interview

You guys remember when I first found out about Daphne Guinness? I’ve been facinated with her ever since. So when I heard that MAC was doing a collection with her, I was excited. THEN, when I saw that MAC MUA Romero Jennings that he had been working with her recently (found via his twitter, of course), got more excited & I knew I needed to get some scoop.

Luckily, I was able to grab some phone time with him earlier this week, and after chatting about our mutual love for Oklahoma and Sonic Drive-In, he gave me a lot of insight into Daphne and her collex (*some q’s a bit paraphrased – we ramble chatted):

Me: I see you’ve been working with Daphne Guinness quite a bit this year – can you tell me what you have been working on?
RJ: For the last 6months I’ve been doing Daphne’s makeup for a short film she has been filming called, “The Legend of Lady White Snake: A Tribute to the Spirit of Alexander McQueen”. It’s a very artistic film directed by Indrani. In this film you will actually get to hear her voice. (*he loves her voice – says it’s very soothing.)

Me: Did you use her MAC collection on set?
RJ: YES! Throughout the course of the shoot, we used every product in some way. They all seemed to work with each of the different looks that she gets to show, whether they are a golden dress or silver metallics. She would have some input into her look – she is very specific in what makes Daphne “Daphne”, but she also likes when you can bring her something extra. (*This is where we talked about some cool metal and paper lashes that he created for her, using MAC lashes as the base. She got to where she would expect him to bring her a new pair every day, because she liked them so much.)

Me: Do you know how involved she was in this MAC collab?
RJ: She was very involved! She would come to the meetings with paint swatches and ideas of things that she would really like to see. She said that she was choosing colors that she hadn’t been able to find for herself. She is a very artistic and futuristic person – that was what helped her come up with the names for the pieces (*He also mentions that when she enters a room, it’s as if she floats in like a butterfly – her feet don’t touch the floor.)

Me: Knowing how porcelain her skin in, clearly her collection definitely favors the cooler-toned folks. Can you tell me how these pieces will work for warmer-toned, darker-complected lovelies?
RJ: It can *definitely* work on them, too! These colors tend to pop on warm-toned skin tones. For example, take an extreme look like Nicki Minaj and her darker coloring and then that bright, cool lavender lips she wears. It just jumps out. That’s what these colors can do.And by having gradients of colors in the blushes, there is more choice to personalize the products, too.

Me: Is there a favorite product in the collection?
RJ: The Pro Longwear Lipcreme in “Approaching Storm” is her signature color now. The Pro Longwear Lip Pencils have “saved my life”. Watching Daphne work the red carpets, dinner parties, etc, she is constantly talking to people for 6-8 hours on end, without time to touch up. So, I use the Pro Longwear Lip Pencil to line the entire lip, which binds to the lip – this will extend the wear of the lipcreme, and this combo will be bulletproof. (*He uses pencil “Kiss Me Quick” under “Approaching Storm. He also suggests using pencil “Nice ‘n’ Spicy” with lip creme “Warp Speed” & topping with Cremesheen Glass “Narcissus” and using “Anticipation” under “Red Dwarf”).

Huge thank you to Romero for taking time out of his busy day to shoot the breeze with me. As for the lipliner trick? I’m definitely giving it a shot on NYE, because the last thing I want to do at midnight is wonder if I need a touch-up before I pucker up.

The collection hits US counters on December 26th and Internationally in January 2012.

*Disclaimer: I received pieces of this from the company for editorial consideration.

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