Pat McGrath Labs Must-Haves

You voted and I listened! Pat McGrath Labs currently has huge discounts on for Black Friday 2019 so If you’ve ever wanted to try it but the cost has scared you off, now is the time to buy! I have purchased a lot of Pat McGrath Labs since its inception so I’ll share with you the pieces you have to try.

Let’s start with the face.

The Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Foundation really is sublime! It’s lightweight but buildable and if you apply it with your fingertips (as opposed to a brush) you get more coverage. I like a very natural skin-like finish and that’s what this foundation provides. It also gives me a glow and it seems to have colour correcting properties because this is the first foundation I have tried where I didn’t need to buy two shades. My shade is 19 which is medium with peach undertones. I usually wear foundation with golden undertones but this one suits me best. Adeola Gboyega was spot on with her recommendation even though I didn’t visit her for a real-life colour-match (part of the reason she’s so amazing!) The most important thing is that you need to shop by undertones as well as shade category so the next darkest shade for me would be 23 which is medium-deep with yellow undertones. 

The Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin Highlighting Trio is the best set of highlighters I have used. I bought the Nude and Golden versions when they were individual lab kits that came with the highlighter, balm stick and brush. Bronze is a relatively new shade. Luckily, you don’t have to choose between the shades like I had to – they are all in one place. Nude is an iridescent pink, Gold is a striking cool gold and Bronze is beautifully warm.

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Now on to the lips.

There is a huge choice of great lip products so this will be down to personal preference although I will say that if you normally avoid matte, try a gloss or if you always wear gloss, try matte. My personal preference is creamy colour and gloss but the mattes are great too.

In terms of must-haves, you need to try at least one MatteTrance Lipstick, one LuxeTrance Lipstick and one Lust: Gloss.

You can get MatteTrance Mini Trios which are a great way to try a selection of shades without breaking the bank. At the time of writing, only the Skin Show trio is available but I love two of the shades – Omi and 1995. If you can’t get the trio, go for Omi for a good natural/neutral/nude, depending on your skin tone. If you need something bold, then you must order MatteTrance in Elson, which is the ultimate cool-toned red.

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My favourite LuxeTrance shade is Lust Angeles which is described as brown-beige and I find it is a perfect natural/neutral/nude shade for me. I’m sure it would suit many skintones too because it is brown-based. Again, if you prefer a bold look, Major Red is gorgeous and you can even get the matching PermaGel Ultra lip pencil for completeness.

There are 4 types of Lust: Gloss and I love gloss so it’s difficult for me to pick one that I can’t live without! Using Pat McGrath’s philosophy of “use without caution”, and my view that if you’re going to spend that much on lip gloss then it better be special, go for the original and iconic Aliengelic which looks white but is actually pink, or Divine Rose which has some kind of metallic high-shine to it, like highly polished bronze to make an ancient Egyptian mirror. If you need a deeper pink or want intense colour, go for Secret Lover.

I don’t think a £37 balm is essential for an introduction to Pat McGrath Labs but if you really want to try one, again, make it special. Lip Fetish Lip Balm in Nude Astral is unique -it’s a pink with blue which gives a brightening effect.

Finally, the eyes, where it all started!

The eye palettes are very expensive so just try one of these to start with.

The best full-sized palette to start with, in my opinion, would be Mothership VI: Midnight Sun. It has a deep matte brown which you can use to define your brows, as well as create a smokey eye. It also has some very pretty shimmery shades for colour and highlighting and you could also use Vermillion Venom and Blood Moon 005 on your cheeks.  If you feel you need a deeper brow or crease shade, go for Mothership III: Subversive although at the time of writing it is not available. If it still isn’t available by the time you want to order and you need those deeper shades, go for Mothership I: Subliminal. There aren’t any obvious blusher colours in Mothership I and III but you can use some shades as highlighters.

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If you don’t want a full size straight away, I highly recommend the MTHRSHP Subversive La Vie en Rose palette because I think it has the perfect balance of matte and shimmer, you can make a natural-looking eyeliner with a wet brush and Paranormal, and Rose Risqué and Pale Fire make a gorgeous pair for your cheeks. Unfortunately, this is also sold out on the website at the time of writing!

If cheek colour is not a priority, but you want an affordable way to try a selection of eyeshadows, order MTHRSHP Subliminal Dark Star. You can make a gorgeous smokey eye and use a wet brush with Dark Matter for an eyeliner, Entice can be used as a highlighter and you can keep the eye look neutral with Enraptured or make it dramatic with Interstellar.

You need the Fetish Eyes Xtreme Eye Duo in your life, especially if you’re not so great with liquid eyeliner, like me! It’s an economical way to try the FetishEYES Mascara and the Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner. The FetishEYES mascara makes the most impact with the least effort which is why I love it. The Perma Precision Liquid Eyeliner is incredibly easy to use – I can get an equal, thin line on both eyes!

My final can’t-live-without item is the Permagel Ultra Glide eye pencil in BLK Coffee. It is an intensely dark brown, almost black, but not quite. It is perfect for day and night, waterline, smoked out…everything! Xtreme Black is just that but BLK Coffee is more versatile. If you really must get Xtreme Black, get the Xtreme Eye Trio although I know I’ll be re-ordering BLK Coffee.

In summary, you need to try:

You can get all of this for £266 instead of £380 (or £227.50 instead of £325 if you go for the smaller palette).

If that’s too extreme, my top three recommendations to get a good feel for Pat McGrath Labs would be (this is so difficult!):

It comes to £146.30  instead of £209 which is great for 5 products. 

The discount is automatically applied on PatMcGrath.com. Shipping for my latest order was £5 but for some of my previous orders it has been free. More importantly, for those of you based in the UK, there are no additional duties or fees. Yay!

Did you find this helpful?

I would love to see what you managed to pick up. Comment below or tag me in your posts on social media!