FASHION Magazine

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! »

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! »

Kim Kardashian’s style may be constantly evolving, but when it comes to beauty, she’s had her makeup routine on lock since day one. That flawless complexion and enviable bone structure owes a great deal of credit to the magic of makeup. But you don’t need a makeup artist to look like Kim—just a few simple contouring tricks can make all the difference in making your features pop.

Sure, the idea of contouring and bronzing can evoke flashbacks to high school beauty disasters: if done incorrectly you risk looking like a pumpkin or and ‘80s prom queen. (Not a good look for anybody!) However, the end goal is to highlight the different areas of your face, achieved only through seamless blending and proper colour choice—and it’s it’s not as difficult as you may think.

Challenge 49: How do you contour your face? See the answers now! »

Single or taken, Valentine’s Day is an excuse to get all dolled up, show the world what you’ve got and look totally fierce in the process. There’s no shame in letting the day of love inspire a change in your beauty routine, especially when flowers, hearts and anything red or pink make for ideal hair and makeup looks. So, this February 14, it’s time to try out that romantic beauty look you’ve been saving on Pinterest or coveting since it debuted on the spring runways (hello, Dolce & Gabbana!). What better to make your crush swoon?  All in the name of love, of course.

Challenge 48: What’s your Valentine’s Day beauty look? See the answers now! »

How’s your January been so far? As the unofficial month of fitness and healthy habits, chances are you’ve made an effort to add more gym visits into your schedule over the last four weeks. While incorporating more workout time is obviously a great thing, it can prove tricky for timing and wreak havoc on our beauty regime—especially when we’re busy. No one wants to show up to work with a flushed face and sweaty hair, courtesy your AM workout. Or if afternoon workouts are your thing, how are you supposed to meet the girls for a drink post-spin class without looking like a drowned rat?

While we all know a post-workout cool down is key, what you do to your skin once you’re done getting physical can be just as important. Of course, this doesn’t mean carting your entire vanity around in your gym bag. We asked the Beauty Panel to share their favourite gym-friendly products and post-workout beauty tricks. By adopting a quick locker room beauty routine with a few key items, you will not only save your skin from sweat-induced breakouts—you’ll also look fresh and beautiful on the go.

Challenge 47: What is your post-work out beauty routine? See the answers now! »

There’s a reason some the world’s most famous faces don’t look their age. (And it’s not just thanks to intense daily booty-busting workouts.) Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Jennifer Aniston are all champions of going au naturel — when it comes to beauty products, that is. In addition to being better for the environment, all-natural and organic beauty products can do amazing things for your skin. One of the hottest ongoing health trends, promoted heavily by Paltrow and friends, is eating clean — that is, working from the inside out to project a healthy glow. So why not apply the same logic to your face?

Long gone are the days of products that, while touting ethical and health-boosting benefits, paled in comparison to the performance of the chemically-enhanced products we’d grown up with. Not to mention they were always a little bit harder on the wallet. Now that organic and natural beauty products have gone mainstream, there’s a whole slew of high-performing product available at all price ranges. But the next challenge? Finding the best of the best. Which is why we’ve turned to our panel of beauty blogging expert to share their tried, tested and true recommendations.

Challenge 46: What are your favourite organic and all-natural beauty products? See the answers now! »