The Client and Their Brief
Mauveworkx came to us looking for fresh imagery for a Christmas beauty campaign they were producing for L’Oréal Luxe and Boots.
DE Studios is an official L’Oréal supplier, and the campaign featured a selection of premium fragrances and new Christmas gift boxes, with imagery required for both online use and in-store POS. We worked on the project for two consecutive years, developing the visual approach further for the second campaign as new gift boxes were introduced.
Mauveworkx led the art direction for the first shoot, working with us to develop a premium gold set with subtle Christmas cues. Snow, sparkle and festive details needed to be present, but the products still had to feel luxurious and sophisticated rather than overly seasonal.
Being trusted to produce the campaign again for a second year was a great reflection of the relationship we’d built and the confidence placed in us to deliver the imagery.
What We Did
Building the set
We were involved across the production, from creating the physical set through to lighting, photography and post-production.
The first set was built from two 4ft x 4ft MDF flats, which we painted to create the gold environment. We experimented with several metallic gold paints to find the right finish and commissioned a selection of bespoke plinths to give the compositions some variation.
The plinths were deliberately different. Some were black and round with gold ribbon, others were painted gold to work with the set, while a few featured a marble effect. This gave us plenty of options for creating different compositions while keeping everything within the same visual language.
For the second campaign we took a more restrained approach. The background was painted in a matte finish and the plinths were all kept in the same colour. The result was cleaner and more considered, allowing the updated gift boxes and fragrances to take centre stage.
We worked with Pip Silvers on styling for the first campaign and Lianne Austin on the second, making sure the set and product arrangements worked together before we started shooting.
Making fragrance feel special
Once the set was ready, our attention turned to the lighting.
The fragrances in the group shots came from a range of global beauty brands, including Prada, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Viktor & Rolf, Lancôme and Mugler. Each had its own bottle design, materials, colours and finishes, but they all needed to sit comfortably within the same visual language.
Fragrance photography can be technically demanding. Glass, metal, plastic and transparent liquids all react differently to light, while labels and branding need to remain clear. At the same time, a premium fragrance bottle needs to feel like more than an object sitting on a surface. It needs to have depth, presence and a sense of luxury.
We established a lighting look for the set as a whole, then refined the lighting for each individual product within the composition. By photographing the bottles individually, we could carefully control highlights, reflections, shadows, clarity and the direction of the light.
This is where much of the craft in a product shoot happens. The lighting needs to be consistent enough for the campaign to hang together, but precise enough to make each bottle look its best.
The products were grouped together ahead of each shot so we could carefully plan the compositions. Where alternative versions were required, products could be swapped in and out without disrupting the overall styling, giving the campaign plenty of flexibility.
Finishing the imagery
The same attention to detail continued into post-production.
Each product was carefully finished so that the whole collection felt consistent, while still allowing individual bottles and gift sets to have their own presence.
The Christmas sparkle was added digitally as an Adobe design element, using blend modes to control its intensity and integrate it naturally into the photography.
The result was festive, but deliberately restrained. The Christmas atmosphere is there, without taking attention away from the products.
How It Looks
The Results
Christmas is one of the most important periods in retail, so having fresh, high-quality creative that can work across multiple channels is essential.
These images were created to be versatile from the outset. The final assets were used across the Boots homepage, in-store POS and window displays, social advertising and other digital applications.
We were trusted to produce the campaign again the following year, giving us the opportunity to build on the first shoot and develop the visual approach further.
For us, that’s one of the most rewarding parts of this kind of work. Good commercial photography isn’t just about producing a strong image on the day. It’s about understanding the brief, solving the practical challenges, paying attention to the details and giving a client the confidence that the final imagery will work wherever they need to use it.
Planning your next beauty campaign?
From set design and styling through to lighting, photography and post-production, we can take care of the detail that makes a campaign feel considered.
If you’re working on a beauty, cosmetics or fragrance campaign and need imagery that can work across digital, retail and advertising, we’d love to hear what you’re working on.
