Meet the Makeup Movement That’s About to Transform Your Festival Style

by Cosmetic Plus / Tuesday, 06 June 2017

Fashion Editor: Emilie Kareh
Hair: Tomo Jidai
Makeup: Pat McGrath
Manicure: Yukie Miyakawa
Photographed by Charlotte Wales

Pat McGrath needs little introduction. But at tonight’s CFDA Fashion Awards, the woman behind Pat McGrath Labs—who has masterminded countless runway makeup looks for brands like Prada, Valentino, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, and Gucci over the past three decades—will get a big one from models Karen Elson and Amber Valetta, who will present the beauty legend with the Founders Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert.
As the first makeup artist to ever receive the prestigious honor, which is given to a member of the style community who has made a unique contribution to the world of fashion, McGrath easily satisfies both criteria: “Mother,” as the Northampton, England-born beauty wizard is known to her tight-knit team, turned dewy, incandescent skin into a thing when everyone else was still using powder; she made It colors like painterly pops of blue, fluorescent pink, orange, and gold into a mainstream phenomenon just when the barefaced natural look threatened to drive makeup into extinction; and most notably, she’s added things like Swarovski crystals, feathers, string, and snakeskin to the beauty vernacular. (See Vogue’s June issue for more on how McGrath is using just such unexpected materials to transport everyday gestures into the realm of the self-decorative and spectacular.)
It’s this legacy in particular that has been inspiring countless other artists—both professionals and adoring makeup fans, who do their best work in the back of a cab—to think outside the beauty box. And what better advice to heed as we head into festival season? Flower crowns and feather hair extensions may be bordering on overexposure, but a simple pearl affixed with eyelash glue to the inner corners, a dusting of flocking powder across lids, or pretty halved paillettes centered above and below the lash lines offer individualized creative payoff—and an admittedly fun adult arts-and-craft opportunity that’s primed for summer.