On one of those Instagram rabbit holes we’ve all gone down, I discovered the New Zealand makeup artist Lochie Stonehouse some months ago and started following him. It was the impeccable Siouxsie Sioux-like black tendril-y work he did on Cobrah, a nude-ified beauty look for Ethel Cain, and the surreal, alien gorgeousness of images that were done for a Shiseido campaign that made me hit Follow.
Then a few weeks back Stonehouse posted an IG story on his collection of makeup packaging from the last couple of decades and I was intrigued, because, truth be told, I love a collector, and I especially and truly love an obsessive collector. There’s no shade here, by the way. I am one myself, specifically Stig Lindberg mid-century ceramics and obscure style magazines from the 1980s and 1990s. (Yes, there is no known Venn diagram of collecting where these two things have ever intersected before except in my addled mind.)
What sparked my interest in Stonehouse’s collection was that a few months back, I’d seen the Coco Chanel exhibition at London’s V&A museum. While the clothes were unsurprisingly terrific and modern—looks from 1925 would be just right for 2025—so too was the packaging for her perfumes and skincare. I loved it. They were almost Bauhausian in their machine-age modernity; not a cut glass decanter perfume bottle or frou-frou compact in sight. (It made me think that in some ways Chanel was the Helmut Lang of her era—and vice versa.)
Though, confessing all here, my interest in beauty packaging began way, way, back, when my younger sister was given a bunch of lurid lipsticks to play with when we were kids, and the carnation red one made its way into my bedroom. I must have been the only 9-year-old who had a very brief period looking like Paloma Picasso. Anyway, Stonehouse’s interest, as you will read, runs far deeper than mine and is much more professionally focused. (That said, before diving into our chat, it should be said that no matter how alluring the packaging of yesteryear is, it can only ever be about aesthetic appreciation; any product that remains can’t be used as it s well past its sell-by date.)
Because he s currently located in Auckland—he calls New Zealand city home six months of the year; the rest of the time, he is in Los Angeles—and I am in New York, our resulting chat ended up being done via email.
Vogue: Lochie, let’s start at the beginning—when and where and how did your collection start?
Lochie Stonehouse: I began acquiring vintage cosmetics in 2009, well before I was a makeup artist. Over the years, I would pick up the odd item, although pretty inconsistently. In 2019, I began working for L’Oréal Luxe as Director of Artistry for YSL Beauty. It was there that I fell in love with the brand’s collector palettes and began collecting with more intent. In 2022, I began adding Dior Beauty to my collection.
V: What was the first thing you bought/found, and why did you get it?
LS: The first retro Yves Saint Laurent Beauty item that I obtained was the 1990s Rouge Ecrin Jewel Lipstick in 4 Ruby. The lipstick was designed in collaboration with Robert Goossens, a French jeweler who was known for designing for luxury houses [like] Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and of course Yves Saint Laurent. The heavy solid-brass lipstick case is inlaid with a Swarovski heart-shaped crystal, in the most beautiful ruby red!
V: How many pieces are in the collection?
LS: I currently have 119 Yves Saint Laurent/YSL Beauty items on display and 47 of my most favorite Dior Beauty collectibles under glass. The two collections consist of complexion compacts, collector eye palettes, compact mirrors, brushes, liquid fragrance vessels, and solid perfumes/lip formulas that are housed within brooches, bracelets, necklaces, and watches.
The glass display cabinets were custom-made locally. They take up residence in my makeup studio for my clients and friends to see when visiting. I only had them made recently, which I had been putting off for years. Previously the items lived in storage boxes. It feels nice to have them on display for people to appreciate. I convince myself that it validates their cost!
V: I am assuming there is some overarching theme to it; What’s that theme and why?
LS: I’m drawn to the gaudy opulence and showy nature of collectibles through the early 1990s to late 2000s. Everything was either inlaid with Swarovski stones or designed to be worn as a piece of jewelry. Many collectors consider products produced within this time frame to be invaluable in terms of design, rarity, lack of historical significance, or low return on investment.
Obviously, a plastic Y2K compact cannot be compared to the value of a 1920s compact by Maybelline, however, I’ve always liked the idea of accruing a ‘complete’ collection, appreciating both the old and the new. Unlike Maybelline, fashion houses Dior and Yves Saint Laurent only began introducing color cosmetics to their portfolios in the 60s and 70s, which is fairly recent in the big scheme of things.
