Celebrity Beauty

Vogue Arabia, November 2018. Photo: Chris Colls
For all the follows and likes Pat McGrath generates around her makeup artistry every season (Julia Fox’s internet-breaking black eyeliner didn’t just happen), it’s the skin quality she has pioneered over the course of her storied career that is perhaps her biggest calling card. Hydrated, but not oily; smooth, but realistic, with a makeup-priming moisture quality that is “lightweight yet nourishing,” McGrath explains. Much like she developed a seven-step lipstick technique to achieve the ultimate in petal-soft pigment, McGrath has been cocktailing her own skin-care formula for her entire career, layering simple creams spiked with rose water to create a quick-penetrating emulsion. And just as that signature makeup technique became Pat McGrath Labs’ best-selling MatteTrance Lipstick, her patented skin prep has finally been bottled.
Called Divine Skin Rose 001 and formulated by a Korean lab, the milky liquid that will launch on Patmcgrath.com closely resembles a blendable essence, formulated with 97% naturally derived ingredients; shake it up, and a ceramide-boosted oil phase combines with an antioxidant-spiked rose water phase to create McGrath’s replenished, rebalanced glow. “The truth is I’ve been working on skin care as long as I have been working in makeup,” admits McGrath, who has tweaked her formula not in focus groups but on supermodels, including Naomi Campbell, who stars in the campaign for the rose-tinted glass bottle that will arrive at select Sephoras later this year. “I wouldn’t use anything else,” says Campbell—which is high praise considering Campbell is serious about her skin care, specifically her hydration. “You never want your skin to look dried out. It’s not attractive. It’s unbecoming,” she says. Here, Campbell reveals how she’s been using the uniquely textured Essence, and why after all these years in the business, good sleep might be the real secret to good skin.
Photo: Siena Saba
As someone who has been on countless sets with Pat and at countless shows with Pat, what is her point of difference when it comes to skin finish?
When you work with Pat, before you she puts makeup on you, she really massages your skin—she loves glowy, dewy skin. So your makeup goes on smoother, everything just rolls. That’s her secret: that the skin still looks like skin and you see you and that’s important, I feel. That’s what I love about her; she never makes me matte. When you’re too matte you lose the whole person. Your makeup becomes like a mask. Pat’s makeup never looks like that.
As a #McGrathMuse and, perhaps even more importantly, a Pat McGrath confidant, were you at all a part of tweaking early incarnations of her first skin-care product?
She’s been trying this out on me for a while now so I’ve had a bit of a head start in using it in my skin regime. We were actually using it last year when we were doing the Divine Rose makeup launch, but I couldn’t talk about it then, so I’m so excited that I can say all of this now. The cat’s outta the bag! In the beginning, she would ask me things like, “How does it feel? How long did it stay on?” It goes on the skin, but it also goes in the skin. It just makes everything glowy and plump, which is important for me because I’m on set all the time, and I’m in front of lights, and I’m on planes, and my skin dries out and it gets really dehydrated no matter how much water I drink. Drink water, drink water. I never drink enough. My test is really traveling, though—how often do I need to reapply something on the plane so my skin feels hydrated. I usually sleep straight through flights and with this, I’d wake up and still have the shine.
It is not an exaggeration to say that your skin is, in fact, divine. Drop the routine!
It’s about clean for me. I cleanse in the morning and I cleanse at night. You’ve got to get the makeup off! And I need products that help make my skin look good without makeup, because I don’t wear makeup when I’m not working. I just put little bits where I want to cover blemishes so my skin can breathe. My next step is usually a serum, and sometimes I use the Essence first, before my serum, and sometimes I mix it with my serum and put it on together. You can top it off with a cream if you’d like, but in the summertime, you don’t need to. The Essence is enough.
I watched an amazing clip on your YouTube channel about some of your pre-runway body prep including an incredible lymphatic drainage massage. Are there any treatments that you regularly engage in for your face in tandem with good skin care?
I try to do my facials—you need to if you’re traveling, or you’re in the sun a lot. I don’t wear a lot of sunblock on my skin because I break out from sunblock. So I like people to extract because you have to clean out your pores sometimes! And I do microneedling every once in a while, too.
These days, so much of good skin care comes down to good self-care. How do you prioritize yourself with such a busy work schedule—and a newborn at home!—not just physically but mentally, spiritually, etc.?
The water thing is huge for me, and I’m always, like, how can I make water fun? Growing up I wasn’t really raised on soda so we always had cordials that we mixed with water, and that’s what I still drink. And I try to eat the right food and take the right vitamins—vitamin D, vitamin C, B, zinc, fish oils. Good skin is so much about what you eat, too. And sleep! I try to get as much sleep as possible even though I have a young one now. When I was younger I really didn’t need that much sleep, but now I like my sleep. It kickstarts things and helps me be enthusiastic about the day ahead.
Originally published in Vogue.com
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Photo: Getty
Queen of va, va voom dressing Adele was the jewel in the crown at this year’s Brit Awards. Dressed in a custom Armani Privé gown in keeping with the Old Hollywood glamazon aesthetic she and her stylist Jamie Mizrahi have been honing, the powerhouse singer looked every inch the global superstar coming back to celebrate how far she has come on home turf.
It’s been six years since Adele walked the Brits red carpet in a star-speckled sequined Valentino dress. Much has been made of her LA lifestyle, evident in her glowing skin and toned physique, but her glossy caramel blow-dry, immaculate eyeliner and infectious smile, remains the same. Armani, a brand synonymous with classic evening wear and the enduring romance of TinselTown, was the perfect choice for her homecoming.
The Armani sketch that started the whole story.
As Armani poster girl Julia Roberts once said of the red carpet original, “I am always very comfortable in Armani and that translates into confidence and ease.” Adele’s Brits red carpet moment spelled out effortless seductiveness on a night that was about the national treasure stealing our hearts all over again. True glamour of course comes from within – but her megawatt diamond jewelry (that rock!) certainly helped command the spotlight.
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Originally published on Vogue.co.uk

Photo: Getty
No one does it quite like Cher. A singer, actor, and overall icon, she shot to fame as one half of Sonny & Cher, gifting the world with hits like ‘I Got You Babe’, and she has now sold 100 million records and counting. At 75, Cher is starring alongside rapper Saweetie in MAC’s Challenge Accepted campaign. Here, she speaks to Vogue, about everything from meditating to Kim Kardashian.

