`When you wear red lipstick, you're in control'
New Rouge Dior collection offers hues from nude to the perfect red
If you try one lipstick colour this spring, Peter Philips says it should be red.
And not just any red. Philips, the creative and image director of Dior Makeup for the past decade, is quick to point to one of the French luxury brand's hues that will be a perfect fit for almost everyone.
“999 is our cult shade that we do in all our formulas. It looks beautiful on everybody,” Phillips said from a launch event in Los Angeles for Rouge Dior.
Available in the newly renovated lipstick collection in a satin and a velvet finish, the iconic red shade is a marriage of the first two lipsticks launched by Christian Dior in 1953. A warm red deepened with a touch of blue, 999 promises a “perfect colour balance” for all women.
“It's a colour of control,” Philips said of the bold lipstick hue. “When you wear red lipstick, you're in control. And I think that's a secret to why our 999 is such a successful shade.”
A bold red isn't a new hue for lipstick. In fact, the first red lipsticks are said to date back to the Mesopotamia region more than 5,000 years ago, when crushed gemstones were used to add colour to the lips.
Since then, red has become somewhat synonymous with lipstick. In French, for example, Philips points out that the word for the makeup product translates to rouge à lèvres — or red for the lips.
The strong shade is one of nearly 70 hues in the new Rouge Dior collection, that features the original formula given an ingredient and colour overhaul. A collection of 20 complementing lip liners has also been released with the launch.
“We fine-tuned the formula and we fine-tuned most of the collection for a worldwide audience,” Philips said. The formula features plant extracts and oils including red peony, pomegranate, prickly pear, hibiscus extract and shea butter.
“That combination that the lab magically put together gives a very smooth application, a strong payoff. It feels like a second skin. It's very lightweight,” Philips says.
The collection features the Dior Cannage print adorning the lacquered lipstick case.
“We did a very fine belt on the waist,” Philips explains, drawing a parallel to the luxury brand's fashion and accessories designs. “And on the top, like a little hat.”
The collection features wearable shades that can work on a wide variety of skin tones.
“There are no shocking pinks, there are no extreme corals. It's all kind of soft and natural.”
Philips worked alongside the Dior Makeup formulators and said: “In a way, the colour range reflects our new formula: It's youthful, natural, effortless feeling.”
While statement-making reds punctate the lineup of lipsticks, the collection creation had the Dior Beauty team embark on a quest to create the perfect nude hues.
“It was based on some research that we did about nude lips. What is nude? How do people worldwide see nude? I got a bit frustrated because some people think nude means a beige lip,” Philips says. “Nude is not beige.”
Pushing the definition to be “bigger than beige,” Philips and his team approached the concept of a skin-tone complementing colours in the same way he would go about matching another makeup mainstay: foundation.
“For our foundations, we have a very diverse range, from very light to extremely dark. We did research worldwide, finding out about shades and tones. And then we did the same thing for lips,” Philips says. “In my experience as a makeup artist, there's a huge variety of lip shades. Some people have fair lips, some people have mixed colours, and some people have dark lips. Some women want to correct their shade or they want to enhance their shade.
“In combination with the skin tone, it's a very complex thing.”
To create the perfect selection of inclusive nudes, the Dior Beauty team gathered insights from the U.S., Asia and Europe for a refined definition of nude. The sample size totalled 1,150 women, according to Philips.
The Dior Beauty team asked respondents to bring in their favourite lipsticks, regardless of brand, in order to get a better understanding of the preferences for colour and formulation. “And we also asked them how they apply it,” he recalls.
The Dior team found that, while many preferences varied depending on the different locations, there were also several crossovers.
“Nude is the shade in which a women feels like she woke up like this in the morning. That's a good nude,” Philips says. Another area of interest among the research findings came in the application approach.
“Most of them don't go for too perfect,” Philips says. A perfectly drawn lip, he points out, is more for special occasions.
“And it's not for everybody,” he adds. “Instead, they apply with an easy gesture, and quite often, without a mirror. They have little tricks. And it kind of blends in with their own looks.
“And that was really interesting because we always think (lipstick) has to be picture perfect. But, in real life, it is more like a casual thing.”