THE EYES HAVE IT
Yellow eyeliner and blue mascara can be wearable. KATIE WRIGHT reveals how to make the ‘bad taste’ beauty trend work in real life
IF RED lippy is about as bright as your make-up usually gets, prepare to shake things up, because backstage at the autumn/winter shows there was an absolute explosion of colour – and it was all about the eyes.
From electric blue and hazmat orange liner to scarlet eyeshadow and mascara in shades we didn’t even know existed, these were seriously bold looks.
“The existence of colour on the face now isn’t about co-ordination or it ‘matching’ the clothes,” says MAC make-up artist Terry Barber.
“It just works as a detail in itself... and is a make-up choice that’s very knowing, in the sense that it’s purposefully a bit ‘wrong’, but not weird. The new way to wear colour is borderline bad taste, but it still looks beautiful.”
So how do you take these crazy catwalk creations and make them tasteful?
The key is taking saturated hues and applying them in a more subtle way, so that you get all the colour payoff and none of the weirdness.
Here’s how to make three colourful catwalk-inspired looks work for you...
1 HOT LINES
“CLEAN, simple, wearable” is how MAC make-up artist Lucy Bridge described the look at Eudon Choi.
We’re not sure that thick yellow and red rings of eyeliner count as wearable
in our book, but the colours sure are beautiful.
There were also creamy,
saturated liner looks at Kenzo (bright yellow), Dior (deep red) and Palmer Harding (electric blue) as well.
Tone down this out-there look by applying a highly pigmented cream eyeliner right on the lash line in a neat, sharp flick rather than a thick floating line.
On the catwalks, models’ lashes were left bare, but complementing your bright liner with lots of black mascara helps diffuse the colour slightly.
2 LASH CLASH
AT DRIES VAN NOTEN, make-up artist Peter Phillips gave models huge false eyelashes in no less than eight different colours, including neon yellow, dark green, violet and brick red.
Coloured mascara has been having a renaissance lately (yet another Nineties throwback) so you have a whole rainbow of options, but for beginners royal blue and forest green are your best bet.
Keep the rest of your eye make-up neutral and let your lashes do the talking.
3 CLOUD COLOUR
IT WAS all about Eighties inspiration at the Lulu Guinness and Ashley Williams shows, where pinky-red powder acted as both blusher and eyeshadow, buffed from the eyelids to the cheeks.
If you’re used to pale peach blusher this look might be a bit scary, and if you’ve got red undertones in your skin it’s best avoided, but a red-toned smoky can be really flattering.
Experiment with a palette, starting with lighter shades and building up to brick red or burgundy on the outer corner of your eye.
Again, on the catwalks this was a bare lashes look but a couple of coats of your favourite black mascara will add definition.