London Fashion Week has now come to an end, with the world’s fashion editors, photographers, stylists and influencers packing their bags and making their way over to Milan. Not only was the event full of key fashion trends and statement street style moments (red tights and an Amazon phone case surprisingly took the top spot), but there were a handful of key beauty looks as well.

Exaggerating the outfits, red lips, slicked-back hair and softly sculpted faces stood out as key beauty looks, with the striking pout particularly popular at both the Richard Quinn and Marques’Almeida shows. So, we went backstage with the make-up moguls from Mac to find out how, why and what products were used so we could recreate the fashion week look at home.

“We’re playing with the ideas of beauty classics like a red lip and a black liner, but applied in a different way,” said Terry Barber, global creative director of artistry at Mac, speaking on the Marques’Almeida make-up looks. ”The red lip is very decayed, pulled apart and crumbly. It’s rubbed a little bit into the lipline. An impressionist, gurney lip,” he added, which may not make it that tempting an option to wear to work.

For Richard Quinn, it was a very different red lip look that came through. “It’s an 80s shape, we’re referencing Sean Young in Blade Runner or Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger, that severe, red velvet matte,” Barber explained. “The lip shape is swollen, it’s strict, straight and overlined. Flawless skin with a pearl in it. I like the idea of the face looking like a Victorian portrait. But then the lip is this amazing, hard, almost YSL look from back in the day. Very perfect, mannequin-like highlight without being wet,” he added.

Although this may sound a little too technical for us non-make-up masters, you will be glad to know that only one product was used to create it, and, of course, it’s by Mac.

Read more: The five key trends spotted at London Fashion Week 2024

Mac’s retro matte liquid lipcolour was the go-to backstage make-up product for this season’s fashion week shows and, as you can see, it can be worn in a whole host of ways – “decayed, pulled apart and crumbly” or “strict, straight and overlined”, depending on which look takes your fancy.

The fashion week shade of choice was “feels so grand”, but there are also four other options, so there’s one to suit a wide range of looks. Plus, the brand claims it lasts for eight hours with a matte finish to make it really pop – although we’re yet to put this to the test ourselves.

Of course, you could always add gloss on top to give it more of a shiny finish, but we’re rather taken with trying out the fashion week styles for ourselves. Perhaps straight and overlined best suits an office environment.

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