Colour is in the air. As the weather becomes warmer and the fashions brighter, the make-up palette is beginning to resemble a candy store.
While winter brought us sophisticated glamour with a dark, almost monochromatic palette of charcoals, browns, plums and scarlet red, the pendulum has swung towards bright colours that remind us of childhood.
This spring, it’s all about adorning your face with fluorescent pastels – pinks, blues, yellows, greens and violets – and a touch of iridescence. Though bright make-up is potentially disastrous, if applied correctly it can look radiant and fresh, feminine and playful.
“What I like about this season’s look is that colour isn’t reserved for one part of the face but can be used wherever you choose – on your eyes, cheeks or lips. You can take it as far as you like or keep it simple,” says make-up artist Stefan Knight.
SKIN
Natural beauty is the overriding trend this season, so achieve a soft, polished look with matt foundations and powders; save the shine for your eyes and lips.
If you want to add a touch of shimmer to your face, LancÔme National Make-Up Artist Petra Rijnbeek recommends using illuminators “under and around the eye area, keeping the cheekbone high”, to help contour your face and brighten your complexion.
Dust your face with a matt bronzer for a touch of colour.
EYES
Colourful eye shadows are all the rage this spring. Drench your eyelids in soft, pearly pinks, violets, blues, greens, yellows and apricot. Apply more than one colour to your eyelids for a multicoloured effect.
“If you’re not bold enough to wear more than one shade, a great look this spring is achieved by applying a wash of bright colour over the whole eyelid and then coating the lashes with lots of black mascara,” Knight says.
If you like the smoky-eye or cat-eye looks, you can still wear them; just replace your usual subtle shades with fresh seasonal colours. The inside corners of the eyes and along the nose are hot spots for shimmer this season.
CHEEKS
Though the focus is normally on the eyes or lips, flushed cheeks are one of the loveliest trends this spring, making skin look fresh, alive and healthy. If you have fair skin, choose peachy or light, cool pinks; for a medium skin tone, use rose pinks; for olive skin, try coral pinks; and for dark skin, try bright berry pinks.
Any of those hues will complement even the boldest eye or lip colours, so don’t be afraid to apply cheek colour generously.
LIPS
Candy-coloured lips in orange, pink, violet, coral and fuchsia mimic the myriad colours on the spring/summer runways.
Bright lips can be achieved with lip gloss or lipstick, but if the texture is matt, add a touch of shine or shimmer to give the illusion of volume.
The trend is for lip glosses that are rich in colour yet are like Perspex, glass or boiled lollies, says Rijnbeek, so you can see through them, as opposed to dense, opaque make-up.
You can also get away with nude lips this spring, provided the eyes and cheeks are bold with colour.
