NARS: That’s the good part: we don’t know what color it is exactly. That’s why it’s so good. It’s not pink. It’s not peach. It’s not apricot. EVANGELISTA: When was the first time that you ever played with makeup? Did you get into mother’s makeup? NARS: Well, now it’s getting quite big. We create a lot of products. After almost 20 years, you also have to be sure that you don’t recreate something that you’ve done already. NARS: Of course it’s annoying. It’s getting so hard to find the good names after almost 20 years. I have this little agenda that I’m filling up 24 hours a day with names. So I’m working on it even when I sleep. Sometimes I wake up and write down a name in my agenda. Can you imagine?

EVANGELISTA: But there were so many girls booked on that shooting, and we were just sitting and waiting. Then I got my turn, and I got so insecure because you were all talking about my gums and my knees. I thought, “Oh, they don’t like me. There’s something wrong with my gums. They’re saying, ‘When she smiles, we can see her gums.’” And I’m like, I’m gonna get thrown out of here because of my knees.

Honolulu Honey

NARS: It’s a good one. But I designed this color like I would have designed any other color. I swear I never thought this was a special color. Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Synthetic Wax, Polyethylene, Dimethicone, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Hydroxyapatite, Diisostearyl Malate, Microcrystalline Wax/Cera Microcristallina/Cire Microcristalline, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Phytosteryl/Octyldodecyl Lauroyl Glutamate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Glyceryl Behenate, Sorbitan Sesquiisostearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Passiflora Edulis Seed Oil, Moringa Oleifera Seed Oil, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Calcium Stearate, Tin Oxide, Simethicone, Bht, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum), Linalool, Citronellol, Limonene, [+/- (May Contain/Peut Contenir): Blue 1 Lake (Ci 42090), Carmine (Ci 75470), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491), Iron Oxides (Ci 77492), Iron Oxides (Ci 77499), Mica, Red 28 Lake (Ci 45410), Red 33 (Ci 17200), Red 33 Lake (Ci 17200), Red 6 (Ci 15850), Red 7 Lake (Ci 15850), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Yellow 5 Lake (Ci 19140)]. NARS: As soon as you tell people, “Oh, I loved this time . . .” they start saying, “You cannot be nostalgic.” Well, you know what? I’m very nostalgic—and I don’t care. [ laughs] As much as there are good things today, talking about models now . . . You feel that they are really out there. But are they really enjoying being models? It’s very hard to say. I mean, I could always tell that you loved being a model. You loved being photographed. EVANGELISTA: It’s those colors you always mixed together to put on my face—the colors that you used on me. They were flat and matte, and then you’d add. NARS: I’m very shy so, of course, going to a store where there are 300 people waiting in line is a bit overwhelming. It’s not my favorite thing in the world. I like to be in the studio, playing with friends, in a small group. But the reward of seeing those women is very nice.

NARS: Well, the only thing I can tell you is that I was obsessive. Today, it’s all about postproduction, though, which is a bit sad to me because I come from an era where there was not as much retouching. There were mirrors—we learned about mirrors. But a good photographer and a good makeup artist could not rely on retouching. It’s very funny because I was talking with Bruce Weber the other day, and he said to me, “Do you believe that everything is so computerized? I’m still shooting film; I never went to digital.” EVANGELISTA: When I see the way brands name their products now, I want to scream, because you were the first one to come up with these amazing names for your colors, which absolutely describe the color. That was your concept, and I feel like that’s part of what made your products so unique.NARS: Yeah, but I’d done a couple shootings there for American Vogue, and the editor on them was Polly. I went crazy for Polly. I love Polly. She was so fabulous and such a character. She made me laugh and was also so incredibly talented. And she came from an era that was fascinating to me because she worked with Avedon in the ’60s and all that. So it was a dream. When she said, “You have to come to New York because I want you to work for the magazine there,” I said, “You don’t have to tell me twice—I’ll go and live in New York in a second.” So that’s the reason why I moved. I really wanted to work with those people, those legends. NARS: I love the architecture magazines and all of the French magazines for decoration or whatever. I end up enjoying them more sometimes than the fashion magazines. i aLwayS fELT LikE i couLd do makEup wiThouT So many producTS . . . ThE fun parT of doinG makEup iS rEaLLy mixinG ThinGS. François Nars NARS: I think I was re-powdering you, and Calvin was talking to me, and you said to me, “You’ve got to focus.” Then I remember the next day I was working with Steven and I said to him, “I worked with this girl, and she was heaven. I don’t know why, but I loved painting her and I loved the attitude. She was very pro—I turn my head, and I was not focusing, and she said, ‘Focus.’ There was something about her . . .” And he said, “Yeah, somebody from her agency told me I should see her.” So I was one of the ones who actually told Steven, “You have to see this girl. She’s definitely working.” [ laughs] I remember like it was yesterday. I said to Steven, “You know, this girl was tough . . . But I kind of like that.”

NARS: It actually ended up that Stephanie gave me one of her prints. [ laughs] I have two prints of Stephanie from when we did Egoïste—one where she has a little monkey on her shoulder. Blend of Moringa and Passion Fruit Seed Oils enhances colour vibrancy and conditions lips for a hydrated feel. NARS: It’s really crazy. Bourdin was one of the photographers who really influenced me to become a makeup artist, and I felt that he deserved to be given credit for that. We have purples and coppers . . . I mean, I knew the photographs so well that it was kind of easy to put the whole thing together. His son, Samuel, gave us access to all of the archives, so I was able to use the images as part of it.EVANGELISTA: And you can see that—there’s always so much life in the images. But do you love working with postproduction in your own photography?