There is no shortage of makeup collaborations between beauty brands and influencers. But Camila Coelho—the powerhouse mega-influencer with 7.4 million Instagram followers and another 4 million+ on YouTube—just launched a 10-piece lipstick collection that is arguably one of the best of the year. It’s carefully edited, thoughtfully designed, and approachable. The mix of creamy and matte lipstick shades look effortlessly chic on all skin tones and all ages. And perhaps best of all, you get the sense when speaking with Coelho that she deeply cares about the products she creates and the brands she collaborates with. To the Brazilian-born beauty, her love and respect for the Lancôme brand runs generations-deep.
“I grew up seeing my mom wear Lancôme, and she’s the most proud person today. From everything I’ve done, magazine covers, for her this is the most amazing thing,” says Coelho. “I feel like it’s part of my story. I got my passion for beauty from my family: my grandmother, my mother.” Whereas some people consider winger liner or top knots their beauty signature, Coelho’s is lipstick. She rarely goes without it. “And my fans know that,” she says. In fact, in her first passport photo at the age of six, Coelho insisted on wearing a bright red lipstick. “I just wanted to look pretty…I was six!” she says with a laugh.
The just arrived Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge x Camila Coelho collection was several years in the making. “I was really happy that Lancôme was open to all of these ideas,” she says, pointing out the meaning behind each shade name. “It was about having my DNA but also keeping the DNA of the brand.” The names of each lipstick speak to some of Coelho’s favorite places: Coral De Janeiro, Parisian Nude, California Burgundy, Copacabana, and Ipanema Sunrise. There’s also Tropical Pink, a purple-tinged fuchsia; Day and Night, a pink-nude; Rouge Empire, a satin blue-red; and Last Minute, a peachy nude. Housed in sleek red tubes and with a bullet molded to look like lips, the lipsticks feel special and luxurious enough to be limited edition. That can’t be said for most other beauty collaborations.
Coelho worked with Lisa Eldridge, the brand’s creative director and fellow Youtube sensation, to help formulate the collection. “I knew I wanted to do a matte finish, but with her help I saw that some colors are so much prettier when they are a cream finish. It’s more wearable, too,” she says. “She really helped me out—we were cooking lipstick [in the lab], it was so much fun.”
Like any good mom, Coelho can’t pick a favorite lipstick-child. But if you were only going to buy one for the fall season, make it California Burgundy. “This fall, I would say California Burgundy. When we made this collection, my number one goal was to create colors that would work for every skin tone,” she says. “I am creating only 10 colors, and I want those 10 colors to work with anyone who follows me. This would work from the most light skin tone to the darkest. It would be a plum for a fair skin tone, and a rosy nude for a darker skin tone.”
The Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge x Camila Coelho collection is available for sale now at all Sephora stores and on Sephora.com. But we couldn’t leave the interview without asking Coelho about her workout secrets. Because of this picture. And this one. And this one. “I worked out a lot when I was younger. Muscle has good memory, so when I work out today, my muscles come back easily. I have a fast metabolism, so I lose weight easily instead of gaining when I’m traveling,” says Coelho humbly while we sit across her and wonder why we weren’t born like that too. “But I still do want to keep muscle mass. I’m never home, so when I am home if it’s for more than a week I will work out. If not, I get really lazy or I’m creating content and I don’t have time.”
If you too follow her, you know Coelho is always traveling, more so than the average influencer or Youtuber—yet she looks like she has a personal trainer with her 24/7. “When I’m traveling, I always do exercises inside the room—sometimes I won’t go to the gym in the hotel. I bring a blue elastic band with me, and I do my bum with it a lot. Then I have this 10 minute power workout. I need to do this on Instagram because people ask me all the time about it. It’s a burn workout, it burns fat. When I am traveling, I get so stressed out, I eat a lot of carbs. I do this 10 minute power workout that tones and leans me out when I am traveling. It’s a lot of jumping jacks, and then it’s leg, butt, and a bit of abs.”
From: Harper’s BAZAAR US
