BEAUTY NOTES | Spring & Summer Beauty Trends with Eastern Influences

Far East Movement | Spring and Summer Beauty Trends with Inspiration from Asia
Fortunately, there’s no need to get on an airplane to escape the dreary cold of winter when you can look at spring/summer beauty looks to get you thinking (and looking) warmer thoughts!   Get the look with some of my favourite SS2013 beauty trends that draw their inspiration from the East (…and no plane ticket required!):

THE EFFORTLESS BUN
Now this isn’t the tight, Shellac’d-down version that you had to wear for dance class as a kid.  With this season’s bun – anything goes – as long as it’s loose, piece-y and effortless.  Use the natural part of your hair or go with no part at all, and pull it all back….either gather it towards the centre of the back of your head or towards the nape of your neck – the options are endless!
Using a styling cream like Moroccan Oil’s Styling Hydrating Cream will help tame frizzies and flyaways for a smooth finish. I love using the cream on clean hair to give it a bit of grip, making it much easier to style.  It’s a quick and perfect look for hair that’s a day post-wash.  Totally clean hair is overrated.

LOWER LASH LINE DRAMA
Us mono-lidded ladies know the power of enhancing the lower lash line – when done right, adding to the bottom lashes helps to make eyes look bigger.

Now, enhancing the lower lash line with a serious dash of drama, like at Marchesa (middle pic above), is a look that commands attention (in other words: this look is not for the shy type, and likely not the best ‘professional’ look for the office).

To interpret the look for everyday wear, use MAC’s #263 angled brush with a black gel liner and trace the lower lash line.  Add a shimmery gold eyeshadow to the inner corner to catch the light, open up the eyes and warm your complexion.

Day to night:  You can easily kick this look up for an evening out.  Use a small eyeshadow brush with black eyeshadow to smudge and slightly extend the gel liner on your lower lash line.   Then, wet your #263 brush and dip it into your gold eyeshadow and apply to the inner corners of your eyes again.  The wet gold eyeshadow will apply way more vivid and also create way more interest.  (Warning:  this look may result in copious amounts of eye contact).  :)

THE NEW WING
Thankfully for me, the winged eye look / cat eyeliner (a.k.a. my go-to look) never really goes away.  This spring and summer it’s back in a thick, but subtle form with a copper finish (as seen on the runway at Chloé above).

Use that same MAC #263 angled eye brush with a copper cream eyeshadow, like Bobbi Brown’s Creme Shadow in Copper.  Bobbi Brown’s Copper has a shimmery finish, which I dig because it adds a pretty and dimensional effect to this look.  Draw a thick stroke and flick those wings at the end … and meow!  Set the look with a dusting of translucent powder for added lasting power.  The finished look is a lot more pretty and approachable than a thick line of harsh black liner.

If you’re not sure how thick to draw the line, start off with small strokes…then open your eyes and pull back from the mirror to see if you need to add more.  The finished effect is a subtle pulled-out wing at the ends.  See pretty, pretty.  It might take a couple of tries (and a couple of q-tips!) to get the look right.  Balance, well yin-yang if you will*, is key to this look….and at least cleaning up this look is much easier than dealing with always-leave-a-trace black eyeliners!  Awww, the simplicity of spring and summer make-up – now that’s something I can definitely warm up with.

*sorry clearly enjoying this Far East theme a little too much!!