When it comes to the season’s most coveted beauty trends, chances are we’ve actually already seen them… like, six months earlier when fashion’s most celebrated labels flock to New York, London, Paris, and Milan to show off their new designs on gorgeous glamazons strutting down decadent runways. But the origin of a trend isn’t solely constructed backstage.
“A lot of trends come from the runway but I always think that there are always pop influences that make an impact on trends,” explains MAC Senior Artist John Stapleton (MAC is responsible for about 90% of the makeup looks we see on the runways). “I remember one season, after Amy Winehouse passed away, there were 15 to 20 shows with a nod to Amy Winehouse and that dark eyeliner returned.”
Here, Stapleton recounts the 6 most important fall fall beauty trends for 2014 and the inspiration behind each (click the slideshow above to follow along with the runway looks for each trend):
“1. Muddy, Muted Colors – Classic tones with dirtier bits to them like concrete grays or brown moss tones on the eyes. Colors that aren’t exactly poppy or exciting but are a little more dead. These can be for eyes or for lips; they can be worn together or it can be a dirtied up lip that’s got a little bit more of a brownie tone or an eye that has a more smokey, stoney color. This trend definitely has a 90s feel to it. These are the types of colors that our brand was built on, like stone pencils and even Spice lip liner. Remember those great brown lipsticks from the early 90s? All of the colors that faired more towards brown.
On The Runway: Diane Von Furstenberg, the eye was taupey and contoured as was the skin. Marni was a cool-toned cream on the eye. Preen had a really nude, dirty, plum-based brown on the eyes and lips.
2. Architectural Eyes - A little bit more tomboy and rough around the eyes. If there is eyeliner, it’s okay if it drifts into the eyes a bit. It has a more slept-in, tougher look, inspired by people like Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry. It’s a bit stronger, a total rock ‘n roll moment. Again, this trend has an early 90s vibe.
On The Runway: Missoni had a very distinct blocking under the eyes and on top as well. Roberto Cavalli demonstrates this trend as well.
3. Navy Liner – Navy and dark blue were really prominent colors for the eyes. There was quite a bit of it in the collections of clothing, too: from oil-slicked blues to black with grey. The new way to wear black is navy and it looks great on every skin tone. Navy is a good way to make your eyes look bright. A dark blue around your eyes makes them look brighter and whiter. This season, mixing it in with some black is a cooler way to wear black.
On The Runway: Kenzo has a lot of the navy. One of my favorites is Giles because it has a lot of the dark navy under the eye and black on top.
4. Neutral Metallics – Golds, coppers, pewters. It’s about taking creams and putting them on top of the pigments to amplify the metals on eyes and face. You’re taking away the powdery look but you’re also trying to place some interesting reflections on the face with metallics. This trend is about using multiple textures to achieve the overall look, like a metal on the eyelid and a cream color base on the cheekbone and a gloss on the lip, so there are the three trifectas of shine going on which makes for a much more interesting face. We’re playing with the light in a different way and playing creatively with textures.
On The Runway: Jonathan Saunders had highlights everywhere – on the brow bone, the eyelid, the cheekbone, into the bow of the lip, into the chin – and it has a glossy look with a soft metallic underneath. Alberta Ferretti had a very smokey, copper eye but then the cheekbone has a pearlescent pink undertone on the apple of the cheek and some of that metallic is pushed onto the cheekbone. Peter Pilotto did a soft metallic eye and the cheekbones were treated more satiny while the bow of the lip had a gloss.
5. Bushier Brows – Brows are a lot bushier and fuller and more masculine while the makeup has a beautiful English Rose finish on the skin. Think Keira Knightley. This season’s brow is getting a full 90s treatment. It’s combination of shadow and pencil to fill them in. And we had these waterproof brow mascaras that were a big deal backstage so we were using those to hold the brows upward. It was definitely about paying attention to the brows in a way we hadn’t in awhile.
Basically there is shadow underneath to fill-in any gaps, a little bit of brow set pushed through to hold them in place, and a little bit of pencil for extra grooming or to create a tail if that is needed on the ends.
On The Runway: At Prabal Gurung the brows were really big. At The Row brows were full, too.
6. Dark Lips – This season’s dark lip is either somewhat vampy or it can look faded and worn in; a little tougher than a lip stain. It’s a bit more raw and vampirish and harder than a proper, perfect lined lip. Lorde and her dark lip made a real impact on this trend.
On The Runway: Antonio Marra had a dark lip; darker in the center, faded out around the edges. At Veronique Branquinho there’s a little bit of dark color pushed into the lip. Max Mara had a full-on dark lip. At Philosophy, the color is put on with fingertips and then the edge is blurred out with a brush so that it looks like it is worn in.”