Francois Nars

“I remember this time I worked with Linda Evangelista on a shoot for Richard Avedon. I just put grease on her face, and it was beautiful.”

“There was a time when you would dream about, say, movie stars. Now, you virtually follow them into their bathroom when they're going to the loo.”

“I'm very nostalgic - and I don't care.”

“In a lot of cases, makeup is a fantastic help, and that's why women love makeup in general. It's a fantastic way to help somebody look great. It's not the only way, of course, but it's a major accessory, along with hair, clothes, lighting, all those things.”

“I don't think there's a major change between runway and real life anymore.”

“I love so much the models from the '60s and the '70s. They were extremely professional, great models who knew how to work the camera so well and loved fashion and had a great sense of style.”

“It was the early Seventies, and I discovered makeup by going through my mother's fashion magazines. I fell in love with the photos, the models, the fashion.”

“You create the color first, and then the name that fits. It depends - there are no rules. You watch a fabulous old movie, and you suddenly get inspired by it to create a lipstick shade, or you walk through a gorgeous garden and find the most beautiful flower shade for an eye shadow, and then you name it.”

“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!”

“We are not afraid to be a bit different, to make shades that are bold.”

“Makeup is an accessory to fashion. You buy a bag, you buy shoes, you put on eyeliner, you buy a lipstick, makeup compliments the clothes.”

“You can look glamorous even if you're a housewife, any job you have.”

“I thought make-up was a very sensual thing.”

“I fell in love with New York. I moved here 25 years ago in 1984 after I lived in Paris for six years. In the 1980s, it was the place to be. Here I was able to create NARS, which I would not have been able to create if I stayed in France.”

“I'm not an easily depressed person.”

“It's very refreshing to go away and take a break, to clear your head, and just get into something else.”

“I never stop thinking about names of products. It's a process that happens 24 hours a day.”

“Having worked with so many of the geniuses, I'd learned so much. It's the best sort of photography school, to work with people like Penn or Avedon or Meisel.”

“I never thought make-up was like brain surgery.”

“Looking at flowers, simple things in life. I don't need to look at gold and a castle; sometimes its very simple things that are very beautiful. I am keeping my eyes fresh to find beauty in many places, and in gold, too, sometimes!”