Despite the fact that Lauder was born into one of the most influential and iconic brands and families within the beauty industry, she never thought she'd be creatively involved with the brand.
"I didn't really see this for me until I was in college. I was signed with a manager out in Los Angeles, and I was having to make audition tapes all the time in a hotel room or janky house with no professional lighting—no professional makeup artists or cameras," she explains. "All of a sudden, I had to think about how I could use a product to my advantage to teach myself about light and shadows or how to illuminate parts of my face without it looking over the top or requiring an 80-step contour situation.
"By the end of each audition tape, I felt like I was studying products more than the lines that I should have been memorizing. I thought, okay, this is actually something I'm really, really interested in, and it's also a great way for me to combine my love of beauty—which I've obviously always had a huge appreciation for—and acting."
"Estée really wanted every woman to know that beauty belonged to her, that beauty belongs to everyone, and that every woman can be and is beautiful," Lauder tells me. "Even just one product—be it one lipstick, one blush, one mascara—can have such an impact on how you feel internally in addition to how you feel or look externally. I wanted all of the products within the Act IV collection to represent small, extra touches of glamour—those beautiful embellishments that you can add to your beauty routine or just use on their own to feel extra beautiful in day-to-day life.
"The collection purposefully excludes foundation and concealer and eyeliner and mascara because those are complicated, detail-oriented, and specific kinds of products. I think they can be more difficult to use or intimidating, so I really wanted this collection to embody Estée’s belief—for this collection to be unintimidating and beautiful."
"It’s been about two years since we first started putting together all the inspiration for the collection. We did the L.A. inspiration tour first, and it was then that I had an extreme crash course in product development and went to all the labs and everything," says Lauder.
"Violet Grey's flagship store is actually one of the very first places I went to for inspiration when we started conceptualizing the collection. It's been so incredible the way the brand welcomed me to Hollywood and has celebrated this capsule collection with the pop-up. I feel so lucky that they’ve included me and they collaborated with me on this creative mission and helped me bring my baby to life."
"It's true that I may have grown up in beauty, but I wasn't always a makeup girl," clarifies Lauder. "I do a lot of other creative things. I love writing, and I love acting and producing, all of which fit into the larger aspect of storytelling.
"This collection—from the packaging to the product to the positioning—really tells a unique story and gives a fresh perspective for all women. It's not Gen Z. it's not millennial. I wanted to relate to women of all ages, both older and younger, so we created different levels of light and detail."
"The Lip Duet Tint + Balm ($50) because it's awesome. The dual-ended feature is just a life-saver for me, and hopefully, it is for other women too! And then the Spotlight Highlighter ($54) and the Party Puff Starlucent Filtered Powder ($54)!"
"I like a very natural makeup look with just a touch of glam," Lauder tells me with no hesitation after I ask for her signature product MO.
"I'm not very good at doing my own eye makeup, so I usually gravitate to a look with clean skin. I'll use the charcoal tone from the Best Picture Multi-Look Palette ($54) with a liner brush along with the Cinematic Complexion Liquid ($54). Depending on how my skin looks, if I'm having a good skin day, that's pretty much all I really need. And then maybe I'll put on a little blush, a little bronzer, highlighter, and a lipstick with some brow too."
"I didn't really look to other beauty brands for inspiration just because I didn't have that much experience," Lauder admits (something that, in hindsight, she realizes is unique).
"I always draw inspiration from everywhere and in very random ways, so I made a ton of Pinterest and mood boards. When we first came out here, they asked me to bring in some things that could serve as inspiration for the packaging, so I came in with a giant Mary Poppins–esque bag of stuff–—a skull, candles, marble trays. I have so many tchotchkes around my apartment. My sister says it looks like Pinterest just threw up in there. And the team was just, 'Oh, we were expecting you to bring products, but this works too.'
"So the collection was always inspired by so many external factors that came from outside of what’s happening product- and packaging-wise within the beauty industry right now."
from Who What Wear https://ift.tt/38Pw9Sy