3D artist Ines Alpha creates cute face filters for new Selfridges campaign

When humans of the past imagined the beauty routines of future civilisations they dreamt up all sorts of fantastical high-tech gadgets that could apply a full face with the click of a button. And while we haven’t yet reached the instant convenience of, say, The Fifth Element’s Chanel make-up device in real life, in the online world digital make-up filters have brought the future to the present. Now, with just a quick swipe of your finger, you can apply everything from Chanel logo sunburns to Euphoria-inspired eye looks, and leading the way of this digital beauty revolution is 3D make-up artist Ines Alpha. 

Creating bewitching ornamental AR face masks (“The kind of thing a robot might wear to the Met Gala in the year 3052,” as our Arts and Culture Editor Lil Miquela described them), Alpha’s augmented beauty celebrates creative expression and individuality.

For the latest offering of its ‘The New Order’ campaign, Selfridges has joined forces with the 3D make-up artist to challenge how we consume beauty and re-image the faces of 10 international beauty brands including Bobbi Brown and Hourglass. An ongoing campaign, ‘The New Order’ applies digital-first techniques to the physical elements of fashion and beauty and in the past has seen collaborations with creatives including Jon Emmony and Dazed 100 digital artist Cattytay

To create her unique looks, Alpha started by exploring each brand, everything from history and aesthetics to key ingredients and textures. “I tuned into their personality and how they like to tell stories,” Alpha tells us. “Sometimes the starting point is the shape of the product like for the Illamasqua piece. Sometimes I am inspired by texture like with Dr Jart’s, or the ingredients that I illustrated in a singular way for the Clive Christian mask. I also get ideas from the name of the products like for ‘Genifique’ that inspired the double gene shape.”

With 3D software, the possibilities of what looks you can create are limitless, the creativity boundless – and Alpha hopes that her filters inspire people to have fun with their beauty and broaden their perception of what is considered beautiful away from the restrictive standards and expectations that are so often imposed onto us. “For me, the future of beauty isn’t just about the products, it’s about the story you want to tell about yourself and how you want to express your inner personality,” she says. “The frontier between reality and fiction in the concept of beauty is getting thinner and thinner and my work is all about making people believe digital makeup is as real as IRL one.”