EnKō Beauty embraces digital surrealism and Japanese folklore with brand launch

Newly-launched make-up brand EnKō Beauty – spearheaded by make-up artist and beauty influencer Caylin McDonie – took inspiration from McDonie’s own beauty designs to incorporate them into the brand’s overall style. McDonie is well known for her avant-garde, playful make-up looks that are inspired by high fashion.

The recent release of EnKō marks McDonie’s exploration into beauty. The word EnKō refers to Japanese folklore, specifically denoting a water dragon and literally translates to beauty in coincidences – which is a nod to McDonie’s experimental beauty application technique. McDonie’s dreamy aesthetic was therefore the brand’s identity.

Hugmun Studio has created a collection of bizarrely futuristic designs which can be applied to models and in different formats.

Hugmun Studio was also responsible for creating the brand’s custom logotypes and typography and coming up with the Rabbit Hole font – which was conceived by Hugmun co-founder Tomasz Pawluk aka @Boafff. Other complementary fonts include Sometimes Times Italic from Boulevardlab which offers a lighter contrast with Rabbit Hole. It is offset by PLAIN, a serif font from Optimo.

It’s a mix of soft and squiggly visuals that create a new world. Every letter has a curvaceous, folkloric body that is reminiscent of McDonie’s artistic style and freehand. The brand’s visual identity plays with chrome, metallic, holographic and 3D effects, mimicking the multi-tones in its eye shadows.

Hugmun Studio was inspired by the work of Polish 3D artist @Vi.zuza, who creates fantastical natural realms across print and moving image and worked to embed these in the EnKō’s identity.

McDonie’s vision was brought to life by McDonie’s team. Marek Degrski animated a couture-inspired face mask, while Marceli printed the packaging, embossing the complex designs onto Carte using Parfum paper from Fedrigoni.