Following the launch of its lipsticks in 2020 and its blush collection in March 2021, Hermès Beauty is set to debut its latest venture – Les Mains Hermès. The collection of hand care objects includes colourful enamels in a variety of shades, a base coat, a top coat, reparative hand cream, nourishing cuticle oil, and hands down the chicest nail files ever made.
The hands are a natural next focus for Hermès Beauty, as the brand’s artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas explains: ‘The hand is the epitome of care. It is our partner, our eye, our identity. It has no gender, it signals behaviours, it is the hand of the rider or the artisan. It is both powerful and delicate.’
The collection’s hand cream is composed of 98 per cent natural ingredients, including soothing white mulberry extract, protective hyaluronic acid, and reparative natural moss. Its silk-like texture leaves behind no greasy residue and, for an added element of elegance, its scent has been designed by in-house perfumer Christine Nagel.
Following the hand cream, the next step in the Les Mains Hermès ritual is the nourishing nail and cuticle oil, formulated with 100 per cent natural ingredients. Then, a strengthening enamel base coat prepares the nails for the most exciting element of the new collection – the nail enamel colours.
The nail enamel collection features 24 shades, after Hermès’ historic home address at 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré, with colours derived from the brand’s famed enamel bracelets. The shades range from a subtle powdery-pink of Rose Porcelaine to the rich chocolate brown of Brun Bistre, and from classic red Rouge H to the eccentric sun-yellow of Jaune Impérial.
As the autumn sets in and winter approaches, we recommend trying some of the more inventive, darker shades. Colours like the verdant Vert Égyptien, inspired by mirages in the Nile Valley, the cloudy-grey Gris Étoupe, or the autumn leaf-coloured Orange Brûlé.
Like all Hermès Beauty collections, the packaging of Les Mains Hermès has been designed by the brand’s creative director of shoes and jewellery, Pierre Hardy, who has made each object look like a work of art as much as a beauty product.
‘This new collection builds on the natural and sophisticated nature of the first gesture, Rouge Hermès,’ says Hardy about the nail polish and hand care launch, and referring back to the lipstick line.
‘While make-up can be fun, whimsical or dramatic, Hermès [hand] care is designed like an intimate and pure essential object. We move from centre stage to the wings, with objects that are not on display, but that are kept literally to hand.’
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