounds. Once inside, it took your breath away. Everything was gorgeous. They are great hosts. At around 7 p.m., just as we arrived, four jets with St George’s crosses on their wings flew overhead. There was a soft moss-green carpet leading up to the reception area, decorated with beautiful cream-coloured flowers and scented candles. In the dining area, over 300 guests sat at round tables, and each table had a silver birch tree at its centre, surrounded by an arrangement of lilies, tulips and roses. And they had my and Wayne’s favourite wine on the tables – New Zealand Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc – so we were made up.

I arrive at an event like that and still wonder what it’s going to be like. I’ve never been one for wanting to meet celebrities. Lots of people have favourite actors and pop stars, but I’m not really like that, although at the Elle Style Awards I was really star-struck to see Charlize Theron and Mischa Barton. I suppose the only person I’d like to sit down and have a chat to if I ever had the chance to meet her would be Charlotte Church. Just because she seems quite similar to me, she’s the same age, and I think we’ve experienced a comparable amount of attention and scrutiny from the paparazzi and the press even though she has a totally different career to me.

I remember one of the few occasions where we were meant to go to a big do together, I was told I wasn’t allowed and ended up being really upset. We’d just started going out together when Wayne was named as BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. He was invited down to London to pick up the award and asked me to be there with him. I was only seventeen and I was really excited. It was just before Christmas, so my mum and dad came shopping with me and I bought this little black dress. Then I saw these shoes in Dune, with an ankle strap and diamanté – they were really nice at the time – but they were £120 and I was still at school and my mum said, ‘No, you’re not getting them, we’ve just got you the dress.’ I’d resigned myself to settling for another pair of shoes, but just before the awards my mum and dad came back from town and they’d bought the ones I’d originally wanted. I couldn’t have been more made up. Then, that same night, Wayne came over and said I couldn’t go. His manager, David Moyes – Wayne was at Everton at the time – had said he didn’t think it was appropriate that I went with Wayne because we were too young. Maybe he didn’t want us staying in the hotel together. I was gutted.

I was excited to be going with Wayne to the Beckhams’ party. I expected it to be really good, but I imagined it would be quite a low-key affair with people eating and then a little bit of entertainment. That wasn’t the case at all. Everyone was really up for a great night, dancing away and enjoying themselves. It was brilliant. I suppose it’s not hard to enjoy yourself when there are 350 of you and you’ve just eaten a meal cooked by Gordon Ramsay and you’re being entertained by James Brown and Robbie Williams! Robbie used to be my favourite in Take That. By the way, I never did get the chance to have a few words with Mr Ramsay about how he was rearing a couple of pigs and had apparently named them after me and Wayne. Maybe it was a good job we didn’t get to meet!