MAC Autumn-Winter 2012-13 Trend Presentation with James Molloy

Hi everybody,

A few weeks ago, I was invited to MAC Autumn-Winter 2012-2013 Trend Presentation. This was the first time I went to such an event and I was nervous at first. Except for me, a beauty blogger, the rest of the invited guests were beauty editors one way or the other. But I made up my mind to enjoy the presentation. And enjoyed it I did, all thanked to the wonderfully energetic James Molloy.

James Molloy, MAC Senior Makeup Artist and Director of Makeup Artistry in the Asia-Pacific region

I'm truly sorry for the yellowish hue in some of the pictures. I forgot to adjust the auto-white balance function in my camera!

If you are not familiar with his name yet, he is James M. on MAC website. He looks like a thinner and tanner version of David Beckham and sounds like Bond, James Bond. Hailed from England, currently he resides in Hong Kong and takes the throne as the Director of Makeup Artistry for the Asia-Pacific region. I was so honored to watch him beautifying 2 models on stage and then the next day, I got to interview him. But we shall talk about that later. Now, let's go on and discover what MAC has in store for this fall and winter, shall we?

For the Autumn-Winter 2012-13 season, MAC has 4 main trends:

• Sense + Sensibility: This is basically the English Rose look with focus on skin, strong eyebrows, and signature lips. This F/W season looks like a follow up on what's going on during the summer with very, very soft and dewy skin. I have to say, this took me by surprise as I am used to something similar to the Cult of Cherry collection for the fall.

A typical Sense + Sensibility look

• Roam-antique is their color trend. Unlike the previous years, this year, the colors are warmer and lighter. This trend has a global traveler feel in it as it is inspired by a well-traveled woman (like me!) Unlike the other trends, the looks of Roam-antique is quite diverse.

Roam-antique
James did a demo on this, which I'm going to break it down later :)

• Hone-Structure speaks to my heart as it is all about contouring and highlighting. It does look like an extension of Sense + Sensibility to a certain extend where the models have good skin and structured eyebrows. However, what's added on top is very subtle: the contouring lines are faint, soft, and well blended while the highlights are done with precision. I was glad James Molloy did a demonstration on this trend as I learned so much more about contouring and highlighting.

Hone-Structure
I love what he did on this model. The contouring and highlighting were very subtle, yet she looked like an angel!

• Arti-tech: this is an eyelining trend that is full of precision. Everything is boxy and squared off and Blacktrack fluidline is the common denomination. I wanted to do something similar just for fun but alas, my Blacktrack is dried up and I'm waiting for a replacement.

Arti-tech
Amazing eyelining job with Blacktrack fluidline. This requires a lot of precision.

The common denomination in all these looks is good skin. Believe it or not, the model in the Roam-mantique look has severely bad discoloration around her eyes and on her eyelids. He used Prep and Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose to correct it before applying the Mineralize SatinFinish Foundation on her face. In fact, he recommends it as a foundation to use on photo shoots. While it is a matte product, it also has that dewy texture that editorials prefer. The amount he used was a pea-size and he applied with MAC 187 stippling brush.

Here are a few tips I took home from James Molloy:

• He prefers Lightful Softening Lotion as a moisturizer as it is light and watery. For those who don't want to spend 31 bucks on it, Hada Labo skin lotion is very similar as they are both Asian-type toners with hyaluronic acid. He recommends massaging the lotion to your skin and let it absorb before applying makeup.
• When using a stippling brush, don't mash the white fibers down on your skin. Instead, press the tip of the brush lightly and move it around your face. That's how you get airbrushed skin from a stippling brush.

Use the tip of the stippling brush to apply foundation, not the whole brush smashed down on your skin!

• He recommends concealing the under eye areas before applying foundation. In fact, he presses on concealing that part of the face very much as it makes the biggest difference on your outlook. Even when you don't apply foundation, a little bit of under eye concealer will make you look a whole lot fresher.

Concealing and highlighting the under eye area using Prep and Prime Highlighter
Later on, he used MAC 118 brush to blend it out

• For the Roam-antique look, use a deep burgundy liner like Dark Diversion instead of a black one. He said this color is going to be a staple color for the F/W season as it is softer, yet much more unpredictable than black.

MAC Dark Diversion fluidline

• Instead of using glossy lip colors, matte lipsticks applied as stains are in. Also, when it comes to red lips, please feel free to mix your reds, oranges, pinks, and burgundies together for a signature lip look. In fact, in a few shows where they used red lipsticks on models, the colors were different as they were mixed from Ruby Woo, Russian Red, Lady Danger, MAC Red, Cockney, and Morange.

To apply your prolong wear lipstick as a stain, rub your finger onto your lipstick and then press it to your lips. Instant long wearing matte stains for you!

• You can highlight using tiny dots of Strobe Cream. Shocking, I know! But it does bring out your cheekbones like none others.
• To contour, he used a beige brown blush (it's either Blunt or Harmony) with MAC 168 brush. He used scooping motion to contour the cheeks and recommended to contour the temples as well.

Contouring
The blush he used was about a shade darker than the model's skin and he used it very sparingly.
The result was a subtle contouring line

Some miscellaneous pictures:

Inside the gallery where this event took place

The stage

Chips which I didn't bother eating :(

All the models came out at the end

Love this picture I took of him.
He was so into it! Just look at the expression on his face!

The next day, I went to the MAC counter in Parkson Saigon Tourist to interview him. He was so energetic and the interview went by so fast without both of us knowing it! We bonded over makeup and our love for True Blood. Yes, he is a True Blood fan! Throughout the whole time I interviewed him, I had a feeling as if we were long lost friends who had not seen each other for a while. It was definitely very comforting and he made my day a lot better.

Strike a pose!

James and MAC Vietnam brand manager

Close-up on a limited edition collection

Permanent eye shadow.
We were looking for Soba, hence the empty spot

I had a wonderful time at this event and I learned so much from it as well. Thank you, James Molloy, for an incredible presentation and your superb makeup talent. Also, thank you for making me feel so welcomed during the interview. I would like to thank MAC and ELLE Vietnam for this opportunity. This is truly a blogger's dream come true to partake in such an event! I am hoping this is the first of many more to come.

That's all for today! I hope you're having a good day!

Love,

Dao xoxo (and very sleepy!)

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