MAC star predicts we go with the glow
What will makeup look like when we come out of lockdown and return to normal life? That’s the question I put to Dominic Skinner, Global Senior Artist at MAC, and judge of BBC3’s Glow Up TV beauty show. Dominic is a regular visitor to Ireland, and a backstage fixture for the brand at shows during Fashion Month in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. His prediction is that what we will all be looking for is ‘glow’. From skin to lips, and products that not only look good but do good too, skincare-makeup hybrids. What we will also be seeking out are shortcut pieces, products that deliver well and quickly.
As MAC is set for an April nationwide rollout of its Glow Play lip balm colour range, with lots of skincare qualities that hydrate, nourish, and colour the lips without stickiness or gloss, Dominic says, ‘It’s not your teen girl magazine pearly balm, it’s mature, it hydrates, it’s about where skincare and makeup are combining into one single product. It’s the reality of where we are with makeup after a year of not wearing it.’ Certainly, in these last 12 months, online searches concentrated on glowing skin more than anything else, with people turning to Vitamin C and Glycolic Acid to boost the skin’s natural radiance through serums and tonics, while in makeup people searched for radiant or dewy foundation.
Last year at February’s London Fashion Week, I noticed a new addition to MAC’s Fix+ range, a Magic Radiance setting spray being used by all the artists backstage (€28/MAC). A primer and finishing radiance spritz, Dominic says it’s a ‘quick fix’ for getting an instant glow on the skin if you use it with your foundation. Seeing legendary makeup artist Kabuki at NYFW mixing the two, Dominic says that ‘the look he created was this flawless foundation that almost looked like second skin, but it was not wet, it wasn’t matte, it just looked like elevated skin.’
Glow and skincare-makeup hybrids feel right for where makeup will go next. Dominic says ‘Now it’s really a great opportunity to tone back and simplify our routine.’
Lit from within skin, minimal colour, and skincare benefits, post-lockdown makeup is looking good.