By Karen van Ede

It’s widely known that after a crisis or war red lipstick sales soar. Red makes us feel fierce, strong. No wonder this seasons make-up is not just about red lipstick, but red make-up all over. And all the big names dropped red make-up looks.

Diors’ Creative Make-up Director Peter Philips presented them in his Mitzah Collection, composed of reds for eyes, cheeks and lips, with many different red options in the ‘Buzz Palette’ to create a pretty picture. Italian Lucia Pica, former Creative Make-up Director at Chanel, is a huge fan of red make-up for eyes and lips as well. Her first collection for Chanel in 2016 was called ‘Le Rouge’ and contained fresh reds, burnt reds and bordeaux. Plus: a daring red eyeliner. Lucia Pica now reigns at Byredo Makup, so keep an eye on her. Chanel has not just one Creative Make-up Director these days, but three young make-up artists who form ‘the Cometes Collective’ and use all their creativity to keep iconic Chanel products hot.This resulted in an exciting spring-summer collection of reds, brown reds and tomato reds too, mixing into a very modern look . As from January 2024 the Cometes will officially be given the key to the famous ‘Studio the Création Maquillage de Chanel’ in Paris, where Heidi Morawetz, Belgian Peter Philips (now at Dior) and Lucia Pica made their collections before them.

CHANEL RED

DIOR

BYREDO

Hot and steamy

But how to use these reds? Have a look at the images of the spring-summer shows, or follow the makeup artists on instagram. Don’t make too much a fuss of it. Use reds in a graphic way, or use your fingers for a more natural effect. Dutch make-up artist Ellis Faas was a firm believer of ‘Human Colours’ when she launched her make-up in the nineties. Colours that excist naturally in your skin, like the vivid red of blood in your veins. Her liquid lipsticks in ‘Ellis Red’ were an instant succes worldwide and still are because they complement all skin tones. Have a look at her stunning work at www.ellisfaas.com and be inspired by her work and book that still sets make-up artists today on fire.


ELLIS FAAS

GUCCI

Thomas de Kluyver at Gucci put reds into the Gucci Palette de Beauté Quator ‘Rosa Nitida 02’. A glance at his instagramaccount shows you how this disruptive make-up artist uses lots of reds on cheeks and eyes in a steamy way that make his models look sexy but fierce (also check one of his favourite faces, Japanese artist Fumiko Imano @fumikoimano). French make-up artist Violetta jumped aboard Guerlain to spice up the Guerlain G make-up collection, launching a red eyeshadow palette and beautiful lipsticks for spring summer. You’ll find her expertise on doing a red lip on Youtube. She has Parisian elegance, and Guerlain is more luxurious than her own vegan brand Violettefr that she herself calls weird. Not as ‘weird’ as Isamaya Ffrench’ make-up though. Isamaya created Byredo make-up in 2020 with Ben Gorham (check out byredo.com for savvy eyeshadows ranging from red to orange to bordeaux) and left when the job was done. This year she launched her own line (@isamayabeauty), giving big brands an ‘up yours’ with a bright red lipstick in a case that

GUERLAIN RED