Bright Lips and Shady Lids: The Best of Couture Beauty Fall 2012

All too often, more natural looking makeup looks are flat and lack dimension but this season’s nude is multi-tonal and sculpted. Designers such as Bouchra Jarrar and Elie Saab defined their models’ faces with warm contour shades and subtle highlights. Natural makeup doesn’t have to be one-note, take your cue from them and use warm neutral shades to your benefit.

While designers usually subscribe to the ‘less is more’ mentality when it comes to bold beauty (highlighting one feature at a time), this season they went with ‘more is more’. Bold and bright lips were paired with wild and wonderful hair styles, like at Alexis Mabille, or dark smoky eyes, at Jean Paul Gaultier. Now this one is a bit harder to pull off at home but experiment with a new lip color and bright eyeliner for a more wearable version.

Now I’m not saying that couture level designers have been reading a certain (poorly written) erotic novel that’s made waves the past few months, but there were many shades of grey on the runways in Paris. Frosted silver, slate blue, and shimmering pearl were key shades in the looks at shows like Chanel and Armani Prive. Where you have to be careful when trying this look at home is you don’t want to highlight any ashy tones in your skin. Opt for a blue or purple tinted grey for the most impact.