As the face of the new Dior Addict Stellar Shine lipstick campaign, which has the strapline “Be Dior. Be Pink”, Cara Delevingne couldn’t be a better demonstration of why pink means more than just pretty.
“Pink can be pretty and punk. It can go from a pastel romantic pink but it can also be a hardcore, shocking pink,” she told us at the launch in Shanghai, China. Peter Philips, Dior Make-up’s creative and image director, explains: “Pink is iconic, it can be rebellious but also cute and pretty. Take it out of its romantic, cute context and it becomes more powerful. In this lipstick line with Cara we are not abusing beauty to send out a message but playing with it and using it as a tool to enhance beauty and let a voice be heard.”
Delevingne continues, “there are as many emotions as there are pink shades and different women’s personalities. Pink is masculine and feminine – you can be yourself. When they say “Be Dior” it means be yourself, whatever that is. Pink is so much more than pink. It’s not just a pretty colour. Pink should be the strength, what you make of it – turning the pink cliché on its head.” She adds that the song used in the campaign, “Pink” by Aerosmith, “is about female empowerment. I also think it’s interesting that it’s called Dior Addict because all those colours to me look edible and lipsticks should be good enough to eat.” They taste good enough to eat, too. They have gourmand notes of soft vanilla, while it’s the texture – a balm that hydrates and gives long-lasting colour, unusual for a balm – that makes it even more appealing. Delevingne loves the moisturising feel of the lipstick: “It’s addictive, you want to keep putting it on.”
The collection consists of 24 shades, which includes four “it” pink shades and three different shine finishes; Glazed, Sparkle and Mirror. Philips, when pushed, prefers the Glazed finish because of the way it doesn’t obviously sparkle but has a beautiful high-shine finish. Delevingne is wearing the Mirage shade during the interview – the “neutral/natural” shade that Philips used at Dior’s recent autumn/winter 2019 show in Paris – but her favourite, worn in the campaign, is Be Dior, which was created by Philips to be a universally flattering shade of pink.
“If you want to find the right shade of pink for you look at not only your skin tone but also the shade of your teeth” explains Philips. “Safest to take a pink shade that’s a little bit blueish because it pops and stands out and works on most people.”
Delevingne goes on to talk about her beauty routine: “I can go for six months without having a facial or sometimes I’ll have them all the time. Annoyingly I got a bout of acne at 25, so I try and look after my skin more than I used to. I use anti-ageing products now (Delevingne is also the face of Dior Capture Youth) but also hydrating, hydrating, hydrating because my skin gets so dry. I always mist as much as possible, especially on planes and moisturising my psoriasis. I didn’t understand make-up as a child, and the nuances of it. It was definitely something for me to hide behind or become someone else, instead of a tool to enjoy your own beauty and highlight the things that make you beautiful. But now I think I like something quite natural, highlighting my eyebrows, nude shade on my lips and a bit of gloss on my cheeks when I’m feeling confident“.
As International Women’s Day approaches and the new Dior lipstick range launches, Delevingne demonstrates why she’s perfect for the campaign. When asked about how society can dictate to women how they should be, and the advice she would give young girls, Delevingne explains: “I haven’t found the formula… I think I’m still finding it daily. Sometimes I’m the most awkward person in the world in my body and my skin and sometimes I’m far too confident! It’s a constant journey. It’s important to find the people that share your same ideals and inspire you and make you feel good about yourself. When my friends do something amazing, I constantly text them to tell them. There were so many times I thought someone looked beautiful but I never told them, but women need to be congratulated and celebrated more. So now if I ever think something good about a woman or a man, I’m going to tell them. I hope I can be an inspiration to girls that don’t feel normal or that they belong, because I certainly don’t a lot of the time.”
Dior Addict Stellar Shine Lipstick, £30, launching on March 24.
