These photos capture the messy reality of post-club make-up

On the dance floor, beauty is at its most elastic. It’s a space where the glamour that came before can unravel, melting away as the night wears on. This transformation sits at the heart of Before and After a Night Out, the debut book from Cold Archive, an interdisciplinary platform for visual research founded by Lewis Dixon and Purple-Qie Qin. The project presents “before and after” diptychs of 30 members of their creative community around the world, tracing beauty through nights out and leaving the in-between – the sweat, the blur, the becoming – to the viewer’s imagination.

While much attention is paid to the rituals of getting ready, the cluttered products around bathroom sinks and last-minute retouches in the mirror, what comes after is rarely documented. It’s this overlooked side of nightlife beauty that Dixon and Qin find most compelling. “The ’before’ photos are polished. They show how we want the world to see us. But the ‘after’ photos tell a different story. They’re messy, imperfect, full of real emotion,” they explain. 

Across the series, members of Cold Archive’s creative collective appear first in glam, carefully styled portraits, then in sweatier, looser versions of themselves – often in different clothes, with hair undone, make-up smeared and accessories missing. Dixon and Qin frame this exploration of club beauty as a celebration of nightlife itself: “A reminder that nights out are true adventures. Some will be the best of times, others less so – but they all leave lasting memories. It’s part of growing up.” Below, we talk to the Cold Archive founders about the project, and why beauty is best when it’s sweated off.

What inspired this project, and what is the idea behind it?

Cold Archive: A multitude of inspirations influenced this project. Firstly, there were Nicolai Howalt’s portraits taken before and after boxing fights, along with elements from meme culture that featured content of rough faces and comments with ’Me after a night out.’ We combined these details into a cohesive concept that seemed fun and inviting for the Cold Archive community to engage with. The beauty of it lies in how many people on this planet can relate to the project, as we’ve all been out and have all looked slightly worse for wear when coming back home.

Who are the people featured in the photos, and what prompt was given to them?

Cold Archive: The people featured are creatives from the Cold Archive community in key cities around the world. We thought it was a concept that our community would enjoy creating with us. We gave them the creative direction and they took the images before and after a night in their town in real time. Even though they are thousands of miles apart, similar stories are conveyed through these portraits.

Did any subjects do this in real time? Where did they go? 

Cold Archive: We wanted the project to be as authentic as possible, so we asked each creative to do what they would normally do when they go out. Where they went remains a mystery, but the photos make it clear they all had a great night.

How does your own experience of going out and the transformations you see influence this project?

Cold Archive: Everyone relates to this project in one way or another. When the submissions began to unfold, the content started giving us flashbacks of our own nights out, whether it was coming home with a bad haircut, a missing shoe, or just feeling emotionally drained. We feel that it’s a concept that takes the viewer, including ourselves, through nostalgia.

Before and After a Night Out is available to purchase online here