Peter Philips

Chanel's Jade Le Vernis nail lacquer and its $100 eBay asking price became a blogosphere phenomenon last year. But it wasn't the only success story for Peter Philips, who was named the global creative director of makeup at the French house in 2008—don't forget the waiting-list-only temporary tattoos from the recent Spring show. Next month, the Belgian-born face painter (who didn't pick up a makeup brush until he was 27) will launch Rouge Coco, which is being billed as a "modern interpretation" of crème lipstick. His first major collection for the brand, it's decidedly more straightforward than spectacular, but that doesn't mean he and his bosses aren't hoping for big things. "Makeup, like fashion, is a nonstop moving organism, so textures and formulas evolve," he says. "I just need to update it with time." Here, Philips talks about finding his true calling, moving into the house that Coco built, and a time when he too waited in line to buy a bottle of Chanel nail polish.

Sophia Loren in Cannes, 1955

"In Antwerp in the early eighties, there was no Internet. You had to look around hard to find a Vogue or an Elle or an i-D," Philips says. Old movies, on the other hand, there were plenty of. "It's a cliché, but I've always been inspired by black-and-white films and the iconic actresses—like Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Sophia Loren. They created the original fantasy for me.

As a young student in Antwerp

Philips, who had an artist for a biological dad and a business-owner stepfather, decided on a relatively traditional course at first: He got a degree in graphic design in Brussels. But soon after graduating, he headed back home to attend the Antwerp Academy, where he became swept up in the fashion revolution that was taking place courtesy of famous alums like Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, and Martin Margiela

i-D, February 2001, photographed by Willy Vanderperre.

It wasn't until he attended the Paris shows as a dresser that Philips caught the beauty bug. "I was a huge fashion victim in those days, and I saw something in makeup that was intricately linked to fashion but didn't require having to make a collection," he says. After graduating in 1993, Philips built up his book doing test shoots with aspiring photographers and stylists, among them Willy Vanderperre, who recently lensed the Jil Sander campaigns, and Olivier Rizzo, who these days most often collaborates with Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons

Arena Homme, Spring/Summer 2003, styled by Panos Yiapanis and photographed by Asia Argento.

The pivotal moment in Philips' career came at a Raf Simons shoot, when he drew a Mickey Mouse face onto a model in perfect scale (graphic design degrees can come in handy). After that, he segued into similarly inventive illustrations using skulls. "People flipped out," Philips recalls. "They really remember the spectacular things you do, and the pure beauty things they take for granted. I learned a lot from that."

Another Magazine, Autumn/Winter 2005, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.

"I became very selective for whom I would do the spectacular makeup, so as not to make it banal," Philips explains of his early days as a face painter. Luckily, his plain old beauty work was showstopping, too, and kept him in high demand with labels like Dries Van Noten and Fendi and magazines including i-D, V, Pop, and nearly every international edition of Vogue

Chanel took notice of Philips' handiwork after Karl Lagerfeld met him on a Fendi shoot. "They were very interested and they kept on booking me, but I didn't even dare to dream," Philips says of the opportunity to run the brand's makeup division. But one day, the house's former creative directors Heidi Morawetz and Dominique Moncourtois—the latter of whom was the last employee to have been handpicked by Mlle Chanel herself—invited him to their atelier and asked him how he'd feel about taking over. "I was shocked," Philips recalls. Having never worked for a big company, he suggested an "engagement period" to see if it would

Going corporate hasn't changed Philips' artistic approach much. "There's space for playing here, which is great for a creator," he says. One place that Philips likes to play is in the nail department, where Morawetz and Moncourtois set a very high bar. "I waited in line for Rouge Noir!" Philips admits of Chanel's famed shade No. 18—also known as Vamp, the metallic burgundy polish created by his predecessors in 1994. Two years into his reign, Philips has released Gold Fiction, a limited-edition gilded lacquer; Robertson Boulevard, a trend-setting collection of four Pop Art-colored varnishes; and, of course, Fall 2009's sold-out Jade

"We're not here to shock people," Philips insists. "I get as much satisfaction out of creating a beige eye palette that's beautiful and accessible as I do a green nail polish." But it's still his edgier ventures that get the most attention. Take, for instance, the temporary tattoos that he and Lagerfeld dreamed up for Spring 2010. The two-dimensional strings of pearls and baubles, which were devised by Philips (there's that graphic design background again), go on sale this month. There are already 3,589 names on the wait list.

Chanel is hoping Philips can do for lipstick what he's already done for lacquer and skin art. His first major launch, Rouge Coco Hydrating Crème Lip Colour, is designed to woo the lip gloss-loving youth set. Its easy-on, one-swipe glide should persuade girls who grew up on Chanel Glossimer to embrace the sophisticated side, but what'll really sell them is the range of shades. Rouge Coco has its crimsons, but it mostly comprises rose and pink hues as well as mauves, caramels, and deep berries available in matte, pearl, and soft-shimmer finishes. "I wanted to get rid of the stigma that lipstick has to be red, which may scare away a lot of woman.