A color savant designed MAC’s most high-tech lipstick
MAC’s latest lipstick line has the most original claim to fame yet. It was designed by a tetrachromat — a woman who can see 100 million colors — whereas most of humanity can only see around a million.
This color savant, Maureen Seaberg, came up with a comprehensive range of 24 shades — from the creamiest soft pink to the most vivid bright red to the deepest jet black — and, with her preternatural vision, took out all the undertones and overtones that normally muddy lipstick colors and make them look different (and less flattering) on varying skin tones.
The result is Liptensity, lipsticks so pure in color that, not only do they look the same on your lips as they do in the tube; each of the 24 shades act like neutrals, flattering virtually all skin tones, whether you’re as dusky as Rihanna or as fair as Lorde.
“The red looks the same on all lips,” observes MAC makeup artist Ryan Wong. Another case in point: the nude shade Doe was used on every model at Balmain’s autumn/winter 2016 show and worked on every model, despite differences in skin tone.
At the launch, Wong mixed three shades on my lips: warm, hot-pink Eros, mid-tone magenta Claretcast and coralpink Postmodern to come up with a custom poppy-pink hue I loved. Liptensity is also super-pigmented, with twice the pigment of regular lipsticks, yet it’s gelbased so it feels light and creamy, with a lasting power of about eight hours. Another thing I like is that it wears away evenly to a pretty stain, which is right in step with the holidays’ stained-lip trend.
With delicious shades like Toast and Butter (peachy cinnamon) and Mulling Spices (burgundy brown-red), as well as edgier hues like Galaxy Grey (light bluish gray) and Blue Beat (deep dark blue), for me the hardest thing about Liptensity will be choosing which color/s to buy.
MAC’s holiday collection for 2016, “Nutcracker Sweet,” is also crazy-beautiful. Inspired by the Christmas classic The Nutcracker, the pink, mauve and gold motif evokes the Nutcracker prince’s soldier uniform. Inside the packaging are equally tempting treats: lip glosses, lipsticks, glitter, patent polishes and mascara in kits or cosmetic bags perfect for gifting. As a sucker for palettes I have my eye on the nine-pan Sweet eye compacts and two-pan Sweet face compacts with matching blush and highlighter, which give your cheeks the flush of a Champagne-fizzy night out partying. Liptensity and Nutcracker Sweet are available at MAC boutiques nationwide.
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