Crush with Eyeliner: Pretty Hard

by Beth Hammarlund

Well, we’ve made it through an entire month of international fashion weeks (not to mention our own MNfashion Week) and somehow, we came out on the other side. Now is the time to focus on the best hair and makeup looks from the Spring 2013 runways.

Derek Lam had one of my favorite looks of the month. Simple, but a little playful, it’s an easy look to recreate. After applying foundation, mix a little in with your favorite pink gloss or balm to achieve the monotone mouth. Generously fill in your eyebrows with a shadow slightly darker than their natural color, then apply a pale wash of sage green eyeshadow all over your eyelids, right up to the brow bone. Opt for brown mascara instead of black, and finish the look with a swipe of white eyeliner along the water line of the lower lid.

The hair and makeup at Jenny Packham was almost too pretty, but there was something just slightly off about the look that kept it interesting. The dust of coral on the cheeks complimented a pale tangerine mouth, and the smudgy turquoise cat eye was subtle and a bit messy. Ponytails were dressed up with twists and rolls, but plenty of flyaways kept the look from appearing too formal.

I’ve already written once about how much I loved the makeup at Monique Lhuillier, but let’s give it another quick look. Strong aquatic turquoise eyes were softened with gold shadow along the inner corners and white eyeliner on the lower lash waterline. Eyebrows were kept natural, if not a little on the bushy side, the face and lips were almost bare, and the models’ mermaid waves were slicked away from their faces as if they’d just emptied the water from a vase in a hotel and used it to slick the front back. (That’s a True Lies reference.)

This might be a little too cutesy for everyday, but the hair and makeup at Louis Vuitton was adorably girlish, with side-swept bangs and bouffants accessorized with hair bows and headbands. The smoky eye was modified with medium brown shadow and rimmed with black liner, and the bare face and frosty pink lip further emphasized the playful retro vibe.

Everyone in the industry was buzzing about the hair and makeup at Marc Jacobs. His Edie Sedgwick-inspired models sported heavy black brows and eyes shaded in black and white, with tons and tons of mascara. Hair was teased and bouffanted. Though there were clear similarities between the beauty at the Marc Jacobs show and the beauty at Jacobs’ show for Louis Vuitton, his namesake show definitely claimed the New York edge while Vuitton opted for Parisian girlishness.

Pink eyeshadow is tricky. It’s difficult to master, but not impossible. One trick to make it far more wearable was seen at Jill Stuart. Instead of a straight pastel shade, try a barely metallic rose gold. The gold pushes the color slightly closer to neutral territory, transforming the look from “I was totally just crying in the bathroom” to “Have you seen how pretty I look today? I mean, damn.” Everything else at Stuart was kept simple. Eyebrows were gently filled with shadow, dewy foundation and a pale rose blush were fresh and springy, and the more natural the lips, the better.

The makeup at The Row was lovely, but it was really the hair that caught my attention. Models’ hair was twisted, braided, knotted and pinned with what appeared to be little rhyme or reason, creating a look that was undeniably chic, but messy enough to keep it far far away from prom updo territory. The key with this look is to go into it without a strategy. Just start messing around, pinning things in, and see what happens. The more fucked up it looks, the more you’ll seem like a laid-back Parisian.

Click HERE for previous installments of Crush with Eyeliner.