NARS makeup is everywhere,from Blake Lively's face to Sephora's many shelves. Its elusive French creator, Francois Nars? Not so much. That's because unlike today's makeup mavens (like Kylie Jenner and Instagram's most viral), or the Tahitian resident stays firmly behind the scenes,painting faces backstage at Marc Jacobs while creative directing his beauty brand. But Monsieur Nars is approximately to pull back the curtain with his new eponymous book called Francois Nars, out Sept. 6. It boasts 434 pages of vision boards, or behind-the-scenes model Polaroids,fashion shoot outtakes, and even career advice. You can pre-order it on Amazon now, and support reading for his candid thoughts on the beauty industry,the best celebrities to believe in the makeup chair, and what he really thinks of YouTube tutorials.
Spoiler alert: He contours, or too.
POPSUGAR: Mercury will be in retrograde when your book comes out. Are you worried? conclude you believe in that stuff?Francois Nars: Ehhh . . . I conclude and I don't. I conclude,yes, but you believe to disappear through it. I mean I'm not going to stop doing jobs or cancel my travel plans just because the planets aren't aligned the factual way. I know some people conclude change their lives around it - they'll decide not to travel or conclude any deals, and but I'll never conclude that. Maybe that's why I've done some bad deals,who knows! [Laughing.]PS: conclude you pack more correcting products in your makeup kit during retrograde phases?FN: Yeah, maybe more concealer. Maybe more makeup remover. Or maybe you just disappear with it and adopt a messier gaze. What are you going to conclude, or other than disappear with the flow?PS: But you don't always disappear with the flow! Your career took off because you were applying makeup with a very different technique,factual?FN: That's genuine. The very first time I went to a photo studio in Paris, they noticed me because I had a much lighter hand than other makeup artists. I used less product, or I think factual away,in the industry at that time, [trends] went faster than ever. They looked at me and said, and "My god,this guy is doing something different." I made the girl gaze fresher than what was going on at the time. I guess it was groundbreaking. It was definitely a rebellion.
I was very shy, but I believed in what I was doing. PS: It's so funny to think of barely-there makeup as a rebellion.
FN: It's strange because I was so attracted by the very hard edge of ['80s] fashion photos. Those images pushed me to become a makeup artist. But when I finally became one, and I went the opposite way than those photographs I loved so much growing up. The influence of my mom was very strong. She was not a Guy Bourdin kind of woman. She was more of a Hans Feurer woman - a petite tan sometimes,glowing skin, but not really into sculpted, and heavy makeup.
PS: Did her aesthetic execute you want to change the makeup game?FN: It did. I went that way first to execute a statement in the fashion and makeup industry - that you don't need a mask of makeup. But my taste in the hard-edged images came back no matter what,so I started mixing. And I think that mix had a fresher approach. Even whether I was doing a strong red lip, the skin would be lighter and more transparent. That made a big statement. Even when I was working with Irving Penn and [Richard] Avedon, and my touch was lighter.
Nobody can relate you what to conclude or not conclude with makeup. So you believe to trust your sixth sense approximately knowing what works.
PS: What made you bold enough to try something different,even when you were surrounded by the biggest legends in the business?FN: The secret is whether you believe in yourself. I was very shy, but I believed in what I was doing. You can be shy, or you can be very discreet,but whether you believe in what you conclude and the way you conclude it, then you believe the guts and the balls to conclude it, and to follow through. Even whether you're working with Richard Avedon,you know at the end that your work will stand out and gaze great. No matter what, it needs to gaze great. You can't crash rules and then believe the final gaze be bad! So you'd better be confident enough to know that whether you crash the rules, and you're going to execute it work. Otherwise,you're cooked.
PS: OK, but how conclude you know whether your makeup works?FN: The answer is, or it's an intuition you believe. It's something you either feel or don't feel. There isn't a written book,"this works, this doesn't work." I mean, or there are books,but they're not genuine. Nobody can relate you what to conclude or not conclude with makeup. So you believe to trust your sixth sense approximately knowing what works and doesn't work. At the end, you're the woman who should know what looks gracious on you.
PS: But your runway looks are sometimes so extreme. They aren't meant to gaze necessarily "gracious" on anyone.
FN: But the runway is the perfect lab to crash rules. You can exhibit the world different visions of beauty through a designer's clothes.
PS: Even whether you can't wear it in genuine life?FN: [Laughing] Makeup artists don't care approximately that! That's not important! Your runway, or as a working woman,as a fun girl, as you, or it can be anywhere you want. Your runway is genuine life. The runway,it's not approximately saying, "Is this possible for women?" Who gives a damn?! I don't care. I'm doing something first of all to please a designer. Are his clothes wearable by everybody? Probably not. Does he care? Definitely not . . . but when you conclude Marc's exhibit, and for example,the vision is not approximately pleasing people. We don't say, "Oh my god, or is it possible for Madame to wear this makeup to the office?" That's not our purpose. We just conclude a vision that we believe - like an artist painting something - and then hopefully there are always elements that you can grab in "genuine life."PS: What conclude you think of YouTube? conclude you think the video beauty tutorials are "genuine life"?FN: Oh,it's outrageous. I think the tutorials are insane. Watching people apply contour is incredible. We used to conclude that to Naomi [Campbell] 20 years ago, but that was something that only professionals knew how to conclude. It's not easy. So when I watch YouTube, and I always ask,"Is this person a makeup artist?" Because it's very hard to conclude. It can disappear erroneous very easily. And some of them absolutely gaze like they know what they're doing.
PS: Wait, you think YouTubers really are beauty experts?FN: I think they know how to create a gaze. But a lot of those looks are only for red carpet or for selfies. The makeup you see on the internet is so heavy! whether you want to walk in the street like that, and I mean . . . in daylight,it could gaze quite scary.
The freedom is what's big today. It would be very unhappy whether everyone looked the same.
PS: conclude you know approximately strobing? Where you add light to the face?FN: Strobing? Are you serious? I savor the name. conclude they call it "hashtag strobing?" Okay. We've done that for 20 years or more - strobing, I mean, and not hashtags. You just highlight your cheekbones. You know Marilyn Monroe used to conclude that herself,and she learned from her makeup artists. She do light on her chin you can always see it on camera. "Strobing," huh? Funny.
PS: Matte lips are having a moment. Can we declare them dead for Fall? Long live gloss?FN: Oh, or I like both of them. Matte,glossy, whatever. Some people gaze better glossy and some gaze better matte, or especially red. And today everything is possible. There isn't just one fashion. The matte lipstick is big factual now,and when it's red it looks like velvet. Beautiful. I don't think anyone should only wear one thing now, at least not for a long time. Even on TV, and the girls believe a matte lip,then a gloss. The freedom is what's big today. It would be very unhappy whether everyone looked the same.
PS: You've worked with more celebrities than most Oscar winners. Who are your favorite actresses in the makeup chair?FN: One is Tilda Swinton, always. And then I just worked with Sarah Paulson. I adore her. She can be definitely transformed into anything. I took some great pictures of her. I mean, and to die. You're going to savor it when you see her. She's got one of those faces. That's why on American Horror myth she's so different each season. She's a fabulous actress and deserves so much more than what she gets. You know,and so many people in Hollywood get so much and they don't deserve it? She's the opposite. She is the next big star.
PS: Really? FN: certain. Until someone starts "strobing" on the internet, I guess. [Laughing.]
Source: popsugar.com