Makeup. Is there anything it can’t do? It can cover up that hideous cold sore we got after kissing that baldy guy, Sid, in Corfu, it can make us look terribly, terribly ill so we can go home early from work without having to perfect our sick voice and it can make you look gorgeous even if you’re in your gym kit pretending to work out, but actually just showing your instructor how cute you are. Yeah – makeup. It’s awesome.
So, how would you feel if I told you it’s time to shake up your look and try the new season’s trends (for a week, until you see photos and then decide to go back to the tried and tested look you’ve had since you were 15)?
One of my absolute favorite looks is back for Autumn/ Winter. Wine-stained lips. Actually, wine-stained lips makes it sound like the kind of clumsy lush makeup we accidentally sport on Wednesday nights after a nice dinner with friends that turned a bit too big for a Wednesday. I prefer the term “just bitten,” which makes it sound like you’ve just sunk your teeth into some hunky human. Basically, the look is: dark red on the very inside of your lips, and less red towards the outer, as seen at Bottega Veneta, Rochas and Gucci. Dark, dark red was favored, but if you prefer to keep it more playful, recreate that “I just drank nam daeng” look and work the style with popsicle pinks instead. Flawless skin (i.e. a butt-load of concealer) and a slick of mascara complete the look.
If you simply can’t be bothered to check for red teeth stains all night, there are plenty of eye trends to suit you too. For the steady of hand and the sober, winged eyeliner is back in the beauty mix, with Valentino showing the most seductive looks and Anna Sui favoring a fun, futuristic take on the trend. For the more laid-back *cough* lazy *cough* girl, there is the perennial favorite; smoky eyes, which is a great look to start with before you head off on a big night. It’s low-maintenance and, for a while, at least, it looks as though it’s supposed to be smeared across your face like that. We can thank Dior and Diane Von Furstenberg that we can still maintain the illusion of being fashionable even after six vodka sodas.
If you’re feeling a little more Nicki Minaj than all this, then fret not. Now is your time to shine, with blue lips (as seen at Jeremy Scott), frosted purple lips (Moschino Cheap & Chic) or blue mascara on bare eyes (Stella McCartney). Miss Minaj was also a direct influence for Prada’s platinum locks dip-dyed pink, which looked AWESOME.
But not all of us work in the media. I understand some people can’t rock up to work with pink hair. For you, fashion has bought back back-combing. Sorry. Yeah, Moschino, Vivienne Westwood Red Label and Mulberry all thought perhaps we want to spend hours teasing our hair into a disheveled mess, only to cry the next day when we can get a brush through it, even after three applications of conditioner.
