An Insider's Look: M.A.C Senior Artist Terry Barber Discusses the Style Black Collection

One of the long-awaited collections from M.A.C, the Style Black Collection, is finally here. And I've got a treat for you -- M.A.C Senior Artist Terry Barber has some answers for you about the inspiration behind the collection! Get all the fabulous info after the jump.



Is "GOTH" back? Or "NEW GOTH?" What's it all about now?
Yes, but it's the way Tim Burton would treat Goth -- more dark-romantic, a bit of street-urchin Victoriana, but not ghoul, a bit Ska -- those are the elements of Goth now. Think punk-inspired but not punk -- more punk couture. In a way it's very Picasso-esque: raw, drawing lines around the eye with spontaneity and naivety, more homemade, distressed, lived-in looks.

Style Black is so iconic. What elements of the new "Style Black" make it more modern?
[In the 80's], it was about stealing your sister's eyeliner and a black pencil and talc for the skin was about all you could afford. Everybody aspired to be underground, didn't they? They still do. Now it's Kate Moss coming from a party, with a glass of champagne in one hand and a cigarette in the other -- as opposed to the try hard, red-carpet going to a party scene. Style Black could turn up anywhere, but its real soul is an irreverent look of a cool, undone girl.

What beauty icon had the best "Style Black" look?
The Ronettes and other 50's and 60's girl groups, old black-and-white pictures of Tallulah Bankhead and her quote, "I'm as pure as the driven slush," The Blitz Kids, Post-Punk, early New Romantics, CBGBs and Club Taboo ... in terms of beauty icons I would say the pictures of Sophia Loren in the film El Cid. She's got perfect 60's eyeliner and those unbelievable lashes. Debbie Harry, but the early years, in her schoolgirl uniform, before the peroxide. Of course, Kate Moss.

What's the fascination with Back to Black?
Every generation has to have its anti-establishment heroines -- and we need an alternative to red-carpet perfection!

What are your favorite Style Black products?
First and foremost, the Greasepaint Stick -- it's thick and crude but the lines are beautiful, it's crude with craft! Put it on first. That's important. I also love the new Mineralize Black Shadows, with the undertones of jewel metallics. Overall, it's about black with metallics -- emerald green on dirty gold, a little cobalt mixed in.

How do you use Style Black from day to night?
Never change an eye from day to night, just charge it up! Polish the skin, buff the lip, shade the face but keep it all in perspective and never try too hard.

If the emphasis is on a dark eye, how do you approach lips and cheeks?
Only a hardcore vampire would do all black everything! It's all about balance. A lot of eye always means less skin and a fleshy mouth. A strong lip looks contemporary on a nude eye. It's all about what you erase on the face. At the shows, erased eyebrows are having a big moment.

M.A.C has always been about black ... is black forever?
Without a doubt. There are so many incarnations -- the biggest statement doesn't always have to be rock 'n roll or gothic. The film noir and 1930's surrealism are a huge influence ... [as are] Helmut Newton and that whole Robert Palmer 80's mannequin thing that we can't seem to escape from!

The M.A.C Style Black collection is available now at M.A.C counters nationwide.