← Gloss Angeles
Loading summary
Transcript248 lines
- [00:01]
Verizon Representative
At Verizon, anyone can trade in their old phone for a new one on us with unlimited ultimate, which means everyone in your family could get a new phone and stay on your family plan, keeping you close.
- [00:12]
Kirby
Hey, mom, you seen my toothbrush?
- [00:16]
Cecile Paravina
I'm almost done with it.
- [00:18]
Verizon Representative
Oh, maybe too close. Trade in an additional term supply. See verizon.com for details.
- [00:34]
Ami Jame
G L A M Los Angeles.
- [00:38]
Sarah
Hi, Kirby.
- [00:39]
Kirby
Hi, Sarah. Welcome to Los Angeles. Hi, glams. We're live from London. Los Angeles goes international. We're so excited. We want to thank you to our friends at Chanel for producing this episode for us and inviting us on a beautiful trip to London town. I'm not gonna do my accent. I'm not gonna embarrass myself in front of all these lovely British people. I'm not gonna do it. But we are gonna do it. Shut up.
- [01:13]
Sarah
You haven't heard it.
- [01:14]
Ami Jame
Yeah.
- [01:15]
Kirby
You haven't suffered through it yet.
- [01:17]
Sarah
Okay. We are so, so thrilled to be here and to welcome the Chanel Comet collective, which is made up of three incredible Chanel global makeup creative partners. So we have Ami Jame.
- [01:30]
Ami Jame
Hi.
- [01:32]
Sarah
We have Cecile Paravina.
- [01:34]
Cecile Paravina
Hi, guys.
- [01:35]
Sarah
And we have Valentina Lee.
- [01:37]
Valentina Lee
Hello, guys.
- [01:38]
Sarah
Welcome to Los Angeles, ladies.
- [01:40]
Valentina Lee
Thank you.
- [01:40]
Cecile Paravina
Thank you so much for having us.
- [01:42]
Kirby
So beautiful. I love all of your looks, all of your aesthetics. So different, but still like a common ground. Just so fresh faced. We want to kick things off with describing your beauty aesthetic or your beauty ethos. I think it says a lot about who you are as an artist. So, Ami, do you want to start?
- [02:02]
Ami Jame
Sure. I think probably transformative is a good way to describe my ethos, and it's not about, like, creating a complete different Persona, but actually make yourself feel amazing and transform yourself in the ways you want to or need to.
- [02:18]
Sarah
I love that.
- [02:19]
Cecile Paravina
Cecile. I think for me, a good way to describe it would be paradox, because I'm interested in. Sometimes I guess it's hard to sum up your work, but I guess I'm interested in tension between things that don't seem like they belong with each other. And sometimes you've got beauty and ugliness in the same kind of concept and you bring things together. And so I guess paradox is a good way to describe my aesthetic.
- [02:46]
Kirby
I love the idea of ugly with beauty. Yeah, that really speaks to me on a deep level.
- [02:51]
Cecile Paravina
But I think it's. If you're just trying to do beauty, beauty, it's a bit boring, you know? So you might as well just bring things that are people, that people are surprised. About and, you know, something like that. So I guess paradox is a good way.
- [03:03]
Sarah
It's also like redefining beauty. Right. Like our traditional definition of what it is.
- [03:09]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah. I think what makes it modern for me is to add things that are. Yeah. Unexpected references that come from places where people are not really looking into them, because you can really perceive beauty in a lot of different places. And it's good to see what people who are trying to be as open as they can be do with all their references. So I guess the tension between elements and composing is what I like, what I'm interested in.
- [03:41]
Valentina Lee
I think, for me, I'll say freedom. Yeah. Freedom is like, I think in my creation. When I do makeups, I don't like to work under some rules. It's actually not just makeup. I think a lot of things in my life, I like to be, like, the ultimate myself, and including how I see color, how I want to do this makeup. I want to have a blank canvas without people saying me what to do, and I can be the one who has decided everything. I think freedom is really important in my craft.
- [04:16]
Sarah
When did you fall in love with beauty or artistry? Do you feel like there was a moment in your life that really, like, cemented your dream? You're like, I want to be a.
- [04:26]
Ami Jame
Makeup artist, for me, started super early. I was, I think, like, 12, 13 years old. And, you know, I'm from a small town near Barcelona. And, yeah, makeup wasn't something that was around me, like, because besides my mom or aunties wearing whatever, like a blush or a lipstick, but I was at school, and a colleague. Well, a classmate of mine had brought a book to class, so it was the Kevin aucoin Making Faces book. And I remember being super intrigued by it. And I think she really realized that I was so into it that she offered the book to me. She was like, you can take it home for, like, a few days and then bring it back to me.
- [05:11]
Sarah
Okay.
- [05:11]
Ami Jame
So I took it home, and every single day after school, my friends will come home with me, and I will try to replicate the looks that were in the book. And I think that was really, really the beginning of it. And that kind of, like, transformed into, like, kind of like a game or some sort of, like, hobby of mine as a kid, as a child, as a teenager. And, yeah, it was like, a thing. Like, on the weekends, like, my friends will queue outside my bedroom to get their makeup and hair done every single weekend. And that was, like, a thing thing that I was doing just because I was really Enjoying it and having fun. And then at school, every time that I will have, like, I don't know, end of the year theater event, I'll be the one doing the makeup for it. Like, it was just, like, fun and playful, and teachers kind of, like, picked up on it, and they were like, oh, I think, Ami, you should go into doing something like this. But at the time, it wasn't really, like, a thing. Like, oh, you can now you have social media and you see, like, a million makeup artists doing amazing work, and you can tell that they have a great life and they can make a living of it. But this is, like, you know, early 2000s. Like, there wasn't. That wasn't an option, really. So shout out to my parents who cultivated that. They were like, okay, she's not gonna be a doctor, I guess.
- [06:38]
Kirby
So let's give her a different type of doctor. A doctor of the face.
