I’ve done enough beauty interviews to know that out of all the eye makeup styles, smoky eye shadow is the runt of the litter. Not because it doesn’t look good (although what looks good is obviously subjective), but because it’s the hardest to pull off. Too complicated. Requires several different colors, brushes, and a steady hand at eyeliner and mascara, to boot. Why oh why do we even try this thing on ourselves? For the drama! Which is why the makeup at Dior this week in Paris was such a welcome addition.

The look was pure drama, without the smoke. Instead, Dior Beauty Creative and Image Director Peter Philips started with a “chunky eyeliner” using the brand’s Backstage On Stage Liner in Vinyl Black, and then he filled in the negative space with a single black pigment applied with a wet brush. It’s what Peter called a “rough, heavy-handed almost cartoon style interpretation of ‘60s makeup,” inspired by English “Teddy Boys’—the punk subculture in England at the time—according to Peter, and Twiggy, according to me.

And then there’s the lash situation that happened under the eyes. Another way to not wear mascara, if you will. Peter didn’t really draw “lines,” but more like skinny “rectangles,” as he described it. Not too long (when I caught up with Peter he was shortening the lower “lash” look with some makeup remover), but matching the length of a mascara-ed lower lash.

I’ve got to admit that I kind of like it? The minimal effort, maximum effect is what’s most appealing to me. If I were to do it myself, I think I would do little dots, instead of rectangles along my lower lash. Dramatic, but easy. That’s my kind of party.

—Ashley Weatherford

Photographed by Tom Newton