NARS - Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes Francois Nars has worked with a variety of people and is actually a photographer himself. He has shot many of his own campagains and books himself and continues to do so to this day.

One person his works closely with is Marc Jacob who is the designer that kick started his career after meeting at a photoshoot. One of the more recent things they colaborated on was Marcs spring/summer 2015 shows where only moisturiser and lip balm were applied to the models faces. Though Marc has a makeup line himself the only product from his range that was used was a burgandy nail polish on the toes.

As Francois often photographs campagins himself he has other makeup artist on set. Diane Kendal is someone I noticed that has done quite a few from her first in 09' and her latest in 2013. Patti Wilson has styled a few of them, she was discovered in an in an underground jazz club in the 90s where she worked as a hostess and began assistanting before her big break with David LaChapelle.

As for models Nars tends to go for more unusual and even older women, like actresses such as Charlotte Rampling, Tilda Swinton and Isabella Rossellini.

Francois said about his current campaign featuring Tilda Swinton 'I like edgy fashion and strong features. I cannot photograph models that are very weak or too pretty; there always needs to be some strength, so the choice of the model is very important to me. If I don’t like the model I cannot take the picture, and I do not choose "boring" beauty models — I prefer beauty with character. With Tilda, she is a living legend. I love her bold style and really admire her work. As an actress, she brings such strong personality to the camera. And as a woman, she lives the experience of transformation and expression.'

He states he doesn't put an age limit on his customer but knows the "Nars Woman" is strong, determined and sophisticated.


References:

Niven, L. (2014). No Make-Up At Marc. Available: http://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/2014/09/12/marc-jacobs-spring-summer-2015-no-make-up. Last accessed 23rd April 2015
Glaviano, A. (2010). Patti Wilson. Available: www.vogue.it/en/magazine/people-in-vogue/2010/05/patti-wilson. Last accessed 23rd April 2015

Unknown. (2012). How I started. Available: http://www.thegroundmag.com/how-i-started-12-patti-wilson/. Last accessed 23rd April 2015

 Hou, K . (2014). 68-Year-Old Charlotte Rampling Smolders in New NARS Ad. Available: http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/08/68-year-old-charlotte-rampling-stars-in-nars-ad.html. Last accessed 23rd April 2015

Ginsberg, M. (2014). Francois Nars Prefers Tilda Swinton Over "Boring" Models. Available: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/francois-nars-new-nars-face-746023. Last accessed 23rd April 2015

Natural Contour and Highlight

You will need:

• Bronzer
• Highlighter
• Blusher
• Makeup brushes

Step One:

Start with a flawless base using your preferred foundation, you will also need to decide if you prefer working with a powder or cream based bronzer.

Step Two:

There’s many different brush types you can use to achieve a natural contour it just depends on what you prefer, some even like to use there fingers when working with cream products. Start by using little product, it’s easier to add than take away particularly when it comes to bronzer.

Step Three:

Find the hollows of the face; this is where the bronzer will go. You can lightly push in with your fingers if you need to but it will generally start by the earlobe and go diagonal towards the corner of the mouth. Focus most of the colour at the side of the face and blend in closer to the mouth.

Step Four:

Highlighter will go on the high points of the face such as the top of the cheeks, brow bone, down the nose and on the cupids bow. Again you can use a brush or your fingers to apply this depending on your preference.

Step Five:

Finish off with a blush of your choice, depending on the look you want will depend on how you apply it but it’s usually across the apples of the cheeks.

Clean Catwalk Face

Getting a flawless base is incredibly important in the makeup industry, particularly for fashion shows as the lights and cameras will show up every single imperfection and you won't have Photoshop to help you out!

You will need:

• Foundation - a selection of different finishes depending on the look you want to create i.e. matte/dewy
• Primer - you can get different ones again depending on the finish you want
• Moisturiser - This is good to mix in with a foundation to make it lighter and to give the skin a dewy glow
• Powder - To make the skin even more matte
• Highlighters - To add a glow to areas where the sun would naturally hit the face
• Makeup brushes

Step One:

Start with a clean face by doing a cleanse, tone and moisturize on your model. You want to have a fresh base to work on.

Step Two:

Prime. This will help to keep the foundation in place for a long period of time though you can skip this step if you find it will affect the finish of the base. 

Step Three:

Chose your foundation. Depending on the finish you want you might want to mix in other products such as a moisturiser to give the skin a more dewy look. 

Step Four:

You want to get a light, natural looking base. Spend the time to really blend so that it doesn't lay heavy on the skin. Less is more, you can always add more but it's harder to take away!

Step Five:

If going for a dewy look you would skip powder but maybe add some highlighter to the highest points of the models face i.e cheekbones, brow bone, down the nose and the cupids bow. If the skin is going to be matte you may want to add a little powder to the shiny parts of the face which is usually the t zone. 

Dewy Finish:

You can see a slight glow on the cheekbones and down the nose but I think I need to explore different products and see what else works best to achieve this look.

