“It’s More Than Makeup, It’s a World”: Pat McGrath on a Decade of Making Beauty Magic

“It’s almost surreal to think it’s been 10 years,” makeup artist and mogul Dame Pat McGrath muses when we speak on the cusp of the milestone anniversary of her eponymous beauty brand, Pat McGrath Labs.

“Passing on the secrets of backstage has always been my goal,” she continues. “When we launched the brand in Paris 10 years ago, it was a drop—a limited edition that when it was gone, it was gone. I didn’t at that moment anticipate how the brand would build and grow, but we have been on a forward trajectory ever since.”

She is, of course, describing the moment during the spring 2016 shows when she pretty much shut down the Tuileries Garden in Paris with the disruptive launch of Gold 001—a gold eyeshadow pigment that delivered metallic magic in a single swipe.

I should know, I was there, and so I witnessed the hysteria as people tried to get their hands on McGrath’s products. She’d applied the sneaker-drop business model to makeup—a first for a beauty launch—and it set the tone for everything else that was to follow.

Something of a renegade, there have been a lot of firsts from McGrath, like the McGrath Muses, which saw her casting rising talent to help bring products to life—often before they became household names.

Her hero products are similarly well-known, like the MatteTrance lipsticks in cult shades like Elson and 1995, Lust Gloss, or the Mothership palettes, which have become a beauty collector’s item. “I love being a makeup alchemist. My brand is centered around creating what has never existed before,” McGrath explains.

Then there are the collaborations: a lip kit with Supreme (arguably the most coveted beauty collab of all time), Bridgerton’s pastel Regency palettes, and the shimmering intergalactic Star Wars spin—all uniquely McGrathian in their drama and detail. Plus, the announcement of McGrath as creative director of makeup for Louis Vuitton La Beauté—another beauty passion project that sits neatly alongside her own beloved Labs.

We cannot forget the Maison Margiela spring 2024 show, and that iconic glass-skin moment, created by McGrath, that had the beauty world in raptures. The look sparked its own product spin-offs (the Legendary Glow Setting Spray and its accompanying Artistry Mask), so desperate was McGrath’s audience to try and recreate the mirror-like skin shine themselves.

McGrath will be marking her brand’s anniversary in characteristic style: by re-releasing Gold 001 alongside her Gilded Nirvana holiday collection and a limited-edition accessories capsule that includes collaborations with Judith Leiber, Jennifer Fisher Jewelery, Lucky Charmz, and LoveComb. “It’s more than makeup—it’s a world,” says McGrath. “Something you wear, something you collect, something that reflects who you are. This decade is just the first chapter. There are no limits to what we can build in the next decade, and we already have some big plans in place: watch this space.”

See a sneak peek of some of the forthcoming products, below.