Behind-the-Scenes: CHANEL Makeup Artist Julie Cusson on Her Personal Approach to Beauty

In the world of makeup artistry, Julie Cusson’s approach highlights the importance of deeply understanding the individuals she works with, “When I collaborate on a project, my first instinct, before thinking about makeup, colours or shades, is trying to imagine the person in my make-up chair that day.” she explains.

Behind-the-Scenes: CHANEL Makeup Artist Julie Cusson on Her Personal Approach to Beauty

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This intimate and personal approach to creating a beauty look honours the natural features of the models that Cusson works with, “It was clear for me that I wanted to create something special and tailored for each one of them.”.

Fo Cusson the process of creating a beauty look tailored to each model began with research, “I started with a quick search to know more about them and their occupations. I like to feel someone’s essence because, although my purpose is never to change it, I do aim to create an extension of who they are with my intervention.”

Although Cusson’s approach relies on highlighting a model’s natural features she aims to “push boundaries and even hear: ‘Wow, I didn’t recognize her!'” by highlighting features that are often ignored and exploring unique colour palettes.

“In my mind, it is like pieces of images roughly arranged together like in a collage; these torn pictures illustrate what is starting to take shape in my mind and what I will create, eventually becoming a beauty look.” Says Cusson.

For this project, Cusson relied heavily on fall hues found in CHANEL’s Fall/Winter 2024 Makeup Collection, such as earth shades, burnt orange, burgundy, rich brown, taupe, pink, and lavender.

REMBO

“I knew instinctively that Rembo’s refined and sparkling personality would be fabulous with a golden yellow liner on her eyes which paired beautifully with her immaculate skin and natural dark lips.”

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Photography by Alexis Belhumeur
Fashion Direction by Sahar Nooraei and Haley Dach
Makeup by Julie Cusson for CHANEL Beauty
Hair by Caroline Levin (P1M)
Hair and Makeup Assistant: Lateisha Grant

ELLA

“I imagined elegant and dramatic eye makeup. Even though Ella has a very calm personality, I knew that she could embrace this makeup look; she could wear it and project power. CHANEL has an eye pen that I love; one of its shades is a very special rich red, with the black tones blended, the match was perfect!”

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SABAD & SAMIRA

Behind-the-Scenes: CHANEL Makeup Artist Julie Cusson on Her Personal Approach to Beauty

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“I wanted to play with Sabad and Samira’s similarities while using the makeup to create subtle differences. When I saw their beautiful faces and their wonderful energy, it was obvious to me that I wanted to add strong bold lips colours. I chose shades with a deep plum and a vivid red-orange. With their pristine complexion, the result was just fantastic! Combining a flawless complexion and bold lips is always gorgeous; you can’t go wrong. But, to maintain a modern feeling you have to keep the eye makeup natural; for Sabad and Samira, I didn’t apply any mascara.”

Hero Product (Sabad): CHANEL ROUGE ALLURE LIQUID VELVET (236, ENSORCELANTE)
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TALVI

“I knew that Talvi could wear bold eye makeup, but I didn’t want a dark shade like black for her; this is why I played with two lavender tones on her eyes. I put the darker lavender shade under her eyes and the soft lavender tone on the upper lid that I swept to her eyebrow.”

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LUIS

Behind-the-Scenes: CHANEL Makeup Artist Julie Cusson on Her Personal Approach to Beauty

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“Luis is refined and has this ‘je ne sais quoi’ about her sublime personality. Often the personality guides my hands when I am creating a makeup look. For her eye makeup, I used the new eyeshadow palette Initiation by using the soft pink, coral and brown shades. This colour combination brings depth, but with an effortless vibe to it.”

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TAMARA

“For me, movies are a recurring source of inspiration; classics like In the Mood for Love, and La Piscine with Romy Schneider. When I first saw Tamara with her short hair, I instantly thought of Godard’s emblematic Nouvelle Vague film, A Bout de Souffle. I added a beautiful, burned orange shade on her cheeks and kept her full eyebrows messy. I kept it simple and followed Tamara’s natural beauty.”

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MANGAL

“When I met Mangal, I also wanted to embrace her natural essence and sculpt her face with different tones of beige to reveal her features, her pure beauty. I didn’t want make-up to hide anything.”

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KAELEN

“I decided to use a lavender shade on Kaelen’s cheeks to reveal her face structure with softness. Lavender shades are unusual as a blush or eyeshadow, but my advice is to dare to wear it, because whatever your skin or hair colour, this shade will always be flattering!”

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CHANEL Fall/Winter Limited Edition Makeup Collection on counters September 3.