On how she wakes up in the morning
First I drink water, because I almost never get enough water [during the day] so I always have to make sure I’m getting enough. I meditate. I started meditating after I went to Nepal a gazillion years ago, and I still have the same mala [Buddhist prayer beads] that the Rinpoche [Buddhist spiritual leader] gave me. I do it facing the beach [outside my house].
On one of her biggest fans, Kim Kardashian

I like her and we’ve had several talks about being famous – we understand each other and I know how she feels. It’s very rare that someone actually knows and understands what you’re going through – I’ve been through it. I like it when she dresses like me, and she does it so well. There’s this one jacket that I lost, and then I saw her in it, and I forgot to say to Kim: “I need to have the name of that guy because I want my jacket back!”
On the best beauty tip she’s ever received
It was from my mom and she said: if you’re ever on a desert island, make sure you have an eyelash curler!
On her longtime working relationship with costume designer Bob Mackie
We met in the ’60s. I was doing something on The Carol Burnett Show and Bob did the costumes on it. When I met him, it was instant. He walked in the door and he was so young and handsome – blonde hair and tall. I said, “You’re different than what I was expecting – you’re younger.” And he said: “You’re smaller!” He was very excited about that because I was taller than Sonny. We became friends and then we got a TV show.
Bob was my designer then and he is still my designer for anything really special, including all of my shows. He’s done all of them but one (which ended up being a nightmare). There’s truthfully no one like him. I see all the designers and they’re good – they’re stretching into his territory now. Before, people used to make fun of me and him. When I was playing Las Vegas, everybody said, “Oh, Cher’s playing the elephant graveyard. Why is she wearing all those stupid costumes? Why does she have props and dancers?” And this is one thing where I always say: “Okay, you guys: up yours!”
On experimenting with different hair and makeup
In 1980. Photo: Getty
Life is about taking risks. Not the crazy ones, but the ones that make you grow as a person. Makeup is an art form and in art there should be no absolutes. Sometimes you must take the risk of looking ridiculous and wait for people to catch up. Art isn’t about agreement, it’s about individuality, a vision. When I was young and expressing myself, I got laughed at for the same things I am given medals for today.
On how she keeps her hair so shiny
When Michelle Pfeiffer and I worked together, her hair had been ruined in Ladyhawke, or maybe it was the film with Al Pacino? I don’t remember. But I think it was probably both. I knew then never to wear my own hair [during filming]. The one time I did was for Mask; I never dyed my own hair and the director, who shall remain nameless, said [the audience] would know if I wore a wig. So I had to dye it red and it ended up being black with red polka dots – it was awful. I ended up with a white buzzcut before it was a trend. That’s a long time ago, but the way you avoid hair looking dodgy is to always wear wigs.
On the most used items in her makeup bag
I have a grouping of seven MAC eyeshadows that I use whenever I do eye makeup on myself. I love the colors and textures. I ended up making my own customized palette by ripping the guts out of one palette and shoving the seven eyeshadows into another.
On Twitter
I write what I feel. Sometimes I’ll write something and, if I’m really impassioned, I try to read it later. I have no idea what I’m saying. Dyslexia is an evil demon when you’re trying to be concise. I have to go over my tweets a bunch of times and even then they look like a child did them.
On skincare hacks
Before I work I do facial massage to push the fluid out of my face – it’s called lymphatic drainage. And then a trick that I saw that Joan Crawford used to do on Mommy Dearest – she put ice in a bowl and then splashed it on her face. I find that too jolting, so I take a washcloth, submerge it, wring it out and then put it on my face. My old make-up artist, who did all my movies – Leonard [Engelman] – he had a fabulous clay mask. Every once in a while, when I can remember it, I use that. When you first take it off you look strange – you have to wait for your face to unwrinkle.
On exercise
Photo: Getty
I’ve been exercising my whole life. I try to exercise as much as I can, which is a lot, because I don’t feel like myself unless I do it. I enjoy it. I get my friends over and we go down into the gym. And I exercise to my own videos too.
On working with MAC and Saweetie
MAC and I have been flirting with each other for about 25 years but had never gotten married until now. I was so excited to work with Saweetie because we were a perfect combo of incredibly beautiful, talented young artist and an OG chick. I love Saweetie – I mean, I probably would say that even if I didn’t love her, because I’d be nice, but she is fabulous and so much fun. And she’s really smart. We had a great girl’s night out and just hung out. We also text each other. She has a lot of talent; I could see that when we were working together. She’s such a natural, she reminded me of myself in that way.
Saweetie and Cher in the new campaign.
Cher and Saweetie lead the MAC Cosmetics ‘Challenge Accepted’ campaign. It invites everyone to put their MAC products to the test and shine a light on their performance. Find out more here. #MACCHALLENGEACCEPTED.
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Originally published on Vogue.co.uk