Makeup Tips and Trends from MAC Senior Pro Makeup Artist – Victor Cembellin

I recently had the opportunity to meet with and talk to Victor Cembellin, Senior MAC Cosmetics Pro Artist with 15 years experience in the industry and makeup artist to the stars. You know how intimidating it was to talk to him?! :P Fortunately, he is a darling and so easy to talk to even though he probably had to answer the same question many times posed by other (more serious) journalists!

What I’d like to do is to tell you what Fall/Autumn 2010 trends MAC has predicted and tips on how we, women of warm tropical Malaysia/Asia can apply these trends while sharing some more makeup tips with you further down. Ready? Read on!

Trend #1 : Red Lips for Fall

Fall is all about red lips this year according to MAC and it need not be straight on red, slicked straight from the tube. You could go for a deep red, burgandy red, or even a sheer stain of red. Keep your pout looking luxurious with a touch of shimmer. Try the upcoming Dare to Wear Lipglass for a shimmery pigmented red. I love this trend. Needless to say really since I embrace the red lip look already :D

Victor’s Tip: If you are afraid of wearing red lips or are new to wearing red lips, start with patting some colour on your lips, like a lip stain. Then build it up from there. This is easier for us in tropical countries too because full on red can be quite “heavy” in hot weather. In the alternative, you can wear a brighter shade of red and blend in a deeper colour around the edges of the lips, for dimension. This tip I shared previously illustrates what he means :)

Trend #2 : Defined Eyes with Eyeliner

Focus is on the eyes with strong defined eyeliner. MAC has an upcoming SuperSlick eyeliner with a velvet tip coming out with Fabulous Felines that I’m eyeing. There are a few colours but the silver is amazing! Shiny, strong and pigmented with an almost patent leather sheen.

Victor’s Tip: You can keep your eyes “blank” with just a neutral colour but define it with strong eyeliner for emphasis. Try playing with eyeliner looks e.g. Silver eyeliner sandwiched between black eyeliner. Its interesting. Not quite for everyday, but interesting nonetheless.

Trend #3 : Shadowed Voile Veil smokey eyes to the fore

The look on the runways had a haunting quality to them. Women with a story to tell on their faces. Skin is highlighted and eye makeup was strong. The upcoming eyeshadows of Venomous Villains and Rodarte will see this trend run up till next year. Look out also for the eyeshadow quad in Burmese Beauty in the Fabulous Felines collection and the mineralize eyeshadows like My Dark Magic from Venomous Villains – Victor’s fave items from those 2 collections!

Victor’s Tip: For women living where its Summer all year round, going all out smokey may not be something every one likes. You can keep your light spring and summer colours on the eyes and just add on a touch of Fall colours like deep brown, plum or black at the edges of your eyes, and then line with eyeliner. It transitions your look into a Fall look without going all out smokey.

Trend #4 : Cashmink – Cashmere and Mink texture for the skin

Foundation takes on an “almost there” luxurious quality with a sheen to the skin made possible by the use of the upcoming beauty powders. Apply and blend in your foundation so you do not look like you are wearing a mask, but have your natural skin… just better. Watch out for the launch of the MAC Prolongwear Foundation next year. It offers 15 hours of wear and is water and sweat resistent and won’t rub off. Interesting!

Victor’s Tip: In a hot humid climate like that in Malaysia, women are going to love the ProLongWear foundation. When applying contour powders to your face, do not forget the highlighter. Many women use bronzer to create contours but they forget their highlighters which give a more seamless application to your makeup without making it look too stark or harsh.

Tips for Malaysian Women to combat our hot humid weather

I asked Victor how we might be able to combat the effects of our hot humid weather. So many of us complain of our makeup running and melting throughout the day. Here are Victor’s Pro Artist Tips:-

• Do not wait to blot and touch up. If you wait till you are an oil slick or until your makeup is all melted away before you blot and touch up, its too late. What you should do is blot and touch up as you go along. Waiting till you get back from lunch might be too late. So remember that prevention is better than cure because your only cure might be to remove and start over.
• Use a mattifying product like MAC Prep + Prime Skin Refined Zone Victor swears by this one for TV makeup where shine is not flattering at all! This product helps control shine and mattifies the skin so you have less to wrestle with.
• Use a water resistent and longwearing foundation like the upcoming MAC Prolongwear foundation. Victor’s very excited about this product which seems to be made just for women living in hot humid climates i.e us!

What are the top 3 things from MAC Victor likes and we should try

This might be a toughie but Victor was quick to tell us his Top 3 MAC products:-

• MAC Prep + Prime Skin Refined Zone – mattifies and is perfect for controlling shine on TV – hey imagine what it can do for real life!
• MAC Prolongwear Foundation – 15 hours of foundation that adheres to your skin like second skin. Intriguing!
• MAC SuperSlick Liquid Eyeliner – Strong, dark, pigmented colour with an almost patent leather finish that lasts.

I was honest and told Victor that MAC was never quite high on my “like” list due to previous experiences, but some recent collections and items have caught my attention. My few recent MAC purchases must surely tell you the tide is turning… although I’m still not quite a MAC fanatic, I’m open to trying out an item or two :)

Did you find the tips useful? Which Fall trend will you be embracing? I already do smokey eyes and red lips on a regular basis so it’ll be quite easy to transition that into Fall. Also, I do use eyeliner, just perhaps not a very strong defined line and I might work on that. The flawless skin trend will be hard to mimic but I do have my secret weapon which isn’t from MAC that works for me ;)

How about you? :)

Paris B