No matter the size of your army, it’s the fury of your onslaught. Today, Burberry’s expatiating beauty arm had both. An ever-growing family of models – directional girls that have commercial appeal too – long term hair and make-up collaborators and a beauty collection that has one eye on next season’s trends and the other on its own brand heritage are weapons at play. And the resulting look was one of poetry, of whimsy and romance - inflected with that emblematic London cool.

But, it hasn’t come easy. It’s taken a few seasons – since Burberry beauty launched in 2010 – for the behemoth British fashion brand’s beauty proposition to truly click into place behind the catwalk. At times, this has been down to an incredibly pretty but highly stripped back beauty aesthetic; raw, natural, and understated faces, which isn’t so much a challenge from a journalistic point of view (no make-up all too often means no story), it can also create an obstacle in the way of bonding with the real woman.

It’s important too of course, to stay true to a brand ethos; stripped-back, elegant and cool is the blood that runs through Burberry veins so it stands to reason that the beauty diktat has been, too. It made logistic sense; it just didn’t shout the loudest at the shows.

And yet, something has changed. It started last season, with Wendy Rowe’s inspired reworking of English rose red. It was clever, editorially generous and vitally, hauntingly beautiful.

This season, the burnished pink tones have been replaced with breathless, whispers of cool, greyish aubergine across eyelids. ‘It’s inspired by the Bloomsbury girls,’ commented make-up artist Rowe backstage. The early Twentieth Century bohemian art crowd was an accurate reference-point for a collection that felt more steeped in art (or even the idea of the art teacher with all those big, drapey scarves) than ever before. ‘They were free spirited so this is a very painterly – I’ve taken it underneath the eye so it feels worn-in and softened to the reflect the clothes.’

Neil Moodie delivered a more bombastic version of Burberry-girl hair with ‘a natural movement and shine that comes from the natural oils in the hair.’ He diffused the hair, lightly spritzing with Bumble & Bumble Prep Spray for texture. ‘Lots of flyaways, it’s super, super natural – the gorgeous, sexy, natural girl everyone wants to be.’

And that’s the crux of it: we know who the Burberry girl is now. Classic, modern and chic, but in beauty terms, she’s more playful than before. It’s created a trickle-down effect. Now, the backstage tussle isn’t merely about which Brit model du jour Burberry has anointed for the catwalk, although there most definitely is that, there’s a scrum around Wendy Rowe’s make-up table of new product and formulas too.

It’s become savvy too. Like many other beauty brands associated with fashion week, Burberry previews its autumn collection backstage to the beauty press, just as the catwalk itself is a preview for fashion journalists. And yet, it’s only Burberry that has the foresight to tack on an incentive for its ever loyal consumer.

From today, the Runway Nail Collection used in the show will be available to buy as an exclusive preview at Burberry.com for two weeks before disappearing again until Autumn. There’s a sense of democracy in that; investing in the Burberry beauty ideal is now just as possible (well, if not for the price tag) as pre-ordering one of those shearling painted jackets.

Burberry used to be the brand we went to for trench coats. Now we go to it for something else: striking that elusive chord between make-up that’s genuinely flattering and that which adheres – no, spearheads – the next season’s trends.