Paying homage to beauty's most iconic looks and the women who created them. 

I was seated in close proximity to Catherine Deneuve at a big dinner event in Paris last year. By the time the clatter of cutlery was set down on the starter plates, she was puffing away on a Marlboro Light. And then another. And then another. She looked untouchable. In fact, it’s a miracle she still looks the way she does – fine bone structure, taut peachy skin - considering her fondness of smoking. And it’s not down to good, consistent face work either, I can spot that a mile off. 

Regardless of what it was, she had men flailing about in front of her, desperately trying to get a fall within her gaze. But she persisted with that sort of enigmatic French thing that both implies that you're a many-layered soul and equally, bored as hell. She eclipsed every 25 year old woman in the room dressed in a sheathe of black lace.

Still, what’s probably the most remarkable thing about her is that she managed to play a character who was compelled to prostitute herself every afternoon when her husband was out working, without looking remotely skanky. Au contraire, in Belle du Jour, Catherine was utterly radiant, the very picture of propriety (when she wasn't whipping her Yves Saint Laurent top off), a freshly iced mistress who knows full well of the power she yields.

Her skin was like marbled milk, a fixed statue of porcelain, unable to convey the cracks lying underneath. And it was the 60s so there was the flagrant obsession with defining the socket line of the eye until it was the only thing you could look at on someone's face. In this case, the archetype socket eye took on a crystallised white finish, woven with ice blue and mid-grey across the curve of the eye. And it suited her completely. 

The wedding cake blue accents were subjugated with blooms of artificial amber on Catherine's cheeks and lips, an all-too-happy hue that I've dialled down for my own interpretation. It's how 60s sophistication has since been remembered, but let's be thankful for one thing; that we needn't struggle any longer with those orange, scratchy eyebrow pencils that never failed to look wholly artificial.

Try as I might, I could never quite embody the enigma that is Catherine Denueve, not could I ever unleash those deep black pools she has for eyes. And so, maybe I've take a bit of a wrong turn into Megan Draper, but it's sort of pleasing nonetheless. A lot of make-up to look like not a lot of make-up, Catherine really was ahead of her time. 

 

1. Nars Eyebrow Pencil in Panama, £14.85 at John Lewis
2. Shu Uemura Pressed Eye Shadow in P White 910, £11
3. Topshop Eye Duo in Solstice, £8
4. Dior Diorblush Glowing Color Powder Blush in Peachy Keen, £29 at Boots
5. Shu Uemura Rogue Unlimited in 950, £19

Photography: Hugo Yangüela