M.A.C Spring/Summer 08 Trend Presentation
By Nicola Burford, M.A.C Senior Artist

Always at the forefront of the cosmetic industry, M.A.C kicked off 2008 with the Trends Spring/Summer 08 Presentation that was held recently in Seventh Heaven, Pavilion KL. The trends of Spring/Summer 08 were presented by M.A.C Senior Artist, Nicola Burford.

Nicola is one of the few on the MAC pro-team, which makes decisions on the upcoming hot colours, trends, makeup styles and so forth. She has worked on runway shows for some of the most renown fashion designers as well as celebrities such as Missy Elliott, Fergie, and Guy Sebastian to name a few.

During the MAC Trends Spring/Summer 08 Presentation, Nicola shared with the guest five new trends for this summer and they are:

SLATED - M.A.C is into silvery and charcoal greys this season. The contemporary pewter eye is nonchalant, worn and more urban than uptight. According to Nicola, this season’s smokey eyes trend would be to avoid the liquid liner that led last season’s trend.

SCULPT - It is a desire for designers to pair their collection with makeup that looks utterly effortless, healthy and flawless. With the season’s kaleidoscopic clothing, heavy makeup would cheapen the look as fast as a pared back face makes it contemporary. Studiously sculpted and definitely textured (wet with gloss or satin matte, the full gamut of makeup finishes are explored on these faces), this is makeup that is naturally refined, not raw.

ALABASTER - A sparse, albino-esque edge that white brings to a makeup is one of this summer’s key beauty references…precisely for the reason that it feels less referential and more cerebrally pure than colours more typically in our palette. From spectral, bloodlessly luminous snowy tints that give the skin a translucent wattage, to opaque primer-effect whites that strike a more graphic note. The Alabaster trend focuses more on the eyes and the skin.

ACRYLIC - From laminate-bright lips that do all the talking to the eyes popping in tropical shadows, there’s an optimistic moment in makeup this season that decrees that too much is never enough when it comes to exploring the colour. The acrylic trend focuses on only one feature of the face which is either the lip or the eyes. It is up to the individual to decide which feature to enhance but Nicola’s advice was to place emphasis on the feature that the person love about herself. Hot colours of this season would be tomato red for the lips and Smurf blue for the eyes.

FLASH METAL - Shoreline shades lead the way this summer: sandwashed tones of taupe through caramel, platinum shell pinks, creams and golds, pebble beiges and sunset honeys are the palette. This is a new way to glow without straying into the passé pastures of fake-baked bronze, the flesh-toned metals that shine incandescently across eyes, gleam off cheekbones and luster from lips this summer add warmth and an expensive honeyed hue.