After giving the world fine silk scarves, premium leather bags, perfumes and jewellery since its inception in 1837, the house of Hermès introduced its beauty line in 2020. Three years on, it’s now been launched in India.
The iconic brand has 75,000 colour shades in its silk métier, 900 in leather, and a selection of fine fragrances from its perfume lines. Hermès Beauty is an amalgamation of all these, with different minds from the house coming together to create the new line, which includes lipsticks, blush, nail enamel, complexion balm, hair cream and cuticle oil. What’s more? Their specially designed handcrafted makeup brushes come from a French workshop that’s been manufacturing cosmetics and paint brushes since the 18th century.
Pierre Hardy, creative director of Hermès shoes and jewellery, designed the beauty objects that are surmounted with the brand’s ex-libris, an iconic design seen on the bags, scarves, jewellery and other goods. Christine Nagel, the house perfumer, composed the fragrance for each of these collections, and Gregoris Pyrpylis, creative director of Hermès Beauty, also an internationally celebrated makeup artist, contributed to the colours, textures and gestures.
“Hermès Beauty was a natural progression to the house’s luxe offerings,” says Pyrpylis, adding, “Our customers have also been demanding a beauty line for a long time now.”But the luxury house, known for its timeless pieces, took its time to develop a line that uses high-quality, safe ingredients and environmentally conscious packaging. “Women today lean towards high-performance makeup that has enriched skincare and is comfortable, but they do not want to wear it as a mask,” says Pyrpylis.
Like all their other goods, the beauty products too are timeless. There’s Rouge Hermès, a range of matte and satin lipsticks that come in 24 hues. The permanent collection is accompanied by a new limited-edition of three colours every six months. Hermèsistible is a nourishing lip film composed of six oils infused with colour, savour and scent. Then, there’s Les Mains Hermès, which consists of a hand-care cream, nourishing oil for nails and cuticles, a protective base coat, nail enamels, a top coat and a set of nail files. The hand cream is composed of 98 percent natural ingredients. Its plant-based components have moisturising, revitalising, unifying and smoothing properties.
The brand also has eight shades of blush as well as Hermès Plein Air, a complexion balm, available in 12 shades. This can be applied in between a foundation and a tinted moisturiser that also has an inbuilt sunscreen. Besides, there are also refillable finishing powders––one to add radiance to the skin, the other to mattify it.