- [06:42]
Ami Jame
Of the face. Yeah. I could have gone to, yeah, maybe like, plastic surgery, because I'm kind of, like, obsessed with it. But that's another conversation. Yeah, another conversation. But, yeah, that was the beginning. It was just fun. It was nothing like calculated. It just happened. And of course, like, there is with time. After I went to school and I started to work in fashion, it became more about, like, really an art form and not so much about, like, the hobby of it. Yeah, the hobby of making someone look pretty, you know, it was creating characters. It became that after Cecile, do you.
- [07:20]
Kirby
Want to go next?
- [07:21]
Cecile Paravina
For me, it came. Beauty really came way later in my life than Ami. Like, for you, it was really, like, as a kid, but so basically we kind of have this in common, that we grew up in places that are not like, a big city center with so many things to do and so many opportunities to, you know, learn about art or drawing or fashion or whatever. But I had Internet quite early, and I became very fond of going on Tumblr. I think Tumblr played a big role of showing me fashion, showing me old Vogue Italia references, and then learning about movies and just, like, widening my possibilities and kind of being more culturally interested. And my parents did not really care, so it was just really my thing. And then this whole Tumblr thing became so important in my life that I decided to study fashion. And I had to, like, convince my parents for years because, of course, they wouldn't let me. They wish I was a doctor just like you, Ami.
- [08:21]
Kirby
Of course.
- [08:22]
Cecile Paravina
But so basically, I went and studied fashion after I graduated, and I moved to first Brussels, then Antwerp. And it is when I was studying to be a designer that I realized that beauty had, like a really powerful aspect to it. And I remember that I was actually struggling in school and I actually dropped out of the Royal Academy of Arts of Antwerp because I was making patterns and all these things. And it was just like, I don't think I was a good tailor. I don't think it was my craft. But it was really a very painful experience to realize that it was not my thing because you invest so much hope and so much time and energy into studying something like this. It's quite a prestigious school, which is difficult for most of the students. And so basically I remember having these like sleepless nights, sewing all night and stuff like that and being a bit desperate. And then I also started watching like a lot of YouTube, like on the side, like of my, of my, you know, sewing machine. So I would be sewing and then I'd be like, what is she doing with her lipstick? Like, that's interesting. And then I was like, it just made me want to try on myself. Like, I just wanted to play more with makeup. So I bought like a few, like, things. I started experimenting on myself, but it was just like, it wasn't like to make it a job or anything. I was just like, oh, that's fun. And I also wanted to do it at school because I'm here with a bunch of friends and fashion students. So they're all interested in anything that is like makeup photography. And, you know, people are sensitive to it. Like, not in my village. So I have an audience. And then I think the teachers were realizing that, you know, the projects were terrible, but then my makeup was getting just a lot more every day and they were just like, yeah, the project sucks, Cecil. But like, the great makeup today, like, whatever you're doing, go, go off, you know. So then I slowly kind of started realizing it was an interesting thing. And it Also, after like 7 hours of working non stop and you just go to school and you haven't slept and you haven't eaten or even had a little bit of a sip of water or something. You're just like a dry human being husk. And you're just like, oh, yeah, this is my project. And then a little bit of eyeliner, a little bit of foundation. Yeah. Makes you feel like, okay, I can do this.
- [10:59]
Ami Jame
Oh, alive.
- [10:59]
Sarah
And the power.
- [11:02]
Cecile Paravina
And I. That's exactly that. Actually. I discovered the power of makeup. The power of transforming your face and enjoying this kind of ritual. And then people around me, I kind of realized also I was into it. So they were like, hey, do you want to do makeup for my bachelor photo shoot? I need to present it to the jury, so I need a photo shoot. You always need a photo shoot at the end when you're studying design. And they didn't need to pay me because I was down to do it. So it was perfect for everybody. And it was cool to actually start beauty in this kind of cocoon of creativity, which was that school, because people were. I was like, hey, do you want to do green body paint? I want to do green body paint. They were like, yeah, sure. They can be a green naked body painted person in the background of my photo shoot. I don't mind. So everybody was kind of down for anything. And I feel quite lucky today to have learned in that, like I said, like, that kind of cocoon of creativity that is bubbling with ideas because it was also so removed from the industry. I was not looking at recent photo shoots and things that were happening in fashion now. I was just like, I just have these weird references from old photography and stuff and I would just want to experiment with that. And my friends and some photographers here are down to do the same with me. And so then basically I decided to stop school. I was supported by my friends, not by my parents, who were like, what are you doing? But then after I started having opportunities in Paris, people were asking me for editorials. So it kind of felt right. So I dropped out of school. And I don't regret at all because I've been having a blast doing my.
- [12:43]
Kirby
Job now and now working with Chanel. We love to hear it.
- [12:46]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, new chapter.
- [12:47]
Sarah
You really showed your parents.
