M.A.C Cosmetics’ new Liptensity collection, available September 20, was created with the help of tetrachomat Maureen Seaberg — someone with the genetic ability to see as many as 100 million colours the average person can’t. Starting from a range of 24 trending colours identified by the M.A.C team, Seaberg worked with chemists to narrow them down into a collection of 12 richly pigmented lipsticks in the truest shades possible. 

“We did the swatch tests on our arms, and looked at it in office lighting and daylight,” says Seaberg of the process. “I tried very hard to pull out any aberrant overtones or undertones that made the prototype at all muddy to my eye. I didn’t want to pick these colours from nature that might be hidden from the average viewer. I wanted to take what we all see and clean it up to the best of my ability – to get to the truest center of every shade.”

 

The most flattering tone? “Right now, I think that Doe from our collection, a neutral light brown, has proven to be beautiful on every tone of skin, every type of woman,” says Seaberg. “Balmain used it on every runway model for Fall 2016. It really looks fabulous on everybody.”

Her least-liked colour: Yellow. “It may be because my extra cone in my retina is yellow,” she theorizes. “Science has yet to prove this, but my theory is that it’s more intense for me than for other people. For awhile, I could tolerate a really pretty pastel yellow, but the colour of the New York City taxi cab drives me up the wall.”

 

Balmain A/W 2016