They've traveled all over the world - Paris, Milan - and held court in New York City. Now, M.A.C's most-reknowned makeup artists are ensconced in the Bay Area, lip gloss and mascara in hand, to create the looks for 16 of the designers participating in San Francisco Fashion Week, which runs today through Saturday.
(Visit 21Q on Friday to read my posts from behind the scenes at Fashion Week.)

One of those artists is Louise Zizzo, who says the team is used to doing five or six shows a day in different venues; in S.F., they'll be working in the same space, and it won't be nearly as crazy.

"I can say with certainty that it will be a lot easier because we're not moving from one end of the city to another," Zizzo says.

So far, the team has met with designers to get a feel for their fashion collections: What's the inspiration - perhaps a pop icon or a fairytale? "From there, we come up with suggestions for how their models should look," Zizzo says.

So, does she see any particular makeup trends emerging?

"You might see everything from a 1930s-inspired silent-movie look to using '50s eyeliner with a 2006 edge," she says. "I'm sure we'll be doing some looks that have never been done before. I can say for sure we'll be using a couple of key M.A.C products, including the Desire lipstick (a deep plum) and Blacktrack Fluidline liner on the eyes.

"We're very excited about this," she says. "Even though we have the experience of working big shows around the world, we really want to make San Francisco Fashion Week something people will talk about."