- [12:48]
Valentina Lee
So I'm also from like a small towns in the south of China, so it's called Guangxi province. And like, I think my relationship with beauty start. I'm not like, start not late, like middle school. And I was really, I love like painting and my dream when I was a child, I wanted to become a painter. Especially like painting, like comic books, manga, you know, this Japanese cartoon. I love it. Sailor Moon, everything. I love it. But unfortunately, like, my family could not support me because it was quite expensive. But I joined the cosplay club. And then I started to do cosplay when I was in middle school. And my mom's like, she's really good at making clothes. So I got, you know, I have like this like clothes like she made by me. Then I started to study how to put this makeup on me. And the funny thing is, the first character I ever cosplay has blue hair. When I Think back, you know, when I was like 11 or 12 years old, I choose a blue hair character to do cosplay. And when I was doing this cosplay, I'm like, wow, you know, like, I put these color lenses with me and I look like completely different person. And this like, colorful mascara lashes. And like, I understand, like, the power of makeup. Like the like, transformation that you mentioned before, it was so powerful. And I enjoy to become like a different person, a different character by the help of makeup and the colorful hair. And then I. I was in, like, actually I was in cosplay clubs and like in high school also and in the university also. I really enjoy it. And a lot of friends asked me to help them to do makeup. Actually, I studied journalism for four years. You're one of us. But sorry, I wasn't that in. I don't feel it, you know, I don't feel the click. Totally. And then I was reading all these magazines when. When the teacher was like, passionate speaking and I don't care. And I was like, I was self taught how to do makeup. And at sophomore years, I finally found the courage to call my mom that. Like, mom, like, let me tell you something. I wanted to study makeup in Paris. I'm like, I will finish my school, but eventually I want to become a makeup artist. And I told her that I feel like makeup is also a different way of painting. Instead of painting on the black white paper, you paint on living individual. And of course, my parents, they were like, do you want to open a saloon like, in the future? Like, they don't understand what I want to do because they are in a small town. We're not connecting in that level. But I was really like, mom, I really want to do this. This is like my love, Please give me five years. And I want to go to Paris to study makeup to work with color. And my mom's like, okay, I'll give you five years, and if you fail, you come back, you become a teacher. I'm like, okay. But I mean, after seven years, I got the contract with Chanel. I guess my mom is quite happy.
- [15:59]
Kirby
Like, eventually, yeah, everyone's parents came around except for Amis, who had been like, on board since day one, which we love and respect them for. That's amazing. So what does becoming a Chanel Global makeup creative partner entail? I mean, I feel like if you're talking to any makeup artist, they probably would say this is the, you know, creme de la creme. This is where they would aspire to be working with A fashion house and brand of this level. What do you guys do as this collective?
- [16:30]
Cecile Paravina
We go to the office in Paris. We go to the office. So we live in different cities. For someone that wouldn't know. You live in Shanghai, Valentina, and you're based in London. Yes, and I live in Paris.
- [16:45]
Valentina Lee
The lucky one.
- [16:46]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, well, I'm lucky, but it's just, like, sometimes with traffic, it's still one hour to get there, but. But basically, we have to meet and all together. And we do work as a collective, so it entails that we have to. To work as a team as well. So we will meet, like, I think once a month, roughly.
- [17:05]
Valentina Lee
More than once a month.
- [17:06]
Cecile Paravina
More than once. Once a month.
- [17:08]
Ami Jame
It's like once a month, but we spend, like, a whole week together.
- [17:11]
Cecile Paravina
Just like, you know, just like, brainstorming.
- [17:14]
Ami Jame
Yes.
- [17:14]
Cecile Paravina
Meeting, conversations, stuff, you know, just like, this kind of stuff. So the Chanel makeup studio will give us, like, a subject to work on, like a future collection or a new. A new range, maybe. We have to create, like, 30 colors, and usually we alternate between individual projects, so we each develop a collection on our own. And then we also started because this. The symbiosis is quite. You know, this team thing is working really well, and we get on well at work, so it's quite easy for us to work the three. The three together and kind of create a wrench together. So we've been doing that and experimenting with that for, like, I think, more than a year now. Working way more.
- [18:03]
Kirby
Because you came together, what, October 2022. That's when it was officially announced.
- [18:07]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, but we had been working. We started in May 2022. Right?
- [18:13]
Valentina Lee
Yeah.
- [18:13]
Ami Jame
Yes, yes.
- [18:14]
Kirby
What was the first collection that you three worked on together?
- [18:19]
Ami Jame
It's not.
- [18:20]
Cecile Paravina
It's not yet.
- [18:21]
Kirby
Oh, oh, right. Because how long it takes in advance. Got it. That's interesting. Are you in? I guess. Okay. So to that point, beauty, like, you're often working years in advance on a collection, whereas fashion, I feel like, obviously work is done ahead of time. But are you guys in is directive from Chanel? Like, you need to make collections that are inspired by our fashion?
- [18:43]
Ami Jame
No, I think they very. They giving us a lot of freedom to base our collections in what's inspiring for us at the moment. Or sometimes it can be, like, a subject that they want to work on, but we kind of take that as an initial point, and then we kind of, like, transform it and evolve the theme. And sometimes, as Cecil has mentioned, is one of us working on one collection, sometimes the three of us but the studio is always part of, you know, kind of like directing how things. Yeah. And like how things are also divided because you can imagine it's not very easy to have three creative directors and try to be like super equal and fair. So there is a lot of, you know, like, we don't have to experience that. That's like up to Natalie, the, you know, vice president. But they really orchestrate something that works for us. And then of course, like we have like great chemistry. That's something that I don't know how they would have done it if we didn't get along because, you know, it's, you know, unfortunately, like the fashion industry or the beauty industry can be quite like self centered and like, like huge egos and you know, but we kind of like so chill and like we.
- [20:13]
Cecile Paravina
Leave the ego also out of the office because the fact that we work as a team, plus we work for another brand, a house that is as a strong foundation, it already exists without us, like, we don't need to be there. Right. Chanel is such a specific house with very specific codes and a whole aesthetic and ethos to it. So we're only just adding a few bricks to a huge house already. So the thing is, we know this common goal and this helps us work smoothly because we are not trying to, you know, shine brighter than the other one or like something like that. There's none of that energy at the office. So it's quite easy to work in these conditions with you guys that they're so lucky.
- [20:57]
Sarah
I mean, you all are so different too and have so many different perspectives.
- [21:00]
Valentina Lee
We're really different.
- [21:02]
Ami Jame
But then we're kind of like the same as each other.
- [21:07]
Valentina Lee
Exactly.
- [21:08]
Ami Jame
That helps.
- [21:08]
Sarah
I would love to be in your guys group chat. I'm sure it's like there's so many points of inspiration.
- [21:14]
Cecile Paravina
It's, it's wild.
- [21:17]
Ami Jame
It's never stopping.
