M.A.C Beauty Seminar

What could have very easily been a rather dry tutorial was made highly entertaining by M.A.C.’s Amber D who kept me – and the crowd of 250 – transfixed for one and a half hours at Tuesday night’s M.A.C. Beauty Seminar…

New Zealand Fashion Festival
Shed 6, 90 Wellesley Street, Auckland City, Auckland
Tues 22 March 2011, 7:30pm.

As media I get to sit through a lot of trend forecasts and this was easily the most captivating thanks to her self-deprecating wit, combined with very knowledgeable content in her delivery.

The evening began with berry-hued cocktails from Chambord aptly the colour of a lip stain as we took our seats and were handed goody bags. This is a clever change from them leaving goody bags on seats, as there has been a history of M.A.C. goodies being stolen from other people’s bags. No honour amongst thieves or beauty tutorial attendees, apparently. So my treats were safe: a $50 voucher to spend at the Chancery or St Lukes stores before the flagship Britomart store opens, a black False Lashes mascara, and a lippie in the orangey-red matte Lady Danger, incidentally used on models in the Ruby collection.

Next up, Amber D took us through the four key makeup trends from next season’s SS11 collections from the international runways: Terracopper, Raw Fined, Pop Classics and Ice Dreams. What I particularly liked was that she would always bring it back to home, showing us the models’ faces but all the while saying how we could replicate it ourselves and what products and brushes we’d need as well as helpful tips and tricks in the application.

After the international collections Amber D introduced her two colleagues who applied two of the key trends – Terracopper and Ice Dreams – to two models before doing a third key trend Pop Classics on model Yasmin.

I would have liked to have had the chance to have a play with M.A.C. products at the end, if they had some on display, and I am sure people would have purchased. But it was more about education, and about strongly inviting us to go in to stores for personal consultations with their make-up artists. "Just don’t all go in to Chancery tomorrow with your vouchers at once!" said Amber D.

Quiet please! Make-up school is in session. "It’s all about an evolution of make-up" says Amber D. "We build on the season before."

The Terracopper key trend was used in the international runway shows of designers including Balmain, Chloe, Altuzarra and Rodarte.

It has warm tones – Kiwis love a lot of brinzer powder – with nice warm cheeks and a golden tint to the skin. Amber D recommended the Moneralized Powder for the cheekbones so they ‘pop’. The Pearl Cream Colour Base gives a sheen to cheekbones.

The Terracopper bronzed face goes well with Viva Glam Lady Gaga no.2 – the perfect nude lipstick – which comes out 4th April 2011, with 100% of sales going to the AIDS fund, which has raised over US $200 million to date.

Designer Alexander Wang’s collection showcased the M.A.C. Raw Fined key trend. At Cybele’s NZFF 2010 show they did a completely minimal make-up. At New Zealand Fashion Week the M.A.C. make-up team try to look at what they’ve only just done at the international shows immediately prior.

Pop Classics is all about bright colour. "At work, M.A.C. artists have to wear only black, so we love to experiment with colour" says Amber D. "It’s all about colour blocking now in fashion which is reflected in the make-up; orange lipstick with blue eyes, or a bright used all the way around the eye. Give it a go with brights on lips. People always say, ‘Wow, what is that colour?’ "

"We love multi-tasking products; pigments that carry on from the eye into the cheek, or lipstick you can blend as a blush, and so on."

ETRO’s runway make-up used the M.A.C. Ice Dreams key trend. This is a return to pastels – anything with white added – anything lavender, silver or cool-based.

The crowd watches the seminar.