Prince meant a lot of things to a lot of people. A vanguard and genius, the virtuoso musician pushed the boundaries of music, style, and gender expression, liberating and inspiring generations of artists with his refusal to conform or compromise his artistic vision in any way. “He was a straight black man who played his first televised set in bikini bottoms and knee high heeled boots,” Frank Ocean wrote in a tribute to Prince after his 2016 death. “He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity.”
Part of Prince’s defiance of binary notions of masculinity was a love of make-up, particularly eyeliner. A make-up collection dedicated to him and his luminous legacy makes perfect sense. We’re just surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.
Urban Decay has teamed up with the artist’s estate on a new limited-edition capsule collection honoring the icon and his unapologetic spirit. The seven-piece collection includes two eye-shadow palettes, two creamy kajal eyeliners inspired by Prince’s signature eye look, a liquid highlighter, a multitasking make-up brush, and a waterproof translucent powder. Each product is branded with the artist’s “love” symbol and shade names pay homage to song titles. Purple is, of course, heavily involved being his signature shade (although, it turns out, not actually his favourite shade).
Two years in the making, Urban Decay co-founder – and long-time Prince fan – Wende Zomnir worked closely with Prince’s artistic camp, including creative director Trevor Guy, photographer-director Randee St. Nicholas, and model-dancer Damaris Lewis on the products and campaign. Lewis, close friend and muse to Prince, also stars as the face of the collection.
“We couldn’t possibly imitate someone as legendary as Prince, and to compare him to a palette would diminish who he was,” Urban Decay co-founder Wende Zomnir said in a statement. “It’s easy to say why this collection makes sense on the surface — his makeup looks and our shared love of purple — but we did our best to embody his energy on a deeper level. We found his ethos of not asking permission to be who he was and owning it so boldly aligned with our values of breaking the mold and championing all forms of beauty.”
The full collection will be available from May 27 here. Fans can also sign up to pre-order here on May 21.
