Morning everyone !
With Halloween being just around the corner, I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite beauty inspiration, dug up straight from the runway presentations I had the opportunity to preview during Fashion Week season. Finding THE perfect costume for the spooky holiday is only half the hassle and very often, a great makeup look can be an awesome addition to your disguise, making a huge difference in bringing your dream alter ego to life ;) Let's take a closer look at what our favourite designers and beauty partners had in mind for Spring-Summer 2016 and how you can easily take inspiration into each beauty look to create your ultimate, very own update of these #beautygoals…
1. The Superhero by Chanel
Blue-eyed superhero was the theme at Chanel, earlier this month, and couldn't be any easier to recreate on Saturday, using the brand’s beauty products or any other's. The beauty look consisted of prominent blue aviator-shaped eyeshadow, sheer foundation and a classic nude lip. So you opted for a Wonder Woman, Superwoman or even Cat Woman makeover this year ? Follow these three easy steps to achieve the ultimatly chic superhero beauty look:
1) Prep your skin using your favourite makeup smoothing base, sheer foundation, luminizing concealer and matte setting powder;
2) Create the eye-mask style look using a fairly high pigmented, sheer eyeshadow in a shade that compliments well you costume. Make sure to underline your bottom lash line with an iridescent version of your eyeshadow to brighten up your eyelook and define your lashes with mascara.
3) Balm up your lips for a fuller, smoother yet, natural pout !
Key products: VITALUMIERE AQUA Ultra-Light Skin Perfecting Makeup SPF15, LES BEIGES Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF15, LES 4 OMBRES Multi-effect Quadra Eyeshadow (Tissé Smoky, Tissé Jazz), LE VOLUME DE CHANEL mascara in "Blue Night", ROUGE COCO BAUME Hydrating Conditioning Lip Balm
2. Countess Dracula by Anthony Vaccarello
At Anthony Vaccarello SS16, international make-up artist Tom Pecheux stunned everyone backstage when he grabbed Lancôme's new L'ABSOLU ROUGE DÉFINITION matte lipstick for a last minute swipe of red on both the lips... And eyes of models ! As a brand, Anthony Vaccarello is undeniably sexy and an extra hint of colour, even clumsily daubed around the eye, definitely sets the tone for a bold new take on the classic smokey eye. For Halloween, paired with a dramatic, sultry, long black tunic, a very fair complexion and sleek, middle-parted straight hair, such an eye makeup look can easily be mistaken for bloodshot eyes à la Countess Dracula…
Key products: L'ABSOLU ROUGE DÉFINITION Matte Lipstick in "La Garance", ANTHONY VACCARELLO HYPNOSE Eyeshadow Palette in "The Golden Black"
3. Disco Fever by Diane Von Furstenberg
It's all about celebrating freedom, beauty and nature ! For DVF SS16, P&G Beauty Creative Director Pat McGrath nodded to high-spirited 70's nightlife with a thick rimming of aquamarine eyeshadow, painted around the top and bottom lashes and extended all the way above the crease of the eye. For extra dimension, a tight line of pearlescent blue was drawn along the top lash, which was finished with what McGrath called “tons” of mascara. To avoid it looking too tacky, McGrath added a spot of peach blush on fresh skin, highlighter along the cheekbones and a lick of lip balm. If for Halloween you went all-in for funky, boho or tropical flavours, the DVF beauty look is for you !
Editor's note: You can obtain much stronger, brighter colours by wetting the pigments before applying it onto your eyes, bottom lash line an crease.
Key products: EYE STUDIO COLOR PLUSH Silk Eyeshadow Palette in "Sapphire Siren", DREAM BOUNCY Blush in ''Peach Satin'', FACE STUDIO MASTER Hi-Light Boosting Blush in ''Light Bronze'', BABY LIPS CRYSTAL Moisturizing Balm
4. Wednesday Addams by DKYN
DKNY’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection pays homage to the modern 90's. To complement the pin stripes and menswear tailoring found throughout the garments, Maybelline artist Yadim set out to create a look that shows DKNY’s sensibility but with a modern twist. The whole thing turned out to be quite a nice grown-up update of a Wednesday Addams' genre; a flawless complexion, untamed brows and darker lips. At the show, some models sported Maybelline's "Cherry Cherry Bang Bang" lips while others saw themselves attributed a more subtle, spooky allure, sporting a "Perfect Plum" pout.
Here's my personal take on doing perfectly undone brows: after giving them the intensity and colour you like, brush them backwards, upwards and then, shape your arch to taste. Simple and easy !
Key products: DREAM LUMI TOUCH Highlighting Concealer, FACE STUDIO MASTER Contour Palette (available in January 2016), EYESTUDIO Brow Define & Fill in Pencil Duo, LIP STUDIO COLOR BLUR Lip Pencil in "Plume Please"
5. Baroque Princess by Dolce & Gabbana
The Braoque Princess (or really, any kind of High Royalty character!) is such a Halloween classic and of course, always trendy with me. It is definitely a go-to costume option as it can be appropriatly repurposed over and over again, from themed office parties, to maskerade balls, to family Halloween gathering, to treats giveaway on the 31st... The Dolce & Gabbana show of earlier this month showcased such gorgeous beauty looks that, surprinsgly, happen to be totally easy to recreate for a costumed event as well as for your everyday life ! It featured a beautiful lip and sexy feline flick, over the most spectacularly dewy complexion achieved by make up artist Pat McGrath, with the help of the House's beauty line.
