Francois Nars

I had no connections, and the fashion world was a closed elite. So my mother made appointments for herself with three top Parisian makeup artists and spoke highly about me... she was my first publicist! ”

Sometimes people are very not sure of themselves, so you really have to give them that confidence. Even models - they need to warm up sometimes on photo shoots. ”

I really wanted to have a different approach of beauty because when I came to America, they were still heavily, heavily plastic. The ads were so heavily retouched. ”

It's more fun to have a name rather than a number. I think this gives our products a personality. I get the names from literature, movies, opera, traveling, nature, poetry, sometimes even the street. I keep a small book that I write in. I wake up in the middle of the night and jot down a name for a lipstick or an eyeshadow. ”

I didn't want to create a makeup line for one ethnic group; it had to be multi-ethnic. To me, beauty is beauty. It doesn't matter to me what colour the skin is. ”

I like beauty to be a bit edgy, not typical. For me, the only rule is looking good. ”

Find your own way, have an open spirit, and believe in your own beauty. ”

Sometimes I'm attracted to more odd girls with stronger faces and features or a softer beauty with a lot of character. ”

My mother never wore much make-up, and she was a kind of natural beauty; she knew just how to enhance what she had. ”

My interpretation of the word 'ugly'... I like ugly beauty. That can happen. In France, we have phrase 'jolie laide.' We like certain women who are not pretty or cute - it's the opposite in France of pretty. It's more strange and interesting. ”