Four great looks for summer

Mac dispatched “artistry director” James Molloy to Bangkok recently to show how the cosmetics firm’s “Ease and Edge” is about to become one of the hot looks this spring and summer.
It’s all about “simplicity with a forward-thinking freshness”, Molloy told fans assembled at the W Hotel.
There are four key looks in all.
Sig-nature is found in the purity of perfectly pared back skin. Nu-Ance uses a languid wash of colour that takes in shades of highly pigmented pastels, from turquoise and lemon to silver and translucent dark metal.
Puri-Tan is a monochromatic Bedouin bronze blurred on the eyes and bone structure, and Sci-Chedelic is pure colour on the eyelids and lips.
“There’s a delicacy to beauty this season that speaks to the way women really want to look in the here and now, a time when a subtle, fresh and confident feeling more appropriate than hard, sexy or powerful,” Molloy said.
“Indeed, the idea of fluidity and a move away from hard lines is key this spring and summer. Seamlessly humid finishes and cream colours prevail, with radiant complexions and balanced brows. Brows are still news, but they dominate the face less than last season, forming instead the cornerstone to every look.”
Sig-nature puts the emphasis on natural, luminous skin “super-polished and delicately brought to life with the most subtle, sensitive techniques”. He used concealers – just a couple of shades darker than the skin – and created an emollient glow with pearl Cream Colour Base in Shell or Luna, as well as skin-identical pigments around the eyes. The neutral lips receive a translucent balm or a touch of lipstick to heighten the natural tone.
Nu-Ance is distinct from last season’s muted exploration of colour, more lucid to match the runway styles’ vivid digital prints. Turquoise, lilac, lemon, mint, aqua, apple and peach are borrowed from nature, including seascapes to sunsets. Then he added a wash to the lids and around the cheek and gently amplified the lips.
“A transparent wash of depth, invariably with a metallic sheen or flat matte, is less relevant than buffed-in creamy tints this season. The essentials are mustard-coloured eye shadow, a tint that brightens most beautifully.”
Sci-Chedelic is keyed to “minimalist, reductive and singular”.
“The graphic statement gets a ’60s spin this season without resorting to a reduction,” Molloy said. “Even the red lips become part of a contemporary colour story that doesn’t feel referential to the past thanks to modern matte textures and pops of Hyper-Bright pigment. Minimalism is pushed in new directions as artists challenge themselves further to distil the message of this movement in shapes and shades that say something new.”
Puri-tan is gently applied for a gleaming bronze that defines the summer. The features are brought out with a palette of desert shades that reference Californian girls of the ’60s. Bedouin visions, transparently tinted in washes of cream colour, add a sophisticated monochrome that taps into every woman’s photogenic spirit.
“Eyes get the impression of squinting into the sun. The bronze has an almost aquatic effect and the golden honey-beige tones are almost imperceptible. The must-have is brown eye shadow for a blown-out shading that melds with the skin and wraps around the bone structure.”