SEASON OF FRESH STARTS
It’s spring and a time of new beginnings and of letting go. That includes erasing the over-contoured face and overdone brows, and choosing a cleaner, fresher look. Opt for a glowing complexion but without the excess, says Julie Cusson, a makeup artist for Chanel. Writer Aleesha Harris introduces five looks for the spring /summer season.
Spring is the season for fresh starts. From quick closet cleanouts to full-on purges, it’s the season of letting go.
And, according to Julie Cusson, that fresh approach is also one we can expect to adopt for the season’s best beauty looks.
“The mood for spring/summer 2018 is freshness,” Cusson, a makeup artist for Chanel, says.
According to Cusson, it all starts with bidding adieu to the megawatt, insta-glam highlighting and overdone brows of recent seasons — as well as harsh contouring techniques. “The glowing complexion is an important key for this springsummer, but without any excess,” she advises. “Let go of the drastic contouring.”
While we won’t be turning away completely from highlighting products, the faux glow won’t be to the high-voltage extremes.
“What is important is to feel the skin by only correcting the imperfection and creating highlight,” Cusson says. “Bring lights in the inner corner (of the eye), on the upper cheekbones and on the bridge of the nose. Stay away from loose powder or any high-coverage product.
“The idea is to let the skin breathe and live by itself.”
The Chanel beauty pro says the toned-down approach will translate to a more lit-from-within appeal, rather than a spotlit glow. And, as one might expect, the secret key step is starting with good skin care.
While the end of the endless cold weather is undoubtedly something we will all celebrate, the shift to warmer temperatures can also wreak havoc on skin, revealing just how much damage the rollercoaster temperatures and unpredictable weather have caused.
“Cold, wind, winter season, pollution can irritate and damage the skin appearance,” Cusson says.
The beauty pro says one of the best times to fight back against concerns such as redness, dryness and dullness is when we’re asleep.
“During the night, it’s the period of time where the skin regenerates and recharges mostly,” she explains.
“So, using a sleeping mask can be miraculous: you wake up with fresh and radiant skin. Time is a luxury. A lightweight texture and a rapid skin absorption are essential.”
Cusson recommends applying a product that’s specifically marketed as an overnight mask, to allow skin to soak in the skin-softening goodness.
Back to the makeup side of the season — while we’ve already established that overdone brows are out, that doesn’t mean we can forget the face-framing features altogether.
“There is a difference between grooming your eyebrows and creating graphic-shaped eyebrows,” Cusson says. “Natural eyebrows are the look, but that doesn’t mean you don’t treat your brows.”
According to Cusson, the toneddown brow trend requires just a few steps to keep them looking refined.
“An eyebrow routine should be to first brush in an upper motion, fill in with a shade, and set them with a clear or coloured gel.”
Seems simple enough. So, if we’ve toned down the highlighting, contouring, and brows, which makeup element can we expect to see played with this warm-weather season?
According to Cusson, it’s not so much which feature we’ll be playing up, but rather how. It all comes down to one word: undone.
“I remember when I met Lucia Pica (Chanel global creative makeup and colour designer) for the second time last fall in Italy, she pointed out again that we should play with makeup and that the liberty with makeup is in imperfection ,” she recalls.
“I feel this is so true. We should remember with imperfection there is an attraction, a detail that can reveal beauty.
“This means you can adapt the liner trends by smudging the liner or applying eyeshadow under your eyes. This way, it can bring an elegant depth to the gaze.”
The return of overdrawn, or perfectly out-of-the-lines, lip colour paired with bold, black cat-eye looks are also back, Cusson says.
So, how do we wear it off the runways?
“The overdrawn or overflowing lips makeup trend can be uncomfortable or unimaginable to wear, but a great way to adapt this look is to sweep literally a blush powder onto the lips,” Cusson says.
“The blush creates a satiny texture. By sweeping the blush you bring colour onto the lips without emphasizing the overflow. I do this a lot on set. It’s one of my photo shoot tricks.”
JULIE’S FIVE MUST-HAVES
As a professional makeup artist, Cusson has virtually every product available at her fingertips. We asked her to pinpoint a few of her favourite beauty products that we all should consider adding to our kits this spring/summer. Here’s what she came up with:
The product: Hydra Beauty Masque de Nuit au Camelia Her take: “What is extraordinary about this sleeping mask is that you can apply it on your lips during the night as well.”
The product: Rouge Coco Stylo in 226 Calligraphie
Her take: “All ‘derive’ from pink for lips, light, medium, sheer opaque or even fuchsia, are key points for this season.”
The product: Palette Essentielle
Her take: “One black case with a corrector base, a highlighter and a blush colour that you can also use on lips. The three shades have a creamy texture, and are easy to apply.”
The product: Le Blanc Huile
Her take: “This extraordinary clear oil highlights, revitalizes, nourishes and preps skin naturally. The key product to use before you apply any corrector on your face.”
The product: Rouge Coco Lip Blush
Her take: “Sheerness is very important this season, and it’s exactly the texture of Rouge Coco Lip Blush —and the six different pigments are strong enough to perceive the richness of the colour.”