Woven; Aaliyah Made up

I have a treasure box of untouched make-up that are like rare and precious stones too beautiful to spoil. Periodically I take them out to admire (this makes me smile) and I then carefully place them back in till the next time. This M.A.C x Aaliyah collection will live in my treasure box.

MAC have launched many capsule collaborations/‘inspired by’ collections with the music world, Mariah Carey, Kiesza, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Lorde, Diana Ross, Beth Ditto, Selena Quintanilla and Dua Lipa to name a few. Nineties R&B princess Aaliyah was added to this honouree list this year. It’s a beautiful collection, a few pieces are still available and similar colours can be found throughout the range.
After binge watching 90’s R&B videos two things really stuck out to me that I was not conscious of at the time. Firstly, female R&B artists wore big; baggy and masculine clothes the complete opposite of the ultra feline girl groups of the sixties and seventies, maybe they thought to be taken as seriously as the men they had to wear similar clothes???

Secondly, the make-up didn’t look as heavy as I remember; especially as I compare it to now. The foundation was thick and the blusher was always colourful and prominent – we used to refer to it as “Mars-Bar” blusher, – literally one solid line straight up the side of the face, Missy Elliot sty-lee. All finishes were matte (except for layers of lipgloss). Metallic highlighter was averted at all costs because the fear was the shine/glow/glisten would be mistaken for an oily skin. This was not my aesthetic professionally or personally in any way shape or form but the make-up I once deemed as extremely heavy is actually subtle in comparison to the make-up of 2018…oh how my perspective has changed.