Coco Chanel once said, “The real aim of makeup is not to adorn but to beautify.” So it makes sense that only the most flattering environments should be created for cosmetics. Especially at Chanel.

One critical ingredient in that setting is lighting. In fact, Chanel invented its own makeup mirror, with special lighting effects, for personal consultations with customers in its makeup studios. The mirrors use color-changing lighting to simulate different environments, helping women choose the most flattering shades for their skin type or for the occasion.

“We say ‘Chanel masters the light,’ ” says Fidaa Baddour, marketing manager for Chanel’s operation in the United Arab Emirates.

So when it came to opening Chanel’s sixth makeup studio – and its first in the Middle East – the company sought to master the light by re-creating the mirror’s flattering effect using a store ceiling as the medium instead of only a countertop mirror.

The Color of Light

First, designers had to choose a lamp for the lighting design that would illuminate the 376-square-foot Chanel boutique, which opened inside the Harvey Nichols store at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates.

The “Miroir à Lumières” (Light Mirror) incorporates cutting-edge LED technology to simulate different lighting environments, such as sunset, candle-lit dinner or natural daylight. But Martin Architectural (Aarhus, Denmark), the lighting company working with Chanel, wanted to use its Cyclo 04 DMX T5 fluorescent fixtures, an RGB plus-white color-changing lamp capable of generating a variety of colors and white light at any color temperature.

“Chanel was afraid that if it didn’t use LEDs in the ceiling, it wouldn’t get the same color results,” says Bilal Assidi, marketing manager for Martin Architectural Middle East. But a demonstration convinced the beauty brand that its desired color-changing lighting conditions could be re-created using a fluorescent lamp source. Assidi adds that the fluorescent lamps also provide superior brightness – a key element in helping the Chanel shop stand out within the busy mall environment – and have an expected life of 20,000 hours, offering potential savings on maintenance costs.

Lights, Beauty, Action

More than 30 Cyclo fixtures were installed in the store ceiling at the Dubai studio and then covered with frosted Plexiglas. The real magic happens at the flip of a switch.

The system is programmed with 10 settings that correspond to a specific color. Each color re-creates a different lighting scenario, such as candle, day, evening and office light. Using a Martin playback controller, staff members can choose to wash the studio in an array of colors. Employees can also tailor the lighting scenario to a store event or promotion. The result is a dynamic environment that turns the process of applying makeup into an enjoyable act of beautification.

“The lighting in the studio is unique and attractive,” says Chanel’s Baddour, “and shows that the professionalism of applying makeup depends on light.”

Comments on this article? E-mail the author, VM+SD senior associate editor Anne DiNardo, at anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com, or write her at 407 Gilbert Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

Photography: Courtesy of Martin Professional , Sunrise, Fla.