- [21:20]
Valentina Lee
Never stop beauty conversations. Sometimes like maybe 80% beauty, 20% something else.
- [21:25]
Sarah
That's, I guess.
- [21:27]
Ami Jame
Yeah, the personal stuff.
- [21:28]
Kirby
Yes.
- [21:29]
Sarah
I love that. Okay, so as I just said, you guys come from such different backgrounds. Spain, France, China. How has your culture influenced your perspective on beauty? Valentina, do you want to start?
- [21:42]
Valentina Lee
I'll say that I really love red. It's not because everybody think that red is the color for Chinese New Year. This is something that I really wanted to, but it's my point of view because like, we are very close to Chinese New Year. And every time at the end of the year, like red, like there's red everywhere. And I think that I'll say that the reason I love red is like, I feel like in my culture we really like hard worker, we really like passion about our jobs. And I think red represents like, for me, red is the color of blood, as Gabrielle Chanel said. And it's like an act of passion. I think that the reason, that's why every Chinese New Year, that's like red everywhere is like, people wanted to have this kind of positive feeling about life. And that's why like I really vibrate the color of red. But also like you mentioned, I'm quite alien.
- [22:39]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, I mean, it's like you're not like a lot of people that I've met before, whether they come from Asia or not. But you just, you're a very unique person.
- [22:52]
Valentina Lee
I mean, I will have to say that it's not like my cultural influence me, I'll say it's like forest, it's like nature in general that influenced me because as I told you before, I'm from the south of China and I basically live in the forest when I was a kid and I spent a lot of my childhood running around. And also my biggest inspiration is the outer space and the forest. So I would not say like my Chinese culture that influenced me that much. I would say like this, like my curious about nature and the outer space that influenced me.
- [23:33]
Cecile Paravina
I think it's interesting what you say because for me personally, so if you don't know, I come from like the ugliest village you can find in France. Like in the northeast of France, there's nothing to do. It's really. It's so dull, so sad. You don't want to go there.
- [23:48]
Valentina Lee
I love my hometown, by the way.
- [23:50]
Kirby
She clearly hates me.
- [23:51]
Ami Jame
You know, this in her homet.
- [23:53]
Cecile Paravina
Our hometown is like amazing. Like forest, like jungle. It's like nature is insane. Like, it's just. It's a very different environment to grow up in. For mine, it's like post industrialized nightmare. So when I was. I cannot say it didn't influence me. I know that there's some colors, like my love for certain gray tones come from this, like disgusting, dull buildings, you know, and stuff like that. But for me it's more growing up against something. It's like wanting something that is not there where I come from, so always kind of running after it. I think this is the biggest influence that the place where I grew up gave me is just like, I really liked eccentricity. I needed to express myself whether it was with hair, with makeup, with clothes. And initially I wanted to be A designer. So I guess I was very interested in fashion. I think it's because I was lacking something that was not there, that was not present. I have some very French things about me. You guys know? Yes, you guys know. I have very French things about me. Complaining about food everywhere when it's not in France, or doing things like this. But truly, what influences my work is the lack of, I think, just always running after something cool.
- [25:14]
Ami Jame
In a way, I can really, like, relate to you because again, I grew up near Barcelona, but it wasn't Barcelona. It's, again, an industrial city. It was a textile city. So there wasn't much about where I grew up. And also, I grew up being completely different because there wasn't black people in Spain at that time. I was the only black person. Maybe with my brothers and my dad, maybe I could count maybe 10 more people in the whole city, you know, that were black. So I did grow up feeling quite altered. So in a way like that hunger of. Instead of trying to accommodate to what the beauty standard was around me, I had to make. I mean, now as an adult, I can see what I did as a kid, you know, But I had to make an executive decision. Either I'm trying to assimilate. To assimilate and try to be white and Caucasian, which is not going to work, or I just embrace my roots and I embrace my heritage, and that's what I did. I was super lucky to have two brothers and my dad and my mom and actually my family, my Spanish side of the family, who were super open and they were super curious as well. So we always had some elements of my Gambian culture around. And I can say that I absolutely do take inspiration in my culture and things like, I don't know, like vibrant colors, things that cannot be super. That are not very linked with chicness. But I do see it because I see these beautiful aunties wearing, like, colorful outfits and they just elegant. Sometimes they're not even trying, you know, like, when I go to Gambia and I see them, like, in the market, like, they just, like, each day is the day to wear an outfit. It doesn't matter if you like selling oranges or if you are going to dinner party, you know, And I think that's something that I really have in, like, the way I even, like, create makeup. I don't want to limit the color range of, like, oh, this is chic, but this isn't. This is elegant, but this isn't just because it's not the standard or it's not what they have told us that it is acceptable. So definitely I can say that. Like, I keep my culture super close to my heart, and I'm, like, super proud.
- [28:10]
Kirby
So I was reading you were inspired by 90s R&B and hip hop music videos.
- [28:15]
Valentina Lee
Yes.
- [28:16]
Kirby
Like artists. Aaliyah, tlc. Have you incorporated that into your aesthetic at all?
- [28:22]
Ami Jame
Absolutely.
- [28:22]
Kirby
Okay, please tell us more, because this is speaking our language. We Love Aaliyah from TLC. What about them? Or what about 90s R&B and hip hop? Have you brought into your aesthetic?
- [28:34]
Ami Jame
I mean, the first thing that you see when you look at these women or men, they always look flawless. You know, one thing that you will always find is that they have perfect complexion. You know, it's just, like, amazing. And then they will add something and kind of like going back to what you were saying at the beginning, like, that sense of, like, clashing. So the skin is gorgeous, flawless, beautiful. And then they add a black, glossy lip or a huge lash or crystals, like, all these elements that are so not expected. They were doing all of that. And you see them fashion shows that took, like, incredible inspiration by these women, you know, and it's kind of fun. Like, interesting to know that they actually, like, even with clothing, they were not sponsored by any of these brands. They were buying these amazing outfits with.
