Holy Smokes

Makeup for autumn/winter 2015 is all about the eyes. Models walking the Alice McCall, Dyspnea and Johanna Johnson shows at Sydney Fashion Week wore extreme smokey eyes and shows in New York and Paris went for strikingly bold looks, with graphic black and/or winged liner at Dior, Chanel and Elie Saab, neon highlights at Peter Som and pastels at Haider Ackermann. With rock’n’roll informing this trend, nothing is off limits.

M.A.C's British director of artistry Terry Barber, speaking in Sydney at a forum on global beauty attended by Viva, says eye makeup is going through a transformation, partly inspired by the no-makeup look.

“Gone are the days of 50 shades of eyeshadow,” he says. “These days it’s all about the quality of the skin, with transparent shadows showing off a shining eyelid.”

Much like highlighting the cheekbone, creams, metallics or glosses are applied to the lid; shadows are used to brighten the eye area rather than slather it in colour.

“The skin shows through it,” says Barber. “It’s hazy, soft focus, like sheer fabric.”

The move towards more believable makeup is also behind the increasingly popular lived-in look. Inspired by cool London girls obsessed with eye-liner (think a doe-eyed Jane Birkin), it’s not as grungy as sleeping in your party slap but aiming for a “decadent, lived-in sexy”, says Barber.

This look is epitomised by a softened smokey eye, in which liner is applied in dots, then brushed lightly with a soft pencil to allow it to sink in. Mascara is less formally applied and clumps are A-okay (some formulations are even designed to let your lashes stick together). The idea is that it appears effortless rather than painted on, reflective of the beautiful quality of the skin.

For those who want to take it further, M.A.C’s senior vice-president of global artistry Gordon Espinet recommends curling lashes first, then applying mascara. That way you’re not left with clumps of black sticking your lash curlers together. If you’re in a playful mood, applying a few individual false lashes not only of varying lengths but of different shades add a flirty embellishment to peepers, “without making you look like Barbie,” he says.

The full “70s” brow is still going strong, the current look favouring a natural, feathered texture, the individual hairs defined by brushing them upwards a la Sophia Loren. Tone also comes into play. The brow of the moment is not one block colour but flecked with lighter shades, such as taupy brown, an effect similar to adding highlights in the hair.“It’s all about finding the right balance,” says M.A.C’s French director of artistry Lyne Desnoyers. “It softens as you age. You don’t want your eyebrows to wear you.”

Meanwhile, the bold lip is continuing its reign, particularly when paired with a very minimalist look on the rest of the face.“It’s elegance through minimalism,” says Barber. Just as important to this chic return to glamour is finding the right shade of red. Like the softer eye, the drawn on lip is no longer necessary. You can dab it on with a finger just in the centre, and blur the edges.

K-pop inspired bright pink and coral shades, such as M.A.C.’s Candy Yum Yum and Morange, and bold reds, like M.A.C.’s Lady Danger and Ruby Woo are still global best-sellers — but this season it’s also time to find your ideal nude.

An easy mistake is to choose a nude shade close to the colour of your concealer — or your skin. Far better, says Barber, is to go for a nude with a hint of pink or peach; grey-beige is a chic choice too if you have a tanned or bronzed face. This season’s nudes come in matte textures, to play off the balminess of modern skin. A radiant complexion meanwhile is created by contouring, which has progressed to encompass matte and shine or what Barber refers to as “invisible contouring”. It’s about using powder sparingly for a polished yet glowing look: on the sides of the nose, between the eyes but not around the eyes.

“You can’t be all one texture,” he says. “It’s dated. It needs that multi-texture, three-dimensional look.”Desnoyers recommends gel-based powders to give a natural finish.