China Girls Smashing Moulds

Hot young model Xie Chaoyu is the cool face of Marie Dalgar, the Asian cosmetics company whose aim is no less than to “start a new world for makeup”.

One of the world’s oldest civilisations, China is nowadays its most-populated nation and leading economy in terms of purchasing parity power. No wonder it’s on everyone’s lips.

Cui Xiaohong, founder of Marie Dalgar cosmetics, intends to take Chinese glam way beyond lips with her quest to “help Chinese ladies find their own unique beauty”.

For Cui, makeup is about art, it’s created to increase confidence in women, not just attract the male eye, she says. Her ‘grafting mascara’, specially crafted for the Chinese market, was a hit when it launched, with the first online sale made in a record 15 seconds.

Now the range is flying off the shelves at French cosmetics chain SEPHORA, part of the LVMH luxury empire, with 20-year-old Xie Chaoyu bringing her cool, edgy attitude to this one-minute ad where splashes of color sparkle and smear across a black/white palette.

Cui Xiaohong, founder of Marie Dalgar cosmetics, intends to take Chinese glam way beyond lips with her quest to “help Chinese ladies find their own unique beauty”

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Voted a Breakout Model at London Fashion Week 2018 by Vogue, this China girl has been smashing porcelain moulds all year. When Comic Con season was in full flow earlier in 2018, Prada put out a Real Life Comix series of ads, including this one, where Xie is illustrated by Australian artist Stella Leuna, with animation by London-based Thomas Traum.

Since being discovered on Chinese messaging service WeChat, the young law student has also modelled for Fendi, Christopher Kane, Sonia Rykiel, and Clare Waight Keller’s first collection for Givenchy. (That’s right, CWK did Meghan Markle’s wedding dress).

“I love the freedom to be yourself, to push yourself and your boundaries” in fashion, says Xie.

‘Life is art, art is life,’ runs the Marie Dalgar philosophy. ‘Art is never far away, it is everywhere. Even normal makeup is leading us to find the value of soul.’

Do you reckon Cui and Xie have got a fresh intriguing look going in this skyscrapers and back-streets ad?

To have your say on this and other ads, visit the ADDS site.

Tree Elven is a creative who thinks big, values simplicity, and just loves life. She’s the Founder of ADDS, an independent voting platform – it’s like TripAdvisor for advertising.