Meet Chanel Beauty’s Cometes Collective

I have never been good at working solo, and my career so far—whether on teams at fashion magazines or at digital start-ups—essentially confirms this. My brain craves collaboration, and I firmly believe that the best outcomes happen when individual talents are able to bounce ideas off one another like atoms to create completely new ones. Do I sound like a cheesy corporate handbook yet? Maybe. But at least I seem to be in good company with Chanel, a brand that’s taken a similar “there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’” approach when developing its beauty offerings. I witnessed this first-hand on a recent trip to London, England, where the house has staged an interactive retrospective of its makeup line (which dates back to 1924, when Chanel face powders and lipsticks first entered the scene) as well as a look at what’s new and next.

At the centre of this effort is a trio known as the Cometes Collective. These three visionary makeup artists—Ammy Drammeh, Cécile Paravina and Valentina Li—combine their distinct approaches to help shape the next generation of Chanel’s beauty products. They take turns creating their own individual collections and come together on shared ones. It’s an authentic spirit of partnership that dates back to the house’s first makeup directors, Dominique Moncourtois and Heidi Morawetz, who worked side by side for nearly 30 years, from 1980 to 2008.

“Our collaboration is very natural, seamless and organic,” says Drammeh. The three meet in Paris once a month for what they call “collaboration days”—white Chanel-branded lab coats and all. “We look like Chanel scientists,” quips Li, whose cerulean bob serves as a constant reminder of her commitment to the pursuit of colour.

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Photography courtesy of Chanel

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The word “colour” comes up a lot during our conversation. For Paravina, it’s often the starting point of product creation. “I try to almost psychoanalyze myself—‘Why am I drawn to that colour?’”—she ponders, adding that having the ability to create colour “from scratch” is a luxury in the beauty industry. Indeed, each member of the collective is a kind of colour detective on the hunt for a fresh lead. For Drammeh, who also dabbles in pottery, that colour is a deep brown-black. “When I come back to Paris, I’m going to buy a new kind of clay that’s super-super dark,” she says. Li, meanwhile, names red “the colour of blood, the colour of life.” And Paravina’s recent obsession is magenta. “It has so many notes within it—pink, purple and red,” she says.

The trio has some exciting launches slated for the upcoming year, and each has been a long time in the making, according to Drammeh, who notes that “nothing is a coincidence. Even when something doesn’t seem deliberate, it is.”

This article first appeared in FASHION’s April 2025 issue. Find out more here.