If you feel like carrying out your own ode to Italy this year, use Dolce & Gabbana's The Eyeliner in Chocolate 10 to create the signature flick, with a line of Glam Liner in Earthy Brown 2 layered on top to intensify. On lips, of eight pink Dolce Matte Lipstick shades were used for each model depending on her skin tone. Simply head over to you closest Dolce & Gabbana beauty counter and ask for a colour match to find yours !
Key products: PERFECT LUMINOUS Liquid Foundation, THE EYELINER Crayon Intense in "Chocolate 10", THE GLAM LINER Waterproof Liquid Liner in "Earthy Brown 2", DOLCE MATTE Lipstick, THE NAIL LACQUER Intense Polish in "Bella 210"
The punk DIY aesthetic of the beauty looks at Haider Ackermann SS16 perfectly complemented the deconstructed tailoring of the designer’s collection, just as it would complement a messy, dirty, ripped apart walking dead attire ;) Models had relatively subtle make-up on, with lashes and brows bleached, and saw their hair styled into mohawks and stretched across their face as safety pins were carefully clipped-in at the roots of the hair to recreated that disjointed chucky doll look. To achieve such an intense yet, blend aesthetic, make-up artists Lynsey Alexander used some of MAC Cosmetics' most iconic products such as the Studio Face and Body Foundation, the strobing cream and neutral cream eyeshadows, which worked well together into bringing to life (pun intended!) an ethereal, monochromatic faces, sculpted and defined with matte and gloss textures.
Key products: M·A·C STUDIO Face and Body Foundation, M·A·C STUDIO White Face and Body and Silver Strobe Cream Shade Extension (available Spring/Summer 2016), PRO LONGWEAR Paint Pot Cream Shadow in "Groundwork"
7. Intergalactic Elegance by Maison Margiela
Androgyny ruled for Sping-Summer 2016 at Maison Margiela, with a crew of fresh faces embodying gender-fluid beauty with strong looks featuring silver eyebrows, Ziggy Stardust face paint and neo-kabuki make-up. Makeup artist Pat McGrath was, once again, responsible for the metallic number and put together, to Galliano's exhuberantly offbeat taste, a clean, elevated update of the martian girl beauty look which was huge at the beginning of the millennium !
Make sure to use a creamy or liquid eyeshadow formula, or to wet your dry silver pigments before applying it to avoid any types of fall-outs that might ruin your clean, fresh, fair complexion. For sharper edges, trace your eye-masks with a silver eyeliner pencil prior to filling in with silver eyeshadow. Peachy, natural lips are highly recommended with this look; remember, less is more ;)
Key products: DREAM LUMI TOUCH Highlighting Concealer, FACE STUDIO MASTER Hi-Light Boosting Blush in ''Light Bronze'', EYE STUDIO COLOR TATTOO Cream Gel Eyeshadow in "Silver Strike", BABY LIPS Moisturizing Balm in "Peach Kiss"
8. Eighties Punk Rock by Roberto Cavalli
The Punk Rock girl of the 80's is one of my favourite Halloween costume every year. It is such a timeless reference to a vibrant, fun, fearless era, where Fashion and beauty were experiencing a higher rise than ever before. It thought it was genius to bring the popular trend at Roberto Cavalli SS16 with tomboyish Eighties inspired deep side part and a tightlined eye. Traditionally, the make-up at Roberto Cavalli is a smoky eye, quick and easy, and of course, very Italian, no ? However for Spring-Summer 2016, the beauty looks were much more minimal with just a flush on the cheeks and several coats of mascara on the eyes, keeping the hair more chic and groomed than usual. A combo that was made to be rock'n'roll and that wasn't short on romance; again, how Italian !
Key products: PREP + PRIME BB Beauty Balm SPF 35, PRO LONGWEAR Blush, HAUTE & NAUGHTY TOO BLACK LASH Mascara, LIPGLASS CLEAR Lip Gloss
9. Greek Goddess by Rodarte
Last but not least, the Greek Goddess (can also be mistaken for the nymph or feeric creature!), the most ethereal of them all, if you want my opinion. Certainly a beauty look I'd sport for a wedding, gala, benefit event, family gathering and so on... And for Halloween, of course!, you can easily take inspiration from Rodarte's dewy glow and youthful, fresh colour based on the sunrise and horizon. Lead make-up artist James Kaliardos for NARS Cosmetics grounded the look with a deeply moisturized skin, using the brand's well renowned NARS SKIN Luminous Moisture Cream, tamed brows and a warmth of pink to the eyelids. NARS' DUAL-INTENSITY Blush in the shade "Craving" was used indeed on both the eyes and the cheeks of the models and to me, to do a little bit of colour pairing is the quintessentially cool beauty look for warmer days !
Key products: NARS SKIN Luminous Moisture Cream, VELVET MATTE Skin Tint (Available in Spring 2016), RADIANT CREAMY Concealer, DUAL-INTENSITY Blush in "Craving", VELVET MATTE Lip Pencil in "Belle de Jour"
