It’s no surprise that the beauty motto Aoife Cullen lives by is “don’t follow trends.” The London-based, Irish make-up artist is known for her trademark avant-garde editorial looks, which subvert expectations and reject all and every make-up rule that you’ve been taught. Think grey lips paired with green blush and silver eyebrows, or blue lipstick topped with purple glitter. It’s bold, expressive and transgressive and the perfect antidote to the picnic basket trends dominating the beauty scene right now – you won’t see Cullen in tomato girl make-up.

It’s this experimental attitude towards make-up and beauty rule-breaking that made Cullen the perfect person to play with Rabanne’s new beauty line. Launched this month, Rabannes is designed to facilitate radical self-expression and push the limits of creativity.  The collection, which includes creamy eye paints, glitters and lipsticks, is full of bright colours, shimmering metallics and bold textures so that you can express every emotion and be as playful and creative as your imagination wants. 

Using the new products from the collection, Cullen has created a series of looks inspired by Rabanne’s ethos and her own transgressive make-up style. Capturing the spirit of four different characters, she wanted to make sure the looks were not only fun, but also accessible and easy for everyone to recreate. Ultimately, the point is never to adhere to any laws of beauty or “attractiveness”. “The best thing about make-up for me is how transformative it is in telling different stories and captivating different feelings,” she says. “I don’t want to ‘beautify’ myself in the traditional sense because it’s the least interesting thing about me and ironically makes me feel less beautiful.”

How was the experience of using the Rabanne make-up? 

Aoife Cullen: Rabanne to me feels like it was intended to inspire creativity which I really appreciate. I loved the multi-purpose use of the products like the eye shots which have a beautiful formula that can be used anywhere and for anything, which is what I’m always looking for with my products. Overall Rabanne feels very ‘of the time’. It’s fun but with a high quality which can often be compromised. It also just feels cool and in touch with the current beauty space. 

What was your favourite product from the collection? 

Aoife Cullen: Definitely the eye shadow! The formula is incredible, but the shades and colour palettes were a real stand out and definitely inspired me the most. I love the cuteness and practicality of the mini’s especially in Back to Black and Midnight Lights because I’m obsessed with black, blue and silver shadows!

What inspired the looks that you created for this project?

Aoife Cullen: I really wanted to capture four different characters almost. The best thing about make-up for me is how transformative it is in telling different stories and captivating different feelings. So I wanted to use Rabanne to showcase that. It was also really important for the looks to be accessible, easy to emulate and to speak to everyone. I don’t like overly complicated make-up because it takes the fun out of it, so I guess I wanted to encourage people to have fun with their look and explore different styles in the best way possible.

What is your creative process? How do you translate an initial creative vision into a final look? 

Aoife Cullen: My ideas always start with a feeling as opposed to a visual thing or look. I think of a character or time I want to portray and just go from there. I don’t plan too far ahead because it tends to block my creativity which I find comes more and more as I work and improvise with trial and error. I know the development process is going well when I start to really feel like that character or time. 

Is “beauty” (whatever that word means to you) something you try to capture in your work or something that you reject?

Aoife Cullen: Definitely both. Beauty is obviously very subjective and I see beauty in a lot of things that others don’t and vice versa. I find it so interesting that some people find my work beautiful and others comment “ew” or “ugly” because it shows we see things differently which is so cool. I love things that are not ordinary, don’t conform to beauty rules or are particularly pleasing to the eye. I don’t want to “beautify” myself in the traditional sense because it’s the least interesting thing about me and ironically makes me feel less beautiful. I feel most beautiful and sexy in “weird” make-up. So it’s a cross of the two. 

If you could only do one make-up look for the rest of your life what would it be? 

Aoife Cullen: Messy, smokey, needle-thin brow, loads of black liner in my water line and a wet wet wet glossy lip.

Shop the new collection here