Beautifully wrecked

Designers Dan and Dean Caten have created a colour collection for MAC. Photo / Supplied

"This girl doesn't spend hours getting ready, but she looks amazing, her style is all her own."

That's the catch-cry for M.A.C's latest colour collection, inspired by the louche looks of the likes of Lindsay Lohan as interpreted by DSquared2 design duo Dean and Dan Caten.

"It's kind of 'rock-on' makeup, but it's effortless and not overly done or perfect," says Dean.

Dan's take is: "Young Hollywood is about that, they don't need to impress anyone, it's cooler than being too studied. The same goes with makeup, it isn't about being perfect."

The Canadians, who show their fashion collections in Milan these days, worked with countryman Gordon Espinet, M.A.C's vice president of makeup artistry, to interpret their vision in cosmetics, in a limited edition range of 10 items.

They've known each other since the designers were getting started in Toronto, M.A.C's hometown, and the brand has been used since they began runway shows 12 seasons ago, first with menswear and now also with womenswear.

The DSquared2 Colour Collection was first seen at the 2009 winter collections, where M.A.C's senior makeup artist in New Zealand, Amber Dreadon, was on the backstage team. The collection, having survived the rigours of the runway, has been fine-tuned and is on counter this week.

Dreadon told Viva it was a thrill working on runway shows and giving feedback to the company's technical teams, then later seeing the products become part of the company's ranges.

She especially liked using the Sculpt and Shape Powder (pictured above) to add highlight and contour drama to skin. That and the trick of applying Lip Erase in Dim (a fleshy tone balm) to neutralise natural lip tone before a light flush of colour were ideas that carried over to her work leading the M.A.C makeup teams at Fashion Week here.

The star of the DSquared2 collection is undoubtedly the eye - dark, distressed and glossed, which Dan describes as "really dramatic".

To achieve the right degree of smoky starlet surprise, kohl pencil is used inside the eye line, then Greasepaint Sticks shape and add density, with violet used on the upper lid and peacock (pictured) below to add a little flash of iridescent colour to the darkness, which is lifted with Clear Gloss Texture. Lashings of Zoom Fast Black Lash mascara and a soft lip tone keep the look young and carefree.

"After you've put all that black on the eye with subtle undertone of the two vibrant colours, you're going to look like a little feathered bird or an iridescent insect," says Dan.

The collaboration follows on from others the leading backstage beauty brand has done, including with Alexander McQueen, Emmanuel Ungaro and Heatherette.

The turnaround time from runway to on-counter is just over half-a-year, which in the global beauty business is like working overnight.

Backstage shots are used to give a fashion feel to the imagery, with model Valeria shown in the main image on this page. She was picked because the designers thought she was one of the coolest girls in the show, epitomising the "don't care" daring look they were after.

"Less is more, but more is never enough. Stack it on and mix it up," is Dan's mantra.