Facing up to this season's trends

Feature writer/fashion columnist

Saturday 22 September 2012

Autumn/winter 2012: new season, new trends, new beauty rules.

MAC at Zac Posen

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What nail colour will be out and what lipstick will be in? Will there be a trend for flawless-looking skin, or bright rosy cheeks?

Make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury, who worked on catwalk shows such as Chloe, Nicole Farhi and Donna Karan, described her favourite look of the season as "beautified grunge". Tilbury, known for her talent for creating trends that women want to wear (as opposed to those glitter-studded catwalk looks that will never see the light of day), gave us models who looked beautiful but with a tougher edge.

This play on the masculine-feminine divide became a key aspect of the autumn look. Simply prepared skin, with minimal foundation and only a hint of powder, was topped with contouring blushers in autumn hues. Bronze, brown and burnt oranges were in, where rosy and pink hues were out. Eyeshadow was kept to a minimum (more pale bronze colours, or in many cases nothing), while brows and lashes were made to look strong. This look, perfect for day time, was topped off with an orange-red lip. According to Tilbury "it's just about a touch of colour, not a full face of it". For those who like to make more of an impact there are a couple of more out-there looks. Disco-eyes, otherwise referred to as "bright eyes", or "vivid colours", were another stand-out trend. Think Donna Summer in her 70s heyday wearing a paintbox of colour on her eyes. Models at the Zac Posen show wore highly-pigmented, shimmering bright colour on their eyes. Sea blues and grass greens were mixed, as were sparkling whites and glittering reds. Vivienne Westwood's Red Label took the disco theme one step further and painted glimmering colour, in a spray paint effect, all over models' faces. It was a look not for the faint hearted. That said a bit of disco glimmer on the eyes wouldn't go amiss come the party season. While minimal colour and masculine looks, a la Tilbury, sound ever so sophisticated, they're probably not quite as fun as sparkling eye make-up. If sparkle isn't your thing but making a statement is, there is another key trend. "Tough Love", as Mac make-up artists called it, focused on big, bold kohl-rimmed eyes and accentuated, fluffed-up brows. A little bit grungy and a lot sexy, this was the beauty look on the cool catwalks including Acne, Alexander Wang, Gareth Pugh and Proenza Schouler. To recreate this cool-girl chic you'll need: a crate of black kohl eye pencils, a similar amount of brow shaders and a wand of bold mascara. If you get your hands on jet black eyeshadow, even better.

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Facing up to this season's trends

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