MAC Fall-Winter 2012-13 Trends Recap

There was no hiding it, the lot of us were excited to be at the MAC Fall-Winter 2012-13 Trends Recap. It is a much-awaited beauty event that happens twice yearly as MAC’s way of updating us on the makeup trends to come. At the event, they usually give out hardbound books filled with backstage photos from New York, Paris and London Fashion Week. The photographs are impeccably arranged according to trend, which is really great reference for any beauty editor or writer.

According to MAC, there are four major trends to watch out for, and these are: Sense + Sensibility, Roam Antique, Hone-Structure and Arti-Tech. I know, I know. These names or titles hardly give anything away. Let me explain each one in detail.

SENSE + SENSIBILITY. This trend is all about creating the quintessential look. It is beautiful makeup that attaches itself with adjectives like balanced, understated, elegant, effortless and groomed. But while everybody has their own version of a classic beauty, this one calls for a bright red lip, seamless healthy blusher, and a full (but never overpowering) brow. “I’m calling it Sense and Sensibility makeup,” explains MAC senior makeup artist Lyne Desnoyers. “Its about timeless classics done in a modern way – these are elements of makeup that never go out of fashion but simply get reinvented,” agrees Terry Barber, who is also a MAC artist.

Monique Lhuillier

Jonathan Saunders

ROAM ANTIQUE. If you can imagine a ‘grown-up gypsy’, this is her. This girl is drawn to a rich and spicy palette of makeup. Think: desert rocks, sunset and sepia stains, driftwood browns, weathered tans, sand, minerals, pastoral shades of plum and cranberry, metallic greys from asphalt and concrete to slate and charcoal. “The bohemian spirit of this season has nothing to do with grungy girls,” says Desnoyers. “It’s more about the fantasy of an elegant eccentric, a woman who is ornate but yet has exquisite taste.”

Badgely Mischka

The Blondes

HONE-STRUCTURE. From SS2012’s trend of ultra-fresh, highlighted skin comes a darker, and more sculptured version. This makeup look is all about clever concealing, proper highlighting of skin and creating shadows through contouring. “We’ve turned the light around this season – its now less about highlights and more about the depth of a contour,” explains makeup artist Andrew Gallimore. “It creates a shaded face that is slightly hollow and haunted but extremely beautiful and not alien.”

Silvio Betterelli

Peter Pilotto

ARTI-TECH. While black liquid eyeliner brings back memories of so many eras: Twenties flapper, Forties feline, Fifties wings, Sixties flicks, Seventies punk and Eighties new wave, this trend is able to hold its own and look very modern. Think: geometric graphic lines precisely drawn on the lids. ”(Its) all about a trick of the eye that is very artistic. Its about taking such a classic gesture but reworking it into something non conformist,” Gallimore said.