For years we have crushed on the legendary makeup guru Pat McGrath from afar, but all of a sudden, her star is shining a whole lot closer to us following two major announcements.
Not only has she been appointed as the new Beauty Editor of British Vogue under new Editor-in-Chief, Edward Enninful, but her amazing makeup range, Pat McGrath Labs is now more easily accessible to us in the UK.
Pat has long revolutionised the beauty industry with her skills as a much-sought after and iconic make-up artist, and now we can get our hands on Pat McGrath Labs in the UK exclusively through NET-A-PORTER.
McGrath is on many a celebrity speed dial list, including close friend Naomi Campbell, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian and has worked on campaigns with simply ‘everyone’ in the fashion industry. She is ‘widely acknowledged as the most prolific catwalk makeup artist of all time’ and has now crowned her successes with her appointment as the Beauty Editor of the British version of the fashion bible.
She started her makeup brand journey with only with one product, Gold 001 – a shimmery metallic pigment that could be used in a variety of ways, as eye shadow to lipstick. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: “I was so overwhelmed, I had only planned to do it as a one-off for fun, for the makeup addicted fans. Suddenly I was getting phone calls from around the world.” It sold out in six minutes!
And just like that Pat McGrath Labs was born. Catering to the beauty obsessed who want to be excited by the looks they create and be experimental with their makeup. Prices are on the higher end of the scale, as you would expect, with some of the more expensive kits retailing for £135, but that doesn’t deter buyers, with some fans treating their purchases as collectors’ items and not even opening the packages.
McGrath’s love of makeup was sparked at an early age when she and her mother, Jean, would sit and analyse makeup looks of Hollywood stars, and then go out and try to recreate the looks with the products they could find. At the time, the makeup available for her and her mother was scarce; she explained: “There was no makeup for women of colour, NOTHING. That’s what my mother’s search was all about. When we were out shopping we were always looking for a product that, probably by accident rather than design, worked for us. Where there was no ashy-ness, no ‘white cast’, probably from some makeup line that had either discontinued it or gone bust.”
No doubt McGrath will use this experience to ensure that women of colour are catered to in Pat McGrath Labs’ products and the range can be used on any skin tone.
McGrath is also a huge advocate for using models of different ethnicities, shapes, size, and gender and uses social media to connect with her fans, models and other aspiring makeup artists. She even launched her own competition, ‘Backstage with Pat McGrath’ where she brought 40 aspiring makeup artists on the road with her so they could experience what life as a makeup artist is like.
We have no doubt that McGrath will continue to reign in the makeup industry and we can’t wait to see what she does next.
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