Come backstage with Byredo at Nensi Dojaka's AW23 show

Nensi Dojaka has garnered a client base of well-clad, confident women who covet her delicate, lingerie-inspired pieces celebrating the female body. Hosting her latest runway show in London, the buzzy British designer turned to makeup artist Lucia Pica for beauty looks that complemented her sheer pleats, sultry body suits and ultra sheer polo skirts.

For the show, Pica used products from her limited-edition collaboration with Swedish beauty brand Byredo: the ‘First Emotions’ series. The names of the products reflect the ambivalence of this state of ‘First Emotions’, according to Pica. “The primal power of emotions is reflected in the colours,” she said when the collection first launched. “There is light and excitement in the gold and something darker in the burgundy. There are the different tonalities of love; the different facets: erotic, sincere, unconditional, even unrequited.”

It was a sentiment which echoed the enigmatic and oft-undressed Nensi Dojaka woman. “The Byredo Nensi girl is glamorous with a grungy edge,” says Pica. The focus was on the eyes, which Pica kept square and elongated, using the radiant pigments ranging from brunt rose to burnished browns in the ‘State of Emotion’ palette. “My version of a smokey eye,” she adds.

To define the lash line, Pica used Byredo's Boora Boora on the tear ducts along the inner eye. "I blended this out to the inner corner and outer corner of the eye, so it's all about the intensity, definition and blurriness of the colour outside," she says.

Next, Byredo's Colour Stick in 'Dravite' was placed on the lid as a creamy base for the powder pigment to grip onto. "The reason why I like to blend cream and powder is because of this texture in between, so it is not too dry, and it is not too creamy – it moves just enough, not too much," notes the makeup artist.

To complement the smokey eye, the skin is kept very raw, translucent and glowy. "The lips are toned down," notes Pica, adding that lipstick in the shades 'Transported' and 'On the Fence' were used on the cheeks to "give a little life back to the face if needed."

The final look is undoubtedly '90s but veers on the softer side: a look TikTok would dub 'soft-girl grunge', no doubt. It's romance with an edge, a mysterious and sultry yet wearable version of the smudged and rebellious smokey eye of yore.

And we can't wait to replicate it.