Interview: Lorde on her M·A·C collaboration + a makeup 101.

June 26, 2014 | by Coup De Main

It occurred to me this morning that we, Coup De Main, were one of the very first connecting dots between Lorde and M·A·C Cosmetics. On February 14th, 2013 - yes, she was our one and only Valentine - we were lucky enough to be granted time for Lorde's very first official media-shoot, thus requiring us to call up M·A·C and organise a make-up artist for our photoshoot. (Thanks Chay Roberts!)

Fast-forward 495 days later, it is Coup De Main's second official opportunity to sit down with Lorde, and this time it's to discuss her spellbinding M·A·C x Lorde collaboration, which includes her signature 'Pure Heroine' lipstick and RapidBlack penultimate eye-liner…

COUP DE MAIN: What is your earliest memory involving make-up?
LORDE - ELLA YELICH-O’CONNOR: Trying to apply liquid eyeliner from the $2 shop - because I bought $2 shop make-up since I was ten or eleven - and thinking it needed to go inside my eye, and just burning and almost blinding myself. I lived to tell the tale, so I'm okay!

CDM: What’s the best song from your 'Pure Heroine' album for your fans to vibe out to, as they’re putting their face on?
LORDE: <laughs> As in like, getting ready for a party-type-vibing out? You'd probably need something with a beat, so 'Ribs' is probably good - it's keeping you regular, symmetrical. I feel like the beat lends itself to that.

CDM: Your fans strongly associate your deep plum lipstick shade with the identity of 'Lorde' and have taken to wearing the colour themselves. Have you always gravitated to the colour as Ella, or has it been part of the evolution of Lorde?
LORDE: It's pretty much been what I've worn for most of my... I don't want to say most of my life, but most of my life as a proper human. I've been wearing it for probably five years now, it's been my thing.

CDM: So a cat-eye is eyeliner that flicks up, apparently a puppy-eye flicks down, but your signature eye-liner look is a fierce elongated-flick - so what should we nickname your liner-look?
LORDE: I'm trying to think of something that is that shape... the Tilde, you know that sign on the computer?! The wave? I don't know!
CDM: If you're feeling super spooky, you could call it hex-liner, because you're a teen witch!
LORDE: I like that, that's good - we should go with that!

CDM: If your band-members Jimmy and Ben were to collaborate with M·A·C, what would be their signature item they’d each release?
LORDE: Ben would definitely release something to stop his face from getting sweaty, because I feel like he's always drumming and super sweaty. I feel like Jimmy would just become the most beautiful, fashionable M·A·C collaborator ever, and make all these glittery eye-shadows and lipsticks and get real into it and just be way better than everyone else, because that's very Jimmy.

N.B. - And then we also asked Amber Dreadon (Lorde's makeup artist) and the band-members themselves...
AMBER DREADON: I think Jimmy would do something that was really hip at the moment, so it would be something that's so on trend - being the hipster that he is - but I would say, probably something for his hair? Maybe we could branch out into hair for something special. Ben would be a lip balm, definitely a lip balm!
BEN BARTER: I would go with a subtle foundation because of my pale complexion - the last thing I want is that 'caked-on-mask' look - and then perhaps a light green eye-shadow, nothing too bold (I'm shy). Then Jim has lovely dark skin, so a dark red lipstick for his plump lips and I would say a shimmery pumpkin eye-shadow, as he likes to stand out on-stage.
JIMMY MAC: I'd release a black nail polish and Ben would release some kind of nude tone lipstick.

CDM: Do you have any inspirational words of motivation for people who are right now saving up to treat themselves to your 'Pure Heroine' lipstick and Penultimate Eye Liner?
LORDE: Awww! Thank you so much for saving up, that's like the coolest thing ever. Hang in there, buddy! I don't know; I'm really bad at saving!

CDM: You've talked about having influences like Kanye West and Grace Jones that have a very strong sense of self. Where else do you draw your self-confidence from?
LORDE: Probably just people around me, I reckon. My Mum's really inspiring to me because she's really tough and she's a good role-model, in that she doesn't let people tell her what to do. She's always been real straight up, so she's a big one. I think it's just working with people who are really onto it and know what I want to do and know about my vision, because that inspires me to speak up. I'm quite shy and non-confrontational in my personal life, and I would rather just let something bottle up than bring it up with someone and have that confrontation, so working with people who are all inspired to do something cool is a big one for me - does that make sense?!

CDM: We’re now going to play a game of 'True or False'... If you use your Penultimate Eye Liner to write love notes at 13 o’clock on Friday the 13th, then your crush will fall in love with you like a Disney Prince.
LORDE: That's true! Yes!

CDM: M.A.C. [the acronym] stands for Magical Ace Cosmetics.
LORDE: I wish... but no!

