Nearly a decade into his tenure as Parfums Christian Dior’s creative and image director, Peter Philips thinks the sky is the limit for makeup.

“The largest trend in makeup is makeup itself,” Philips said. “It goes in every kind of directions…it’s so popular at once in all of its shades and formulas, from very nude and mental almost to very expressive and daring.”

The buyer for Dior’s makeup has widened as well. “The whole lot is feasible, and that’s an enormous step forward. There’s no more barriers, it’s not only gender-fluid, whatever you ought to call it, everybody can have access to makeup, and everybody can wear makeup,” he said.

That reflects larger market trends. In keeping with data from the NPD Group, makeup sales have exceeded pre-pandemic levels within the third quarter, hitting $2.1 billion, with lip sales surging 32 percent in sales growth.

Dior’s lip launch for 2022 epitomizes Philips’ imperative — to fulfill demand, cater to current trends and cling to Dior’s heritage. “Our Lip Maximizer project, where we mix the most effective of two worlds: Dior Addict and the Maximizer line that’s extremely popular,” he said. “They’ve been brought together so it’s now our Lip Maximizer with caring and plumping advantages.”

That range, formally dubbed the Dior Addict Lip Maximizer, launches in January with 31 shades in 4 finishes, priced at $40.

“It matches perfectly with the revival of the late ’90s and 2000s looks, when lip gloss was huge,” he added.

Across eye and complexion products, change can be afoot. The brand is introducing a 30-shade concealer revamp in glass packaging — geared toward being easier to recycle than plastic tubes — and people formulas boast a better concentration of natural-origin ingredients, tallying in at 96 percent. Those, called the Dior Endlessly Skin Correct Concealers, are priced at $38 each. All of it ladders as much as Philips’ goal of servicing broader concerns about formulations and sustainability from consumers.

“There’s an enormous responsibility while you’re a worldwide beauty brand like ours,” Philips said. “Once we launched the previous Rouge Dior, we introduced the refill concept using recycled materials in our paper packagings, recycled paper, less silver print and fewer plastic foils — all little gestures that make a huge effect at the amount that we produce.”

Similarly, Dior has introduced a latest database where consumers can see which ingredients are utilized in each product, and the way they’re sourced. 

“The battle isn’t just creating trends and doing fun colours, but the whole lot around it’s as vital because the product itself,” Philips said. “It’s being rational, being persistent and pushing all of those ideals through. Next to that, I’ve got my creative side and keenness as a makeup artist, my passion in attempting to offer great shades and great formulas.”

Effecting change at scale isn’t Philips’ easiest mandate. “Should you take a look at the dimensions we’re, it’s like moving a mountain because you might have to vary an entire factory structure, simply because it’s such an enormous quantity. It takes an enormous team effort,” he said. “But truthfully, the pandemic helped because people became more aware. We made small steps, and now we’re making larger steps.”