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· April 26, 2006 7:50 PM by
queenaka
· October 11, 2006 3:44 PM by
Kenia
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Posted by Dain, Wednesday, August 03, 2005 12:30 AM (Eastern)
I know little about Pat McGrath herself, which is surprising, given the extent of her influence, except that she has an exuberant personality that never fails. Otherwise, my knowledge of her is limited to the work she has done, and her favored products. Which is fine for our purpose, as we're interested in the technique, and not the life story. Indeed, I find it postively remarkable that McGrath intrudes so little on the social consciousness, as Bobbi Brown or Kevyn Aucoin have. Brown and Aucoin sport themselves as celebrities (which is not to say that they are/were without humility), but McGrath is first and foremost a professional, and whatever celebrity accrues is incidental to her work. I find this singularly refreshing. Pat McGrath works, for designers of the highest degree, and glossy magazines of the highest degree, as the mastermind behind Giorgio Armani's makeup line (and she's not too proud to work for Cover Girl, either, starting this July).The woman is a genius, frankly. Kevyn Aucoin's work is nothing compared the magic that McGrath seems to revisit upon us, again and again and again. She is, of course, capable of a flawless creative style, particularly for Galliano, but her trademark is a clean, equally flawless face, apparently without any makeup. It is for this that McGrath yields such influence, not just in the spreads of Vogue, but in the very products that we mortal women buy and use. For someone without her own product line (though the Giorgio Armani line is really her doing) or her own books, it really is quite remarkable, given that she remains, for the most part, in the high heaven of her high-profile gigs.
McGrath's legacy is profound. If Bobbi Brown set the last decade of the 20th century, then McGrath sets the tone for the first decade of the 21st. It is she who made the look of luminescent, healthy skin so popular—to make skin just glow, as if lit from within. A task, surely, aided and abetted by the teenage models who compose her usual canvas. To achieve the look, two innovations had to occur: sheer, and silkiness of texture (which translates into blendability).
You may scoff, but only think back to a mere five or six years ago. Drugstore eyeshadows were rough and choppy, and department-store offerings were little better. Now, even Revlon's eyeshadows are silky smooth—all the better to blend, blend, blend with ease, into a sheer veil of pigment that enhances, rather than obscures the skin. Six years ago, only Dior could marshall eyeshadows of such finesse (yes, even MAC and NARS and Stila). McGrath buys MAC's Face & Body Foundation and Laura Mercier's Moisturizing Foundation by the trunkful (at least, she did before the Giorgio Armani gig), both of which are light, and above all, natural looking. All in all, it comes as no surprise that the foundation she developed for Giorgio Armani was equally natural in finish, smooth in texture, and, rather, on the sheer side. Nowadays, foundations are born with luxe textures and natural finishes, even in the drugstore (if only they would extend the favor to concealers!), but only a few years ago, we would have thought nothing of using a full-coverage foundation, just as fifteen years ago, we would have thought nothing of using pink foundations. It seems to make sense, now, just a veil of foundation, like a glorified tinted moisturizer, to smooth over flaws without hiding one's skin. Or sheer lipsticks—which is a trend with more than a few sources, not just McGrath—six years ago, they were simply an afterthought. They were incidental to a main offering of lipsticks, usually a full-coverage cream lipstick (think MAC, or Bobbi Brown). Sheer lipsticks were merely regular lipsticks with less pigment (even Laura Mercier's Lips line). "Well, obviously!" you say. Ah, but now, we have whole lipstick lines devoted to the sheer concept, from YSL's Rouge Pure Shine to MAC Lustre to Maybelline Wet Shine; that is, they are all sheer by default, and instead of mere watered-down versions of more pigmented lipsticks, they are complex in their own right, and usually with a moisturizing, glossy finish. All I know is, MAC Lustre Lipsticks are a far cry from MAC Sheer Lipsticks. Blush, too, has taken a turn for silky textures and sheer pigments—McGrath's favorite is a cheek gel (not available in the US), but blushes have certainly turned from dry and chalky to silky smooth (MAC, which is always cutting edge, has an excellent example).
With a light hand, and less pigment, the quality of the product trebles in importance. They must be easy to blend (just think of the silky texture of Giorgio Armani eyeshadows, and compare it to Bobbi Brown's original shadows), not chalky. If they are not, then sheerness matters little. This means any number of improvements: pigments should be finely milled (instead of coarse), and the texture must be like silk, for which the lightweight-silicone technology is of great use. Now, they are used in everything from eyeshadows to hair conditioner to face creams to mascara. In skin care and hair care, silicones can mask the absence of quality emollients, and thereby functions as "fillers" (a practice I deplore), but in makeup, it is a boon. Colors, too, must now be selected with care, though this is of a lesser priority. When you use less product, the colors should be spot on, but the fact that they're sheer means that companies can be lazy about it, if they like. Silkiness of texture, at the least, is a necessary consequence of sheerness, and fortunately, the technology was there to meet demand.
