You Can Wear Hermès’s New Lipstick 3 Different Ways

I’m at a lovely in-the-middle age, one I’d describe as being somewhere between a matte lipstick and a glossy lip balm. Neither feel exactly right for me at this moment. All I want is for my lips to feel soft and to be enhanced by a pretty color that isn’t so sheer that you can see the scar from the time that I got incredibly panicked during a test and bit through my lip epidermis (true story—I was much too stressed in high school).

“Pleasant fountains” do lie out there, and they come in the beautiful form of Hermès’s Silky Lipstick Shine, a truly transformational product. One swipe straight from the tube gives you a tinted lip balm, two gives you an almost-lipstick, and three swipes and a little bit of pressure turns the product into a lovely stain that gives you the lips of a toddler with a passion for organic berries. The product also comes alive in the sunlight. When I met Gregoris Pyrpylis, creative director of Hermès Beauty in Paris, he showed it to me in his office. In the shade, the Lipstick Shines had a slight iridescence and warm, comforting tones, like the red-and-blue Alex Katz painting that hung behind him. But in the sunlight, I gasped with surprise as they glittered like a disco ball, with bits of copper and pink sparkles throwing light over the room (it was the best beauty magic trick I’ve seen so far this year).

Gregoris Pyrpylis

Coming in 14 colors, including three limited-edition shades, the refillable lipsticks with packaging designed by Pierre Hardy also have a soft, comforting scent with notes of sandalwood and candied flower, created by the brand’s nose, Christine Nagel. Pyrpylis told me more about how a childhood memory inspired the lipstick, the reason for its specific slant, and how the shades really play with light.

What was the inspiration for the lipstick?

I’m going to take you way back to when I was a kid. I grew up in Greece, and back in the ’90s, my mother would pick me up from school. She was obsessed with silk chiffon and used to wear it around her neck or attached to her bag. She wouldn’t always wear a lot of makeup, but she would play with scarf colors, and every day, she would do something new and different.

At about eight or nine years old, I was at her hip height. I would hold her hand, and the scarf would always go in my face. I would play with it as a mask, and it would cover my face, but I could see through it. I wanted to pay homage to that moment. Of course, being at Hermès, silk is one of our dearest textures and materials. I wanted to create a lipstick that brings the same softness and comfort on the lips as a silk scarf.

What textures did you want to capture in the lipstick?

I wanted all the elements from different types of silk that really fascinate me. From silk chiffon, I wanted to get a similar transparency. From silk lamé, I liked the high-shine finish. Hermès is most known for its silk twill, and from that, it borrows the suppleness that you feel against the skin.

It grows in swipes and has a buildable intensity, so you can be quite daring in your choice of colors. In one swipe, you get a tinted lip balm. And then, with a second or third, it becomes something even more, like a lip stain. You can press it into the skin to create a beautiful stain that stays for a long time. It’s a hybrid formula between skin care and makeup. My goal was to create lipsticks that really are enhanced by a person’s natural lip color.

How did you create the formula and the shades?

Well, it took almost three years to develop. We worked a lot on the formula to make it very natural and respectful for the wearer. You’ll see some of the same colors as in the Matte [lipstick], along with some others. For the first time at Hermès, we also created three beautiful beige colors, so you can have your perfect nude. Then we have fresh and delicate pinks, but more vibrant as well.

In the limited editions, we wanted to explore the idea of color through light and how it can change. The Beige Halo shade, for instance, looks almost solid in the shadows, but in the light, it becomes sparkly and rosy. We wanted to look at the perception of color through light and how, when it goes through the prism, it just translates into different nuances of color. We’re always trying to evoke the conception of the color through the name. For instance, Rose Hacienda is inspired by the Hacienda estates in South America. We have Brun d’Ambre, which is a copper-beige that looks like melted amber stone.

When should someone reach for this vs. the brand’s Matte lipstick?

When you’re looking for more of a statement, you’re gonna go towards the Matte or the Satin. For the everyday, you might go towards the Lipstick Shine.

I have a lot of people asking me, “Does it last the whole day?” It’s not supposed to last the whole day. It’s supposed to be reapplied as much as you want, and to be a multi-sensory experience.

The brand is known for its special touches or particulière, like I remember you telling me that the mascara wand has a hidden H. Are there elements of that with the Lipstick Shine?

I wanted this lipstick to really be easy for everyday, so we wanted to be more subtle this time in the touches. It’s little things, like we changed the canvas pouch that the Lipstick Shine comes in. At Hermès, we say that beauty arises from use and practicality. When working on the object with Pierre [Hardy], we made the design slender and longer [than the Matte]. The slant is also very distinctive and allows you to either tap or swipe it easily. The oval shape also offers a controlled-yet-free application, which sounds a bit paradoxical, but that is what makes the beauty of the house.