Inspiring Woman : Pat McGrath

Pat McGrath MBE is a British make-up artist. She has been called the most influential make-up artist in the world by Voguemagazine and other commentators. McGrath has no formal training in fashion or make-up, having completed only an art foundation course at a Northampton college. Of her career, she has said, "I really love being a makeup artist. It never gets mundane or predictable and every shoot and show is different."In the 80's, McGrath moved to London and became involved with designers such as Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. In 2017, McGrath won the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the Fashion Awards, a British Fashion Council Event. In 2018, six leading stars, including Saoirse Ronan, Naomie Harris and Sara Sampaio wore Pat McGrath Labs make up to the Fashion Awards. 

According to Vogue (2007), Pat McGrath is known for her unique, adventurous, and innovative make-up techniques which include using her hands as opposed to brushes. She has a talent for using bold hues and material experimentation ranging from feathers to ornaments.^[McGrath is limitless, a mindset that enables her boundless creativity and diverse range of looks.Her art lies within the reinvention of makeup and experimentation. She has created trends ranging from thick eyebrows to coloured lashes, making a statement out of every face.Her innovative and intuitive outlook to life help create the vibrant and legendary looks we see throughout numerous catwalks and fashion shows.  

McGrath draws inspiration for many sources, using materials such as feathers, gold leaf, and leather.^[=McGrath told Vogue in 2008, "I'm influenced a lot by the fabrics I see, the colours that are in the collections and the girl's faces. It's always a challenge but that's the key – to make it different every time." Her inspiration started with her mother, particularly her love for fashion, film and costumes:"Everything that she was obsessed with, I became obsessed with. McGrath's mother encouraged her stating "It will be a problem for you if you don't love what you do. So make sure!"^[ Growing up in London, McGrath and her mother used to go makeup shopping when she was six years old.  Fashion became a huge inspiration for McGrath, stimulating her creative approach.

McGrath also looks to models that bring her personal inspiration McGrath says, "They are their own women, representing a mix of ethnicities, sizes, and backgrounds, they allow me to experiment and create the looks I dream of in my head."^[She considers models Naomi Campbell, Hailey Baldwin, Paloma Elsesser, Jasmine Sanders, Mallory Merk and Ruby Aldridge as her muses. She says of Campbell, "We've worked together since the mid-1990s, and she inspires me in ways I've never imagined. There is no one like Naomi." McGrath calls Paloma Elsesser's face "the ultimate canvas" for her hypnotic complexion that "guides a makeup artist's touch." 

Much of McGrath's inspiration derives from making the natural skin salient.This can be seen in her own makeup line, which focuses on luminous skin. McGrath says, "Flawless, luminous skin has always been a constant in my work. For years I've been using a custom mix of products to achieve different levels of luminosity from fresh baby skin to a supercharged power-glow." The sequin packaging of her makeup line also derives from McGrath's inspiration of sequins, a reoccurring element in many of her looks.

The most important element of McGrath's inspiration stems from unique individuality and beauty, breaking away from traditional standards.McGrath values beauty beyond superficiality, looking at the story behind the person she sees.On the definition of beauty, she believes that "real and true beauty comes from within. It's like an energy, because the task of bringing out beauty—and at times creating it—really is like a puzzle. Often in my work, the approach to beauty is to seek perfection, yet sometimes beauty is imperfect or quite raw."

On 01/04/2019, a small business owner by the name of Carrie Gray, filed a lawsuit against Pat McGrath and Sephora over the award winning products bearing the name Skin Fetish Gray, who is a Social Worker and U.S. Veteran, trademarked "Skin Fetish" and started selling Skin Fetish facial masks in September, 2015 while Pat McGrath launched 2 products around the same time named Gold 001, October, 2015 and Phantom 002, December, 2015. McGrath was projected to release a full line in late 2016 but launched Skin Fetish 003 April, 2016. According to Gray, while McGrath got an investor that put 60 million into her business after Skin Fetish 003, Gray was bullied with threats of being sued by McGraths million dollar legal team since 2016 according to the lawsuit.