More than a year ago, British designer Gareth Pugh began constructing an elaborate inspiration board of butterfly wings, feathers, and photographs of thunderstorms (among other things). But what looked like the run-up to another runway show were in fact the early stirrings of his first makeup collaboration, with MAC Cosmetics, which launches later this month. “I like to pair opposites when I design my clothes to create friction, energy,” Pugh says. “For the makeup, I looked to the natural world. The silvery, fragile-looking side of the collection is the lightning in a storm, and the dark, deep purples are the black, hazy sky.”
Most intriguing is Pugh’s take on faux lashes. “These are a lot more graphic, almost like horse blinders,” he says of his winglike Flight Lashes. Other notables from the collection include Halo nail polish—an iridescent blend of green and purple—along with a pearlescent gloss and an intense loose silver shadow. “I didn’t want the collection to be all black—that’s what people expected,” Pugh says. “I wanted it to be both unexpected and beautiful.”
