Beauty editorial · Dubai
“Anyone can generate a red lip now. Nobody can generate the person wearing it.”
Waterproof is a red-lip beauty editorial and film we shot in Downtown Dubai with model Vika Levina: real skin, real water and one lipstick that doesn't move. Here's how we built it, and what you can take from it for your own beauty shoot in Dubai or London.
Waterproof · The film
01 · The idea
Waterproof, and AI-proof
Beauty feeds are filling up with flawless generated faces, so we went the other way: a real model, real skin, real water, all captured in camera.
The lipstick proves the red is waterproof. The person proves it isn't AI. That one idea made every decision for us, from the wardrobe to the edit.
02 · The look
How to make a red lip own the frame
If the lip is the story, everything else in the frame has to step back. These are the choices that made it work on camera:
Black up to the mouth
A matte black high neck and no jewellery. With no other colour in the picture, the red becomes the subject.
Hair flat to the skull
A wet, lacquered finish with a centre part keeps the face clean and the mouth bold.
One red, cut with a brush
A deep crimson with a hard edge. Matte reads richer on camera than gloss and doesn't flare under light.
Real skin, bare eye
Porcelain base, no contour, no heavy eye. Keep the texture, because the realness is the point.
Test it with water
A transfer-proof formula holds through water, touch-ups and close-ups, so the edge stays sharp all day.
Stills and film together
Shoot photos and video in the same light, so the campaign looks like one world on every platform.
03 · The product
Rouge Dior On Stage Ink
On the lips
Rouge Dior On Stage Ink
A shoot called Waterproof needs a red that survives water for real. Dior's blurring matte liquid lipstick goes on in one precise stroke, sets soft, and is made to be transfer-proof. It held its edge through every close-up and the water set, with the same red in the first frame and the last.
An independent creative project, not commissioned or sponsored by Dior.
04 · The frames
Planned before the shoot, delivered on the day
We wrote the six frames we wanted before the shoot and shared them as a moodboard with the team. Planning the shot list first is the simplest way to get a beauty shoot in Dubai done in a day. Here are four of the finals:
The fashion frameFull look, shoulders square, no jewellery.
The profileThe wet set, lacquered flat, and the line of the neck.
The bobHair over the jaw, black up to the mouth.
The window frameDaylight from the side, the red the only colour.
05 · The photographs
Real skin, kept real
Each final image is retouched by hand, frame by frame: blemishes cleaned, backdrop evened, a careful dodge and burn, and a crisp lip line. The texture, pores and shape of the face are all kept. That's the difference between a beauty photograph and a filter.
06 · The film
Cut like a perfume campaign
The low-key frame · Rouge Dior On Stage Ink (product image: Dior) · The hero
The film at the top of this page is cut to an original French chanson written around one line, with no English words. Every cut lands on the beat, and French and English subtitles carry the message when the sound is off.
It goes from the first red on bare lips to the finished portraits and ends on one word: Waterproof. The colour was matched to the retouched photographs, so the film and the stills sit together on any feed.
Français
Il reste là, il reste là,
mon rouge ne part pas.
Même sous la pluie,
il ne s'en va pas.
English
It stays, it stays,
my red won't come off.
Even in the rain,
it won't leave.
07 · Behind the scenes
In Vika's own words
“Anyone can generate a red lip. Nobody can generate her.”
The behind-the-scenes film lets Vika Levina tell the story herself: the make-up chair, the moodboard, the hair, and the idea behind it all.
FAQ
Beauty shoots in Dubai
Which lipstick was used in Waterproof?
Rouge Dior On Stage Ink, a blurring matte liquid lipstick made to be transfer-proof. It suited a story about a red that doesn't move. The project is independent of Dior.
Is any of it AI-generated?
No. The model, her skin and the water in the photographs are real and were captured in camera in Dubai. The whole point of the project is that the person can't be generated.
Where was it shot?
In Downtown Dubai, with natural window light and a darker, low-key set. Downtown's high-rise apartments give soft, even daylight that is ideal for beauty work.
Do you shoot beauty and lipstick campaigns in Dubai and London?
Yes. SwainUK plans and shoots beauty photography and film in Dubai and London, for brands, make-up artists and models, from moodboard to retouched stills and films for every platform.
Can you shoot stills and video on the same day?
Yes, and it's how we work: photography and film in the same light, so a campaign looks consistent across Instagram, TikTok and the web.
Credits
The team
Dubai · London
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