Page 80 - S/ Spring 2022

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Lip Service
Dior’s Peter Philips on the latest chapter of Dior Addict lipstick and how it represents a beautiful fusion of the Maison’s past and with its future.
By Lora Grady
S ince creative and image director Peter Philips joined Dior Makeup eight years ago, Dior Addict has been a playground for the labs. Two
years ago, the brand launched Addict Stellar Shine Lipstick, followed by the release of an all-pink collection and Addict Stellar Halo Shine. Over time, Philips and his team came to realize that Addict was being used by a much broader audience than originally thought. “It appeals to everybody who’s young in spirit, not in years” says Philips. After two years of work and 200 trials, the new Dior Addict lipstick is much improved. The new formula, available in 40 shades, offers a serious lacquer-effect shine without the stickiness of a gloss; it wears like a thin, comfortable film and goes on in one swipe.
Most impressively, the new Dior Addict is made with 90 percent of its ingredients sourced from nature. “We worked really hard with the labs, because we wanted to make it as natural as possible without compromising the extreme-shine result,” Philips says. Floral care has always been a signature of Dior Makeup, and jasmine was Christian Dior’s favourite flower. In this formulation, the house used jasmine wax for the first time, along with vegetable-based oils, plum oil, and sunflower and rice waxes. Rich in fatty acids omega 6 and 9, the formula has a melting point of 35°C, so it softens on contact with lips. Dior’s labs ran trials to ensure that each of the shades—which range from nude and rosewood to brick, red, and pink—would offer the same payoff. The resulting formula provides pigmented colour plus 24 hours of hydration. Its scent has notes of red berry and hand-picked Grasse jasmine from estates that work with the House of Dior.
There are four new shades in the Addict family, including Dior 8 — Philips’s personal favourite—a brick red with an orange undertone that
references the lucky number of the Maison’s haute couture offering. “It looks beautiful in this shiny finish and matches so many skin tones and lip undertones,” he says. “It’s more wearable, because it blends in a bit easier than a bluish undertone.”
Another revolutionary update to Addict is its refillable packaging, as a collection of four reusable couture cases inspired by Dior fashions will be available for purchase. While sustainability is top of mind for many brands across beauty and fashion, the House of Dior has a history with refillable beauty: Rouge Dior’s 1953 launch included replenishments. “You had one for your boudoir in a beautiful ornamental case and one for your handbag, and then you had the boxed refills that you could buy separately” Philips explains. “We have them in the archive. It’s part of the DNA of Dior Makeup, so it just makes sense.”
The original Addict lipstick was launched as a fashion accessory, and this eco-friendly upgrade continues that tradition while representing a shift to more conscious beauty. The production of the new sleek black case uses 34 percent less fossil fuels and 47 percent less water, and emits 36 percent less greenhouse gases—even the cardboard packaging is made from recycled paper. It’s joined by three trendy looks: a metallic silver with mirror-like reflections, an indigo denim, and a pink vinyl-effect case that pays tribute to Dior’s exemplary leatherwork. Philips hopes the couture- inspired cases will push the concept of the refill. “It’s like your lipstick gets its own wardrobe,” he says.
The new Dior Addict campaign—which features the faces of actor Anya Taylor-Joy, Blackpink’s Jisoo, and model Sharon Alexie—is all about confident feminine style, creativity, and personality, which perfectly encapsulates the evolution of this iconic lipstick.
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