Celebrating MAC’s 40th anniversary with a masterclass on the cutting-edge makeup trends of the 2024 fall/winter season, MAC global director of makeup artistry, Terry Barber, alongside Cat Quinn, MAC’s director of trends, gave us a sneak peek at what we’re likely to see all over the runway and our Pinterest boards for the coming year. And it’s all about regency, maximalist romance with a modern twist.
“Do trends really die? Did it really go away?” asks Barber, as he sweeps a pale blue eye shadow onto model Aminata Ka. “Not in Terry’s world.”
2024 Makeup Trends
Return of Maximalism
Barber has been with MAC on the set of runways and photoshoots since the mid 90s, and in that time, he’s seen a lot of makeup trends come and go. From minimalism to romantic and everything in-between, Barber has done it all. And while he thinks we’ll always have a place for that real-world fresh-faced minimal look, he sees this coming year as more experimental and escapist.
“I think we’re going to see a return to decadence,” Barber says. “I think [minimalism] is going to go side-by-side with a more decadent, slightly escapist beauty that is more based on character, based on transformation.”
Pearl Skin Glow
“Skin has changed a lot over the years,” Barber explains. “When I first started, we used to just cover it up. Skin was a canvas you blanked out for your shades and contours. Now, skin is really integral to a look.”
We all know the past few years have been dominated by makeup trends like glass skin, dewy skin and cloud skin. This year’s aesthetic embraces a gentle luminosity, a radiance we haven’t seen since the heavy highlighter days, but in a fresh, glowing way.
“I’ve used the Studio Radiance Powdered Foundation,” Barber says. “And what I love is that it’s coverage, but not heavy coverage. It’s glow, but the right kind of glow.”
Color Wheel
“I think color is really tied to memory,” Barber explains. “Like that pale blue, my mum used to wear a color like that. And she only had that color, and she would only wear it on special occasions.”
Alongside the personal nostalgia a color might have, we also have collective nostalgia as a society. So, when makeup trends turn to colors like pale blue or playfully murky neutrals or oxblood cranberry come back to the forefront, they might make us think of Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, or the funky colors of the 1970s, or the romantic goth of the grunge period.
“We’re taking a trip back to the 70s in a way,” Barber predicts. “For me the ’70s was when color was at its most interesting.”
Alongside cranberries and aquatic tones, Barber’s final color prediction gets into the surge of an updated, refined grunge that’s going viral among makeup trends.
“We’re seeing some of these matcha, dirtier tones,” Quinn says. “You’re talking about neutrals getting kind of a grunge makeover.”
“It’s a prettier grunge as well,” Barber clarifies. “Grunge is very smeared and deconstructed, and this I think is more beautiful. I love the idea of a petina grunge, where it looks like gray colors are overlaid with silver. I think that’s really beautiful. I think with grunge, it’s a feeling and a color tone and an approach to makeup, but it doesn’t have to be deconstructed.”
