Guide To The Season: Beauty Notes
We show-hopped through LFW spotting the hottest hair trends and make-up looks. Want to stay way ahead of the fashion pack? Start swatting up for Spring/Summer 2012 NOW.
We went backstage at some of the biggest shows of the season, spotting trends as they happened and finding out how to recreate the hottest catwalk trends at home. Stay ahead of the pack and swat up on these future trends now...
Go RunwayBEAUTY TREND: Shine On
Spring skin is all about high shine and statement highlighting. Countless shows made radiant skin the centre of their beauty look. Shining cheekbones and brow bones are where the look is at: or even a glossy shadow (several make-up looks used lip gloss on the eyes) as seen at Felder Felder.
M.A.C key artist at the Sass & Bide show told us: “It’s all about pushing the highlights even more, even using metallics, a little bit David Bowie-esque”.
The key product for this look: M.A.C Metal X Cream
Go RunwayDewy super-smooth skin was the base of the beauty look at Mary Katranzou. So we must have perfect skin by spring: time for a facial!
Go RunwayImagine that super-fresh-faced look you have straight after a swim or a facial: this is the look you’re aiming for. Team with a statement pink lip like the models at Nicole Farhi.
Go RunwayPractically make-up free skin let standout hair do the talking at Topshop Unique.
We saw the look in action backstage at Henry Holland. M.A.C key artist Lucia Pica told us: “We used a product called Shine Mix in Medium, all over the face, to create a morning after the club look to the skin...”
“...We applied mascara on the top but then took off the edges and nothing on the lips. The inspiration behind the look came from the skinhead girls from This Is England.”
We met M.A.C senior artist Debbie Finnegan backstage at the show who told us there was: "A little bit of a punk element, the skin was really raw. You got the look of this girl who had been to some amazing punk gig and rocked out until seven in the morning.”
Read Debbie’s backstage blog from the show
Go RunwayBEAUTY TREND: Bold Brows
There was something going on with the brows at this season’s shows. Stop plucking immediately, and let your natural bold brow shape show through. We spotted this look at Burberry.
Go RunwayUse soft shadow and a light eyebrow pencil to add depth to your brows. Never use a shade too dark, or they’ll look unnatural.
We went backstage at Sass & Bide, where brows were the centre of attention. M.A.C key artist Terry Barber told us the centre of the look was: “A stretched out eyebrow and a really corseted cheek. It’s quite architectural but just with highlighting rather than shading”.
Go RunwayThe models' brows were darkened for a high fashion finish at Roksanda Ilincic.
Go RunwayBEAUTY TREND: Colour
Spring wouldn’t be spring without a few pops of bright bold colour. And we weren’t let down at this year’s shows. Hints of neon shadow on the upper lid made a statement at Kinder Aggugini.
Vivienne Westwood label was all about high-intensity colour. We met M.A.C key artist Alex Box backstage, who told us: “We created a really structured face and then airbrushed the colour on with our brushes so it’s this amazing surge of colour...”
“...So they’re neon nymphs, with this amazing kind of under-painting where you build the structure underneath and then put the colour over the top. They’ve got this ethereal sheen that runs through it.”
Backstage at standout show Erdem, the make-up look was all about polished skin and picture-perfect red lips. M.A.C key artist Andrew Gallimore told us: “It’s like a blurry, stained, velvet rose petal lip. The pigment sits on top giving a chalky glow. It’s inspired by the movie In The Mood For Love”.
Go RunwayThe soft focus, blurry lip line was matted down with M.A.C Prep & Prime Loose Powder and brightened back up with M.A.C Pigment in Basic Red. Andrew told us: “Eyebrows we’re beefing up and making them a bit more boyish. Tinted brow set and a little bit of mascara so they’re really pretty.”
Go RunwayWhy not opt for a thick line of neon liner above each eye, as seen at Mary Katranzou...
Go Runway...Or perhaps a statement blue lip colour?
