Colour craze

Chanel, supplied for Viva Beauty. Photo / Supplied

Checking out a fashion range is disorienting, there's all the floaty summer things to see just as you're getting used to snuggling into your winter wardrobe; but talk to the designers and you'll find they're already thinking a season ahead again.

Beauty feels like that at the moment - normally it's not quite so out of sync: summer brings forth sunny shades, Christmas sparkly gift sets, but now in the depths of winter, department store and pharmacy counters are rolling out new shades as you'd expect in anticipation of spring, but, also coming at us with darker ranges. Nude pink or bruised purple, raspberry or plum, what is it we're actually being enticed to wear?

Luckily there's enough colour continuity there that you can take your pick from lightening and brightening up with true spring colours or going several shades more intense with the collections of some of the premier European beauty houses for northern hemisphere autumn 09.

These are debuting in store over the next few weeks too, so consumers can buy the ranges they see currently featured in overseas glossies.

The new darker makeup shades will figure on the runways at Air New Zealand Fashion Week in September to complement local designers' 2010 winter ranges, says main backstage beauty company M.A.C. Try them early to bring some oomph to your current look. Or pick the stronger shades from the spring ranges (rather than the softest tones) to banish dullness from these dreary winter days.

In either case, what all the new season looks have in common is a depth of pigment we're not used to seeing. But this doesn't add up to clown-like colour, because a richer lip or a more defined eye is these days counterbalanced by the quest for clarity of complexion and artful application. Modernising your makeup can be as simple as trying a new stronger lip shade, a flush of creamy colour on the cheek or a vibrant eyeliner. If colour on your face feels foreign, then play it up on tidy, short nails, where darks, berries, blues and silver greys are all still figuring strongly along with near-nude tones. Come high summer expect a bit of fluorescence for fun.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

An attractive Frenchman in a cashmere sweater can make anything sound appealing, so when Clarins' international makeup trainer Claude Defresne gesticulated that one of the most attractive women he'd met was an 80-year-old in green glitter eyeshadow, I figured it would be silly, as a relative spring chicken, to shy away from a little aquamarine adornment. His message, that colour is something women should embrace and enjoy, makes sense of a lot of the new season's spring colours, for Clarins isn't the only range seeing inspiration in the aquatic. There's something uplifting in those tones and if you're going to wear makeup, people may as well see it. Beige, blah!

At Bobbi Brown, the new Sheer Colour Nautical Collection injects a vibrancy to the brand's carefully chosen base shades. Dr Hauschka's spring range is called Natural Pastels, but there's nothing washed-out about the clear but light lip and eye tones teamed with more strongly coloured kajal pencils. Revlon's Matte collection is a similar mix of soft and strong shades and in a few weeks its candy-coloured Pure Confection range will arrive. At M.A.C the current Colour Craft limited edition range and those that follow in August, Euristocrats and Graphic Garden, are unapologetically bright, but expect vinyl dark looks ahead.

African hues of desert and sky inspired Yves Saintt Laurent and there's a safari feel about Smashbox's Untamed collection, with Elizabeth Arden due to bring out Sunlit Bronze next month. Gentler rosy tones feature at Estee Lauder and Clinique.

Many collections are also showing some lovely flattering peachy-orange tones, but leave these and the bronzer aside for later when things heat up. For now, it's time to experiment. And while there's no doubt having an expert like Defresne create an intensely shaded blue eye works a lot better than doing it at home, you can use one of my favourite cheats.

Sweep the lid to the brow with a neutral shadow, then use a soft eyeliner pencil or gel pot to shade and smudge colour round the whole eye (or just the upper lashline). Blues and greens are particularly good to blend here, given that they highlight or contrast with most eye colours. You can then get away with nothing more than tidied brows and mascara for an impactful but easy eye look.

Combine with lipstick and a little cheek colour to bring the face alive and you're done in no time.

Lips can run from warm nudes, through rosy tones to a richer berry gloss.

New season's colours by Dr Hauschka, Chanel, Dior and Clarins.

THE DARKER SIDE

Chanel pretty much typifies the colour progression of the moment. On its counters now is the Cote d'Azur collection, conjuring up sun-kissed skin and copper pink lips. From August, there is Collection Venise, a baroque-inspired homage to Venice: think watery depths with soft green-greys and smoky teal shadows, highlighted with pearl, gold, red-black and black. The latter quartet of colours forms one of the season's standout products, Eye Gloss, a creamy colour quad. This is a softer echo of the oily black effect mixed with fuchsia used by New Zealander Aaron De Mey in his first collection for Lancome earlier this year. (His next range isn't due until November, but promises to be strong on colour again).

Dior, like Chanel, has a decadent edge to the smoky purple colours that come on counter next month, with the 30s Jazz era its inspiration. The look is lifted by luminosity, a key complexion effect in avoiding darker colours dragging the wearer down.

For a defined eye don't assume you need to layer on heavy black eyeliner. Try navy, magenta, bronze and khaki for more subtle shading.

Keep the complexion radiant with primers, gentle blush and illuminators.

Lips can be either just a shade or two deeper than your natural tone for a sophisticated but simple finish, or made magnificent in magenta.