Katarina Håkansson’s illustrious makeup artistry career, spanning continents as well as her own brand, started in Paris, at the start of the super model era. She shortly got to working for the most prestigious fashion and beauty publications, including Vogue, Glamour, and Marie Claire; and did runway shows for top designers such as Christian Dior and Issey Miyake. She also became a favorite of photographers such as Walter Chin and Mikael Jansson.
After many successful years in Paris, Katarina made the decision to work exclusively with Mikael Jansson. Katarina’s decision took her back to Sweden, where she would spend the next five years working closely with Jansson and traveling the globe, to such exotic places as Kenya, Morocco, and Tanzania.
However, the intensive travel had taken its toll and Katarina packed up and moved again, this time to New York City. In short order, Katarina’s fresh, clean signature artistry style was embraced by none other than Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh.
In 1998 the thought of developing a skincare and cosmetic concept began taking shape. Inspired by her signature notably healthy, glowing makeup application style, the idea for Håkansson skincare was born.
Working with a chemist for five years, Katarina came up with pure, no-nonsense formulas to recreate the Katarina Håkansson signature look – healthy skin.
After several years of going back and forth between Stockholm and New York, Katarina permanently moved back to Stockholm in 2007. Besides a constant developing of Håkansson Skin Care, she works with both advertising and editorial clients, together with some of Sweden’s finest photographers.