How Chanel’s Cometes Collective brings make-up to life with a fearless use of unconventional colour

In 2022, Chanel revealed the names of three make-up artists who would mark a new beauty chapter for the house: Ammy Drammeh, Cécile Paravina and Valentina Li. Together, they form the Cometes Collective, a trio of emerging and visionary talents assembled to ‘breathe new life into the Chanel art of make-up’ with work that would be ‘written in the present while paying homage to the past.’

Between Drammeh, who lives in London and was tapped as one to watch by the British Fashion Council’s New Wave Creatives list in 2019, the Paris-based Paravina (she studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and counts Serge Lutens as one of her mentors) and the Chinese-born Li – fluent in four languages and part of the BoF 500, her signature electric blue bob reflects the eclecticism she brings to Chanel – 2024 has been a standout year for the Cometes Collective

With four limited-edition, seasonal collections, each has demonstrated a fearlessness when it comes to using unconventional colour and texture, whether that be a matte eyeshadow palette in mustard yellow, avocado green and lilac or a dewy highlighter balm inspired by the appearance of a jellyfish. Here, the Cometes Collective reflects on the past 12 months in conversation with Wallpaper’s beauty editor, Hannah Tindle.

Chanel’s Cometes Collective: Wallpaper* in conversation with Ammy Drammeh, Cécile Paravina and Valentina Li

Wallpaper*: How long is the period between the idea for a collection and what we see upon its launch?

Ammy Drammeh: All the collections we’ve done this year have been two years in the making. So it felt like a very long pregnancy!

Cécile Paravina: That’s exactly it! So it’s great when you finally see people’s reactions. Because you sort of ‘get used to’ what you’ve worked on, almost, due to the length of time the collections take to create. It’s strange to have this latency. But when a collection launches and you receive feedback and people are so excited, it reminds you again.

Ammy Drammeh: My summer collection ‘Jardin Imaginaire’ had a lot of bright green in it. I had no idea, of course, that summer 2024 was going to be dominated by the colour [Brat green].

W*: Each collection draws from a broad pool of references. How do you arrive at a particular theme?

AD: The first step is deciding who is going to take which season; Valentina will do spring and holiday, I’ll do summer, Cécile will do autumn and so on. Then each of us has a very different approach to working.

Valentina Li: Yes, exactly. I think when I received the brief for a spring collection, I had a very clear idea in my mind. I like to tell a story with my work, so I almost created ‘characters’ in my head whilst referring to different species of marine life. So the Chanel Rouge Coco Baume in the shade ‘Anémone’ was inspired by a tiger fish. And the Baume Essentiel in ‘Mermaid Glow’, a jellyfish. This way of working helps me to work out the texture of products, too.

CP: There are two key collections I worked on for 2024: the autumn/winter ‘Clairvoyance’ collection and also a rework of the permanent Ombre Essentielle eyeshadows and liners. In terms of my starting point for ‘Clairvoyance’, I went to Patrimony, at 18, Place Vendôme in Paris, where you can go to do research when you work at Chanel. The historians and archivists who work there have such a vast knowledge of the house they can go into extreme detail. This was how I discovered that Gabrielle Chanel was very much into astrology and the divinatory arts. And I was so happy when I found this out, so I could centre the collection around the colour purple, which to me emphasises something spiritual.

AD: I always start with colour. But then, like Cecile, I wanted to make sure it had a connection to Gabrielle Chanel. She loved ballet and theatre and one of the items in her apartment was a copy of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. And this is where the idea of a ‘fairy tale’ garden came from for ‘Jardin Imaginaire’.

W*: What is the collaborative process like when it comes to the technical aspects of realising a collection?

CP: You learn how to work with the biochemists at Chanel very closely. Of course, you have about 1% of the technical knowledge they have, but it’s important to educate yourself on what happens in the lab so you can communicate your idea and be aware of what is achievable and what isn’t.

VL: I actually bought a book on make-up and chemistry to try and get my head around how it all works. It’s super difficult to understand but was still quite helpful in the end.

W*: And how do you work collaboratively together?

CP: After a certain point of working together, we began to naturally bounce ideas off one another. So we’d show each other the colour palettes we were working on for example. In this very organic way, the ‘collective’ really came to life.

AD: Working together is one of the best parts of what we do at Chanel. We all have different ways of doing make-up and so different needs for all of the products we create. It’s important to combine all of this in our collections, in a way.

W*: What are some of the standout products from the collections you’ve made in 2024? And, also products from the permanent make-up offering from Chanel?

CP: I like the Quatres Ombres palette in ‘Divination’ from the autumn/winter collection. I think the colours haven’t been seen at Chanel before. They’re quite experimental and unexpected, so I was at first a little concerned that they’d be tricky to use. But in the end, I saw so many looks that people had created using the palette on social media and I was so happy I stuck with the idea. I also love the Ombre Essentielle solo eyeshadow in ‘Jade Facetté’.

In terms of hero products, there is one I love: Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue. It’s a duo-ended lipstick that has colour on one side and a gloss on the other. It’s very waterproof and long-wearing. I also loved Ammy’s Stylo Ombre et Contour eyeshadow sticks: the green ‘Dream Leaf’ and orange ‘Atardecer’ shades.

VL: I love Ammy’s Stylo Ombre et Contour sticks too. I’m a big pearl and glitter fan. The texture of all of them is so smooth. In two swipes you get a great payoff and can just easily blend them out with your finger. From my spring collection, I’d have to say the ‘Rivage’ and ‘Coral Treasure’ Quatres Ombres palettes. Also the Baume Essentiel in ‘Mermaid Glow’. Baume Essentiel is one of my favourite hero products.

AD: I also love your ‘Rivage’ Quatre Ombres palette, Valentina. I think it’s the particular shade of blue that you used; a pearly, soft blue. From my collection, I love the blush and highlighter duos in ‘Light and Berry’ and ‘Gold and Peach’. The shades are very universal and the textures are so easy that they can even be applied with a foundation brush.

W*: What does 2025 hold for the Cometes Collective?

CP: It’s a secret at this point!

VL: Yes! So we can’t reveal anything specific, yet. But we’re working on some really exciting and playful projects. We do a lot of make-up for shows and campaigns, too, so I’m looking forward to that.

AD: For me, I’m just as excited to see Valentina and Cecile’s collections launch 2025 as I am my own.

VL: Yes, me too. I think 2025 is going to be an amazing year.

chanel.com