- [29:38]
Kirby
Their heart, which is crazy, because TLC was not making money for a minute. Money was being stolen.
- [29:44]
Ami Jame
Stolen from them.
- [29:44]
Kirby
So the fact that they actually had to pay for it is bonkers.
- [29:47]
Ami Jame
I just honestly.
- [29:48]
Kirby
And, like, good for them.
- [29:49]
Cecile Paravina
Good for them.
- [29:50]
Ami Jame
And also, like, it says a lot about personal style. They were not trying to look like anyone else. More the opposite way. Like, all these brands and all these designers, like, they were reflecting on what these people was doing.
- [30:08]
Cecile Paravina
Totally.
- [30:09]
Kirby
They were seeing tlc, Aaliyah, and they are taking inspiration to put on the Runway, which is, like, we could have a whole conversation about where inspiration is really coming from. Yes, but. Yes, that's so true.
- [30:20]
Sarah
Okay, so, Valentina, we're going to talk more about color. So you refer to yourself as, like, a face painter because you're, you know, very artistic. You want to be, you know, an artist at first. What advice do you have for people who want to incorporate and play with more color and make statements but are afraid, which I feel like is so.
- [30:39]
Valentina Lee
Many people, but, like, if you want to make a statement already, why are you afraid of it? Right. Because actually, my style in my early years was quite a difference because I finished my school in Paris, like, around 2015, and I started working in Shanghai for about three years. And all I do is natural makeup. It's no makeup makeup. And at the end of the day, I'm like, why I'm here for. I mean, if you want me to just do like a skin. I mean, I also do gray skin. Thanks for those year. But I'm a makeup artist. I want to play color. I want to do crazy, you know, beautiful eyes, like creative lips. And then. But I was afraid of the society and also afraid of the industry, because at that time in China, like, we don't see much makeup in the magazine. We all focusing on the styling, on the fashion, but nobody connected with makeup. But. But, you know, but I was so lonely and so sad. And then after one more year, I decided to study again. Like, so I was with Aaron Parson for Paris Fashion Week. I was like, I sent her a lovely message. I was like, can I assist you for Fashion Week? Because I really want to learn. And I think, like, during the is, like the moment that you can learn the most. And she replied me, thank you so much, Aaron. And then she was so nice to me. And then I got the chance to really see how people play with different material. The crystal, a lot of different color, and how she see makeup is totally different than my experience in school and in my work. And when I came back to China and I just think, think about, like, what I want to say through my makeup. What do I wanted to tell the audience? I wanted to, you know, I. I don't want people to see my image, and they say, oh, this is Valentina. I want people to see my work. And they. They say, oh, this is Valentina. So nowadays you can see each of my work. I will leave a sentence. That's my statement. But I'm sure, like, not everybody gets what I want to say through my work. But if, like, the audience, they connect with me and they know, like, for example, if I do a lot of freckles on the skin, I will say, like, first the burn, first the sun, then the burn. Or I will say, like, freckle is like the best, best gift the sun can give us. I'm a very sensitive and a romantic person. I have a lot to say. And I was a journalist before, so when I was a journalist, I write to express my thought, and now I express my thought with color. I think generally I just have a lot to say, but I cannot write down. But I show you with my work. So I think that it's not about, like, you're afraid to make this statement. I think first you need to talk to yourself, you need to know what you want to say. Then just do it.
- [33:53]
Kirby
Okay, Cecile, so we talked about your fashion background. Your mentor. Serge Luton's very important to you.
- [34:00]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, but I've never met him. People say you're a mentor, but he's.
- [34:04]
Kirby
Just who you're inspired by.
- [34:06]
Cecile Paravina
Yes.
- [34:06]
Kirby
Okay, so let's talk about this, because one thing I love about your work is that you refuse to color within the lines sometimes. So you can see your makeup. It will extend past an eyebrow. Like, if you're painting the idol, extend. You're not, like, keeping it. You have fun with it. It's not painting by numbers. You know what I mean?
- [34:27]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:27]
Kirby
So what would you say fashion and your inspiration from Serge brought to your artistry?
- [34:35]
Cecile Paravina
I mean, I think I kind of got very fond of Serge Lutense way after I started becoming a makeup artist. Like, I think I knew images of him, but I didn't. It didn't click as much. I think I needed to wait to become a makeup artist and then see why his work is so genius. Because he's not just a makeup artist. He's a photographer and he's an artistic director, and he worked at Diord and Shiseido for ages and created things that I think, to me is the epitome of creativity in a beauty brand, which. It's easy to do makeup, I think it's not that easy, but it's easy to do makeup on a shoot or on yourself or for creativity or on a client, and you give out something and it's there. But I think what he did of creating it with the difficulty that exists that are present when working for a brand, I think it's quite genius. And that's why he's so important to me. And his career is something that I look up to very much. But I'm not sure how to answer honestly. How does fashion come to inspire? But, yeah, it's a difficult question to.
- [35:54]
Kirby
I'm actually curious. You said something at the beginning about how Tumblr was part of your inspiration, and it introduced you to movie references, film references. Is there a movie or film that you're continuously inspired by that you find yourself bringing?
- [36:10]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, there's so many, actually. I think there's a movie that I love by a Japanese director. I think it's probably from the 60s or 50s, but it's called the Face of Another. And I think it's an amazing movie because it questions the idea of wearing a mask and things like that. Basically, the main character is like he got disfigured by a fire. So he finds a man on the street, and he asks his doctor, his surgeon to put the face of this man. And so he lives a double identity with him.
- [36:44]
Kirby
Oh, I've heard of this movie.
