We're only into day two of Spring 2008 New York Fashion Week, but I'm already liking what I am seeing for Spring 08 beauty trends. As fast as the bold eyebrow trend swept in, it appears that it is just as quickly on its way out. Honestly? I couldn't be more thrilled. What seemed to be popular among designers and fashion magazines (as evidenced in their shows, in photo spreads and gracing red carpet celebrities) has not caught on with beauty addicts everywhere. I have yet to encounter anyone who embraced it wholeheartedly.

Softer, more natural looking eyebrows will be here for Spring 2008, once again bringing back natural beauty. Thanks to this great widget PopSugar created below, I can share Spring's fresh looks straight from the runway with you:

Facing the Fall 2008 Fashion Trends 

With the non-official summer fashion cut-off finally arriving yesterday, it’s time to update your makeup routine to correspond with the new fall trends.  Naturally, I like to think my fall fashion trend picks from our Fashion Rag are also all encompassing of the hottest makeup trends this fall so I went ahead and found the best beauty looks to go with each trend.

Goth Glam:  This is not the Goth of the 90’s, so please get the hope out of your head that your dark red lipped and raccoon eye lined ways were making a comeback.  Instead, the 2008 brand of Goth calls for a simple sweep of pewter shaded shadow, a clean black lash line and a plum matte lip.  I like Duwop Gray Eyes Shadow Kit (I also LOVE their Reverse Eye Liner that will compliment the clean eye desired for this look by preventing smudging and running of the eyeliner) and Urban Decay makes a terrific lipstick in Apocalypse.

American Classic: This trend beckons for a fresh face—the natural “all American beauty” if you will.  To follow the clean lines of these fall offering, stick to enhancing your own beauty with minimal color and lots of attention to a luminous complexion.  Choose from peach colored glossy lips, pale blush and a simple eye that plays up natural lashes.  Fresh makes a Twilight Freshface Glow primer that achieves the desired radiant skin and Benefit’s Posie Tint doubles as the perfect cheek and lip color.
SoHo Boho: Since the look is all chic hippiedom, make sure you add the appropriate amount of drama with a smudged black liner and a prominent brow. I recommend the Anastasia Go Brow for brow shading and highlighting.  Balance the look with a muted lip. The addition of a lightly applied jewel toned shadow, like Shu Uemura in Me Yellow adds some color to this otherwise bleak palette.


Future Femme: This is where we get to have a little more fun with the creative opportunities this trend makes available. The colors are unexpected, the liner is exaggerated (think a lighter version of Amy Winehouse’s trademark cat eyes) and the lip is dark.  For eyes, first pick a color you wouldn’t normally wear.  Mine will be the bright pink and green hues found in the Laura Gellar Baked Marble Eye Shadow in Starburst. The pop out colors of the Sugar Cosmetics Round The Clock Eye Shadow Palette in Punch Out, rivaling Crayola, are perfect for this look.


Overall, bright luminous complexions, dark lips and shimmering bright eyes seem to be the prominent palette for fall 2008.  If you ever feel stuck on which shades to choose for which trend, check out the name of the hues available.  Marketers (for the most part) name shades appropriately so you should be able to link the trend up accordingly (i.e. Apocalypse is the lip shade I found for Goth Glam).

While I’ve never been one to enforce the no white shoe after Labor Day law, I will make a conscious effort to gradually shift towards the darker hues that fall beseeches us to incorporate into our every day looks in the coming weeks.

 

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Pierce Mattie PR Account Director, Jenelle Forin, just got back from a quick trip to Paris for Thai Princess Sirvannavari Narirantana's Pret-a-porter show at Paris Fashion Week. Lead hairstylist for hairXpression by Balmain Paris (a Pierce Mattie PR client), Olivier de Vriendt, created a look that was perfectly matched to Princess Sirvannavari's balance of paying tribute to Thai cultural tradition with a look that is considered super hot on the runways of New York and LA. 

All of the models had duplicate styles with the help of hair pieces by hairXpression by Balmain Paris. For this hair style, the model's own hair was pulled back tightly and wrapped around the head; longer hair was combed upwards and pinned to the top into a sleek "helmet." On the crown a long hair piece was pinned so that it fell down over the forehead in the shape of a fringe.

Beyond the hair style itself, the amazing part was that the hairXpression team consisted of hair stylists from around the globe: France, the Netherlands, the Farao Islands, Russia, Germany and North America. All of them bringing their unique talents and expertise with them to create the essential look that would complete the beauty portion of Princess Sirvannavari's Pret-a-porter show.

Jenelle gives some backstage insight on our main blog, so click on over and check it out!

See all of our photos from backstage with hairXpression by Balmain Paris on our Flickr profile.

