In line with Dundas' recent return to the Parisian runway, the designer's partner (both in business and life), Evangelo Bousis, talks us through the Norwegian brand's new gender neutral beauty line
In a long-awaited return to the runway, Peter Dundas made an elegant reappearance in Paris this season. Born in Oslo, now based in Los Angeles, Peter Dundas is inarguably one of the most eminent fashion designers to come from Norway. An A-list favourite and a personal friend of Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess of Norway, Dundas launched his eponymous brand in 2017 together with his partner Evangelo Bousis, and now the Norwegian brand is expanding its horizons with a new makeup line – Dundas Enhancers – helmed by Bousis.
Bousis has always been interested in makeup. “If you ask my mom, she’ll say ever since I was a kid,” he laughs. But according to the co-founder of the royally beloved fashion brand Dundas, his interest really began in his teens. “I was a model when I was 15, and the makeup artist would do touch ups ahead of the shoot. That’s when it started.”
When his younger brother was 18, Bousis would pass on the art of a nominal natural enhancement for a night out. “He and his friends – all alpha male boys – wanted to look good,” Bousis explains, introducing them to the magic that is a light layer of bronzer and a smidge of concealer under the eyes. “They all had these secret makeup compartments,” he laughs.
Photo: Junri Kamiwake
Peter Dundas backstage. Photo: Junri Kamiwake
Photo: Junri Kamiwake
The experience made something click in Bousis’ brain, “I realised there was something there.” In 2018, when he and his partner Peter Dundas had just launched their fashion brand. “The workload was insane and we constantly had to go to events and all this stuff,” Bousis explains. “We really didn't have time to wait for a makeup artist to come fix us at the time, so I ended up doing it.”
That same year, Bousis met Anastasia Soare of Anastasia Beverly Hills over lunch to “get to know each other better.” The meeting was fruitful, with the duo beginning the long, painstaking process of developing what would become Dundas Enhancers. “That process took around two years of back and forth of her sending me products to London (at the time we were still living in London) and doing all the testing and making sure that all the formulas were right.”
Bousis “used himself as a base” when developing the products of their new gender neutral makeup line. But with that said, the new Dundas Enhancer line very much has the brand’s key clientele of jet-setting women in mind who, much like Bousis and Dundas themselves, tend to always be on-the-go.
Backstage at Dundas AW23 show. Photo: Kevin Tachman
The aforementioned flush of bronzy colour and a brightening concealer were both instantly on the list of products to launch, alongside an easy-to-use tinted moisturiser, an anti-shine gel, and a lip balm to combat dry lips from always “being on an aeroplane,” as Bousis points out. “We really wanted to do a makeup line that was a bit of a hybrid between skincare and makeup,” he notes. “That's kind of how we came up with our name Enhancers because we didn't want to change the face of someone. We want to enhance their own beauty.” A “face filter” come to life, if you will.
The first launch of “basics,” as Bousis calls it is “more about a fresh face and about being sun kissed, tanned... You know, things that just make you feel better.” A universally appealing look and sensation which also permeates Peter Dundas’ ensembles. It is also resonant of Dundas' Norwegian roots, the pared-back beauty routine integral to Scandinavian ‘skinimalism’. So much so that Bousis would test the products on his partner’s nieces “They are super into makeup and they have been a great help.”
Beyond the sensation and product pay-off, the packaging was key to Dundas Enhancers. “The different launches will come in little bags,” explains Bousis, a “one-stop-shop” to keep your products in one place when you travel or go out. Of course Dundas’ iconic yellow features heavily in the packaging, which is aimed to make you “proud to have it in your bathroom.”
Photo: Junri Kamiwake
Photo: Junri Kamiwake
Photo: Junri Kamiwake
Considering both men and women when making the products, ease and long-lasting pigment were the main concerns for Bousis and Dundas. “We didn’t want any brushes, you need to be able to use your fingers,” says Bousis. “And men don't tend to re-apply makeup.”
Throughout the coming year, additional “soft launches” will drop building on the first five products in the line up adding more “expressive” products spanning liners and eye shadows just to name a few. When asked about eyebrow products, an Anastasia Beverly Hills’ signature, Bousis says “Oh it is coming.”
The official “big launch” is planned for the end of summer, and we can’t wait to add these sunshine products into our daily beauty rotation.