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Jetsetting with... Eric Antoniotti

SINGAPORE – Eric Antoniotti has an occupation that entails travelling all around the world. The bonus: He also gets to meet women as part of his role as skincare and make-up brand Clarins’ international artistic and training director.

SINGAPORE – Eric Antoniotti has an occupation that entails travelling all around the world. The bonus: He also gets to meet women as part of his role as skincare and make-up brand Clarins’ international artistic and training director.

Antoniotti, who hails from the Mediterranean island of Corsica in France, was in Singapore last month to celebrate the relaunch of Clarins’ makeup range.

Singapore is the first country in South-east Asia to bring back the make-up line, featuring iconic products made with the latest formulas. There are also new products created with the traveller in mind, such as a four-in-one make-up pen and a compact brow kit.

Having interacted with women from all over the globe to get feedback on products, Antoniotti speaks with confidence about what women want. Does he indeed have the ability to make women tell him all their secrets? “I think I have some (ability),” he chuckled.

But when it comes to people, no matter where they are from, “it’s all about caring, listening and paying attention”, he said. “If you respect people, they respect you. If you give to them, they give you twice (as much back). But always (speak and act) with honesty.”

Q: What’s it like to travel the world for a living?

A: It means that I can meet women from all over the world in (the span of) just two months. I can go from Vancouver to Montreal to New York, and then to Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, and then go to Dubai, stop over in Paris and Milan, and then from London to Hong Kong and Singapore.

I enjoy it because it’s fantastic to meet (people from) different cultures, different women, and to find that all women are looking for the same thing: To look more feminine, more beautiful, and younger.

Q: So, which country has the most beautiful women?

A: Ooh la la! Every country has beautiful women. Every woman has something good to highlight. It could be the shape of her nose or lips, her skin, the way she holds her head, her way of walking. There’s always something nice. (But) there are two regions in which women are very unhappy with themselves, and I still don’t understand why.

In Asia, especially in Korea, they go for a lot of surgery. And there are many women in the United States who do the same. They don’t accept themselves. Do you know that in France, so many women say, “I’m dreaming about having Asiatic eyes”? They want to have what we call almond-shaped eyes. And here in Asia, they say, “We want to have double eyelids”. We always want what we don’t have.

Q: When you’re travelling for leisure, which country gives you the most inspiration for your work?

A: I’m from Corsica, so I go back to Corsica island. In France, we call it the “island of beauty”. It’s a unique island where everything is preserved (by law): The beach, the water, the mountains. All of nature is protected. This is where I get all my inspiration — it comes from nature.

You have to go to Corsica. The water is clearer than in the Maldives. I never bring a bottle of water with me, there is water everywhere and the water is crystal clear. You can drink it directly from (streams that run from) the mountains, (and even) the snow.

Q: Singapore is very different from where you’re from. Have you seen anything here that has inspired you?

A: My last time in Singapore was 13 years ago, at least. Marina Bay Sands — for me, that’s the place to go. I love the three-tower building. From far away, it’s a piece of art. And the (ArtScience Museum) lotus — I took so many pictures of the lotus.

The architecture that you have here in those new buildings, and specific areas such as Clarke Quay, really inspires me in terms of textures, colours, design and packaging.

I also pay a lot of attention to women, to people, because I like to see how people are living, what they are doing, how they are acting — not just the make-up they are wearing but also their hairstyles, where they are going and why. I am sure that some of them thought I was crazy because I was (so intent on observing them).

Q: Clarins has some new products that are specially designed for travel. Were they created based on feedback from women?

A: Yes, we have had a direct connection with women since the beginning of the existence of Clarins. They tell us, from all over the world, what they are looking for.

And as women are getting busier, travelling more and having families and occupying high positions, they have less time, so more are asking for “nomadic” products.

Take our Four-Colour Pen: It is a lip liner, an eye base, eyeliner, eye kohl — everything in one product.

In Europe, freckles are very trendy at the moment, so I use the brown (colour option) to draw freckles (on women’s skin). The product is quite affordable and easy to carry in your bag. We are creating more and more of these kits, which are very lightweight and easy to carry. May Seah

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