April 13, 2026 |
No house has a more intimate relationship with skin than Hermès. The luxury leather brand, which is approaching its 190th birthday, is known for using the finest materials available and lovingly crafting them into pieces that stand the test of time. Those values are at the heart of the French house’s latest make-up launch, the Plein Air luminous matt skincare foundation, which applies the brand’s reverence for skin to your face.
“I love skin and I want to respect it and honour it with this foundation,” says Gregoris Pyrpylis, the Greek-born creative director of Hermès Beauty, who is known for his thoughtful approach to beauty. “Plato, the great philosopher, used to describe skin as a divine envelope that contains the interior flame, the soul, the spirit of the human,” he says. “Your skin is alive, it’s vibrant. It reacts, it gets goosebumps. When you’re born and your mother holds you in her arms, it’s the first thing that you feel. So, I think that taking care of the skin is the nicest thing you can do for yourself. It shows a lot of respect.”
Pyrpylis joined Hermès in 2022 and has been slowly building its beauty range ever since. Each new launch (from complexion balm, eyeshadow and mascara to blush, bronzer and a dazzling array of eye pencils) is informed by his personal make-up ideology. “I didn’t fall in love with make-up for its transformative power. It’s more about the revealing and elevating force it can have,” he explains.
Gregoris Pyrpylis, the Greek-born creative director of Hermès Beauty, unveils his first foundation for the French house; portrait by Le Whittaker
But Plein Air foundation is his most ambitious Hermès project yet. Pyrpylis holds special reverence for foundation, as the most intimate, personal and powerful item in your beauty bag. “You may have different lipsticks or blushes, but you’ll have, most likely, one foundation that works for you. And once you find this foundation, you will come back to it,” he says. No wonder he took four years to perfect it for Hermès, a brand where the long view is always taken. Time moves differently at this house. “Maybe we could have launched a year earlier, but it was not at the level that we wanted it to be. It was good, but it was not perfect. We will launch only when things are perfect,” he says. That time is now.
Just like a beautifully considered Hermès bag or a handcrafted home piece, Pyrpylis believes the make-up must also accompany a customer’s everyday life, “with comfort, beauty, joy and practicality”. These values, he says, add up to a “principled approach to beauty” at the house. It prompted Pyrpylis to think hard about what an Hermès foundation formula should represent, and he was inspired by watching the brand’s artisans working with leather or silk. “They make it more radiant, more luminous, more supple as well. And that’s how I approach the foundation.”
The 34 shades (divided into five colour intensities from light to deep, with cool, neutral and warm undertones) are designed to melt into the skin and bring an ultra-natural, matt luminosity to the face. This inner glow comes from a formula that boasts 82 per cent skincare ingredients. Alongside niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, which gives intense, immediate and long-lasting hydration, is white mulberry tree extract, an ingredient exclusively developed in the Hermès beauty lab. “Its scientific name is morus alba,” says Pyrpylis of this powerful antioxidant, which is present in many Hermès beauty products but appears in a higher percentage in the foundation. “It will help plump the skin and make it more bouncy,” he says. To accompany the foundation and build the ideal, nourished base layer, Pyrpylis has also introduced a 92 per cent skincare-rich perfecting primer that he says finesses the skin so well it can be worn on its own or as a base for the foundation.
Many lightweight, melt-into-the-skin formulas simply don’t have staying power, but Plein Air foundation boasts a 16-hour hold. Pyrpylis explains it was tested more than 100 times in different regions from ultra- humid to desert dry. “That’s why it took four years [to perfect the formula],” he says.
There’s a unique collaborative approach at Hermès, with creative directors from different metiers often cross-pollinating. “It’s interesting because it also allows me to learn a lot,” says Pyrpylis. A subtle finishing touch to his foundation formula came with the scent, created by in-house perfumer Christine Nagel. With notes of arnica, sandalwood essence and green tea, it doesn’t smell perfumed but, says Pyrpylis, takes you “outdoors, somewhere in between nature and the sun and the fresh air”.
As for its distinctive half-frosted, half-clear glass bottle, Pyrpylis worked with Pierre Hardy, who is best known as the designer of fine jewellery and shoes at the house, as well as the genius behind Hermès Beauty’s packaging. With the intimacy of the ritual of applying foundation in mind, Pyrpylis created an accompanying stainless steel blending palette with a slight curve because many clients, particularly in Asia, don’t like to apply make-up with their fingers. The brush, in the shape of a horse’s hoof and made with synthetic bristles for ease of cleaning, was inspired by Hermès’ equestrian roots. “It goes all around, even in the small crevices of the face and under the eyes. You can go quite fast with it and do the whole face,” he says of this handsome and practical piece of kit.
For Pyrpylis, those long years of development are worth it. He considers the ritual of getting ready in front of the mirror as precious, with every detail of his Hermès range designed to elevate that time. “Make-up should be a unique moment. It doesn’t matter if you have three, five, 10 or 15 minutes – the moment you decide to do your make-up, tell yourself that it’s going to be a nice moment, and a moment that can help you connect with yourself.”
Photography courtesy of Hermès. Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 76 – CREATIVITY, CHANGE, FREEDOM – out NOW. Order your copy here.
