FASHION Magazine

Is spring finally here? While we may still be hoping for weather that lets us ditch our wintery layers, there’s nothing stopping us from getting our skin ready for the season. In practice, it may actually be smarter to get a head start on your spring skincare routine: new products always take a week or two to start working and frankly, it’s nice to wake up and start the day with light, fresh layers of skincare products and makeup. Dress for the weather you want, not the weather you have, right?

Well, this week, the Beauty Panel partnered up with Biotherm to do just that. Our beauty blogging experts spent the last month testing the Biotherm Aquasource skincare line, all in a quest to uncover the best way to get a fresh-faced look for spring. While makeup can certainly brighten any look, having a great base—your skin!—makes all the difference. It’s the reason why both fresh skin and the no-makeup makeup look made the list of our top beauty trends for Spring 2014. Makeup artists like Pat McGrath and Diane Kendal spent their time backstage prepping models’ skin with masques, serums, BB creams and moisturizers, which resulted in truly fresh-faced looks on the runway.

Challenge 61: How do you use Biotherm Aquasource to get a fresh-faced look for spring? See the answers now! »

Ah, white eyeliner! If you came of age in the mid-’90s, white eyeliner was basically the only makeup necessary. While we may have layered it on in a thick, not-quite-cat-eye swipe with little interest in technique or precision, white eyeliner was popular because it’s really so forgiving. No matter how you use it, white liner or shadow is guaranteed to make your eyes pop. Which is precisely why it appeared on so many runways at the Spring 2014 shows. From a soft wash of all-over white at Altuzarra to graphic lines at Kate Spade to BCBG’s romantic white cat-eye, it’s clear this makeup trend is back and better than ever. And our Beauty Panel certainly agrees!

Challenge 60: How do you wear white eyeliner? See the answers now! »

With each season, new colour palettes and make up application styles emerge as latest and greatest trends. Whether it’s a dramatic smokey eye or a hint of lip, applying some makeup element is a common part of most daily routines.

Reasons for using makeup are as varied as the number of lipstick shades. Makeup can be used to enhance facial contours, cover blemishes, or intensify eye colour. For many, makeup is more than just another step in their personal care regimen, it’s a way to creatively expression themselves.

So, we put it to the Beauty Panel, “why wear makeup?” Maggie Ng told us that makeup is about having fun, while Shayna Wiwierski shared how makeup helped her heal. Read on for the many reasons behind primping.

Challenge 59: Why wear makeup? See the answers now! »

A good eyeliner can work beauty magic. It can quickly change a daytime look into one better suited for night, add some oomph when your mascara’s not cutting it or provide a splash of colour in an otherwise neutral look. However, even a product as versatile as eyeliner can become routine, which is why this […]

The post Cat-eye redux: 3 tips from the Beauty Panel for changing your approach to eyeliner appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

The selfie is having quite the moment. First it was crowned the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year, then it made Twitter-breaking records at the Oscars and we dare you to try and get “#Selfie” out of your head after one listen. But despite it’s popularity, taking a picture-perfect selfie (see what we did there?) can still be a challenge for many. Pose choices, lighting and photo editing apps aside, sometimes all you need is a little bit of makeup to make all the difference. Which is why we’ve turned to the Beauty Panel for their tips on how to look good in a photograph. With a few easy tricks (primer, your fave mascara, an extra dab of gloss) you’ll look like a selfie pro in no time! And, as an added bonus, all these tips work for looking good in all other types of photos, too.

Challenge 57: How do you look good in a selfie? See the answers now! »

Gold! We can’t think of a more perfect shade of makeup to be on trend for Spring 2014—it’s super flattering, super wearable and a colour that’s open to a variety of interpretations. Just ask the designers who all included gold makeup in their looks this season: Jason Wu did a classic splash of metallic shadow on eyelids, while Dior turned heads with gold-tinted eyebrows. And, taking it one step further was Dries Van Noten, whose models had a splash of gold to part their hair. So really, the gold makeup trend is all about wearing the shade in a way that best suits your style.

January Jones’s beauty look from last night’s Mad Men premiere is an excellent example of how easy the gold makeup trend is to adapt for any occasion. She added a bold swipe of gold underneath a deep blue cat-eye, citing another of-the-moment trend (dragons!) as her inspiration. Of course, the best way to explore a makeup trend is by asking our Beauty Panel to share their takes, and this week we’ve got quite the roundup of gold looks. A Pop of Colour‘s Shayna Wiwierski loves the shade because it makes her blue eyes pop, which is why she wore gold to the Juno Awards this past weekend. (Her look is a definite red carpet winner!) Ellie Somfelean from My Beauty Box used rose gold pigments in her look to warm up the metallic look, while Spiced Beauty’s Jennifer Francis layered pigments for a deeper shade of gold. Clearly, however you wear this makeup trend you can’t go wrong—just click through all of this week’s Beauty Panel answers to see what we mean!

