Chanel Makeup Artists on the Future of Beauty, and Their Latest Creations for the Fashion House

Vogue Arabia

16-05-2025

Experimental. Dynamic. Beautiful. Comprising three visionary artists, Chanel's Cometes Collective is changing the beauty game at the iconic fashion house one collection at a time. To celebrate its newest drops, the trio — Valentina Li, Ammy Drammeh, and Cécile Paravina — landed in Dubai this week to share their experiences with beauty enthusiasts in the region.
As different as each creative's aesthetic is, what ties Li, Drammeh and Paravina together is their commitment towards breaking beauty boundaries with their craft. Their camaraderie is unmissable as they bounce ideas off each other, laughing like old friends, filling the room with energy that's also evident in Chanel's latest palettes. 'In the beginning I thought maybe it could be an obstacle to take decisions and the flow of information could be difficult,' Drammeh explains about the their dynamic. 'But actually, it's very in symbiosis and quite organic when we have meetings in Paris and talk about future products, innovation, things that interest us. We sometimes go towards different directions because we have different styles, different favourite products and techniques, but that helps us cater to a big audience that also has different needs, tastes and ideas on how they want to look and how they want to apply makeup.'
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Seemingly shy at first, Paravina makes her statements with her bold, rebellious techniques and vibrant floral hues, while Drammeh's collection is all about providing the building blocks to a personalized look, and Li's creations play with light — the kind of dreamy sparkle that bounces off skyscrapers in busy cities. Despite their differences, these are women who keep learning from each other, expanding their horizons to keep innovating. 'We get so excited about each other's collections,' they share, with Drammeh adding, 'I want to use Valentina's collection. I want to experiment with the colours that she imagined, and the same with Cecile's and we're always like, 'Can we have the collection now?''
In the midst of celebrating their achievements, the Cometes Collective sat down with Vogue Arabia to share insights into their journeys, life-changing memories, and plans for the future. Excerpts below.
Tell us a little bit about each of your collections
Paravina: 'Mine is the Brightening Collection, and was very interesting to develop because it's right between winter and the arrival of spring. So it can be kind of tricky to imagine something that's really nice for this moment of the season. My inspiration was the camellia. It's one of the emblems of Chanel and Gabrielle Chanel's favourite flower. I like it because it's paradoxical in a way. It's a beautiful feminine, round petal, soft flower, but it grows in the most wintery, difficult, harsh conditions. And no other flowers bloom at the same time, so it has a beautiful story. I wanted to use that story and do something that is quite futuristic but at the same time easy to use. Accessible for people who might not be the most skilled at makeup, but want to have fun. I tried to develop a peach pink like the feminine side of the camellia. Into this pigment, I added spicy little touches of shimmer in blue or green. Together combined with quite sheer, easy textures that may look aggressive when you see the product, but when you try them, they're very easy and just illuminate the lips or the cheeks.'
Drammeh: "My collection's name is Mix and Match, and I wanted to create something where you could find the perfect level of grounding shades and colours and textures, and then give people something to complement them, so we have colourful, bold, transparent shimmery textures. [The collection] is almost like an introduction to colours and shimmer effects that people might not be so comfortable with. It shows them that it's actually really chic, you can use them, they're not overpowering, it's not too much, and it's just a very playful way to combine things creating total looks. It could be a whole earthy look where the lips are brown and you have a smoky eye, or you can go for something completely opposite and have a lilac lip and a little green highlighter. It's fun!
Li: Mine is golden hour — but it's not golden hour in the natural environment, it's golden hour in the city. For me, light is something that always inspires and I love the special moment in the city when you see the sunset reflect on buildings. The colours transform into so many different warm hues give a soothing, healing effect. I want to use this collection to really unlock the inner gradients of women. And you know, when you look at the sunrise, actually it's almost like sunset. So actually, when people think it's the end of the day, you can also see it as a restart. So you put on this beautiful collection, and you restart. To be honest, this collection is for everybody, no matter what their makeup style. You can go strong, you can go soft, you can go with a touch of gold at the inner corners of your eyes. Our collections are trying to really bring colour into makeup and encourage people to try new things in their own way. We don't want to set rules for people. We want them to find their own rules for makeup."
Do you remember your first memory of Chanel?
Li: 'My first Chanel memory is the lipstick that my mom had in the drawer. I really wanted to try it, but my mom never, never, never let me touch that lipstick. So I would dream that one day I would buy that lipstick! One day I will try that lipstick.'
Paravina: 'When I was maybe 14, 15, I had Tumblr, which was how I did my visual education, like fashion, movies, arts, many things. And I became an aggressive nerd, really wanting to know every show, every archive of every brand. I remember starting to explore Karl Lagerfeld's work at Chanel. And I remember falling madly in love, like completely obsessed with some of his shows. I remember in one show Devon Aoki, who's possibly my favorite model, wearing a pink taffeta look with a crazy wig, almost a mohawk shape. It was one of the highlights for me, where I was like, 'Wow, Chanel is something that makes me dream.'
Drammeh: 'It was a television ad for the perfume Egoiste, and it was the most amazing thing. There were these women going crazy behind a man, opening balcony doors… it was so iconic. And then the another one showed a man fighting against his own shadow. I thought that it was such a strong image so powerful, I will never forget it.'
What is the mark you hope to leave on Chanel's legacy?
Drammeh: 'I think it would be so great if we could collectively create one product that really stands the test of time. For example you think of Rouge Noir, a color that everyone wants to keep recreating, imitating, but the original one? We know where it comes from.'
Paravina: 'Although the original one was a risk. So to decide together to take a risk would be amazing. Because sometimes you're a bit like, oof, there's pressure for these products to be sold, but at the same time if we were able to make something that is timeless, it would be the best outcome of this creation process.'
Li: "If we can leave some ideas or spirits after, to be known as 'Those girls are the girls who keep pushing.' We'll always be part of the story when we look at the history of Chanel Beauty.'