- [36:45]
Cecile Paravina
It's really interesting. So there's so many. I think there's so many. I found out about, like, specifically, like, Japanese and Italian cinema. I love Fellini, for instance. I think, like, Casanova is like, that's the reason why I shaved my eyebrows. I had shaved eyebrows for, I think, like, six years. And there's one. One character that has, like, this, like, glistening white skin and this, like, shaved eyebrows. And I just loved her personality with, like, a. Like, a dark red lipstick. And she was so, like, you know, just like, yeah, yeah, I'm looking at you.
- [37:21]
Kirby
Yeah.
- [37:22]
Cecile Paravina
I just couldn't forget about her face. And this, of course, infused my work, what I want to try to do, depending on, you know, who I work with, when it. What is possible. But I always try to have, like, these very important references. There's also an Indian Bollywood actress that I love. Her name is Rekha. And, you know, it's good to have as many references. So whether you work on different skin tones, different features, different ethnicities, you always have something to bring that clicks well, but that is maybe still unexpected. So I think to me, like, having Tumblr and a wide range of references that I could just enjoy, get into were really important. But what was most important is that the time I wasn't trying to find inspiration for my work, like, it was removed from work. It was just, like, enjoying it for myself. It was like a way to dream, a way to forget that I lived in this village that I didn't really like or, you know, like. So I think to me, like, my approach of getting inspired, it's quite important to do it removed from anything. And something that might inspire you might be in a book. It's completely abstract. It's just a sentence you read, and you're just like, oh, my God, like, what I'm imagining sounds really good. I, you know, and I'm happy. Well, I'm at peace with that, even though I can't immediately use it into an eyeliner or into creating a shade of mascara or something like that. So, yeah, I guess staying culturally stimulated and involved enables you to see beauty and be very alert to beauty. I think questions that is often asked to us, I think, is like, what is beauty? But it's so vague, it's so difficult to answer, and it's Subjective, too. Yeah, it's very subjective. Exactly. Because it depends on your experiences, your background, your mood, even. And I think it's quite good to feel like beauty is just like an ephemeral thing. It's gonna happen. You don't know when. You just have to put yourself in the condition to be able to enjoy it. So I guess that would be a good way of explaining my approach in a way. It was hard to answer your question, but I try this given insight.
- [39:41]
Kirby
We've been eating up everything you guys have been saying, by the way. This is like a very fun conversation for us.
- [39:46]
Sarah
I just have to say last thing about Tumblr. Can we talk about Tumblr? I was just talking to someone last week and they were saying that they're on Tumblr still all the time.
- [39:52]
Cecile Paravina
I am.
- [39:53]
Sarah
Are you?
- [39:54]
Cecile Paravina
Same. So you still. I don't post anymore.
- [39:56]
Sarah
Okay.
- [39:56]
Cecile Paravina
I don't post because it would be weird. And I. I found that when I was posting every. So I think a lot of people follow me like that, work in the industry, but they don't know it's me because I've had it for so long. And I was like micro Tumblr famous. So I think a lot of people even knew me from, like, other schools, like, who went to art school or whatever. And they were like, you know what? I've been following you since you're 14. And I'm like, oh, that's shocking. But so this already happened. And every time I would post pictures, like more recently, like two years ago, still posting, and people would just, like, I would find these images everywhere on Instagram after. So now I want to have a more, like, private way of. Of educating myself and, you know, going to exhibitions. And also I collect vintage books now, which is my Tumblr is now physical. It's my library, you know, So I think I don't enjoy Internet the same way. Internet changed a lot also. It's not the same era.
- [40:51]
Kirby
I wonder if this is the first Chanel creative partner that's mentioned Tumblr as inspiration. It's the new age of Chanel.
- [40:59]
Sarah
It is so obviously Chanel iconic, classic brand. But you all are very eccentric. You are the future of beauty. Why do you think the brand brought you together?
- [41:16]
Kirby
Did you feel it was a good match? That was what I was thinking. And I look at you guys, obviously you're wearing Chanel and you look Chanel. But then when you talk about your inspirations, I'm not necessarily aligning Chanel with 90s R&B or Tumblr the thing with.
- [41:31]
Cecile Paravina
Chanel is that it can be so many things since the ethos enables. For the ethos of Gabrielle, Chanel is to create garments and objects that enables her to have the lifestyle that she wanted to have at the time with no concessions. And there's a type of egoistical like approach almost, but it's very sincere and it's very. It's functional too. It's creating a black tip shoe when you don't want to walk in mud and have your shoes dirty. But now it's an iconic piece and everyone's like, oh, it's Chanel. But you don't necessarily think like, oh, they're the shoes that you wear when you don't want them to get dirty.
- [42:06]
Sarah
And you had no idea.
- [42:08]
Cecile Paravina
There you go. A little bit of tree education.
- [42:11]
Valentina Lee
But also in a way that you think about like Chanel love to. Was that thing the. Your inspiration for your fall?
- [42:20]
Cecile Paravina
She loved astrology and she. I say that she was a bit like a fortune teller of fashion.
- [42:26]
Valentina Lee
And you love that too, right? And Chanel loved to love tennis, love like skiing. That's me. Chanel love music. That's her.
- [42:35]
Sarah
So you all are parts of.
- [42:37]
Kirby
I did not know astrology was involved.
- [42:39]
Sarah
Oh my gosh. So you have to go visit her now.
- [42:42]
Kirby
I feel more.
- [42:43]
Ami Jame
It's amazing.
- [42:44]
Sarah
All the different elements.
- [42:45]
Ami Jame
Yeah.
- [42:46]
Kirby
Love that.
- [42:47]
Sarah
Did you guys know each other before?
- [42:49]
Cecile Paravina
We knew all each other.
- [42:51]
Sarah
Okay. Okay.
- [42:52]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah.
- [42:52]
Sarah
Were you concerned that you weren't gonna get along?
- [42:55]
Valentina Lee
I. Concerned. I. I'm a Scorpion and I'm like. I was like really, like searching research. Like, what is her sign?
- [43:02]
Kirby
What are the signs?
- [43:03]
Sarah
Tell us the signs.