Challenge 56: How do you wear spring’s gold makeup trend? See the answers now! »

If you’ve ever spent more than 60 seconds inside a Sephora, you know how quickly things can rack up. A Guerlain bronzer here, a Chanel lipstick there, maybe even a Nars eyeshadow quad or two—and suddenly your makeup bag is worth more than your designer handbag. It makes us long for the days when a splurge was considered dropping $4 on a drugstore Lipsmackers.

Saving money on beauty products seems like a great idea in theory, but is it possible to save funds and still look fabulous? The short answer: YES! With a mix of drugstore brands and savvy shopping skills, it’s more than possible to create a complete look for less than $25. (And one that’s just as glam as a look created with top dollar products!) To show you just how easy it is to do beauty on a budget, we challenged the Beauty Panel to share their bargain beauty buys.

Challenge 55: How do you create a beauty look for under $25? See the answers now! »

With today being the official start of spring (finally!) it’s time to hit refresh. Spring, being a season synonymous with renewal and rejuvenation, has put us in the mood for a beauty routine shake up. Tired of doing our same ol’ smoky eye or bright red lip, we’re ready to try something new—and that new thing is a monochromatic makeup look. It’s fresh, on trend and, best of all, requires just a few products. (Is anyone else’s makeup bag approaching max overload after a long winter of product hoarding?)

Marc Jacobs showed us how to do a dramatic monochromatic look with his headline-making Fall 2014 beauty look, but there are many more subtle ways to explore the trend. Perhaps your go-to bold lipstick can serve double duty as a lip colour and blush? Or maybe a bronzer as eyeshadow? It’s all about streamlining your look, and hopefully your makeup bag too. Double whammy.

Challenge 54: How do you do a monochromatic makeup look? See the answers now! »

Despite not being a national holiday, many treat St. Patrick’s day as such. For kids, it’s an excuse for green flavoured treats and decorations. When you’re in university, it’s an all day booze-fest filled to the brim with green shots and beer. But in the real world, there are limited way to get in on the St. Patrick’s day celebrations in a responsible and glamorous way. Let’s face it—face paint never looks good in an office.

Lucky for us, pastel green makeup was all over the Spring 2014 runways, making it an ideal—and on-trend—way to add some holiday spirit to your look come Monday. (Of course, we’re also totally into wearing pastel makeup beyond St. Patty’s day celebrations.) Badgley Mischka did an all over wash of mint green on the lid in a soft hue, set off by a white eyeliner on the rim and a rosy lip.  For an even bolder look, do what Antonio Marras did: a streak of colour in the crease, overtop a softer shade of pastel green—made all the more vibrant with a bright pink lip. Or make pastel green your go-to colour for a smoky eye. In a romantic twist, Giorgio Armani used the soft shade to create an ethereal look that was further complemented with a wispy updo. Should you seek inspiration beyond the runway, we asked the Beauty Panel for their tips and techniques on wearing pastel green. Read on to see their looks and get yourself into an all-green mood for Monday.

Challenge 53: How do you wear this season’s pastel green makeup trend? See the answers now! »

Awards show season is a giving season. It provides hours of entertainment, from jokes on stage to so many memes (John Travolta mispronunounced name generator anyone?). But more than anything else, award shows give us plenty of hair and makeup looks to obsess over—and then master. Unlike the stunning designer dresses the stars wear, red carpet beauty looks are totally attainable! Whether you duplicate a favourite look or use it as a starting point for your own creation, this past awards show season provided us with lots of inspiration.

From Olivia Wilde’s expertly done gamine eyeliner to Jennifer Lawrence’s high flying pixie cut, there are plenty of recent looks to covet and replicate. With Pinterest and Tumblr being endless sources of red carpet beauty pics, there is no better time to flex your makeup and hair skills and get creative.

Challenge 52: What’s your favourite red carpet beauty look? See the answers now! »

In the clutches of this terrible, no good, very bad winter we’ll take any excuse to think about warmer temps. While it’s a little premature to bust out the short shorts and crop tops, we’ve found a way to inject some summertime ease into our lives thanks to our new favourite beauty trend: orange lipstick.

If you’ve never considered wearing a bright orange lip, the Spring 2014 runways provided a multitude of different ways to make it work. Prabal Garung and John Galliano both opted for a matte orange lip with slicked-back hair to create a clean and uncomplicated look, perfect for a casual Friday at the office. Dsquared2, on the other hand, showed the versatility of the colour, using a coral-orange lip with a smoky eye and ‘80s pageant queen hair to create quite the glamorous look.

Challenge 51: What are your tips on wearing spring’s orange lipstick trend? See the answers now! »

We’ve all been there. Your alarm didn’t go off, you overslept and now there’s no time to wash and style your hair. Or maybe you were a little too enthusiastic with styling products and you’re starting to resemble Beyoncé at the Grammys—and not in a good way! When it comes to having a bad hair day, it can be hard to beat the inevitable pity party that arises when your hair falls flat. But, considering that even celebrities experience the occasional bad hair day (thanks, gossip magazines!) there’s no reason to fret when things turn critical. Instead, you just need to get a little clever.

Challenge 50: How do you fix a bad hair day in a flash? See the answers now! »