By Bella Blissett

What do you do when the world’s eyes are upon you? If you’re Karl Lagerfeld, you take the magnificent splendour of the Grand Palais, fill it with solar panels and windmills – and call for shine, shine and more shine.

The man tasked with bringing the brief to life through make up is of course, Global Creative Director of Chanel cosmetics, Peter Philips.

“When designing this look, I had two considerations,” Philips told us. “The first was Karl’s desire to focus on the eyes and produce something high shine. The second was the huge space. It had to be visible to every single person present”.

The outcome was a powder-less, radiant skin achieved using Chanel’s Vitalumière Foundation. Then for those eyes. Philips created a new shade in the classic I’llusion d’Ombre pots of shimmering gorgousness, called it Platine Précieux and made eyes dance amidst “a cloud of smoky blue metallic in an elongated shape”.
Intense black liner at the lash roots and coat after coat of black mascara completed Karl’s brief for eyes, leaving Philips to add a soft hint of pink to lips using a blend of Rouge Allure in Gracile and Lèvre Scintillantes lip gloss in Plaisir.

Peeking out from the sleeves of the pastel jackets was the nail of spring summer 2013. Predictably, Philips picked up on the season’s overwhelming nude nail trend and made it his own with a base coat of Le Vernis in Ballerina. A slick of a forthcoming white shade called Eastern River on the tip provided the definitive take on the new season French mani.

“Overall, the look was all about creating a trio of light-reflecting effects. Shine on the skin, shine on the eye and shine on the lip,” added Philips.
Whatever we’ve seen before over the past four weeks, one thing is for sure: Chanel has shone a light on SS13 – and we can’t wait to get our three-tiered glow on.