As readers of this blog know, we are somewhat nail obsessed. Certain shows during fashion month provide more excitement in this arena than others, but we particularly hold our breath for Chanel, where artistic director of makeup Peter Philips never disappoints. Philips’ Jade color from Fall had the blogosphere abuzz long before he even decided [...]

There are times when conceptual art, rather than actual wearability, can resonate backstage as much as on the runway. Yesterday was one such occasion, when Alexander McQueen presented his Plato’s Atlantis collection, enlightening his hair and makeup team on the wonders of alien movies, Art Nouveau, and Darwinism—all of which informed his Spring presentation. In [...]

Another day of shows began bright and early in Paris this morning, and with it came yet another lesson in body art. But seeing as how the seminar in question was given by Peter Philips, Chanel’s artistic director of makeup, the season’s prevalent hand-drawn tribal designs and stenciled letters never entered into the equation. “I [...]

The tousled topknot? The unintentional wisps of hair hanging just so? If you thought you caught a glimpse of your bed-head on a (very) good day strutting down the Fendi runway, you’re close. Hairstylist Sam McKnight was inspired by Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel’s postcoital tresses as the sultry heroine Emmanuelle, in the 1974 erotic [...]

Painted, sketched, and photographed by seemingly just about every famous artist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Marchesa Luisa Casati has been many things to many people. The eccentric, flame-haired beauty who wore snakes as necklaces and pranced cheetahs in diamond collars through the streets of Paris, Milan, and Capri played living muse [...]

It’s not hard to understand why actress Rinko Kikuchi is a Lagerfeld muse: the cheekbones, those bangs, that unmistakable Japanese street style combined with a couture flair. Judging by her makeup at the Madrid premiere of her latest film, Maps of the Sounds of Tokyo, Chanel’s artistic director of makeup, Peter Philips, would be wise [...]

The lash embellishments and smoldering eyes Peter Philips turned out for Chanel’s Fall and Resort collections, respectively, are forever burned into our memory. But the makeup star still managed to impress us with his craftsmanship at the house’s Couture show yesterday when he took the classic cat-eye and blew it out of proportion, quite literally, [...]

OMG a thousand times over, exclamation point, exclamation point. We just received word that after much speculation by this blog and every other Chanel nail polish-loving media outlet the world over, Peter Philips’ dreamy jade lacquer from the brand’s Fall 2009 collection has indeed gone into production and will be released as a limited-edition offering [...]

When we first reported on the opening of Chanel’s inaugural beauty boutique in Tokyo, we filed the idea of a storefront devoted entirely to the brand’s cult fragrances, color collections, and skincare range in the “lust-worthy things we would like to partake of but will likely never have access to” compartment of our brain, along [...]

After seeing the backstage beauty look from the Chanel cruise show last night, we might have to rescind our “no makeup at the beach” dictum from two days ago—or at least qualify it a bit. Because if Peter Philips, Chanel’s creative director of makeup, is calling for a dark smoky eye, nude lip, and vampy [...]