Interview: Peter Philips on the Latest Dior Backstage Collection, As Seen on Jenna Ortega

Dior Backstage is back with three new products and a killer campaign starring Jenna Ortega—and we’ve got the inside scoop from Peter Philips, Dior Makeup’s Creative and Image Director.

Dior Backstage needs no introduction. Created behind the scenes at Fashion Week’s biggest runways, Dior Backstage has championed high-performance, runway-ready professional makeup products from the very beginning. Now, in 2025, the brand pushes further, drawing inspiration from runways, photoshoots and red carpets alike. Putting inclusivity and modernity at its core, the brand has launched three new instant icons.

READ: A Comprehensive List of All the Celebrity Brand Ambassadors You Should Know in 2025

First, Dior’s viral cult blush Rosy Glow has been reinvented with a buildable formula and updated packaging. Fret not—it still features the same pioneering pH technology you know and love from its predecessor, but now comes in seven shades of its natural blur finish.

Complementing it is the new Rosy Glow Stick, Dior’s first pH-adaptable dewy glow blush stick, designed to react with the skin to give each face a custom colour. Non-sticky nor oily, its seamless, weightless and nourishing formulation adds a stunning radiance to the skin. 

Finally, the new Dior Addict Lip Glow Butter is a shiny lip treatment infused with nourishing peptides and ceramides for long-wearing juicy lips. Available in five shades, the multi-use lip butter can be used day or night for a plump, glossy, and nourished pout.

We spoke to Dior Makeup’s Creative and Image Director Peter Philips to glean an insider’s look into the latest Dior Backstage collection and his creative process. Find the full interview ahead:

The Maison has ushered in a new era by naming Jenna Ortega as its latest ambassador. How do you feel Dior Backstage has evolved since its inception? 

“The Dior Backstage line was launched about seven years ago, and it was meant as a new platform to talk to our younger generation. As a luxury house, we have to be really alert to stay relevant, which means that we are constantly updating our vision to attract and seduce a younger generation without losing our loyal clientele and fans. 

“Back when it was launched, Dior Backstage was really just the essential basics—no-brainer products. We had palettes and foundations that were created in a way that you could not make any mistake with them. They were put in this transparent packaging so you could see what was inside, and it was a professional approach to makeup without being too intimidating. I consider that line as the base, and you were meant to accessorise it using the main Dior makeup collection to express yourself.

“Now, a few years later, we’ve re-launched the line—updating our formulas, our packaging, and our product range—to show that we are relevant. In the last six to seven years, a new generation of potential Dior lovers has emerged, and they are makeup experts. These kids grew up with makeup tutorials and have been playing with makeup from very young—we don’t have to do the same kind of education anymore. Now, we’ve made products for girls, boys and whoever else likes makeup, as we want to show them how fun it can be.”

The viral, cult favourite Rosy Glow Blush has gotten a major upgrade with this new collection. How has its organic popularity online influenced your approach to its new formulation? 

“It’s tricky, honestly. Once something becomes popular and you try to update it, it can become dangerous territory. You don’t want to disappoint all the people who love the product, so when reformulating, you really have to guarantee that the new product is truly better. So when reformulating Rosy Glow, we didn’t change the makeup result. 

“With this new formula, everything is still as it was, but we listened to our customer’s feedback on the product’s formula and we’ve fixed the flaws. For example, one of the things that we’ve heard is that sometimes the product would harden. It would develop this film over the compact, which made it harder to take off the product. This can happen with powder products—maybe your brush has some foundation or oil leftover from old applications, and it can cause this barrier to form. You no longer have to scrape off this layer, because with this formulation we have made sure that this will not happen that easily.

“We also updated the packaging to match the new Blush Stick and Glow Butter and it is very cute and desirable. But, we didn’t change the basics of the product. We just fine-tuned it a little bit to make it better.”

Do you have any backstage tips for those at home who will be using these new products?

“These products have been made for you to combine them and to wear them individually. It’s actually made to blend really beautifully, so you just need to swipe it directly onto your cheek and blend it with a brush or your fingers. You can use your hand as a palette to give you more control over the product before you apply it to your cheek—this would give you a more subtle result.

“Then, if you want a more intense result, you can follow up with the Rosy Glow powder blush, layering it over top. This takes away some of the wet-looking glow and gives you more of a blurred finish. 

“I also like to combine different shades to create an ombre or gradient effect—it’s quite popular these days. There are so many shades in this range that can be mixed and matched to create very beautiful effects, so I encourage you to really play around.”

What is special about the new Dior Backstage packaging?

“I mean, just the packaging alone is an incentive to go and shop the new products. We really tried to make it a desirable, collectable object as well as a high-performance product, and I think the new products are really just beautiful. For instance, the Lip Glow Butter comes in this tube adorned with a little charm, and it is such a fun product.”

How does your creative process differ between creating a look for runway shows or shoots and conceptualising products for Dior Beauty? 

“There are many different ways to approach the creative process, and it really depends on the context, whether I’m designing a product or a look for a commercial shoot, fashion show, wedding, or something else. Each brings its own distinctions and limitations. 

“From my point of view, however, I don’t make a project for me or for my ego. I always consider that it’s for somebody else and I can’t impose the products on them. I make sure that the things that we create work to seduce our clientele and are desirable. It means that we have to push ourselves to really deliver the best on every aspect of the product, which means formulation, clear aims, packaging, communication, and up to the standards of the luxury Dior house.

“When I do a look for a show, I cooperate with the designer. Again, it’s not about me, it’s about the vision of the designer. I use my skills and my products to complete their vision, while making sure that the looks last, that they’re in harmony with the designs, that they look good and that they suit the diversity of each model. In shows, it’s a collaboration with the hairdresser, a casting director, the set designer, the lighting designers, and the sound designers—all of us work together to make a complete image. For shooting, it’s exactly the same, but instead, it’s between me, the stylist, the editor, the hairdresser, the photographer, and the models. Everybody works together to create an image for commercial or creative purposes.” 

What defines Dior’s identity in today’s beauty landscape? 

“For Dior, not only with beauty but also in general, we draw from an enormously rich pool of DNA. We’re drawing from a continuation of beauty collections, fragrance collections, and fashion collections. Different designers in fashion, jewellery and makeup, and the noses in fragrance have added their creative input over generations, and it has woven this tapestry. To me, Dior is this bouquet of flowers made up of a combination of different shapes, colours and scents, and everybody can pick and find their own little flower which they feel like recognise in themselves.”

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