In a typical conversation pertaining to lipstick, the word practicality is unlikely to come into play. And yet, it is one of the first descriptors Hermès Beauty’s Creative Director, Gregoris Pyrpylis, pushes forth in relation to the Rouge Brillant Silky. “Beauty for Hermès doesn’t stem in the appearance or in just the symmetry of a face. It’s more about the way you feel. It’s about nourishing your inner parts,” he explains. “What also applies to Hermès Beauty in our objects is that beauty arises from you. From practicality. So whatever we conceive, whatever we create—first of all, it will be a useful object that is very easy to use. And, therefore, it becomes a beautiful object.”
This philosophy is very much showcased in the maison’s latest lipstick launch; a sheer, glossy variant that sets itself apart thanks to its versatility. A single layer imbues luminosity to puckers alongside a delicate flush of colour, but it can also be built upon to make a bold statement. Available in 14 stunning hues and 3 limited edition shades, it’s safe to say that the Rouge Brillant Silky is meticulously crafted in every sense of the word. Its bullet harbours a delicate slant to allow for a precise application. The soft, feather-light texture, on the other hand, means that it is forgiving in nature where even the most haphazard of touch-ups won’t emphasise imperfections. And not forgetting, of course, its unique amalgamation of ingredients in the vein of sesame seed extract and Abyssinian oil that nourishes and protects pouts.
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“Rouge Brillant Silky is a companion, a partner for every occasion,” Pyrpylis states. “It offers the intimacy of an intuitive, free and comforting gesture.” Touted as a labour of love, the full range took close to three years to perfect and develop—bolstered along by Pyrpylis’s expertise and certitude.
We sit down with the man of the hour to find out more about his creative process, from the source of inspiration behind his fantastical masterpieces to his favourite lipstick hack.
What would you say was the biggest challenge you faced when you were creating the Rogue Brillant Silky?
There were many. I worked on the Rouge Brillant Silky for almost three years, and the development for it was quite long. One of the biggest challenges was to ensure that the performance was not being compromised by its formula, because we went for quite a high percentage of naturality in this formula.
85 per cent of the ingredients are of natural origin, and whenever you experiment with naturality, sometimes performance can be compromised. So it took us a lot of time to keep this beautiful balance and harmony between a high percentage of clean and natural ingredients, but also with high performance. And also having a payoff that is exactly what you see in the bullet. In the end, we made it and we wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have the conviction that it was perfect, it wouldn’t be here in front of us today because at Hermès, quality is one of the elements that sets this house apart from the rest of the luxury houses. It is how much effort we put in the quality.
Talk me through how you managed to land on this specific number of shades.
It is a very deliberate will of mine to bring this very concise collection to life: 14 shades and three limited-editions for the Rouge Brillant Silky. But, you know, having quite a transparent texture, it is buildable so you can customise it to your own liking. You can sheer it out just with one swipe, and then on the second or the third, you can really build up on the intensity. So, in the end, it didn’t make sense to me to make four different pinks because a pink can be more blue toned or more yellow toned, but when it’s transparent it translates almost in the same way because it’s affected by natural lip colour.
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I came up with colours that narrate the stories of Hermès. Rouge H is an iconic colour. Rouge Casaque and Rouge Amazone are colours that we already know. But I introduced some new colours too, like Rose Himalaya, which is a delicate, fresh pink. It’s really beautiful for everyday wear. Brun D’Ambre has more of a caramel base—it is a sensual beige infused with pink, golden and copper sparkles. One of my favourites I would say is Rouge Brique, It’s like a terracotta red. With one swipe, you have a bit of natural elevation to the lip colour. But if you go for a second, third, or fourth layer, you can have more of a bold lip or you can just blur it with your finger and have a stain effect.
Is there a make-up hack you wish more people knew about when it comes to lipsticks?
