Pop princess Lorde lording over her "royal" subjects at the 56th Grammy Awards Press Room © Jason LaVeris/Getty Images & M.A.C Cosmetics
Lorde’s only 17, but the charming chanteuse scored a seriously huge home run at the 2014 Grammy Awards, sweeping up two gold statues in seriously stunning style.
We’re digging her darkly romantic take on the autumnal berry lip – regal (or is that “Royal”), glamourously glazed and perfectly on-point for an all-star soiree like the Grammys.
Yes, we’re well aware that a purple pout can teeter all too easily into full-on goth, but M.A.C Cosmetics’ senior artist Amber Dreadon flirted right to the very edge of costume territory by skillfully balancing the murky mauve of Lorde’s lips with the lustrous luminosity of her skin – in other words, this was more forest fairy princess than late-night vixen. Genius!
Take it from the expert herself, who says she envisioned a look for Lorde that was “fresh and radiant – modern, a bit boyish and darkly cool with a focus on the lips.” Well, anything that’s lip-centric is a good bet in our beauty books!
To nail the lip, Dreadon created a custom shade by swirling swatches from two M.A.C lippies together on her palette: Heroine, a punchy purple hue for the base, and Cyber, which skews brown for a delicious hint of chocolate.
We’ve checked with the good folks at M.A.C Singapore, and it is our sad duty to report that the two shades are not available at your local counters.
M.A.C Huggable Lipcolours in Commotion and Red Necessity, $34 each
Not to fear: We think M.A.C’s new Huggable Lipcolours ($34 each) in Commotion, a cool plum, and Red Necessity, a really rich warm wine, are more than adequate substitutes for the missing lippies in question. Take a leaf from Dreadon’s beauty manual and try layering the lighter hue over the darker, then blot with tissue for a sexy sheer finish.
To prevent your face from looking bottom-heavy (a pet peeve of ours when it comes to bold lips), make like Dreadon and add dimension to your eyes with a flick of liquid liner in an inky black; try M.A.C’s first-rate Fluidline eyeliner in Blacktrack ($30). If you have oily lids, you can skip the next step, but the rest of us can consider priming our peepers with a pretty pale pearlescence courtesy of a sweep or two of the brand’s Cream Colour Base cult highlighter series in Pearl ($33), just above the crease and under the browbone.
Lorde’s naturally pale porcelain mug goes a great deal towards dialling up the drama of her lips, but you can get the same stripped-down skin effect by keeping your face beguilingly bare: Try mixing a drop or two of your favourite go-to serum into M.A.C’s light-reflecting Strobe Cream ($56), then buff well into skin.
If you need extra coverage on spots and such, use a stiff angled brush to pick up some Mineralize Moisture Foundation ($64) in a shade that’s just a notch lighter that your base, for use as a targeted concealer. The idea here is to create a pleasingly intoxicating contrast between your seemingly nude skin and the plush pigments of your lipstick.
Try this on for size at your next night out, and prepare to Lorde it over the rest of your girl friends!
M.A.C Huggable Colour, 12 shades at $34 each, is available at all M.A.C counters. For more information on the other M.A.C products featured in this story, visit www.maccosmetics.com.sg and follow the brand on Facebook.