Play with the season's makeup personalities
The new season is in full swing. Here’s another excuse to dash to the nearest stores and check out the latest arrivals. What’s the quickest way to be season ready? What’s the easiest way to update your look? Makeup is the answer.
This season, there are so many characters we can play with. You can be ladylike cool one day, boho-grunge on another and glam vamp the next with just a slight shift in lipstick or eye color. Pick your role. It’s fun! It’s the recession-free way to look up-to-date.
• Start with beautiful skin. Start with a clear canvas like an artist before his painting. Invest in your skin. It rules this season and why not make it rule all-year-round? I cannot stress enough that consistency is key. No matter how expensive your skin care line is, it is useless without it. It is the best-kept secret to beauty, more than any specific product. Create a routine that best suits your lifestyle and stick to it! Healthy, glowing and sculpted faces dominate the runways. It’s all about natural, glowing cheekbones, plump lips and shimmering eyelids. The palette is neutral with honey, caramel, toffee and cream.
“Skin should look like skin,” stresses makeup artist Bobbi Brown. I want to share with you what she wants every woman to know in the latest Elle Beauty Insider. “Use a color corrector under concealer. The corrector will get rid of darkness and counteract green or purple shadows, and then concealer lightens the area so it blends into your skin,” Brown says. “For medium skin tones all the way to darker black, you’ll need a peach tone corrector, and if you’re paler, you’ll want to go for a pink or bisque,” she adds. “When you find the right combination, it’s magic,” Brown emphasizes. “Also, don’t just use it under the eye, dab it at the top of your nose by the eye socket. When you lighten that up, it really opens up the eye,” describes Brown. To pick the right shade of foundation, Brown says to test it on both your forehead and the side of your cheek. “If it disappears, it’s right.”
• Natural will always be beautiful. But don’t be deceived. Natural doesn’t mean no makeup. Choose from shades of taupe, pink, champagne and peach on eyes, cheeks and lips with a hint of sheen. The non-makeup look complements the season’s sophisticated lady as seen at Prada, Emilio Pucci, Victor and Rolf, Fendi and Verace. Feminine glam is all about flawless complexion, gleaming cheeks and delicate lips. Eyebrows are sculpted by meticulously feathering out the arches as seen in Prada and Dior by iconic makeup artist Pat McGrath, while Charlotte Tilbury went for naturally shaping brows using matching brow pencil to fill in sparse hairs and contouring cheeks and temples with a shade darker than the models’ skin tones at Chloé. Highlight eyes with Laura Mercier’s new Full Blown Volume Building mascara that makes lashes thick and luscious. At François Nars, create subtle radiance on lips with Pure Sheer SPF Lip treatment. It nourishes and tints the lips. It the perfect tool for the season’s barely-there look.
• Lips also take center stage. The new dark lips also made a statement. Makeup artists experimented on lips this time after concentrating on smoky eyes for many seasons. It’s about deeper and moody shades in reference to gothic style. But this season it is only about emphasized lips while the face is kept neutral. Choose from wine shades, blackcurrant and plum as seen on the runways of Missoni, Dior, Antonio Berardi and Proenza Schouler. For François Nars’ latest collection, heiress and style icon Daphne Guiness’ lips are stained with Rouge Basque lipstick and highlighted with Scandal lip gloss for ultimate shine and fullness Another option is the red lip, but this season, pick a blue-based red instead of warm tones that denote summer. Go for cool crimsons. Keep the finish less-than-perfect. To give it staying power, dab concealer on the outline of your lips. After applying color, blot lips with a thin layer of tissue and go the further step of brushing loose powder over it. Highlight your cupid’s bow with the same shade of lipliner. Then blend with your fingertip or brush. Try high-gloss red lips like the models of Karl Lagerfeld and Donna Karan. Top off with a gloss as Tilbury did for Donna Karan’s bold shiny lips. Lips also have the starring role at Clarins with the new Rouge Prodige collection — long hold lipstick with intense colors.
• Smoky isn’t only for black. Blues, browns, greens and purples work great, too. Take a cue from Pat McGrath at Roberto Cavalli where brown liner was topped with deep-burgundy shadow for a bold statement. She also created the smoldering eyes at Lanvin. Eyes are dramatic, too, at Nars in intense violet named after Nars’ muse, Daphne. Strong eyes or bold lips look great for the boho-chic, rock flair or glam vamp looks of the season.
Jumpstart the season with the many possible makeup personalities. Have fun with the latest makeup trends. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Just remember that makeup is about complementing your outfit.
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Send queries and suggestions to jo@joyceroena.com or follow me on twitter.com/joyceorena.