- [43:04]
Cecile Paravina
Libra, Aries.
- [43:07]
Kirby
Oh, okay.
- [43:08]
Valentina Lee
Scorpion.
- [43:09]
Kirby
Yeah. Interesting spicy mix. Later we're gonna have to talk about Yalls Big three. Like which what your rising and because. So we're both Capricorns.
- [43:20]
Cecile Paravina
That's good.
- [43:22]
Kirby
She's Capricorn double Aries. And then I'm Capricorn Cancer Rising. Scorpio Moon. So I love a Scorpio. I have a little Scorpio, but also I have a lot of Aries and a lot of Libras in my life. So I don't know what that means, but this feels like a good. A collective, all five of us together.
- [43:40]
Sarah
Maybe someone at Chanel ran your guys birth charts first.
- [43:45]
Cecile Paravina
People do that, but probably they did.
- [43:47]
Ami Jame
You know, we just don't know.
- [43:48]
Cecile Paravina
It's a good idea.
- [43:49]
Kirby
Michelle Phan did that when she was employing people. She was asking people what their designs were. Yeah, we had her on the podcast she told us. I'm like, I think that's like, an HR violation, but whatever. Okay, so let's talk about products to invest in. When it comes to Chanel. I mean, even with the beauty, it. Even though beauty is more attainable for a lot of people, it's still a luxury brand. So the holidays are coming up. People might be thinking, I want to give something really special for Christmas. Hanukkah. Is there a product that you each would recommend investing in? And what is it?
- [44:25]
Cecile Paravina
For me, it's Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue. I think I love this lipstick. It feels, you know, like one of these Chanel suits that are comfy but also really make you look put together and you just forget that you're wearing it. But you're just effortlessly chic all day. This is this lipstick. It stays so well on. You can eat, drink, talk, do your entire day and still look super put together at the end. And I love that. And many shades are really cool.
- [44:58]
Sarah
Is there a favorite shade?
- [45:00]
Cecile Paravina
I love burning red because it's a yellow red, but I also really love both. Both radiant pink and shocking pink. I love these two colors.
- [45:11]
Ami Jame
Yeah. I do agree it's a great product. And honestly, it doesn't move. You will apply the shade in the morning at am. You will go and have lunch. And the shade still there hasn't moved. You just need to apply or reapply the gloss. It's perfect. Yeah. But I have to say, my favorite, favorite, favorite.
- [45:32]
Valentina Lee
That's my favorite too. Go ahead.
- [45:34]
Ami Jame
It's Baume Essential transparent. Yes. It's for everyone. You can apply it literally everywhere. Like eyelids, cheekbones, lips, collarbones, anywhere, really. And it just makes you look very radiant and healthy. Like, I just love it.
- [45:53]
Kirby
Sarah mentioned it on a episode a few months ago, and I had never tried it before. And then I got it in the room and I was.
- [46:00]
Valentina Lee
Which shade?
- [46:01]
Kirby
What shade do we have?
- [46:02]
Sarah
The transparent one.
- [46:04]
Kirby
It's the transparent one. I put it on my eyes this morning, and then I did my makeup. Then I put it on my cheek, and then I put it on my cupid's bow, and then I put it on the middle of my lip. I'm like, okay, why have I been living without this? It really. It's a grown up highlighter. It's. It's so chic. It's so beautiful.
- [46:18]
Sarah
It really, like you said, it makes you look alive and healthy. Especially after you, you know, set your face, powder it down. It brings back, like, the life. The life, yeah. Is that what you were gonna say? Valentina.
- [46:29]
Valentina Lee
I love like Bon Misen. Like I use like maybe 30 or of like 40 of them already for sure. For show whenever I do show. Not me, you know, I don't have that.
- [46:40]
Kirby
Yeah, you have the real estate.
- [46:42]
Sarah
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [46:43]
Valentina Lee
But I, I love that product. But I'm going to say like, because you, you mentioned holiday is coming, so I'm going to say like my new collection, the Holiday collection, the Enchanter night, it's like this like really big, like the face and eye palette and it comes in this like giant quantity.
- [47:01]
Cecile Paravina
It's the XXL compact. It's really, really made.
- [47:04]
Ami Jame
So gorgeous.
- [47:05]
Kirby
Those compacts are so beautiful too. So that's like a nice gift in itself.
- [47:09]
Valentina Lee
Exactly. And you can use for your cheek, you can use it as a highlight, a blush and for your eyeshadow. I think it's like the three of us really love the idea of like multi use products. We think that we want it to become like, we want to create more products like that too. Because in the future you don't want to bring like 10 kilos of makeup products to travel. No, it's really like heavy.
- [47:34]
Cecile Paravina
As makeup artists, we know how heavy.
- [47:36]
Kirby
Yes. You guys have kids, you understand.
- [47:38]
Ami Jame
It really goes back to that Gabrielle Chanel ethos of like something that is really practical. So if you have one thing that you can use for many, you know, many areas of your face and many occasions that's like just perfect.
- [47:54]
Sarah
Yeah. Okay, we're gonna do a fun little rapid fire. Okay. First thing that comes to mind, most recent saved Instagram post.
- [48:05]
Kirby
Do you guys save?
- [48:08]
Valentina Lee
Oh yeah.
- [48:08]
Kirby
You two don't have it. We saw that on Yalls page. So you two don't have Instagram? Why?
- [48:14]
Ami Jame
I mean, I do have Instagram.
- [48:16]
Kirby
I mean, you have it on my phone.
- [48:16]
Ami Jame
I just don't have it on my phone.
- [48:18]
Cecile Paravina
I go to instagram maybe every two weeks.
- [48:21]
Sarah
Okay. Okay. That's okay.
- [48:22]
Cecile Paravina
So people send me DMs and they're like, are you coming to the. And I'm like, like, I don't see.
- [48:27]
Sarah
Are you also not on TikTok?