CDM: Having the perfect lipstick and eye-liner combo > being a white teeth teen.
LORDE: Sure. <laughs>

CDM: Amber D’s magical make-up powers are sourced from her being Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty, in a past-life.
LORDE: Awww! I'll give her that. She'll be happy.

CDM: If you kiss a snake while wearing 'Pure Heroine' lipstick, then you’ll be transported into the world of your favourite book.
LORDE: <laughs> That's awesome, how do you guys come up with this stuff?! Your favourite book, or the snake becomes your... I don't want to say pet, but more like…
CDM: Spirit animal?
LORDE: Yeah, and you could have an army of snakes if you kept kissing them. They'd just do your bidding and they'd all have purple lips from you.
CDM: Sounds like a more fashionable version of Voldemort.
LORDE: Pretty much! It's like a little Medusa, but they're on the ground and you're not turning people to stone!

CDM: What’s your favourite anecdote from your adventures with Amber D?
LORDE: Amber! Come here! What's our favourite anecdote from our time together?
AMBER D: One favourite thing? I feel like there's a million! I think the never-ending torture for me is Ella and my cellphone… that's like the worst thing ever.
LORDE: Oh yeah! So, I have a bit of a problem. And this problem is that if someone gives me their cellphone to show me something, I will Snapchat people, and my favourite thing to do is to go on Instagram and 'like' random photos and then comment on stuff that's just like "wow, great hair cut" with three exclamation marks, or like "what a cool view" - just loser.
AMBER: "QT!" You'll go like, "here look at this picture on my Instagram," and then go away and do something else, and then next thing you know she starts giggling and you'll go, "Oh no!"
LORDE: And I’ve just liked, like 20 photos.
AMBER: She's gone through and literally liked or gone back in someone's timeline so it looks like you've been stalking somone - so it's not a recent picture, it's one from five months ago!
LORDE: I do that a lot. What's your favourite... or is there someone famous that you've met that you've been like...
AMBER: On our trips? Oh god yeah, all the time.
LORDE: Did you freak out with Woody Harrelson?
AMBER: Yeah!
LORDE: You freaked out a little bit.
AMBER: That's quite a good story, because I didn't know he was there and we were walking down a hallway and I was going to do something, busy-busy, and I walked past "excuse me, excuse me" and I heard his voice - you know how his voice is like no-one else's voice? - and I was like <gasp>, and then walked away. I was like: "Oh my god, Woody Harrelson's here!"
LORDE: [You] Definitely tried to just be like: "Whatever, it's just Woody Harrelson."
AMBER: Ella changes into this gold cape in the show, so I had to go and get that to put it in the quick-change area. I walked past him with the gold cape and he was like: "Oh is she changing into that? Cool!" And I said: "No this is mine, I'm putting this on." And he's like, "Ha ha ha ha," and touched my back. I was like <screaming> - he touched my back!!
LORDE: Then she died and we never saw Amber again.
AMBER: I always try to play it cool, but I like to see people with my eyes.
LORDE: That's Amber's thing - we breathe the same air, with a famous person. If she's in the same room, she's like: "We breathe the same air."
AMBER: I don't need to get a photo together or anything, I just need these eyes to see 'em.
LORDE: Yeah, you see them with your own eyes and breathe. You love that.
AMBER: Like Beyoncé, I've seen her with my own eyes up close a few times - it's really great.

CDM: Amber! What's your favourite anecdote from your adventures with Lorde - one from when she's been sitting on a makeup chair?
AMBER: She [Lorde] will sing a lot, because we're usually getting ready for a show. So it's me trying to do a dark lip or a lip-liner while she's singing her heart out. I'm saying: "Please sit still, please sit still, just sit still." She just waits until we get to those hard bits [applying lips] and busts out into song, so it's quite entertaining. And what I said before about the cellphone situation! Whatever you do, do not ever give her your phone at any point, because that will be the end.

CDM: Have you ever had an out-of-body experience?
LORDE: No, but I do have… I'm a really heavy dreamer and I talk a lot and I move a lot and I find it really difficult to distinguish… I'll be awake and be talking to someone, but still be in the dream, and just try and kill them or whatever. <laughs> I feel like that's semi out-of-body.
CDM: Do you lucid dream?
LORDE: I do sometimes. I'm just a weird dreamer in general, I feel like I need to get a handle on it!

CDM: Do you have any plans to tour New Zealand this year?
LORDE: Yes! So that will hopefully happen before the end of the year.

CDM: I want to dance with Lorde-logo confetti raining down upon me!
LORDE: Don't you worry about it, it's coming to a town near you.

AND NOW, FOR A CRASH COURSE FROM LORDE AND KATHERINEISAWESOME.COM…

HOW LORDE FEELS ABOUT HER M·A·C COLLABORATION...