A permanent creative process

Certainly, Dany Sanz says, trends exist! I remember very clearly the trend of the mid-1980s, when we started Make Up For Ever, with the surge of American culture. It was the times of the Palace one Paris’ most famous and select night club, of glitters, of eccentricity and the beginning of Body Painting. From the early 1990s, we were back to natural, elegance, chic. Glitters had become vulgar. Then arrived the 2000s with a true fascination for the 1960s. It was the resurgence of Vichy check fabrics, bunches.... Today, we have to admit we are going round in circles! In such circumstances, it’s obvious that one cannot be indifferent to things happening on the outside and many of my colleagues are paying much attention to that. It’s food for my thoughts and ideas, but mostly I am looking for novelty.

As we can see, the creation in 1984 of her own brand, Make Up For Ever, is the logical continuation of a creative process almost permanent.

Professionals or public products?

Obviously the debate "Professional" vs. " General Public" Is not fully solved for this demanding and perfectionist woman. And the transition from a Make Up For Ever almost entirely focused on the development and manufacture of cosmetic products for professionals to today’s Make Up for Ever, a subsidiary of the LVMH Group which has become a reference in the world of cosmetics, operating in more than 45 countries, has not always been and still isn’t that simple.

It’s true, that there might be a bit of an unsolved issue here and I am far from being indifferent to the question,” she admits. “But at the same time, experience has shown that the professional approach was the right one. When I developed five years ago, the HD range (standing for High Definition), with performances that truly suited, the make-up requirements of artists subject to the raw precision of movie or television pictures, people were surprised that my approach was not more focused on general public. But I am attached to that pro image. And this range that I’m still continuing to develop, has had and continues to encounter great success with consumers”. The HD range, by the way, is continuously expanding. "I was the first to develop an HD talcum-free powder and I’ve currently developed an HD blush", she adds.

“There isn’t a thousand ways to put make-up on!”

Regarding the current trend consisting in sophisticated packaging and accessories that facilitate the make-up gesture Dany Sanz considers “it’s more a gadget than shear innovation”.

There isn’t a thousand ways to put make-up on! The real innovation must lie in the product itself and not in its applicator or its packaging. Which doesn’t mean, she acknowledges, that there aren’t any real technical advances, such as airless, which help preserve product performances. This does not mean, either, that we are not interested in packaging. We have planned for instance to change all our packs for eye shadows and we have decided to design our own moulds”.

Finally, concerning current changes in legislation which consists in banning more and more products, “it is really the toughest and most serious challenge our profession will need to address in the years to come”, she insists.

Dany Sanz will tell the story of Make Up For Ever will during the conferences at Make Up in Paris, on June 24 and 25, Espace Pierre Cardin.