Matte Finish:

I found this look easier as powder can be used to make any base matte, I do think I need to work on my application and making it more natural looking.

Evening Experimentation

Daytime Look - Test Shoot

When researching previous Nars campagins I found a lot of them focused on a flawless base with minimal blush and contour. Nars is all about enhancing natural beauty so going for a light taupe colour on the eyes gave definition without masking the face. I applied a nude shade on the lips to pull the look together and a slick of mascara.

Looking back at my test shoots I can see I have gone too light on the eye as it hasn't come out well on camera. I also need to go slightly heavier on my contour to give the face a bit more dimension. My base has come out well and has a light dewy finish that I was hoping for.

Jean Paul Gauiltier S/S 2015

The designer I decided on to go alongside my chosen makeup brand is Jean Paul Gaultier. His S/S 2015 Couture runway show was wedding themed and the collection was named 61 Façons de Se Dire Oui, or 61 Ways to Say Yes. I love the quirky pieces included as well as the models not being "boring pretty" which is something Nars also goes for in this campaigns.

Stephane Maris was the makeup artist for the show who actually had his first major show with Gauiltier in the 1980's. Each model had a different makeup look depending on the role they were playing on the runway.

'Most models walking the catwalk were given a fresh look (“almost like a country girl,” said Marais), while a few had a more Goth aura (think a grayer pallor, darker accents around eyes or red mouths).'

The makeup for this show included current S/S trends such as a barely there base, berry lips and a subtle smokey eye. 

Odile Gilbert was the hairstylist and there were a lot of different styles involved from a simple sleek down do to intricite waves creating words on the forehead as seen in the below image. This particular hairstyle stood out to me the most just for the fact the word Love is written on her forehead with hair. It's something i've not actually seen anywhere else and i can appreciate the effort that must have gone into getting it so precise.

This is my favourite piece from the whole collection, i'm drawn to to the colour mostly and seeing as Nars is known for his use of colour i imagine he would like this look. The red lips and subtle smokey eye goes well with the edgyness of the outfit.

 

This is one of the more masuline looks in the show and i love the flawless, glowy base. Stephane has done a really good job of creating a barely there look and the hair gives it the added masculinity.

Another look I was drawn to was the one below, mainly for the model. Her almost white hair looks beautiful with her alabaster complexion and the contouring of the cheeks gives it even more of an edge.

References:

 Phelps, N. (2015). Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2015 Couture. Available: http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/spring-2015-couture/jean-paul-gaultier. Last accessed 4th Jan 2015.

Weil, J. (2015). Backstage at Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Spring 2015. Available: http://www.wwd.com/runway/spring-couture-2015/backstage-beauty/jean-paul-gaultier. Last accessed 4th Jan 2015.

Brand Evaluation

I decided on NARS for my brand, as I love how varied and versatile it is. No matter what age you are or what type of look you want to carry, NARS has it all. 

Francois said of his brand 'I would think the audience of NARS would be more like 18 to 45. I don’t put an age limit on beauty. The NARS woman is strong, determined and sophisticated. She has no age — I don’t believe in "age labels." But she’s very modern; definitely not a boring woman.'

Though the brand appeals to such a wide age range it is still at the high-end spectrum of makeup brands and maybe not as affordable for the younger audience. The products range from £15-£60 that includes a selection of makeup, nail varnish and skincare, which is the most expensive of all the products. 

The black packaging with white logo is simple and sleek yet professional. Francois choice of provocative names for the products such as popular blusher Orgasm contrast perfectly to give the brand the edginess that makes NARS so different to other makeup brands. Francois states that he didn’t want to give his products boring names, he wanted his products to have personality that women could connect with. 

Some of his other products are named after famous icons such as Schiap, which is one of Nars' best selling lipsticks and nail polish. It was named after designer Elsa Schiaparelli who created the shocking pink in the 1930’s that first brought her to the limelight.

Other NARS Cult Classics include Dolce Vita lipstick, Laguna bronzer and Turkish Delight lip-gloss. 

In terms of advertising NARS is well known for using older women such as actresses such as Charlotte Rampling as Francois said she is a natural beauty that feels strong yet relatable.
Tilda Swinton is currently the face of NARS new campaigns, he states that does this because he doesn’t like boring pretty models, he prefers more of an edgy look with interesting features. He uses a lot of different types of women for his campaigns, it definitely makes the brand more relatable to a variety of people and keeps it interesting. 

Nars campaigns are all very individual and different from one another. I love this about the brand, as sometimes makeup ads can seem very samey. His collections are always a really interesting colour palette and the campaigns are very eye catching.  

As a photographer as well as a makeup artist, Francois often shoots his own campaigns himself. He says photography has always been an interest but he only started when he first created NARS. They were poor and couldn’t afford to hire someone to photograph for them so he decided to do it on his own and it progressed from there. 

NARS is a brand used not only by lovers of makeup but also by makeup professionals all over the world and it’s clear to see why. They have some of the best products on the market with an entire range of different colours, finishes and textures that keep growing.