Pop art pioneer, film-maker and publisher, Andy Warhol once said, "If everybody's not a beauty, then nobody is." Make-up icon Francois Nars shares a similar outlook, advising women, "Find your own way, have an open spirit and believe in your own beauty."
Francois Nars at the launch of the Holiday Collection 2012, at the Sofitel So Bangkok.
Nars was recently in Bangkok to launch his Holiday 2012 make-up collection, which is a modern take on what Warhol would do today, as seen through the eyes of the French make-up artist.
"Andy Warhol realised art could take any form. Putting on your make-up is a kind of self-portrait," said Nars, who has been inspired by Warhol throughout his entire career, and this is reflected in names of existing product line such as Edie and Chelsea Girls.
The Holiday 2012 collection includes the Edie gift set of eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush and lipstick presented in an authentic 16mm film canister.
The quintessential '60s "It Girl", Edie Sedgwick was Warhol's most famous "superstar" and muse for several years at the Silver Factory on East 47th Street New York City, where he created many of his most famous works in the 1960s.
He called his silver-painted and foil-draped studio a factory because art was work and it took a team to do it.
The Silver Factory gift set teams up eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, lipstick, brushes as well as the Multiple (a multi-purpose stick for eyes, cheeks, lips and body) to create a superstar look.
Warhol's superstars were a clique of the Big Apple's personalities promoted by him through his artworks. They epitomised his famous dictum "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes". He would simply film them, and declare them "superstars".
The Beautiful Darling gift set pays tribute to Candy Darling, one of his superstars and a blonde bombshell even though she was born a man. Darling thought that beauty was a duty and worked harder at it than anyone. A portrait of the blonde beauty adorns the make-up bag containing eyeshadow, lip gloss and nail polish.
Warhol's legendary painting, Self Portrait, 1967, appears on three eyeshadow palettes, which have a quote inscribed on the mirror.
All the palettes and gift sets include mini "how to" face charts that show how to wear the colours created by Nars, whose first make-up collection of 12 lipsticks debuted in 1994.
The Holiday 2012 Colour Collection features new shades for eyeshadow pencil, lip gloss, and nail polish.
On choosing shades, the famed make-up artist said, "You should have an instant attraction to the product. You should fall in love with it."