This trend, of course, spread as rapidly and profoundly as it did, not necessarily because it looked better than past looks, but because it was the smarter way to apply makeup, while simultaneously giving women the impression of luxury. Sheer hides flaws in technique—it is much like how light, sheer nailpolish lasts longer in pragmatic terms because it is less likely to show evidence of chipping. A sheer lipstick, in a natural rose, like MAC's Sophisto (a Lustre, no less), is as easy to apply as lip balm. Compare that to the ritual of applying an intense, dark, matte red, like NARS Scarlett Empress. It can be swiped on, but only if one is particularly sure-handed. The lips must be smooth and moisturized, not flakey and dry, lest application be uneven, but not too moisturized, or the lipstick will smear. The use of lipliner and a lipbrush aids in one's quest for precision. After the first coat, blot, and then apply the second coat (layering ensures evenness and makes lipstick last). Go astray, and you have a smear of staining your skin. And, if that weren't enough, one must be careful not to wear out the lipstick, and constant check ups and minimal eating and drinking (and absolutely no kissing!) are required. How much easier, then, to do as Pat McGrath once suggested in Elle,
- "At Dolce, we used colors just like these [McGrath was referring to a couple of Versace lipsticks, "a turbo-charged cranberry... and a rich, burnt copper"], and literally just went 'dot, dot, dot, dot,'" she says, lightly dabbing her upper lip with alternating shades. Amateurs might have trouble with a "dot job" using such dark shades, I point out. She cuts me off mid-dab: "Just blot, darling. Work from the inside out, really sheerly. It's very sexual, you know?" After dot-dot-dotting my own lips to sheer, semi-professional perfection—no liner, no lip brush—I'm sold. (Sarah Brown, Elle.)
Sheer also allows women to explore broader color horizons, freeing them from the tyranny of neutrals from the Bobbi-Brown era (though I'm kind of wanting them back, myself). Pinks, peaches, greens, blues, purples, corals—they are all free to proliferate. No longer is brown the reigning queen, not when the aggression of brights is made friendly through sheers.
Of course, McGrath isn't a strict advocate of sheer, natural makeup, per se. Nor is she adverse to strong makeup, her runway work is more than enough testimony to that. When asked, in Mode, what her desert-island essential would be, McGrath replied, "Oh, that's easy. Black liquid eyeliner. It just makes you look instantly better." (Jacqui Stafford, Mode, March 2001.) Black liquid liner is bold, and requires the most precision of all! (To this day, I still can't manage it.) But that is still part of the signature McGrath look. Although she loves a rich, plummy lip, it functions, like the black eyeliner (she prefers Precriptives Softlining Pencil in Jet, as far as pencils go), as punctuation. Emphasis. McGrath is not a sculptural makeup artist, as Kevyn Aucoin was, and, to some extent, Bobbi Brown is (particularly with eyeshadow). Instead, she brings a sense of light to the face, and strong makeup is like the text in the 'tween of negative space, which is by far the dominating element in her faces (much like the Imagist poetry of Exra Pound, e.e. cummings, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, and H.D.). It is a combination of diffuse illumination and flawless, bold precision that makes McGrath truly a master of makeup.
And some final notes: "Negative space", of course, is not the absence of makeup, and McGrath's tradmark glow requires the deft application of liquid highlighters (Giorgio Armani's Fluid Sheers, of course, which also function as blushes and bronzers, but before she used Clinique's Zero Base). She has a penchant for rose-scented skincare, particularly Lancôme, as well as Dr. Hauschka's Rose Day Cream. When asked for her best beauty advice, she responds, "Cleansing, toning, and moisturizing is the most important thing you can do for your skin, as there's no point in trying to cover up a bad complexion. A good skincare regimen is absolutely vital." (Mode) This is old-fashioned advice, but I don't think too many celebrity makeup artists would name this first on their list. And she has a distinct fondness for Burt's Beeswax Lip Balm, in the tin.
Image courtesy of www.style.com, McGrath is working on Karen Elson backstage at Anna Sui in Spring 2001. (True to her word, many of the pictures show her "dabbing" on lipstick with her finger.) Quotations from an old articles clipped from Elle (not sure which issue) and Mode (March 2001).
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April 26, 2006 7:50 PM,
How can I contact Pat McGrath?
October 11, 2006 3:44 PM,
I love Pat Mcgrath, She's my true inspiration...
Kenia Mishelle
www.myspace.com/miami_makeupartist
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