Peter Philips has said it before, and he all but screamed it on Chanel’s Cruise runway in Singapore yesterday: Karl Lagerfeld loves an eye. In fact, backstage-beauty watchers will have to look all the way back to the house’s Fall 2010 Couture show to find evidence of the last time Lagerfeld ordered up a statement lip—which might be why Philips is in his comfort zone when it comes to lids; no matter how many times he reimagines them, they never fail to impress.
For Resort, the makeup artist’s handiwork was even more noteworthy than usual, considering the hot and humid conditions of the Southeast Asian summer—and because rather than expand the definition of the word makeup with pieces of tulle, lace, jumbo glitter, and rhinestones, as has become his signature, Philips used plain old pens and pencils, to no less impactful an effect. “We combined an exaggerated graphic black eyeliner on the eyelid, with an electric-blue kohl underliner,” he explained drawing a thick black flick through the crease of the eye with Chanel’s Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Noir Intense before using the same crayon in True Blue to create an equally elongated stroke beneath the lower lash line. “I also used lots of black mascara on the top lashes and applied a gently enhanced eyebrow,” the face painter continued, swiping on multiple coats of its Inimitable Waterproof Mascara in Noir.
Skin was kept luminous with a touch of Chanel Joues Contraste Blush in Frivole, a warm peach, its Éclat Lumière Highlighter Face Pen, and some expert contouring courtesy of Chanel Les Beiges, an inventive array of sculpting powders that debuts next month.
To not distract the attention from the eyes, which were dusted by Sam McKnight’s side-swept faux fringes—the ends of precisely pinned French twists that had been carefully arranged over the forehead—mouths were kept bare, albeit moisturized. “We kept the lips natural, only using [Rouge Coco Baume] lip balm,” Philips elaborated. He did allow for a little distraction on the nails, though, which peeked out of a series of fingerless gloves to reveal two glimmering coats of the cult-favorite Le Vernis de Chanel in Black Satin.