Chanel Beauty 🤝 Culted: COMÈTES COLLECTIVE showed us how Chanel Beauty stays GOATed

Heads already know Chanel for its grailed beauty products found in a century’s worth of the dopest makeup bags, but now it’s time to get acquainted with Chanel’s COMÈTES COLLECTIVE, too. Hitting up the iconic Space House in Central, we tapped Valentina Li, Cécile Paravina, and Ammy Drammeh, the trio of creative talent behind Chanel’s COMÈTES COLLECTIVE, to get an exclusive look at Chanel Beauty’s immersive The Colour of Allure installation. Here’s what you missed.

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Pulling up at Space House, Culted first met Valentina Li, the Chinese-born self-proclaimed face painter, who’s known for her out of pocket approach to beauty. For Li, colour is everything, seen both in her work and her electric blue hair. When we asked her what made her want to become an MUA, she said “I knew I couldn’t live my life without colour.”

Li showed us around the first room of Chanel’s installation, the Dynamic Legacy room, a space filled with prints referencing Chanel’s beauty history and some archival artefacts like its iconic packaging designs from the 1980s. As we explored, Li told us where her own passion for beauty came from – “I’m actually from South China, from a small village in the forest. I grew up running around the forest when I was a little kid. I think because of that, freedom is a key word when it comes to my work” she said –  “I think that’s my speciality – when I do makeup, I’m a free spirit.”

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In the next room, we hit up Cécile Paravina, the second member of Chanel’s COMÈTES COLLECTIVE and an MUA known for her avant garde lashes who told us “lashes are super important in my work. Whether it’s a touch of mascara or lashes that are made out of insect wings, I’ve kind of done it all.” The room we linked Cécile Paravina in was filled with huge screens projecting the faces of different models, including Culted fam Kai Isaiah Jamal wearing iconic Chanel makeup looks designed to show the power of colour in makeup. Paravina told us how her approach to beauty has changed since she first linked up with Chanel. “I think Chanel’s heritage has inspired my work a lot, mainly in the way that Gabrielle Chanel designed fashion” she said – “she designed for herself first, and others just followed.”

After we left Cécile, the next room showed us what The Colour of Allure means to each of the MUAs. In a doc projected on a huge screen, Valentina, Cécile, and Ammy remembered each of their journeys at Chanel, and how colour, confidence, and backing yourself have all been key. Talking about their own backgrounds and styles, they made it obvious how much the ethos behind The Colour of Allure impacts their own lives.

After that, we linked up with Ammy Drammeh, COMÈTES COLLECTIVE’s third member  in the penthouse of Space House overlooking London’s skyline, with giant Chanel compacts being used to display the brand’s most iconic products. Here we got to know a bit more about Chanel Beauty today, finding out from Drammeh what the most grailed product is - “it’s the LES BEIGES Foundation, it looks like you’re wearing nothing,” – and an item she’s gatekeeping rn: “JOUES CONTRAST INTENSE: it’s a new blush we’ve added to the Chanel family. It’s amazing to blend.”

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Linking up with all three MUAs behind Chanel’s COMÈTES COLLECTIVE, it hit home how they each bring something different to the table across Chanel Beauty’s artistic direction. Ammy Drammeh has an insane knowledge of products, Cécile Paravina brings her avant garde approach, and Valentina Li offers her love of bold colour. That triple threat combined? They’re all key to Chanel’s concept of The Colour of Allure. It’s about being authentically yourself - so, exactly what Chanel’s been doing for a century.

Featured image via Culted©

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