After years of swooning over the beauty looks that waltzed down the Valentino runways, the brand has launched its first ever make-up collection. Yep, the haute couture fashion house is diving into the world of beauty with a fully-loaded line-up, including foundations, lipsticks, highlighters, eyeshadows and mascara. So what can you expect from the products?

For starters, every formulation is just as luxe as the fashion house’s history in clothing. “Valentino is the storied home of the ankle-grazing, floor-flirting dress,” explains Naomi May, Stylist’s digital fashion writer. “Its collections are real-life fashion fairytales imbued with sartorial romance, and fit for a Grecian goddess.

“For proof, look no further than the fact that it was the favoured brand for glamour doyennes Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, and has tapped Lady Gaga as the face of its fragrance in recent years.”

At first glance, the packaging is just what you’d expect: luxurious, stylish and lots of red. Pierpaolo Piccioli, creative director of Maison Valentino, chose ‘Valentino Rosso’ as the colour to run throughout the cosmetics range. Additionally, each product bears its signature Valentino VLogo in homage to the Maison.

Inclusivity is at the heart of the collection, too. To create 40 shades of its semi-matte foundation, Very Valentino, the brand conducted research on the skin tones of 5,000 women in eight countries across every continent.

“I’m excited for everybody to experience the brand and make it their own,” Raoúl Alejandre, global make-up artist at Valentino Beauty tells us. “To help people realise their individuality, tap into their uniqueness and express themselves through make-up.”

Then, there’s the lipsticks, which are available in a staggering 50 shades, covering every hue imaginable. “What I really love about our lipsticks is that we created two formulas – a matte and a satin finish but they’re both literally like liquid lipsticks in a bullet,” says Alejandre. “They don’t budge, create or build up. They’re seamless, comfortable and you don’t even feel like you’re wearing anything.”

And despite its already-extensive shade selection, Alejandre tells me the brand will be coming out with even more lipsticks colours in the future.

One notable aspect to the range is how each product is catered to self-expression.

“I think we’ve all been confined to these set of rules and now, we’re ready to live life for ourselves,” says Alejandre. “The way that we express ourself when it comes to our clothing and our make-up and our hair, which is like our chosen skin, is going to change. It’s going to be unique to you.” Just look at its Eyes2Cheek, a multi-use creamy powder that can be used on eyes and cheeks for a seamless draped effect.

To help stimulate your inner artiste further, the formulations are also created with Alejandre’s “triple technique application” method in mind, meaning most of the formulas can be used in three different ways.

“You can incorporate every product in a different way,” he explains. “For instance, mascara. In reality, how many different ways can you use it? I brush a little bit on my brows but if you don’t want to do that, there are other ways to be creative. It could be building up the mascara on your outer lashes to create the appearance of faux winged liner.” Genius, right?

Now that normality is resuming, it’s the perfect time to have fun with make-up again. When we asked Alejandre what he expects will prove most popular, there’s one clear winner. Eyes now, more than ever, are really going to be a statement and it’s going to say so much. For so long, it’s been the lips but because we’re wearing our masks, it’s all about the eyes. I’m excited to seeing something super graphic or maybe something really colour.”

Valentino Beauty is now available exclusively at Selfridges – and we have no doubt items will fly off the shelves, fast. Get your shopping list ready by taking a look at the collection below.

Main image: Valentino Beauty