I n a world of impossibly high beauty standards, it is refreshing to talk to a make-up artist who has no interest in perfection. “I don’t wear concealer. I really like my eye bags,” Cécile Paravina tells me.
I’m instantly transported to the early 1990s BC (before concealer), when some of my beauty icons — Béatrice Dalle, Tyra Banks — looked all the more gorgeous for their little dark circles. “I want to tell people, ‘Eye bags are OK — and a lot of the time they look cute,’ ” Paravina says. It’s a radical notion for those of us witnessing our own tired eyes on screen during a Zoom call and can’t quite see the cuteness.
But it’s also a soothing one. Paravina is one of the three young, cool make-up artists who are the creative forces behind Chanel’s new beauty collections. The brand refers to the trio as the Comètes Collective, which could be a chic name for an indie girl band.
Together Paravina, Valentina Li and Ammy Drammeh have brought some rather renegade vibes to the label..
