For W magazine, by Jane Larkworthy.
Every time Pat McGrath Labs launches a new product, hysteria ensues. The master makeup artist’s first collection, Gold 001, sold out in a mere six minutes. On August 30th, McGrath will release Lust 004, a collection of lip kits that includes intense matte lipsticks, shiny glosses and extras, like glitter and shimmer. (There’s even a powder that can recreate those gold tears that Rihanna sheds on W’s September cover.) Here, McGrath explains why she loves when people experiment with makeup on Instagram, why she loves a bold lip and more.
So, Lust 004 is all about lips.
It is all about lips right now, isn’t it? I’m always asked, “How did you do that?” “How does that work?” With Skin Fetish [003], I showed how I created such luminous skin. Lust 004 is for everyone who’s mad for any kind of lip shade, any kind of lip fun, any kind of lip obsession.
How did you decide on the three shades?
They’re based on every lipcolor I’ve done in my career. The burgundy is called Blood Wine, Vermillion Venom is a pure red, and a nude called Flesh. They’re really comfortable. Even though they’re matte, they weigh and feel like a balm. But at the same time, highly pigmented.
There’s two of each shade?
Yes, each of the shades come in two variations so you can be as creative as you want to be. And that’s the way we work editorially; we always work with two lipsticks, never one. You very rarely take one lipstick and just go. A lot of time we mix it according to lighting, for instance.
But the mattes are just the foundation, right?
Exactly. We also have a super shiny gloss as well as glitter for every shade. Each of the three shade kits come with the two lipsticks, two glitters and lip gloss. But this time, you can buy everything individually, too.
This red lip with glitter looks familiar...
I made the glittery red lip at Versace Couture with Vermillion Venom and glitter. It’s also what was used on W’s Rihanna cover, with the jewel on the lip and the gold eye. And on W’s other cover, my team used the darker shade of Blood Wine. What I love is that the extremes of makeup are now actually the norm. These are things I’ve been doing for 20 years. It’s all about encouraging experimentation. This is for girls who are not only models, and not only girls. Everyone. Everyone LOVES to experiment with makeup and everyone wants to achieve the impossible. And they always want to know exactly how I did a look.
Which could be very complicated.
A lot of times we couldn’t really explain because we were doing really amazing theatrical tricks and techniques, using advanced levels of pigment, advanced levels of glitter. And these products are not regular pigment, this is not regular lipstick. This lipstick lasts, it’s a staining on the lips. It’s beautiful. And then again, the pigment is so lightweight, it would literally fly. It’s not that heavy crystallized glitter that requires tons of glue. It’s the technology as well that allows such intense pigment to feel so lightweight.
See the rest of Pat McGrath Is Bringing Rihanna’s Bold, Glittery Lips to the Masses on Wmagazine.com
