Prada Beauty has landed in the Nordics – this is the 3-piece starter kit you need

When Prada Beauty finally made its long-anticipated Nordic debut in the Stockholm archipelago earlier this month, the slick silver packaging alone had beauty editors performing double takes. Carefully curated eyeshadow quads featuring the brand’s emblematic triangle, nifty brushes designed with architectural precision, and magnetic lipsticks that snap shut with a surprisingly satisfying click. But beyond the visual punch lies something less obvious and arguably more appealing to our Scandinavian sensibilities – a kind of minimalism that doesn’t apologise for its slight intellectualism.

“There was literally a clean slate on the table,” says Lyndsey Alexander, Global Creative Makeup Artist at Prada, recalling the early stages of the line’s development. “There was no story. There was no history. I mean… where do you start?”

For Alexander and her team, that blank slate became an invitation to create something ruthlessly considered. “It literally took us three years from concept to getting one product made,” says Lyndsey Alexander, Prada’s Global Creative Makeup Artist. “I’m already working on 2028.” That slow gestation shows: The textures are finely milled, the packaging weighty without being ornamental, and the formulas rooted in biotechnology with just enough science to appeal to the pragmatist, not so much as to alienate the aesthete. “My natural obsession with beauty is about innovation and tech,” Alexander adds. “So when Prada said they were developing a range that was very much tech-inspired, it kind of sang to me.”

That sort of smart, no-nonsense engineering is exactly what makes Prada Beauty feel so well-suited to the Nordic market. In our region, functionality isn’t optional and makeup needs multitask. “I really like the idea of making a particular product work hard for you,” Alexander explains. “Double up your lipstick for blusher, use your skincare as highlighter.”

For those looking to dip a toe into the collection, Alexander recommends a tightly edited trio: “It has to be the black eyeliner. It has to be the serum. And it has to be the foundation.” The eyeliner in question is jet black, matte, and stubborn in the best possible way. The Augmented Skin serum is equally no-fuss: lightweight but nourishing, designed to layer seamlessly under makeup or tap over cheekbones as a subtle glossless highlight. As for the skin-finish foundation, the brand has released 33 flexible shades in hopes to offer “one colour for everybody on the planet.”

If it all sounds almost… minimal, that’s the point. The Prada woman, as Alexander describes her, is “super-confident, smart, dresses for herself, not for anyone else.” She doesn’t need 12 steps, just the right ones. “Less is more,” Alexander says. “I’m not trying to talk people out of buying make-up, I’m trying to talk people into buying the right make-up.”

And yes, smart minimalism might provide the guide-rails, but colour exists in carefully rationed doses too. “Colour can be minimalist, 100 per cent,” she insists. The eye shadow quads, for example, may include a neon jolt or electric shimmer that borrows directly from the brand’s archival prints. But, that punch is always complemented by a trio of everyday neutrals – combinations that the team refined “in this real back-and-forward until it felt naturally very Prada.” As for the timid, Alexander suggests approaching the bright shade in each quad like an accessory: one dot at the inner corner, a razor-thin wing. “A tiny flick of blue can be really youthful; a big bold blue eye feels pastiche.”

What sets the line apart is the sense that everything has been built to serve you, not overwhelm you. Take the triangular foundation brush, which tips its cap to the infamous logo while hugging cheekbones “with total logic to the process,” as Alexander puts it. “Sometimes I ask, what can I remove to make this better, rather than what can I add?” Alexander says. And you feel it, in every formula and finish.