Pat McGrath On Dolce & Gabbana’s Summer Makeup & Expert Tips
When makeup artist Pat McGrath makes time for you in her busy schedule (and when we say busy, we mean collaborating with both Dolce & Gabbana and CoverGirl on key products, as well as finding herself backstage creating trends for just about every major fashion show) you just simply don’t hesitate. Even if that means giving up your Saturday morning. So, this Saturday I found myself at Saks among a few other beauty editors listening to McGrath walk us through the new summer collections the Animalier Collection and Italian Summertime Collection, and she made sure to give us a few key makeup pointers along the way.
As for the Animalier Collection, Domenico and Stefano chose to reflect glamour and “the feline sensuality” throughout the collection. The staple product is the bronzer which features a leopard print overlay but goes on light enough that even those scared of bronzer can layer McGrath added that the actual shade “is very universal, very pale. It’s a very fun fashion product.” The collection also includes a gorgeous orange-red lipstick shade (Ultra) as well as a nail polish to match that fiery red.
For the Italian Summertime Collection, the designers were inspired by their Summer 11 runway collection and wanted to reflect the Sicilian culture and their rich heritage. This collection brings us an eyeshadow quad that works for both hot summer days and nights, spanning the color spectrum from gold to a deep plum. Another favorite from this collection is the lipstick, Mandorla, a pale pink with a hint of shimmer.
Below are some insights from McGrath as she shared just some of her makeup wisdom.
How should we approach these bold red lip colors if we’re not used to wearing this much of a lip?
If you’re afraid of red lipstick, I love putting it on and then tissue it off to wear it as more of a stain. There are so many levels of which you can wear red lipstick. Minimum or maximum.
I know you have always been about bold, lush lashes. You mentioned spidery lashes earlier and I have noticed that lashes on celebrities lately have been more spiky, can you talk about that trend?
Yes, we were talking about that earlier. There was a lot of sixties going on in the shows. (mentions new smudge proof mascara that builds) I think because of the nod to the sixties everyone wanted the lashes to be strong. It became a big thing. There was a lot of sixties in the clothing and so that’s where I think that came from.
The way I do those lashes is first, comb through one layer of the lashes so you have a full set of lashes.
Then you back the brush onto the lash. The lashes need to be separated and gorgeous. Almost painting, pushing the brush into the lashes. I love to see a bit of spider lashes. A new thing this season is putting mascara on bottom heavy rather than just the top this is also a nod to the 60’s and 70’s.
People always talked about a clump-free lash and I was always like “No, not too weak”.
Another thing is that spidery lashes work well with a nude eye. Light shadows around the eyes, the lightest tones swooshed around the eye then tons of mascara and either a nude mouth or bright mouth. When you think of spidery lashes you think of the hard-drawn liners which is why it seems to be from the past. But now, Spidery lashes are seen in more of a fresh way. The makeup this season was very fresh and the clothes were more embellished,strong and textured.
The brows are really big right now and I can see this on some of the girls can you talk about that?
There was a lot of brow bleaching in past seasons. What we did was groom the brows, a little bit of tweezing. Then we used eyeshadow powders to fill in spaces. Shadows and pencils were used to fill in the brows. Sometimes three colors because hair isn’t just one color.
Blush has also been very big this season, and the model here seems to have a lot of it. Are you blushing more of the face as opposed to just the apples?
It more depends on the shape of your face. If your face is more full, you can use blush as a contour. Or if you want a more romantic or you have pronounced cheeks then you can use a touch on the front of the cheeks. There are so many ways to blush. Whether you put a little bit to warm up the face or as a contour or on the apples for sweetness. There are about seven different ways to blush.For her right now we just did on the cheeks pulled backwards. At the shows if it was more of a nude color we would put it on the cheeks and then down. If it was a darker color we might just use a touch. Or even use blush on the eyes and cheeks at the same time. Apples, temples, chin, skin, almost working it as a bronzer to give a little life, not so much dull.
The Animalier and Italian Summertime Collections are available at Saks Fifth Avenue locations and saksfifthavenue.com
