Quite a few makeup artists took a daring approach to beauty through the recent spring 2023 women’s ready-to-wear fashion season in Paris.

At Dior, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri created a set inspired by Catherine de Medici.

“It’s a really Baroque, Renaissance page in world history,” said Peter Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup. “That shows in the garments. As for the makeup, she showed me an image of a woman, he continued, referring to model Stella Lucia.

“She showed me her face and said: ‘I really like the makeup there,’” Philips said. “And I said: ‘Why don’t we then take her as a muse?’ Since it’s kind of fantastic to have this historical figure, which could be very recognizable, and for makeup, you are taking a woman from today, from her social media page.

“She’s a woman in a room twiddling with eyeliners, and she or he has a really unique look,” he added.

That translated into a powerful eye, with liner prolonged barely on either side of the lids, top and bottom. On skin, Philips used a limited-edition eye shadow palette, 349 Pret-a-Porter, that was available for just 72 hours following the show.

At Anrealage, makeup artist Kanako Yoshida emphasized models’ eyes, with a dark, graphic element that rose to the brow line.

“For Paris Fashion Week, Anrealage elevated staging to indicate each inside and outside of garments, so I concentrated…to create an opposite appearance, like strong, grunge and graphic,” she said.

For Andrew Gn, makeup artist Christina Lutz went for each daring eyes and lips.

“Andrew was inspired by a Cleopatra search for this collection,” she said. “We began from a color-block idea. I created very pigmented and powerful colours in blues and greens for the eyes, keeping a graphic element underlined with black liners.

“For the lips, I created flashy colours in highly pigmented oranges, fuchsias and reds,” Lutz said. “All makeup looks embody a recent, modern look with glowing skin and a fresh complexion.”

At Mame Kurogouchi, makeup artist Hiromi Ueda coloured models’ lips with iridescent hues, resembling yellow and green.

“The inspiration was taken from Japanese bamboo forests. I wanted to precise ‘the rustle and movement of plants,’ by layering lip colours,” she said. “You may achieve the look by layering a number of colours in the middle of the lip. I wish to apply them quite randomly with a flat lip brush. I’ve then blended in some barely, while leaving among the shapes sharp.

“For the re-evaluation, I used a color pencil to attract on the natural lip line, leaving some gaps bare on the outer corners of the mouth,” continued Ueda. “The middle was kept free, too, to indicate the natural lip color, which created an excellent contrast. To bring that fresh color of the natural lip out much more, I added some gloss just in the center. It made the look grow to be alive, like plants in nature.”