M·A·C 2012 Spring/Summer Makeup Trend Report

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

M·A·C 2012 春夏彩妝趨勢解析

After last seasonâtoughness and androgyny, SS2012 heralds the revival of an altogether more feminine and sensual approach to makeup âkin that radiates a sportive, ultra-luminous freshness and health tunes into the seasonâchic, athletic vibe ATH-ELITE

Beautifully buffed, burnished metallics accenting lips, cheeks and eyes make for the most modern way to reference the idea of a summer tan ORE-INSPIRED

Languorous colour washes pick up on the soft side of the season, as tints that run from delicate peach through to blurred espresso form the most relevant way to wear subtle colour and definition NOUV-EAU

Dynamic, urban, neoprene shades get a contemporary rethink, as pure-pigment eyes and lips go effortlessly edgy thanks to a new ease and lack of aggression to their application NEO-N

It’s all sophisticated yet real, contemporary but not forced and ultimately about pure, unadulterated gorgeousness.

ATH-ELITE

It’s athletic yet chic.plumped and pumped.wet-effect and maxed with moisture. Skin this season is all about a dewy, sporty, spa-fresh feel.

It’s athletic yet chic…plumped and pumped…wet-effect and maxed with moisture. Skin this season is all about a dewy, sporty, spa-fresh feel.

It’s near to naked but certainly not raw – the new complexion is about perfection that’s elite in its amplification of health and hydration: a focus on skincare and plenty of ‘pre and post production’ on base is essential.

“This is a beautiful, glowing, no-makeup look with a more sporty and real feel to it than we’ve seen in the past. There’s definitely nothing relevant about a full-coverage base this season,” confirms Diane Kendal, doyenne of an ‘apparently effortless’ nude look. “Take a heavy foundation and add all these wet highlights and it goes into ‘alien’ territory,” agrees Sam Bryant. “You want base to look perfect, but still very sheer and youthful.”

How to achieve it? “It’s all about what you put underneath or on top of a foundation now,” explains Terry Barber. “Priming it, spritzing it, buffing it, moisturizing it and massaging it to give it a super hydrated feel.”

Highlights and gloss are back in a big way, too. “We’re quasi not powdering at all this season…or, if we are, there are so many wet highlights added that the effect is still utterly about sporty, plump skin,” says Lyne Desnoyers. Cue a rise in highlighting with imperceptible flesh – akin Metal X tones and skin-twin shades of Cream Colour Base, which retain a real skin quality superior to the more synthetic effect of Gloss Texture. “Think of it as hyper-highlighting,” says Terry Barber.

While a sportive skin is the canvas, a streamlined detail matters too. Add an energetic strength and sophistication to the look with a full (but not heavy or masculine) straighter, squarer brow that’s deepened without being drawn-in. Or think linear on the eye, adding structure and dimension to the face with a gesture of liner.

Stripped back to its main message, this is a trend for simply great, super desirable skin. Prep + Prime yourself!

ORE-INSPIRED

Every summer begs the inevitable beauty question: tan-chic, or not? Or, more precisely: what treatment of warmth feels appropriate for the warm season now?

Every summer begs the inevitable beauty question: tan-chic, or not? Or, more precisely: what treatment of warmth feels appropriate for the warm season now?

For SS2012, it’s certainly not about a desert tan, even though the looks reference a worldly, well-travelled woman. In fact, it’s less about warming up the complexion itself and more about using tan-relevant and tan-related shades to accentuate the lips, cheeks and eyes.

Palette-wise, think metallic, creamy copper, rust, terracotta and peach, and sideline anything that’s traditionally flat, matte and brown-based. An element of reflection and heat is the key update to make on tan tones for SS2012. “Tan shades with a metallic edge have a preciousness and sophistication,” confirms Lyne Desnoyers. “Their inherent light-reflective nature ensures they never draw lines on the face in the same way as flat colour, making them appear immediately chic and flattering.”

The focus is on the features, yet the skin is still the ultimate canvas for these looks. Go easy on base and build in an athletic bone structure with metallic highlights that create what Terry Barber is calling ‘Olympian cheekbones.’ “Now cheekbones are very beautiful and not so masculine as we’ve seen in the past. We’re using a lot of Metal-X in Fusion Gold or Cream Colour Base in Shell on top of them – an extreme highlight takes away the need to contour,” he explains.

Add something of a burnished eye or an earth or sand-toned lip and you’re good to go. Wisely warm and not a hint of WAG…

NOUV-EAU

From the romance, nature-inspired shades, sinuous shapes and sensitive colouring of Art Nouveau, to the delicate side of 1920âglaour, the soft side of the season is all about tinting the skin with washes of colour.

From the romance, nature-inspired shades, sinuous shapes and sensitive colouring of Art Nouveau, to the delicate side of 1920’s glamour, the soft side of the season is all about tinting the skin with washes of colour.

Veering between the pretty and pure and something more glamorously edged, these looks are less about recreating a retro look from the past and more about reinterpreting femininity by capturing the spirit of an era.

While lips and cheeks get a look-in with stains of fondant-y peach, apricot and strawberry tones, it’s a trend that’s essentially eye driven. Lids and lower lashlines enlivened with diffuse, single-toned watercolour washes of pastels and flesh tones through to mink and rubs of charcoal. “What really feels contemporary is a colour that’s washed all the way up to the eyebrow, without any shading and highlighting in it,” adds Terry Barber, noting that structured shading and multi-tones would fast turn these colours in a bridesmaid-y direction. “The edges are still beautifully blurred so that the effect isn’t Pop Art” he adds.

The kit? “Second-skin texture powders and creams and bigger brushes,” explains Lyne Desnoyers. “A larger brush gives a looseness to the application, which is key.” You’ll likely want to forgo mascara too – there’s still an enduring appeal to a mascara-less lash this season, now a mainstay in the beauty lexicon of modernizing a look.

It’s sensual, ultra feminine, fluid and refined without being sugary or cute: pared back pretty at its best…

NEO-N

Graffiti inspired. Dynamic. Stripped back. Ultimately urbanâhis season goes faster with punchy, sportive colours setting the stopwath on fashion and beauty alike.

Graffiti inspired. Dynamic. Stripped back. Ultimately urban…this season goes faster with punchy, sportive colours setting the stopwatch on fashion and beauty alike…

Gorgeous, not grittily graffiti-esque, it’s about wearing neoprene colour against plump, workout-fresh skin and an aerodynamic brow in an effortlessly chic, considered way. A move on from the aggressively hard-hitting, stamped-on brights of last summer, the new sophisticated athleticism of this season’s fuelled-up shades is about giving the face a beautiful detail rather than a fierce shock of colour.

While they tap into the trend for energetically engineered, high-tech (and high colour, high print, high shine…) fabric that is so omnipresent this season, the new bright beauty statements of SS2012 have a subtlety to their statements. Yes, these scuba shades are striking, but they’re never stamped on or harsh…

Think touchable and sensual…intelligent and singular…pure colour but not Pop Art…desirable not Disco…and don’t work too hard at it. If it looks like you’ve simply swiped on a strong lip on your way back from the gym, you’ve pretty much nailed it…

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