Painting Piha

Tauranga-raised Lancôme artistic director Aaron De Mey, who featured in the October edition of Mindfood magazine and whose past clients include Winona Ryder, Keira Knightly and Kate Moss, has released his debut colour collection based on the iron sand beaches of Piha. The collection includes a limited-edition sparkling dark lip gloss and nail lacquer. De Mey credits the diversity of the fledgling local industry as an ideal foundation for the years he spent overseas: “Working on music videos, editorial shoots with people such as former Prime Minister Helen Clark for the cover of NZ Style, and fashion editorials for magazines such as Pavement was invaluable. Those diverse experiences in make-up prepared me for the competitive fashion industries in New York and Paris.” De Mey sees his new role at Lancôme as building upon the existing class and strength of the already formidable brand. “I want to push the teams [and] implement new techniques and ways to apply make-up,” he says. “I hope to excite everybody at Lancôme and everybody who loves the brand.” De Mey moved to New York in 1997, where he first worked on renowned makeup artist François Nars’ make-up team for the New York Fashion Week shows.