If you're not incorporating blue into your beauty regime yet, you will be by summer. Susannah Taylor explains why blue denim is not just the colour for trousers, but also the new everyday shade for your lids, nails and even hair
I got the blues. I don’t mean the beginning-of-February-blues where everything is grim and grey outside, all and sundry are ill with God-knows-what and leaves on trees or flowers feel like a distant memory. Nope, I've actually got a happier kind of blues - I have a new found passion for aqua coloured eyeliner.
If you're not into hues of blue yet, believe me you will be come the summer months. Terry Barber, Head of Makeup artistry at Mac cosmetics thinks it's such a big trend that he describes blue as ‘The new neutral - to be treated in the same way you would a black or a nude makeup shade.' Indeed to wear blue eye makeup certainly seems like a fresher, more upbeat, more interesting version of an everyday grey, black or brown smokey eye. If the popularity of our Mary Greenwell tutorial on How to do the Blue Smokey Eye is anything to go by, it also looks set to be a winner.
So how should I wear denim makeup now?
Pick your blue hue
There are no rules as to which blue you should wear. Every colour of the spectrum, from turquoise, to teal, cobalt, denim and indigo and violet were all seen on the Spring/Summer catwalks.
Perfect your technique
There's no one way to apply blue eye makeup (at the shows we saw blue lashes, liner and all types of eyeshadow and paint) however there are a few techniques that makeup artists used that will guarantee a modern look. The first was seen at Jonathan Saunders, where makeup artist Lucia Pierioni used a Studio Chromagraphic pencil in Marine Ultra, £14 , to rim the upper and lower lids to create a ‘Sensual, slightly punk 90s girl.’
Then there were the beautiful aqua coloured lids at Diane Von Furstenberg, where punchy pastel blues covered and blended into the entire lid area (seen here) for a futuristic, fresh effect. Meanwhile over at Missoni, Lucia Pierioni also used blue to create a Pop Arty, ‘gorgeous, sporty, tribal’ look, using her ring finger to apply Mac Pro’s Chromacake in Hi-def Cyan and Marine Ultra .
Choose the right canvas
The key to keeping blue makeup modern is also about the base surrounding it - your look is guaranteed to turn into an awful 80s spin off if you apply a thick powdered base with highly sculpted cheekbones and frosted lipstick. To keep the look well into 2016 make sure you keep your base sheer and light and the rest of your makeup pared back.
And finally…
Blue hues are not just restricted to the face for 2016, with international hair colourist Jack Howard of the Paul Edmonds salon predicting that the next strong hair colour trend for 2016 will be denim too. Reporting in trend report Stylus, he says the colours range 'from deep indigo tones to a more acid washed feel’. Unlike the blue rinses of old, the look is edgy, daring and pure rock chick royalty.
Blue hues we love....
Clinique's Chubby Lash Fattening Mascara in Two Ton Teal, £17.50 which is available nationwide but limited editoin and selling out fast
Pixi's Endless Silky Eye Pen in Cobalt Blue, £12
Bourjois Smokey Stories Quad Eyeshadow Palette in Blue Denim, £7.99
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