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Balmain's Olivier Rousteing reveals inspiration behind L'Oreal lipstick collection

The 12-piece collection is just weeks away from hitting shelves at Barneys

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Each lipstick in Olivier Rousteing's new L'Oreal Paris collection was inspired by and named after a different model. News broke in May that the Balmain designer was teaming up with beauty giant L'Oreal, and now the 12-piece collection is just weeks away from hitting shelves at Barneys and the make-up brand's website.

The inspiration behind each shade, which includes a bright violet, a gold-flecked peach and a bright red, were the models Rousteing surrounds himself with on a daily basis.

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"Lara (Stone), with her incredible blonde hair and her attitude as well, has to have a red lip because she is the femme fatale," he began explaining to Vogue.com, adding Dominican model Ysaunny Brito influenced the safari green shade. "She, to me, is my Amazon, the girl that's going to fight and (be) strong and powerful."

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South Korean beauty Soo Joo Park was also one of the lipstick muses, with Rousteing opting to honour her with a violet hue, while South Sudanese model Grace Bol was given a deep sapphire and Brazil's Luma Grothe a taupe shade.

It had already been reported that the models had been signed to appear in the campaign imagery for the cosmetics line, along with Doutzen Kroes, Alexina Graham, Maria Borges and Valentina Sampaio.

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Rousteing also shared photos of the lipstick packaging, which features gold hardwear against solid block coloured casing.

When asked about the process of creating the lip colours, Oliver conceded it wasn't all that different to his day job designing clothes.

"To me, creating lipstick is like creating clothes," he mused. "It can be an armour, it can be a communication tool, it can be an invitation. If Balmain is going to do lipstick, we have to make it the most exquisite possible."

L'Oreal Paris x Balmain Paris hits stores from 20 September.

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