Go RunwayMeadham Kirchhoff’s show was all about pastel brights: primary yellow painted brows and smudgy aqua shadow were the tip of the iceberg.
Go RunwayWe caught up with M.A.C key artist Mel Arter backstage at David Koma, where pops of aqua colour were used on the eyes. Mel told us: “They’ve been manufactured to be in a futuristic tribe. We were thinking about materials like glass & Perspex. Almost super-human, like frozen bodies in time.”
Mel continued: “We covered the whole of the eye in M.A.C Lip Glass, taken right through up into the brow. We’ve placed a tiny bit of blue reflective glitter in and around the top lash line and just to bring a bit of colour we’ve used High Definition Cyan Chromagraphic Pencil in the inner corner of the eye.”
BEAUTY TREND: Statement nails
The Nail Rock super-cute nails at Meadham Kirchhoff got everyone excited. But don’t hold your breath – they won’t be available to the public. Boo.
These powder pink printed nails were created by Marian Newman at David Koma, using a clear acrylic nail sandwiched between two Minx nail wraps. Unashamedly high-maintenance beauty.
Go RunwayHAIR TREND: Ponytails
Autumn/winter’s biggest hair trend, the ponytail, lives on for another season. Temperley’s girls wore simple scraped-back ponytails to show off their crystal-clear glowing skin.
Go RunwaySide-parted low ponytails were the pick of the season at Todd Lynn.
We met ghd creative director Kenna backstage at Sass & Bide, where the ponytail got a new season makeover. He told us: “There’s a lot of positive and negative spaces in between the skin and the panelling of the clothes, a lot like tribal tattoos. We tried to reflect that in the hair.
“We start off with sectioning off the hair into eight sections and spraying hairspray directly onto the roots to get this beautiful glass effect and then pull the hair into baby ponytails which are bound with elastic. The shape on the head is completely symmetrical.”
“Once the sections are bound, we then connect them into the centre. We end up with this really modern, futuristic, tribal girl. We kept the hair at the back really straight using the Gold Series Max Styler to really smooth the hair down.” Kenna for ghd
GoRunwayAt the Jonathan Saunders show we spotted laid-back side-parted ponytails: “The inspiration for the collection was 1950’s Miami girls, so I wanted the hair look to be in keeping by creating this really buttoned up, slightly austere side parted pony tail. But to give it a more modern twist and keep the girls looking young and fresh we decided to make a feature of flyaways.” - Fekkai Lead Stylist Paul Hanlon
Go RunwayHAIR TREND: Statement Style
From gold-leafed hair at Topshop Unique (pictured) to corn-rowed locks at Sass & Bide, making a style statement with your hair is big news for spring
Go RunwayGold paint wasn’t the only statement look on show: the models at Meadham Kirchhoff had huge back-combed wigs, splattered with pastel paint.
Go RunwayThe Emilio de la Morena girls rocked an unconventional double-bun with a high ballerina knot and another at the centre of the back of the head. This look will work well if you’ve got too much hair for one neat and tidy bun.
We went backstage at Sass & Bide, where statement hair was the order of the day.
Australian ghd representative Renya told us: “It’s a beautiful corn-row with basket-weaving and quite masculine around the front of the hair...”
“We’re parting the hair in the middle and making it quite strong because the make-up is all about the brow and the back is all about the texture of the hair. The key product for this look is the ghd Straight and Smooth.”
We asked Renya: how will the look translate come spring?
“Easy. A bun with a bit of cornrow. A bit of theatre going on in the back, but not too showy in the front.”
Go RunwayHAIR TREND: Braids
If corn-rows aren’t your thing, you can still get involved in the braiding trend. We spotted this simple side plait at Ashish.
We also saw these mega-braids on the catwalk at Vivienne Westwood. Long live bedhead hair: finally a trend we can work in our sleep!
Go RunwayDanielle Scutt’s models walked the catwalk with tightly braided French plaits. We adore this neat and tidy style. Perfect when you really mean business.