- [48:29]
Cecile Paravina
No.
- [48:29]
Ami Jame
Oh, I don't even have. I never had TikTok. Wow.
- [48:33]
Valentina Lee
I'm on Instagram.
- [48:34]
Kirby
Valentina is on Instagram.
- [48:35]
Sarah
Do you have anything say cats?
- [48:37]
Valentina Lee
Cats and either octopus or weird, like alien, like deep sea animal.
- [48:45]
Sarah
Oh yeah.
- [48:46]
Valentina Lee
They're two of my thing cats and ocean creature.
- [48:50]
Kirby
That's me with Mu Dang, the baby pygmy hippo from Thailand.
- [48:54]
Sarah
You guys have to see Kirby's Halloween costume.
- [48:57]
Cecile Paravina
Love her.
- [48:58]
Kirby
I Was muday for Halloween prosthetics. It was wild. Really. I will show.
- [49:04]
Cecile Paravina
Can we see pictures?
- [49:04]
Ami Jame
Yes.
- [49:05]
Valentina Lee
After this, you will be seeing it.
- [49:06]
Sarah
You could eat or drink.
- [49:07]
Kirby
No, I couldn't. It was crazy work.
- [49:09]
Cecile Paravina
That's the best. Thank you.
- [49:10]
Kirby
No, it was last Halloween.
- [49:12]
Cecile Paravina
I was in a mummy, and I was in a club, and they had to cut me up, like, open because I was suffering from just, like, being constricted so much. So they had to find, like, scissors in the club and cut up my entire body. And I just went out like this with the front and the back and the taxi.
- [49:28]
Sarah
How interactive.
- [49:30]
Kirby
I love that. Yeah. No, I was pretty sad taking off the prosthetics. I, like, wanted to be the. It was like, this is me now, but whatever. Okay. What is a beauty rule that you three love to break?
- [49:42]
Ami Jame
Oh, I like to break every single rule.
- [49:44]
Cecile Paravina
Every single rule.
- [49:45]
Ami Jame
There is no rules.
- [49:46]
Valentina Lee
Yeah.
- [49:47]
Cecile Paravina
I hate the one that is like, blue eyeshadows for brown eyes or whatever. Like, I hate this one. I hate this one. No, it's like, I wear green eyeshadows, and I have green eyes. You know, like, shocking.
- [50:00]
Valentina Lee
Sue me. And you can wear a color content to change your eye color. You know, there should not be rules in makeup. It ruins the fun.
- [50:08]
Ami Jame
And even these things that they do now where, like, they put, like, colors in front of you do not need. This makes you old. And this. No.
- [50:22]
Cecile Paravina
Yes.
- [50:22]
Sarah
No, I agree.
- [50:23]
Valentina Lee
We.
- [50:24]
Sarah
There's that filter on TikTok that's like, contrast. You have to figure out which, like, contrast you are. And Kirby and I could not figure it out. And we're like, whatever. This is too hard.
- [50:34]
Kirby
We're like. We're this, like, makeup industrial.
- [50:36]
Cecile Paravina
Do you guys have rules, though? I think that's interesting, because we do have. We hate the rules, but I do have a few things that I do have.
- [50:43]
Ami Jame
Do I have any rules?
- [50:44]
Kirby
What are your rules?
- [50:44]
Cecile Paravina
I'm a bit psycho.
- [50:45]
Ami Jame
I don't have any rules.
- [50:46]
Valentina Lee
I don't have any.
- [50:47]
Cecile Paravina
I mean, just not like, having as least foundation as you need just to cover up what needs to be covered up. But that still looks nice.
- [50:55]
Valentina Lee
I think that's breezy.
- [50:56]
Ami Jame
But then at the same time, it depends, because if I do a project that I want the, you know, the character that I'm creating, like, too cakey, then I'll put, like, 30 layers of foundation, and I love it, you know? Yeah.
- [51:14]
Kirby
Ladies, this was so fun. We've come to the end of our hour. We could talk to you for many more. Hopefully there's another episode with you three in the future. But where can people, if they want to maybe not DM you, but follow you on Instagram where they can see your work, what are your handles and where can they see your work?
- [51:31]
Ami Jame
So my one is literally my name and surname. Ami Drame. Yeah. And you can follow me on Instagram. I don't post much, but I think you'll find a few cute things that you can look at. Why not?
- [51:44]
Cecile Paravina
Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram even though I don't post anymore, almost. But like, it's Cecile Paravina. My first name, my last name. But I think, no, I'm not gonna reveal my Tumblr URL. People are gonna.
- [51:56]
Kirby
You'll have to do digging yourself and.
- [51:58]
Cecile Paravina
Just like, look, look up for all my info. So I'm not gonna reveal it now.
- [52:01]
Valentina Lee
So mine is also my name, plus my birthday and my blue hair. I think I'm very easy to find and I. I'm quite active on Instagrams and I think that's like a very good platform for me in the beginning of my career and also now. And also I send a lot of cute cat stories. So please, if you are an animal lover and an ocean lover, please follow me.
- [52:23]
Sarah
Amazing.
- [52:24]
Kirby
Yay. That's a wrap.
- [52:26]
Cecile Paravina
Thank you so much.
- [52:41]
Verizon Representative
Some things you wouldn't mind being stuck with, like a huge inheritance, but a phone that has to be plugged in just right so it charges is not one of those things. Switch to Verizon and we'll pay off your old phone up to $800 via prepaid MasterCard for a new one on us. Just trade in any phone from our top brands with Select Unlimited plans. $829.99 purchase with new smartphone line on select unlimited plans. Minimum $90 per month with auto pay plus taxes and fees for 36 months required, plus $830 trade in promo credit applied over 36 months. Trade in terms apply. Pay off phone requires smartphone purchase and port in with new smartphone line on select plan. Let's provide most recent bill showing payoff amount of eligible phone. Additional terms apply.