All images courtesy of Michele Li.

Lucian Matis is remarkably calm in a crammed room at the Royal York hotel, doing last-minute sewing and ironing. He only takes a moment to check in on the beauty look for for his Fall/Winter 2012 collection. Just as calm is Smashbox makeup artist and Director of Global Pro Lead Artistry, Lori Taylor, who after blending in layer after layer of black shadow and liner on a model’s eye, gets word from Matis that he wants the look “darker and stronger to really frame the face.”

She goes back to her smoky palette and begins saturating the lid even more with black shadow flecked with just a hint of silver, showing her makeup crew the tricks. “We’re doing an intense
smoky eye, like black, black, black,” she says. “And it’s all about the shape which is kind of lifted in the inner and outer corner.” Taylor dips her brush into the darkest shadow from the
Smokebox Eye Palette to sweep over top a black cream liner base, taking a step back to look at the intensity of the colour.