Long before it filled backstage tables, Dior makeup was one red lipstick that Christian Dior made refillable in 1953. This edit follows that thread through the Forever Skin bases, the Rosy Glow blushes and the lip and lash products that Peter Philips has updated since 2014.
Dior Makeup Began With a Refillable Red Lipstick
Christian Dior described himself as a fashion and perfume designer, and the house he opened in 1946 was never only about clothes. Miss Dior arrived with the New Look in February 1947, and a few years later came the house's first makeup product, Rouge Dior, in 1953. It began as lipstick for private clients and proved popular enough to release officially. Peter Philips, the house's makeup creative director, points out that the original was refillable, and that detail is the best way into Dior makeup, because it shows how the house still thinks: an idea from the archive, updated by a working makeup artist. Philips has been Creative and Image Director of the makeup since 2014, and he is behind the backstage looks and the 2021 relaunch of Rouge Dior in 75 shades. He also uses the Forever Skin Glow foundation at the shows. That line anchors grid one. Any Dior foundation here is built around skin: Wear is the matte one, Glow is hydrating, the stick is multi-use, and the loose powder blurs and sets.
The backstage cheek
Grid two is where Philips's backstage habits show. Rosy Glow has been around for more than 20 years, by his count, and its trick is a color that reacts to the skin's pH, so the same pink settles a little differently on everyone. The Blush Stick is the newer format, creamy and easy to blend, and Philips has said he wanted it to work with the house's liquid and stick foundations. He has also made what he calls workout blush, brought low on the cheek, one of his signatures. The Backstage Glow Maximizer is a multi-use highlighter palette for the face, eyes and décolleté, and the Forever Nude Jumbo Bronzer is a long-wearing powder with hyaluronic acid. My tip for a Dior blush: melt the stick in over foundation first, then tap the powder on top of it to build the color slowly.
Where the house started
Grid three is the part Christian Dior started with. Rouge Dior Refillable Lipstick nods straight to the 1953 original, and the modern one comes in four finishes with a refill idea Philips took from the archive. The Addict Lip Glow range dates to 2009, and Grazia credits it with helping start the modern lip gloss revival. Lip Maximizer is the plumping gloss, made with cherry oil and hyaluronic acid, and it can be worn alone or over lipstick. Diorshow Waterproof Mascara is the runway lash in a version that holds up when you swim, splash or cry. What I would skip is piling balm, lipstick and gloss on at the same moment. Let the balm be the balm, or let the red be the red, and keep the gloss for the last touch in the center.
Start with the red
If I were building this from zero, I would begin with the red and the cheeks, because those are the two things the house has been refining longest. One base product from grid one, the Rosy Glow you like best, and a Rouge Dior you can refill when the color runs out. That is a small kit with a long history behind it. Everything else is a finish or a shade. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Chanel Makeup and Dior Addict Shine Lipstick.
