Bright Eyes

With Fashion Month (consecutive fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan, and Paris) wrapping up today in Paris, I am still digesting all of the collections for FW/12. Yes, it’s a beautiful spring day here in Toronto, but my mind is focused on structured outerwear and strategic layering. Well, it was…until I took a closer look at the makeup. While many of the collections feature the fall standard of colours – dark, rich hues like forest green, navy and royal purple – many designers opted for bright, highly saturated eye makeup, perfect for spring! The best part about this makeup is that while the bright colours may be intimidating it is relatively easy for you to try at home. I’ll walk you through it:

Ok, let’s start easy. Here is Stella McCartney‘s simple, but stunning electric blue mascara. I love this look, and have been known to wear blue mascara, but usually only in small doses. You can ease into this by adding blue to the tips on your lashes, on top of a black mascara base. Benefit Cosmetics used to make an amazing blue mascara in their BadGal Lash line, but apparently they discontinued the colour. Let’s hope this look encourages them to bring it back. In the meantime, try Femme Couture Lightening Lash in Electric Blue or DiorShow Mascara in Azure Blue.

In keeping with the blue theme, this is the look for Anna Sui. For a less dramatic effect, just use blue eyeliner in place of your everyday liner, and skip the dot on the bottom lash. If you’re adventurous though, this would be a great look for a night out, as long as you keep the rest of your makeup neutral.  Try NARS Eyeliner Stylo in Blue Bayou or Givenchy Parad’Eyes Fluid Eye Liner in Blue Lagoon.

The starting point for the makeup for 3.1 Phillip Lim was a Roy Lichtenstein photo, and NARS brand ambassador Francelle Daly played with the amount of red until she got it perfect. To pull this off at home, avoid the red below the bottom lash and try blending the gold tones and red on the upper lash. Try NARS Lipliner in Jungle Red (yes, you can use it on the eyes) and NARS Eyeliner Stylo in Nuits Blanches with NARS Duo Eyeshadow in Cordura stippled on top.

I love orange eyeshadow, so of course I love this look for Dries Van Noten. I used to wear MAC’s Powder Blush in Peaches on my eyes before orange shadow was readily available. Unfortunately, for this exact look, 2 discontinued shades of MAKE UP FOR EVER shadows were used. For an everyday look, I recommend staying well below the brow line, and using MAKE UP FOR EVER’s Eyeshadow in Pumpkin 50, Tangerine 18, or Rust Orange 36.

Ok, so maybe these jewel encrusted eyebrows for Chanel aren’t totally practical, but how badass do they look? I won’t be enlisting Lesage, the Paris-based embroidery atelier that hand crafted these brows (3 hours/pair X 40+ models!) for Karl Lagerfeld, but I may try adding some glitter to my arches, and when I do you’ll be the first to know!

Will you be trying any of these makeup trends? I would love to see it if you do!

(All photo’s courtesy Style.com)