The beauty launches of the future are often road-tested backstage. Here are a few things that we’ve spied in the experts’ kits, and when you can get your hands on them…
Regardless of fashion trends and what style of coat you’ll be wearing for AW, you can uncover ALL sorts of gems while poking about backstage, from the next hot food trend (coconut yogurt and kale chips practically debuted on the catwalks yonks ago) to which battery pack works best to keep your laptop/ mobile/ life on the move. Being particularly nosy about beauty for obvious reasons, and makeup in particular in my case, we’re always on the lookout for what’s in the pipeline product wise, and how makeup artists use the latest launches to spark new season trends. Here’s a handful of what we’ve glimpsed for the year to come so far...
Nars Orgasm Afterglow Lip Balm
The Nars Orgasm family is procreating once again- a lip balm will be born this summer. Makeup artist Francelle Daly paired the sheer, pinky, gold flecked balm with kohl rimmed eyes at 3.1 Philip Lim, and as with the rest of the Orgasm lineup, it would seem it works for everyone. For now the lightest dab of Orgasm Lipstick , £21, topped with chapstick, will have to suffice.
NARS at 3.1 Philip Lim
Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter, £30
Trust Charlotte to debut her new complexion booster in the most starry manner possible: during peak red carpet and catwalk season on some of the most famous faces on the globe. Flawless Filter launched yesterday, and got a first glowy outing on Sunday at both the Temperley show and the BAFTAS. At Temperley the vibe was luminous Hollywood skin, with burnt orange lips and bronze eyes to set off the ‘lit’ canvas, while at the BAFTAS Flawless Filter threw everyone from Salma Hayek to Annette Benning to Alice Temperley herself into soft focus. Curious? The highlighter was designed with screen time in mind, to make Charlotte’s high profile clients look as glossy and healthy as possible IRL, and the shade range customises a sheen for everyone skin tone- no alien-like strobing stripes here. Blend with primer or foundation or spot apply wherever you fancy bringing in some light.
Marc Jacobs Shameless Youthful Look 24 hour Foundation SPF 25, £32
From the off, I have reservations about the name of this new base. I’ve never felt ashamed to wear foundation, and in an enlightened climate of ageing to your own agenda rather than blanket ‘anti-ageing’, slapping ‘youthful look’ onto makeup as a selling point seems quite off. Fountains of foundation youth aside, apparently the shameless element is meant to imply a freedom to show your own skin rather than cloak it in heavy makeup. Hmm. Onto the base itself, it made its entrance at New York Fashion Week in a decent scope of 29 shades, is oil-free and ‘sets itself’ so doesn’t require powder, plus it caters to the needs of brides everywhere by way of an SPF formula that doesn’t trigger camera flashback. If you’ve ever looked ghostly in a photo wearing SPF 50, your sunscreen is likely to blame. Many bridal makeup artists steer away from SPF on the big day for this very reason, so a matte but not flat SPF enriched base that doesn’t go chalky in the present of a lens is a welcome launch indeed.
Suqqu Nude Wear Liquid Foundation, £46
Fashion month is clearly the season to roll out fresh foundations, and what better time to put new formulations to the test: hot lights, a circus of clothing changes, cramped makeup stations and long hours create ideal testing conditions for new bases. Suqqu are going big on complexion for the coming months, creating dewy skin at David Koma by way of the new Blooming Glow Primer and Nude Wear Liquid Foundation. Both boast skincare ingredients such as olive leaf extract and an amino acid complex, and apparently work to minimise the appearance of pores. We’ve not seen it with our own eyes, but Suqqu shade ranges aren’t famed for their diversity, so we wait in hope there but I’m not overly optimistic. Both will launch exclusively into Selfridges on 15th March.
NARS Climax Mascara
More sexually charged cosmetics are coming our way from François Nars later this year, with Climax Mascara arriving on the scene for autumn 2018. Intel is relatively thin at this stage, but it was coupled with new shimmering rose gold shadow also arriving in autumn at the Adeam show in New York. The mood was “effortless”, and from what we can tell the mascara looks on the au naturel side- more slick and groomed than va va voom. We’ll give you the full scoop as soon as we get it.
Little MAC makeup, from £12
What better time to debut a mini makeup collection than during the jetsetting season that is Fashion Month? Having a miniature Ruby Woo to hand couldn’t be more convenient when you’re squashed on a FROW and dashing between shows, and for us mere mortals, a tiny bullet of our hero lipstick (Little MAC is available in ten of MAC’S most popular shades) is seriously handy for weddings , gym bags or just those times when stretching to the full-size model is a bit much- each item of Little MAC is £12, and the pigment of the lipsticks and pigments is as strong as ever. The brand treated beauty editors to a Little MAC lipstick vending machine during London Fashion Week, and in our opinion it makes sense to supply the rest of the nation with such readily accessible face treats. For now, you can start your Little MAC family exclusively at Debenhams and via the MAC store online.
Nars Audacious Lip Palette
More Nars newness, this time a relative of the Audacious clan. This lip palette has been working overtime so far during fashion month, appearing on both cheeks and lips at Christopher Kane to create “wintry fresh skin” and on cheeks to chime with the nonchalant cool girl vibes at Adeam. The next Multiple? It’s clearly got multipurpose kudos, so watch this space.
Keep your eyes peeled here
MAC Trend Forecast Fall 18 Eye Palette in Caramelized
To continue the theme of palettes playing up every part of the face, this autumnal gilded eyeshadow selection was used on lips at Dion Lee in New York to create a glimmery 90s effect, with caramels and gentle golds also popping up at Prabal Gurung and Ralph Lauren. Salted caramel season sounds good by us.
Skincare in the makeup chair
Skincare is becoming as fundamental as makeup on backstage rotas, and for good reason- even model faces succumb to jet lag, dehydration and general exhaustion during the biannual four city fashion stampede. Famous facialist Caroline Hirons worked her magic backstage with Zelens at Emilia Wickstead, with a four step prep routine for each model including a generous misting of Zelens new Prebiotic & Probiotic Facial Mist , £48 to keep the skin barrier healthy and supple. At Henry Holland, makeup artist Zoe Taylor also harnessed the priming power of a mist, spritzing skin with Institut Esthederm Cellular Water Spray , £16, to refresh and cool stressed out skin before going back in pre catwalk to set makeup. The brand will launch a new mist formulation of the product in March, ready for all of your spring/ summer face cooling and base setting needs.
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