Copyright © 2008 Beauty Pro. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, on a site giving proper attribution back to our blog or directly on Beauty Pro, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is drawing to a close. The pre-Fashion Week parties began last Monday as fashionistas prepared for a month-long line up of parties in New York, London, Milan and Paris. For Fashion Week it’s essential to have the right outfit and along with the right outfit comes the right makeup. Here are some makeup trends that were popular at fashion parties this prior to the fashion week kick off:

Red Lipstick
This is a universal classic and has yet to go out of style. Heidi Klum was seen numerous times throughout this week sporting this look. When wearing red lipstick, make sure to go light on the eyes and blush, to risk not looking clownish. When re-creating this look keep in mind your complexion. If your complexion is pink, a more plum shade of red looks great. Yellow tones look great with warmer reds that have a brown base to them. Some favorite lipsticks are: Clinique High Impact Lip Colour, Christian Dior’s Rough Dior Lipcolor, Chanel Super Hydrabase Lipstick Cashmere and Yves Saint Laurent Radiant Touch.

New York Fashion Week has ended, leaving us with a multitude of new trends to piece together. This fashion week, some trends, like dramatic, gothic lips, seemed to reflect the times. Maybe it was due to economic issues in the fashion industry, prohibiting some designers from hosting runway shows. Designers like Doo.Ri and Betsey Johnson sent their models down the runway (or took their pictures in a showroom) in graphite and blackberry-colored lips. I know it was fall fashion week, but depressed anyone?

These colors capture the drama of the runway where anything goes, but can lips this dark really be called ready-to-wear? Few would dare. So, how can you wear dark lipstick in the real world?

Fashion week is over and the catwalk shows are always a good indication for next season's makeup trends. This summer's trends will bring softness and freshness to your look. This summer is all about strong eyes, colorful hues and pink flushed cheeks to make you look radiant all summer.

Eyes: Runway looks this past fashion week showed fun colors to experiment with such as lilac, or aqua (which Gucci sported this past fashion week), and also try some blue-rock glam that we saw at Alexander Herchocovitch. Use your imagination and combine pastel and bright colors to bring lots of personality to your look. Eyes are a big focus for this summer; wearing reds, oranges, purple, greens, bright blues and yellows to really stand out. Oranges and yellows are a little hard to pull off, but if you are a darker complexion these colors will complement you.

So many brands offer these shades, one of my favorite being MAC Cosmetics since their colors are so bold and offers such a variety of colors. Also, add some gold shimmer to your eyes to achieve a goddess feel, if you feel like it is too glitzy you should highlight the inner corners of your eyes with gold shimmer to create a subtle effect. Gold-based eye shadow is a great way to brighten up brown and hazel-colored eyes, but can also warm up other eye colors and different skin tones. A great product for this is Chanel's Fluid Iridescent Eye shadow in gold).

Next up is to store away your harsh black liquid liner, and replace it with violet eyeliner to create a softer eye that compliments every skin tone. Smokey eyes are still in, however such a dark tone is not necessary for the summer; so try to soften it up with light grays, blues, and purples to cater to the summer look.

This Paris Fashion Week, the accessory aspects of the shows, including hair and makeup were, defined ready-to-wear. Maybe this was to offset the truly not-ready-to-wearness of many of the clothes.

According to the designers from Paris Fashion Week, you have two hairstyle options for fall and they are polar opposites. Although there were some different styles displayed on the runway, there seemed to be competition going between two: super-slick updos and natural, flowy hair. While flipping through pictures of Fashion Week, almost every show featured these two styles. It was like the hair gods commissioned it. Seriously though, what I like is the simplicity of these hairstyles. They are uncomplicated and pretty ways for us common folk to wear our hair. So, will these trends be reflected off the runway?

This Paris Fashion Week, the accessory aspects of the shows, including hair and makeup were, defined ready-to-wear. Maybe this was to offset the truly not-ready-to-wearness of many of the clothes.

According to the designers from Paris Fashion Week, you have two hairstyle options for fall and they are polar opposites. Although there were some different styles displayed on the runway, there seemed to be competition going between two: super-slick updos and natural, flowy hair. While flipping through pictures of Fashion Week, almost every show featured these two styles. It was like the hair gods commissioned it. Seriously though, what I like is the simplicity of these hairstyles. They are uncomplicated and pretty ways for us common folk to wear our hair. So, will these trends be reflected off the runway?

Throughout history, a pale face has been most desired because it meant one was of high social status. Although tan skin is perceived as beautiful in modern times, pale skin has been traditional for centuries. John Galliano, Dior, and Viktor and Rolf's fall 2009 collections channelled historical perceptions of beauty through their runway makeup. So, what was behind the theatrical makeup at Paris Fashion Week?

butter LONDON participated in one of the most anticipated shows during New York Fashion Week for Fall 2009: Budding designer and CFDA Awards winner Alexander Wang. I was backstage coordinating interviews for Nonie Creme, Creative Director at butter LONDON and was able to watch the team in action as they worked on the model's nails.

What an awesome 2 weeks!  butter LONDON’s creative director Nonie Crème used her expertise and predicted the hottest nail colours for Spring/Summer 2010.  We once again created a custom colour for Vena Cava’s presentation – a shade we are calling Corporate Blue (a nod to its beginnings as a Stapler’s flier – read more). They sent this over to Nonie and voila, Nonie created the perfect blue shade – not too bright, not too dark, the perfect cobalt blue.

