After many muted seasons, colour made a comeback on the fall runways, and no facial feature is off-limits. At the Jil Sander show, makeup artist Lucia Pica paired a wash of delicate pink on the eyes with a vibrant red mouth. Scarlet lips were also favoured at Gucci, Saint Laurent, Jean Paul Gaultier and Michael Kors. Backstage at Eckhaus Latta, makeup artist Fara Homidi took inspiration from “natural textures and hand-painted canvases” to stipple blue shadow onto models’ lids. The freehand technique and mottled effect emphasize a modern approach to colour.
It’s a surprising U-turn for an industry that’s prioritized barely-there beauty for years. “We’ve been focused on the clean girl aesthetic for so many seasons now,” says Caroline Levin, a makeup and hair artist in Toronto who created the beauty looks for this feature. “People want to go back to expressing themselves again.”
There’s an element of ease to colourful makeup now. According to Levin, it’s less technical and more sophisticated. “When the TV show Euphoria exploded a few years ago, there was that time of bright colour and glitter,” she says. “Now colour is coming back in a very elegant way.” Today’s trending hues skew to cool tones of blue, green, purple and pink, and a powdery, matte finish reigns. On cheeks, there’s a nod to the blush draping trend of the 1980s, which focused colour on the face’s contours. Levin credits celebrity makeup artist Ngozi Esther Edeme for helping popularize cool pink blush for all skin tones but updating the placement from the apples of the cheeks to under and around the eyes.
The new approach to blush is focused on tweaking placement as much as the flushed hues you choose. Sweeping up from the cheek into the temple and eye area are Huda Beauty’s Blush Filter in Bubblegum and YSL Beauty Make Me Blush 24H Buildable Blush in the shade Baby Doll Pink. The former creates a soft-focus effect, while the latter adds a satiny finish. Levin also notes that a good blush brush is essential. She favours Sephora’s #93 for sculpting and #96 for diffusing edges.
Akki wool lacy jacquard pleated jacket, $3,382 through akkinewyork.com. Enamel Collections bracelet in yellow gold, price on request at Tiffany & Co. (tiffany.com). No. 10 Archive 3.2-carat bypass pear tanzanite ring, $6,200, No. 27 Archive .72 carat oval rubelite ring, $3,250, No. 19 1.45 carat pink oval sapphire bezel prong ring, $7,250 at Ann Sportun (annsportun.com).
To experiment with how different textures of one hue can create dimension on the eye, try Hung Vanngo Beauty’s Colour Story Eyeshadow Palette. Here, Levin has incorporated the two matte tones from the Passionate Purples range. The look gains additional vibrancy from a base of About Face Matte Fluid Eye Paint in a mix of the shades New Karma and White Noise.
Wool sweater, $846, poplin shirt, $703 at Tory Burch (toryburch.com). Tiffany Lock small earrings in rose gold with pink sapphires, $7,700, Elsa Peretti Amapola brooch in yellow gold and red silk, $6,000 at Tiffany & Co. (tiffany.com).
Camille Katona, co-founder of 19/99 Beauty, sees colour as a rebellious act against the veil of filters and flawless AI-driven images that dominate social media. “People are craving the return to humanness,” she says. “Anything that lends itself to pushing against the sea of sameness, online perfection and distortion of reality is why we’re seeing a return to colour and play.”
Encouraging playful applications has been central to the success of 19/99 Beauty’s Precision Colour Pencil collection. Available in a nearly full colour wheel of shades, including primary red, blue and yellow, the creamy multi-use stick is intended for drawing onto the face before blending into place. “We created the brand to create the change we want to see, which is people of all ages playing with colour, not using it as a corrective tool,” Katona says. Formulas are made to pack a punch. “We wanted quite pigmented products because you have more versatility,” she says. “You can make a saturated colour look sheer or opaque, whereas if you start with a sheer product, it’s much harder to build it up.”
Levin predicts an increase in these kinds of high-payoff pigments. “People want a product with longevity, not a $50 sheer blush that doesn’t last throughout the day,” she says. Layering products is the pro’s top tip. “Applying a cream and then a powder helps the colour to last, and creates that diffused finish,” Levin says. On eyes and cheeks, choose similar shades of cream and powder products, allowing the latter to be more vibrant. For a velvety effect on lips, like the technique spotted at the Tom Ford show, Levin suggests prepping with a base of matte lip balm, then applying a lip stain and finishing with eyeshadow or translucent powder. “Using a small flat brush on eyes and lips to press powder over the cream creates that flat, powdery look,” she says.
Levin and Katona agree that the easiest approach is to choose to accent your favourite feature. Then don’t overthink it. “Treat it like an accessory. Sometimes you wear earrings, sometimes you don’t. Some days you wear blue eyeliner, and some days you don’t,” Katona says, “It’s more about just pure joy.”
Taking inspiration from the velvety pucker on the Tom Ford runway, makeup artist Caroline Levin created a cashmere-like texture on a base of NYX’s Smushy Matte Lip Balm. The second layer is Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain 10HR Liquid Lipstick in Mystic Purple, applied using Chanel’s Dual-Ended Lip Brush N°300, followed by M.A.C Cosmetics’ Powder Kiss Soft Matte Eye Shadow in the shade Such a Tulle.
Issey Miyake Delta dress, $2,295, stole, $1,629 through isseymiyake.com. Palmyre necklace, $560,000, earrings, $313,000 at Van Cleef & Arpels (vancleefarpels.com).
Makeup and hair by Caroline Levin for P1M.ca. Manicures by Leeanne Colley for P1M.ca. Photo assistant: Kyle Phillips. Styling assistant: Raisa Berkowitz. Makeup and hair assistants: Kathy Nguyen, Lacey Day. Models: Nya at Spot 6 Management, Anika and Isabelle at Elite Models.