A Visionary’s Vision: Spring Makeup 2011

Robert Williams is thinking aloud about spring makeup. “Bright splashes of color on cheeks and lips,” he says, “lips of juicy coral, red, rose and fuschia,” he continues, “with those Shetland Pony eyelashes…”

Robert, Director of Beauty at Saks Fifth Avenue, San Francisco, spent 10+ years working on the runway with François Nars.

Having known Robert for more than a decade myself, I can confidently say that he has a most unique and sophisticated style, a bold mind for color and a poetic way with words.

“The colors now are ripe, from a wonderfully rich palette…coral from the bottom of the ocean…the lush greens of Scotland…Mediterranean blue…” The spring face, he muses tersely, is “a psychedelic trip interpreted by Monet.”

An eccentric vision, but what does it mean? After pondering Monet’s classic paintings of waterlilies and poppies, I finally get it: Feminine bright, saturated colors, beautifully daubed on. Robert, you are a genius.