 

After a beautiful coat of Pillar Box Red (coral/red) at the Jenni Kayne show, we headed off to Alexander Wang where Nonie painted the models nails with a mix of Cream Tea and Nail Foundation.  This gave the nails a “frosted glass” look.  (see pics) 

At PHI, it was all about the girl – clean, tidy, minimal nails.

Then came Betsey Johnson.  After all of the nude and subdued colors, it was time to rock out.  Betsey’s models were given the rockstar treatment with either a base coat of Branwen’s Feather (deep plum) with a topcoat of pink glitter (Rosie Lee) or, a basecoat of Thames (emerald green) with a topcoat of green glitter (Henley Regatta).  During the presentation, the nails glittered in the lights and camera flashes – very kick ass, just like Betsey herself.

What an awesome 2 weeks! butter LONDON’s creative director Nonie Crème used her expertise and predicted the hottest nail colours for Spring/Summer 2010. We once again created a custom colour for Vena Cava’s presentation – a shade we are calling Corporate Blue (a nod to its beginnings as a Stapler’s flier – read more at Style.com.) They sent this over to Nonie and voila, Nonie created the perfect blue shade – not too bright, not too dark, the perfect cobalt blue.

 

After a beautiful coat of Pillar Box Red (coral/red) at the Jenni Kayne show, we headed off to Alexander Wang where Nonie painted the models nails with a mix of Cream Tea and Nail Foundation. This gave the nails a “frosted glass” look. (see pics at beauty.com)

At Phi, it was all about the girl – clean, tidy, minimal nails.

Then came Betsey Johnson. After all of the nude and subdued colors, it was time to rock out. Betsey’s models were given the rockstar treatment with either a base coat of Branwen’s Feather (deep plum) with a topcoat of pink glitter (Rosie Lee) or, a basecoat of Thames (emerald green) with a topcoat of green glitter (Henley Regatta). During the presentation, the nails glittered in the lights and camera flashes – very kick ass, just like Betsey herself.

Last, but certainly not least, came the Calvin Klein show. The look was all about the tidy, luxuriousness of a perfectly manicured hand/foot over specific colour choices. Nails and toenails were clipped as short as possible, with only a tiny sliver of white on show. Cuticles were meticulously pushed and tidied, and skin was moisturized and rubbed to increase blood flow and give a healthy pink glow. Nails were left unpainted, while toes had a custom mix of half a bottle of Cream Tea plus half a bottle of Horse Power Nail Fertilizer, which gave a soft, milky sheen to the natural nail look.

All in all, an amazing Fashion Week with butter LONDON – let’s face it, it was all about the nails this season.

NARS Cosmetics continues to be a leader in makeup application with its latest project: "Runway, Real Way, NARS Way." The series of three videos illustrates how women can achieve the NARS look, straight off the runways of Fall/Winter 2010 New York Fashion Week.

NARS makeup artists Jenny Smith, Uzo and Jane Richardson outline the three key steps for recreating the makeup looks from top designers’ fashion shows for which NARS created the look: 3.1 phillip lim, Marc Jacobs and Thakoon, respectively. Each video, filmed backstage at New York Fashion Week, features a wearable take on the stylized NARS runway look that will be easy for women everywhere to recreate.

Always a proponent of real beauty, the models featured in the videos are women from the NARS Marketing department.

The NARS videos include the following looks, steps and products:

3.1 phillip lim:

1. Highlight and Blend – Luxor Multiple, Riviera Multiple
2. Set The Eyes – Nymphea Single Eyeshadow
3. Define The Eyes – London Eyeliner Pencil, Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara

Marc Jacobs:

1. Satin Complexion – Sheer Glow Foundation
2. Define Eye – Tokyo Duo Eyeshadow, Aigle Noir Soft Touch Shadow Pencil, Larger Than Life Lengthening Mascara
3. Coral Lip – Barbarella Lipstick

Thakoon:

1. Illuminate – Orgasm Illuminator
2. Contoured Cheeks – Lovejoy Blush
3. Subtle Smokey Eye and Nude Lip – Bali Single Eyeshadow, Cruising Lipstick

Fashion Week has always set the trends for the following season, but one beauty trend that seems to have stuck for about 3 years now is the moon manicure. We first saw it in reverse with Thakoon in 2008, only to have variations follow over the years from Ruffian and Dior and continued to see it throughout last year with designers like Vena Cava. It seems every designer was showcasing a moon manicure as their nail look (almost as an accessory in and of itself.) So has the fevor died down? Absolutely not! Although, just for the record, this look is not new--it's actually a pretty vintage look stemming from the 1920's.

What I love is that designers are allowing nail art to be more art than solid nail color at their shows. As someone who is more excited by the hair, makeup and nail trends that occur during fashion week than the actual fashion, this is a welcomed change! 

There are some great tutorials on how to achieve the moon manicure look such as a video tutorial on BellaSugar or the step by step guide on Jezebel, and my favorite of course being from Michelle of All Lacquered Up with some amazing pictures in her how-to guide.

What do you think of this nail trend? Tweet us @PierceMattiePR.