It’s why I refer to my collection as ‘retro and contemporary,’ rather than ‘vintage’. In the cosmetic-collecting community, ‘vintage’ is a term that usually describes items that are at least 20 to 30 years old. My collections do not pre-date 1986 and the vast majority sit between the early 1990s to mid 2000s. This is why I prefer to generalize the collections as being ‘retro.’ Although, I do have some special items that can definitely be considered vintage!
V: Is there something about bygone beauty packaging that particularly appeals to you? What is it?
LS: I find it interesting to observe the evolution of materials used throughout the years and how this relates to the preservation, degradation, value, and even recyclability of a collectible. Historically, it was common for luxury companies to have their compacts manufactured using heavy, high-quality solid base metals like brass or silver. Sometimes even gold-plated brass. The vast majority of cosmetic companies today have switched to paint-coated plastics and unrecyclable hard plastics. Aside from being unrecyclable, these cheaper materials tarnish easily when well-used and well-loved by the consumer. Oily fingers, moisture, or light scratching results in fading, chipping, and flaking—unlike items produced decades prior. For me, this can mean that sourcing a modern 2020 palette that is untarnished or in ‘mint’ condition can actually prove to be more difficult than sourcing a rare untarnished compact produced in the ‘70s.
V: How do you know what to collect? Are you, I don’t know, scouring vintage magazines to see what was released when?
LS: Much like designer collections presented during Paris Fashion Week, luxury beauty brands also introduced their own quarterly offerings that align with the seasons. Annually, YSL Beauty would launch a Spring collection, followed by a Summer launch, and then a Fall/Winter collection. These YSL Beauty collections were usually inspired by the fabrics or theme of the collection presented by Saint Laurent. Towards each holiday season, a Christmas collection would also launch, and in recent years, a Luna New Year collection. This makes ‘filling the gaps’ easier because a quick Google search of ‘2018 A/W YSL Beauty palette’ will unearth articles and YouTube videos that indicate what palette launched at that time, what it looked like, what it was called, and in what countries it had launched in.
In saying this, learning what the brand had launched pre-2013 is challenging. This is because beauty fanatics had not yet begun ‘blogging’ on the internet and all brand-driven advertising/marketing was to be found in the pages of print magazines—not on the internet! Google s Reverse Image Search has been helpful for unearthing old magazine article scans from the pages of Vogue Beauty, etc. At times, this has offered me clues into the early or forgotten-about collections. It s moments like this where you realize that the internet has grown into this vast database of information overnight. It was truly void of any beauty-related information pre-2013, whereas today we have a plethora of YouTube reviews and PR unboxings.
V: How do you date the things you collect?
LS: I keep a Google spreadsheet for each collection. A digital photograph of each piece is followed by the year and season it had launched, shade name, country where the collection launched, and other notes that relate to how/where/when I acquired each item, such as how much I acquired it for. The collection s insurance policy calls for it, ha!
V: I love looking at your Instagram and at your work, which feels like it really pushes onward into the future, yet your collection reflects the past. What’s the relationship between the two—if any!?
LS: Thank you! Trend and evolution are linear, and cannot be severed. I think that your work can reference the past, while still reading as future-focused. While I am heavily inspired by the future, I appreciate that none of us would be here without the forward-thinking minds of the past.
V: What are your three favorite things from your collection—and what’s the holy grail you’re still trying to find?
LS: Yves Saint Laurent’s 1980s ‘Exceptional Lipstick’ in ’23 Dangerous Red,’ which is a lipstick bullet plated in fine, textured gold and inspired by the work of Line Vautrin. Yves Saint Laurent’s 1980s PARIS Bracelet Diamant Parfumé Scented Bracelet, which I obtained during a visit to Paris in 2020, so it’s rather sentimental! Lastly, Yves Saint Laurent’s 2007 Fall OPIUM Legendes de Chine Powder Collector for the Eyes and Complexion, which is a red lacquered palette, featuring a shimmering gold phoenix with intricate floral detailing, released in honor of the 30th anniversary of YSL s Opium fragrance.
I would love more than anything to find YSL Beauty’s 2014 Swarovski embellished Couture Palettes. Five designs were released exclusively for London’s Selfridges, named ‘Dubai, Paris, London, Hong Kong and New York.’ Because these plates were only released at Selfridges department store in London, they’re near-impossible to find. If anyone has one in their possession and would consider selling it, please get in touch!