22 March 2024 |
For our eighth cover, Clementine Chalfant exhibits the true beauty dream. Shot by Huy Luong and creative directed by Jezz Hill.
Issue 02 of 10 USA – DARE TO DREAM – is on newsstands March 15th. Pre-order your copy here.
PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
Photographer HUY LUONG
Creative Director JEZZ HILL
Text Fiorella Valdesolo
Model CLEMENTINE CHALFANT at APM
Stylist BARBARA VELEZ
Hair ANTON ALEXANDER using Bumble and Bumble
Nails NATALIE PAVLOSKI at Bridge Artists
Photographer’s assistant ADAM KENNA
Fashion assistant JACKIE MOORE
Hair assistant APRIL ANDREU
Casting DAVID CHEN CASTING
Production director JENNIFER BERK
As a rainbow of bright, colorful makeup ideas emanate from the runways (and TikTok), bold beauty choices are replacing no-makeup makeup—and emerging as a salve for our times.
There have been more social media-born beauty trends over the past year than SEO-driven news articles can keep up with: Just when we got the hang of #tomatogirl-makeup, we were inundated with #strawberrygirl-makeup, #lattemakeup, and #preshowermakeup, not to mention #barbiecore, the all-pink-everything movement that we (hopefully) left behind in 2023. But in a recent TikTok, the Indian-Australian influencer Rowi Singh shared a prediction for 2024: “Soft girl makeup is dead. Makeup maximalism is back,” the Sydney-based makeup artist declared as she masterfully crafted a geometric yellow and black metallic eyeliner look trimmed with gold studs. Similar looks have been permeating Instagram of late, too, where popular accounts such as @giselle_makeup, @makeupbychelseax, and @isabelleikpeme are trafficking in a particular kind of aesthetic intensity that relies on an artful and heady dose of color—#cleangirl beauty this is not.
It’s a kind of anarchic approach to makeup artistry that may have once been too challenging for mass appeal. If like counts are to be believed, however, the past few years have been changing all that. “Culturally we have been pushed out of our comfort zones and have had to adjust and adapt,” says Jo Baker, a celebrity makeup artist and the founder of Bakeup Beauty, whose popular Micro Palm Palette in Pastels, with its Easter egg yellow and pale violet shadows, offers a gateway into experimenting with hypercolor pigments. “We’re living through a time that is quite intense and stressful and worrying. So now people are like, ‘We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, why am I not going to wear that bright red lipstick or green eyeshadow?’” It’s a concept that laid the groundwork for #dopamineglam, another short-lived post-pandemic TikTok trend that proclaimed makeup—the more over-the-top the better—to be the ultimate mood booster. But unlike #mermaidcore and #balletcore, the idea itself seems to have staying power. Look no further than the spring collections for validation.
After a few years of minimalist mantras, the runways were a riotous explosion of lipsticks, eye shadows, and Simone Rocha’s seriously aspirational hand-painted rosette face tattoos. From Dame Pat McGrath’s Sixties-inspired cut-crease lids in shades of pistachio, cotton-candy pink, and baby blue at Versace and the glossy Fanta-doused lids at Prada, to a literal take on color-blocking at Jil Sander, where red and blue rectangles were drawn at the corner of models’ eyes in lieu of wings, there were inventive riffs on more classic color applications from New York to Paris and everywhere in between. For the makeup artist Jezz Hill, the swampy green lipstick at Burberry in London, courtesy of makeup artist Ammy Drammeh—that at first glance appeared black—was one of the season’s standout moments: “It made you look twice.”
Hill, the Argentina-born New York-based makeup artist behind the images in this story, is something of an expert in looks that require a double take. Her high-octane artistry has long leveraged unexpected techniques as an extension of self-expression; now, everyone else is catching on. “The use of color as a statement element in art and fashion has transcended into the realm of personal beauty, allowing individuals to curate their unique identities,” says Hill, who is quick to point to social media as a provocative platform for popularizing makeup’s ability to empower emotions and confidence. “It can evoke feelings and reactions in both the wearer and those who observe,” she continues. The very act of applying makeup can be its own salve, adds Evan Rieder, M.D., a Manhattan-based psychologist-dermatologist who likens skincare and makeup routines to mindfulness exercises because of their gentle, precise motions involving touch. “The repetitive nature of these movements requires concentration and, for many people, can be a period of time to clear their minds of the worries of the day and focus instead on something that calms and makes them feel good,” he says. While the scientific data remains limited, Rieder believes that there is indeed something powerfully mood-shifting to these makeup metamorphoses: “They allow the wearer to transform their outer appearance into something that better matches their inner experience, or idealized self.”
But achieving this kind of psychic harmony does not necessarily require multiple steps (and a lot of makeup remover). “If you wear eyeliner and you want to try something different and colorful, swap your black for a blue,” or even a green, such as Neen Beauty’s Side Eye Liner in Minty, the makeup artist Raisa Flowers suggests, adding that you can do the same with a mascara, like Tood Beauty’s Toodscara in Green Aura or Blue Mood. If you’re feeling a little bolder, Flowers likes to sweep pink or red pigments under the eye and substitute a classic rose or tawny blush for a yellow hue, or a lilac like Glossier’s Cloud Paint in Wisp. “An eyeliner can be used on the lips or as eye shadow, and eye shadow can be used as blush,” Hill adds, encouraging a mix-and-match approach. “There are no rules.”
There is certainly something undeniably joy-sparking about the sudden appearance of bright color in an otherwise neutral makeup bag, which I’ve experienced first-hand over the past few months as my own palette has gingerly taken its own baby steps into the bold. There have been tiny flicks of 19/99’s Precision Color Pencil in the limited edition shade of Kanari, an acid yellow that, somewhat improbably, looks just right at my eye’s edges; swipes across the lids with Violette_FR’s beginner-friendly Yeux Paints in Nuage de Lilas, a chalky lavender, and Dieu Bleu, the ultimate homage to Yves Klein; and generous coats of DiorShow Iconic Overcurl in Dark Green, which mimics the shade of my favorite vintage fatigues. Each time I see these colors reflected back at me in the mirror I can’t help but smile. In the otherwise sepia tones of our 24-hour news cycle, it’s like opening a door and stepping, Oz-like, into a world of Technicolor possibility.
Red at Night
After the party it’s the after-party. Chanel’s limited-edition Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche Lipstick in 02:00 features a new black-and-white bullet and a luminous-matte finish that wears well into the evening hours. Necklaces by CHANEL.
Split Decision
Have it both ways. MAC Cosmetics Connect in Color Eyeshadow Palette in Hi-Fi Color features up to 25% more pigment saturation for easy, one-swipe payoff in 12 different shades. Earrings by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN.
Luster for Life
Give good gloss. Pat McGrath Labs Lust: Gloss in Astral Moon applies with a balm-like texture and an iridescent periwinkle shimmer to add a cool glow to hot hues.
Flutter Effect
Lash out. L’Oréal Paris Voluminous Panorama Mascara features a long-wearing flake-resistant formula and a multi-level bristle brush to coat lashes from root to tip with length-extending pigment. Necklace by GIORGIO ARMANI.
