In 1924 Gabrielle Chanel entered makeup with loose powder, blush and a lipstick that was creamier and more pigmented than anything on the market, sold in an ivory tube with a metal slide. A red was in that first collection, because she could not launch a lipstick without one. That is where Chanel makeup starts, and you can still feel her logic in the black cases.

What I like about the brand is how often it argued with itself. The same woman who made a red lipstick also made a skin-tint fluid in 1927 and a bronzing collection called Collection Tan pour l'Été in 1932, which is early enough to make her the mother of the no-makeup makeup idea. She was photographed bare-faced and glowing on the beaches of Deauville, Cannes and Biarritz, and that picture sits behind Les Beiges, the range designed as makeup that frees makeup. When Peter Philips built it in 2013, it came in a cream case, the first time the house changed its monochrome lacquered casing.

So I would start with the face. Picture her on a gray October morning with a coat over her arm and nothing on her skin but a little light. For that I would reach for the Les Beiges Water-Fresh Tint in Medium or the Water-Fresh Complexion Touch in B10, both sheer, both made for a water-fresh finish. If you want more coverage, the Les Beiges Healthy Glow Foundation in B30 is a light-to-medium fluid with a radiant finish, and the N°1 de Chanel Revitalizing Foundation in B140 is a buildable luminous one with red camellia oil.

The Ultra Le Teint line is the other camp: the Ultrawear in BR122 is full coverage and matte, and the Velvet Blurring in Beige Doré 91 is a softer velvet-matte. Test it on your jaw in daylight.

Lipstick is where the house began, and the line she is famous for is blunt: put on lipstick and attack. Her first makeup product was a red with a sliding mechanism, launched when suffragettes were adopting red lips as a symbol of strength and freedom. The house's true red is called Pirate, and the case has barely changed in spirit, black with a gold band.

Rouge Coco is the nod to that history. The 1954 Rouge à Lèvres, with its sleek black case and gold band, was relaunched as Rouge Coco 56 years later. The Rouge Coco Longwear Satin in 106 Deauville and 126 Venise glides on and is at least 80% naturally derived, and Rouge Coco Bloom in 154 Kind adds a plumping, high-shine finish. The Rouge Coco Flash in 144 Move and 203 Fruity have a transparent cap, so you see the color before you open it.

Rouge Allure arrived in 2006 with a clever one-click opening that reveals the stamped stick. The Velvet versions in 45 Intense and 47 Flamboyante are luminous mattes that wear like a second skin, and the refillable L'Extrait in 862 is the one I would keep for a long dinner. In my head she is lining up the three finishes on the back of her hand: satin, flash, velvet.

Swatch on your fingertip pad, since the lip is closer to it in tone than the wrist, and wait a minute for the color to settle. What I would skip: a matte shade if your lips are dry in the first cold week of October, and go for satin or Flash instead.

The black quilted lid on Les 4 Ombres is such a recognizable shape that it is easy to forget the palette itself arrived in 1982. Eye makeup at Chanel has always been about restraint: a few good neutrals, a very black line, and a mascara that does the talking. Picture her on a train home from work, one smoky corner of the lid and not much else.

The 266 Tissé Essentiel quad has four easy colors in pearlescent and mineral-derived pigments, so it is the one I would start with. Ombre Essentielle in 234 Beige Sable is a single pan of long-lasting shadow that can be worn three ways, and the liquid Ombre Première Laque in 28 Desert Wind leaves a metallic veil you can tap on with a finger. For lines, the Stylo Yeux in 88 Noir Intense is waterproof and resistant to humidity and oil, Le Crayon Khôl in 61 Noir is softer and semi-matte, and Le Liner in 512 Noir Profond is a felt tip for one clean stroke.

Then the lashes. Le Volume de Chanel in 10 Noir is made for instant volume in a single stroke, while Noir Allure in 10 Noir is the four-dimensional one: volume, length, curl and definition. Test a mascara by wiggling the wand at the root and watching for clumps after ten minutes, and blink onto a clean fingertip to see whether it flakes.

What I would skip: waterproof pencil on bare, dry lids in cold weather, because it tugs. Warm it on the back of your hand first.

Chanel's first blushers, in that 1924 collection, came in round compacts of black enamel, and the round black box is still the shape of the house. Blush has been a Chanel thing for as long as the brand has done color. It is also where the beach idea turns up again, because Les Beiges was built around a face warmed with subtle radiance rather than bronzer or sparkle.

For powder blush I would reach for Joues Contraste in 430 Foschia Rosa, silky and buildable, or the Beige Éclatant cream-to-powder version when skin is dry. The Les Tarots de Chanel Blood Orange is a limited matte shade for the person who wants one brave cheek. For something softer, the Les Beiges liquid blushes are the easy ones: the Water-Fresh Blush in Light Pink gives a natural flush, and the Healthy Glow Fresh Liquid Blush in Sorbet is a lightweight water-infused formula in a squeeze tube.

The Les Beiges Sun-Kissed Powder in Deep Rose Gold is a trio of bronzer, blush and highlight you can wear alone or blend together, a very Deauville idea. The refillable Healthy Glow Sheer Powder in B20 enhances, brightens or bronzes, and the Poudre Universelle Libre in 10 is the loose powder that links back to 1924.

Smile and put color on the apples, then blend up toward the temple. What I would skip: layering liquid blush over a heavy powder, which drags. Do the liquids first, the powders after.

A bare lip, a bare nail and a bit of shine is the quietest way into the brand. Le Vernis, introduced in 1974, is the nail polish that hasn't changed, and the black cap is still the signature. Rouge Noir is its best story: in 1994 the makeup directors Dominique Moncourtois and Heidi Morawetz layered black marker over red polish backstage so it would register in black-and-white photography. It became the first nail polish with a waiting list.

I would pick the Le Vernis in 469 Coco for an everyday polish and 105 Particulière when you want something with more color. Both are longwear high-shine formulas, and the 469 Coco has a built-in brush with buildable coverage.

For lips, the Rouge Coco Hydra Gloss in 434 Reflet and 445 Bijou is lightweight and non-sticky. The Rouge Coco Baume in Blushing Pink and Honey Bliss is a tinted balm with a shiny finish and buildable color, and the lip balm stick in 912 Dreamy White is one for a bag pocket. The N°1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm in 2 Healthy Pink is a buttery pot that goes on both. In my head she dabs it on lips and cheeks in the back of a taxi.

Check the brush on a nail polish for even bristles, and put a gloss on top of a balm rather than the other way around. What I would skip: a stack of three glosses at once.

I would start at the skin, since that is where Gabrielle Chanel went first in 1927 with a skin-tint fluid. Pick one tint, then a blush, then a lipstick, in that order, and stop there.

The next step is the line on the eye, if you want one, and the nail color last. The house is now steered by Lucia Pieroni, who began on Sept. 14, 2026, after the Comètes Collective from October 2022.

Put on lipstick and attack, she said. Mine would be Deauville, on a gray day. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Chanel Lipstick, from the 1924 Rouge to the Click Case and Chanel Lip Balm and a Lipstick Story That Starts in 1924.