Right now, my favorite tweet is Shayne Topp’s picture of the list his 5-year-old niece wrote about the three steps of her daily routine. “1. Wake up,” it reads, followed by a simple yet useful piece of guidance: “2. Stretch.” Then, the awe-inspiring kicker: “3. Have a moment.” (Underneath all this, the word “Busy” is written, unnumbered.) Having a moment can take on dozens of definitions, depending on the day, I assume. In Patrick Ta’s world, it means committing to a stunning look. And with his new makeup collection, he’s about to make sure this moment you have is a monochromatic one.
The famed makeup artist dropped the second collection from his namesake line on October 25 in the US with six new products dubbed Monochrome Moment. Three of them help you achieve a stunning, single-toned look as he often graces the faces of celebrities, like Gigi Hadid, Camila Cabello, and Alessandra Ambrosio, with, while the three others are super soft brushes for creating it. (And he’s been using these exact products on the girls for about two years now.)
Unlike his first collection, which focused on giving skin a red-carpet-ready glow, Ta tells Allure that Monochrome Moment was made with everyday makeup in mind. “I just wanted to bring it back to real life with tone on tone colors that you can wear every single day,” he explains. “Right now, I feel like most of my clients, whenever I do their make up, even if it’s for a big carpet or whatever, they just want to feel beautiful, effortless. And all these tones are definitely effortless — bronzy nudes and corals.”
Precision Lip Crayon ($26)
The Precision Lip Crayon doesn’t employ the mechanics of your typical lip pencil. Ta isn’t a fan of having to sharpen them, so he tracked down a pen from Korea that clicks up to dispense more product into the teardrop-shaped applicator.
The unexpected shape, which is wider than a classic pointed-tip pencil, ensures the easiest application of the creamy formula. It easily glides around the cupid’s bow. Ta usually starts here and works his way outward. “I personally love a pointed Cupid’s bow,” he says. “But clients like Gigi, she hates when I point hers. She’s like, ‘Make them round.’ I also love overlining lips, but she likes to follow her own lip shape. So it’s all about preference.”
Plus, the Precision Lip Crayon won’t make your lips feel parched or tight, so you can fill in your entire lips with the smooth pigment. Many of Ta’s clients request he does so to make their lip color last longer.
To help give your lips dimension and contrast, Ta picked four shades of liner that are darker than the new liquid lipsticks: She’s Humble (fawn pink); She’s Proud (pinky brown); She’s Strong (almond), and She’s Bold (mahogany brown).
Silky Lip Crème ($24)
Silky Lip Crème is Ta’s first foray into lipstick. “I wanted to make a liquid lipstick that is super moisturizing and super velvety,” he explains. “It doesn’t dry down, so it’s super nourishing on the lips.” To make it happen, the hyaluronic acid-spiked formula has a powdery matte finish. And you’ll notice that it has the same minty vanilla smell as the Major Glow Lip Shine, Ta points out.
The lipstick comes in four shades to coordinate with the liners. The lightest one is a pale pink named She’s Unapologetic. Ta paints it onto the center of the lips — no matter what the base color may be — to make them look extra luscious. You can do so with the new Lip Brush ($18). She’s Independent (pinky beige), She’s Confident (rosy beige), and She’s Secure (peachy pink) make up the rest of the hues available.
Velvet Blush ($32)
To make the monochrome moment really happen, Ta is also releasing four shades of the new Velvet Blush that are in the same rosy color family as the lip products. She’s Sincere (soft peach), She’s Passionate (soft pink), She’s Adorable (golden peach), and She’s Seductive (mauve plum) are housed in a sleek, rectangular rose gold compact. Its silky formula is purposely subtle in pigmentation to make it more foolproof.
“It’s super important to have a blush that isn’t too pigmented but is super soft,” Ta explains. “The worst thing that could happen to me when I’m doing makeup is if I apply a blush, and it’s a huge blob. Then, it fucks up the makeup. [Instead,] I wanted the blush to be able to melt into the skin and look like a cloud.”
The low-key amount of color the blush deposits onto skin also makes it more approachable for those who aren’t fans of the makeup step — including most of his clients. “I feel like they’re all like, ‘Let’s just have some contour,'” Ta says. “But I love, love, love blush. It really completes a look. Without it, I feel like you look dead. But a lot of my clients are scared of it.”
The new collection also offers two different brushes to sweep on the blushes with. Of course, there’s a classic large, fluffy one simply called the Blush Brush ($35). Ta catches me off guard when he shows me the smaller, domed option he calls the Eye Shadow Brush ($22), which is specifically designed for dusting pigment on the creases of your eyes.
Even though Patrick Ta Beauty has yet to launch eye shadow, Ta believes this quick step helps you nail the monochromatic look: “When you’re doing monochromatic looks you should always bring that blush color into your creases, and diffuse it out,” he explains. “It just marries the whole entire look together.”
Patrick Ta Beauty’s Monochrome Moment is available on patrickta.com and sephora.com.