FIELD
TRIP
At eye level, Sephora is an onslaught of
retina-searing marketing, beautiful
models with faces the texture of dinner
plates, punctuated by still lifes for
Sephora’s Favorites, on top of every sin-
gle beauty product you have ever seen,
plus a million more you haven’t but
have heard of, plus about 1,000 more,
the existence of which has never
crossed your mind. And below it all,
inches above the floor, are squat,
unmarked drawers with hidden handles
that contain even more products.
These drawers do not invite perusal.
And yet June Diane Raphael is not
afraid to peruse them.
This is how she finds a tube of Make
Up For Ever lipstick in Candy Pink, an
aggressively bright shade like the one
her character wears on Netflix’s Grace
and Frankie. (Not infrequently, Raphael’s
is described as the best character on
the show, which also stars Jane Fonda
and Lily Tomlin.) And in addition to star-
ring in Long Shot with Seth Rogen and
Charlize Theron as the Huma Abedin to
Theron’s HRC, this year Raphael
cowrote her first book, Represent: The
Woman’s Guide to Running for Office &
Changing the World, with former
Emily’s List chief of staff Kate Black. The
book contains wisdom from people like
Massachusetts congresswoman
Ayanna Pressley and discussion of
things like how to finance a campaign
and why the conversation surrounding
how female candidates present them-
selves is so fraught.
A fraught conversation that, for us,
commences in Sephora’s fragrance
corridor, near Chanel. “It’s sort of prob-
lematic to talk about, even?” Raphael
talk-asks. She is nothing if not emo-
tive—her large, round eyes are brim-
ming with emphasis, whether she is
delivering a polemic on systemic
political sexism or describing the best
mascara (Benefit Roller Lash). “It’s prob-
lematic to describe a certain look or to
tell someone that they shouldn’t show
up however they want to show up.” But,
she notes, it was often one of the first
questions women looking to run for office would ask her. The answer was to share
information without commentary: For example, voters paid particular attention to
women’s appearance and rated those they found attractive as more likable. “You
know, take it or leave it? And balancing that with presenting your most authentic
version of yourself is going to always be the right answer.”
Raphael’s most authentic self, if you are wondering, is contoured within an inch
of her life. “Let it be known: I love makeup,” she announces to me and a nearby sales
associate. Around us, the dichromatic hive buzzes with a lunchtime rush. “There was
one time I was working with a makeup artist where she gave me the full Kardashian.
I have never looked better. Honestly, I have never looked more like myself.”
And then, to underline her point, or simply as a torture exercise, Raphael glee-
fully contours my eyes with a Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette tester that
she seems to have plucked from nowhere.
She goes to work like a sculptor with a feather-tipped chisel, carving out my
brow bone in mahogany, shaping my eyelids like clay. But her artist’s touch, she tells
me, is adding a wash of orange that causes the blue of my eyes to leap forth into the
world. I look in the mirror and see a Siberian husky staring back.
Two huskies, if you count Raphael, who joins me in gazing into the mirror. She is
wearing much less eye makeup yet looks twice as good as I do. “We are so gor-
geous,” she says, and she’s half right. —BRENNAN KILBANE
FOR SHOPPING
SEPHORA, WORLD TRADE CENTER
Kat Von D Tattoo Liner
Kat Von D Shade
+ Light Eye
Contour Palette
Hourglass Ambient
Lighting Palette
Fresh Sugar Face
Polish
Dr. Jart+ Cicapair
Tiger Grass Color
Correcting Treatment
Make Up For Ever
Artist Rouge Light
Luminous Hydrating
Lipstick in Candy Pink
Kate Somerville
ExfoliKate Intensive
Exfoliating Treatment
Benefit Roller Lash
$22. 00
Total: $317
“Did you see the
viral [post] where
that woman was
in a car crash?
She posted a
picture of herself
in the hospital,
full neck brace
on and
everything. But
her liner? Perfect
cat eye. And it
was this one.”
“It’s too thick, but
I love that feeling.
I find it so
meditative. And
it pulls out your
natural lashes in
a way that I
don’t think the
others do.”
RAPHAEL’S PURCHASES FROM
$20.00
$48. 00
$64. 00
$52. 00
$62. 00
$24. 00
$25.00
thank you
90 ALLURE SEPTEMBER 2019
