5 Minutes With Peter Philips

While musical chairs is a favorite parlor game for designers at luxury fashion houses, makeup artists don’t generally join in. After six years at Chanel, however, Peter Philips is now making the jump to Christian Dior, where he was just named Creative and Image Director of Makeup. We got the scoop on the big move.

Have you worked with Dior’s Creative Director, Raf Simons, before? I’ve known Raf for 20 years. I’ve been doing his men’s shows almost since his first season, and all his Jil Sander shows, so we’ve got a really good relationship, both personally and professionally. We’re both from Antwerp, so we often run into each other there, too. I’m glad that we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other.

Will you be involved in product development for Dior beauty? I started three weeks ago, jumping on a train that’s moving very fast but very smoothly. I’m just walking around from wagon to wagon on that train, discovering and trying to catch up. During my first week, I sat down with all the different teams and went through all the products—one day was foundation, the next lipstick, then mascaras. On the second week, I went to their Helios Centre labs in Saint-Jean-de-Braye. I was very happy to see the enthusiasm about me coming, but also the enthusiasm they put into their products and research. Every conversation turns into a brainstorming session. They just jump right in. I love seeing ideas turn into reality.

What’s your favorite Dior product? I love the texture, colors and intensities of DiorAddict and Le Rouge Dior lipsticks. Another little treasure is DiorAddict Lip Maximizer, which some of my girlfriends use, and Diorshow Maximizer. You can use it as a mascara base, and it’ll also help curl your lashes. It also helps push lashes’ growth, so they’re both fuller and stronger. It’s a very innovative product. I also love the Nude foundation line. There are amazing textures in the pipeline, but I can’t talk about them yet!

Which will be the first collection with your full imprimatur on it? Fall 2015. I’m already working on a few things now, though. One small project might be launched around Christmas 2014, and I’m working on some elements for Spring 2015.

You used to do little capsule collections for Chanel that had a super quick turn-around time. Will you do the same at Dior? Like Chanel, they’re up for doing mini collections, sure. It’s not necessary to do for every show or event, but when it fits we absolutely will.

Which makeup products do you rely on most? A good base. If you don’t have a good base, you can’t do good makeup.