I feel that when most people go to buy lipstick, they are very guided by trends or what their friend is wearing. While sometimes it works, unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t. So for me, I believe that everyone should be more open about being guided by pure intuition. Not instinct, because instinct is guided by something you cannot control. But intuition has a more poetic and artistic kind of approach. It’s more about what your inner child or your inner self is naturally attracted to. So I think that you should believe your intuition, and always try. Make-up is about applying, practising and observing. You have to apply, observe and then you make your call.
You clearly have an unwavering understanding of what constitutes beauty. How did you land on this philosophy?
If I go way back in the past, I would say the first time I experienced make-up was with my mum. She always had this very minimalistic approach to beauty. It was all about doing her skincare, having a tinted moisturiser with sun protection, doing her eyebrows followed by just a light colour on the lips. It was never overcharged. It was never too much. So, growing up with a mum like this, it makes sense that throughout my career, I’ve always worked with people who never sought transformation. They look for enhancement, for elevation.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t like bold make-up. I’m saying that you can have bold red lips and a smokey eye if you want—as long as it aligns with your personality. As long as it elevates and exposes a side of you that is very honest and who you are. I think it’s important that it doesn’t become a trend that is applied to you. It’s about showing to the world and to yourself through your own eyes who you are with make-up.
Would you say that this sort of understanding took you a while to grasp?
You know where I learnt all this? When I moved to Paris in 2012. I was assisting Tom Pecheux, who is a legendary make-up artist. And I moved to Paris because I got this job and I started immediately working for fashion shows of the biggest houses with all these amazing models. And I saw that back in the day—in terms of make-up and hair on the runway—it was more about having one specific look and doing it on all the models.
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But I understood from that moment that some girls wanted a higher brow. Even though the make-up look had no mascara, they wanted the gesture of mascara so they would feel more confident. So, from that moment I understood that beauty is not something to be imposed. Beauty has to be synced with how you feel and with what makes you feel more confident. It allowed me to see that diversity and individualism in beauty is very important.
Is it fair to say that your work back then and your work right now is vastly different?
I think that the main value of the way that I approached beauty back then and today remains the same. I think that I have changed, and am still changing all the time, and I hope to continue evolving. I like changing my point-of-view and scraping off different layers so I can see things from a different perspective. But I think that the main core of the way I approach beauty is always about not transforming, but highlighting and elevating what there is. For Hermès and I, the common philosophy is that we take for granted that beauty is everywhere around us. It’s just that you have to exercise your eyes in order to find it, and then elevate it.
I find it interesting that you say beauty is everywhere because it makes me wonder where you look to for your sources of inspiration when it comes to designing a product.
I think that many creative people don’t try to find inspiration. I think that it’s better if you let things come in, and just sit in it and you translate that much later. You know I can see an exhibition today—I’m not saying that tomorrow I’m going to create a collection based on a specific artist, but much later it can come. It’s all about gathering information, about having your eyes and your ears and your spirit open, and being open to receiving information, accents, stimulation that will help you see things from a different point of view and will help you try to understand things as well.
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I think that’s why when I go to an exhibition, I don’t go just to see the artwork. I go so as to understand the point of view of the artist as well. I’m really intrigued not just by the beauty that I have in front of me, but why the artist had this approach to this creation.
For example, our first limited edition collection for Rouge Brillant Silky. I got inspired by a famous American artist, James Turrell, who explores the perception of light through the prism of colour, and the way that light alters the perception of space. So that’s why we came up with this beautiful gelatine, coloured light on the lipstick. And then Pierre Hardy—who designed the objects—went through the concept and the inspiration that I had, and he proposed this beautiful collection; this beautiful object. I also got mostly inspired by specific shades that we found within the Hermès archives, but I wanted to create some new shades that didn’t exist before as well. So it can be art, it can be nature, it can be Hermès. You know, the house of Hermès has almost 200 years of history and heritage. It can be pretty much anything that sparkles and ignites something in me that makes me want to explore.
