Each season, the runways are about much more than just clothes—they’re also a clear display of upcoming beauty trends, with the world’s top makeup artists working backstage to come up with the looks that will be big several months later. For this fall and winter the beauty spotlight is on one thing: clear, radiant, not-over-made-up skin.
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Face First
“I think we’re moving away from putting a lot of your skin and then all you see is foundation,” says makeup artist Lucia Pieroni, who created the beauty looks for Vera Wang’s show. “There are so many products out there that are light. Your skin can look amazing without using layers of foundation.”
Pieroni used several products from Cle de Peau Beaute on the models, including Refining Fluid Foundation. She skipped mascara and used a pale lip gloss to keep the look all about flawless, dewy skin.
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Bold Eyes
At many shows, that radiant skin was the counterpoint to one bold element, like a strong, black-outlined eye at Marc Jacobs, where Francois Nars used Black Moon eyeliner and Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara from his eponymous line. At Kimberly Ovitz’s show, makeup artist Gordon Espinet created a look that juxtaposed fresh looking skin with extreme, extra-bold eyebrows. “It’s about healthy, almost athletic skin and that cool brow,” he explained backstage as he was creating the look. “It’s about 90% beauty and 10% quirky. We wanted the girls really simple and beautiful, and then we added a wee bit of theater to it.”
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Berry Lips
At Christian Siriano’s show, a similar concept was used, with pale skin and pronounced, deep plum lips. “We’re keeping the skin very, very clean – nothing on it we don’t have to – and keeping the main focus on the lip,” says Polly Osmond, who created the look. To achieve similar results at home, it just takes a light tinted foundation (like Clarins Super Restorative Tinted Cream) and a rich dark purple lipstick, like Estee Lauder Pure Color Crystal Lipstick in Plum Fizz.