FASHION Magazine

Click here to see our summer beauty updates »

With summer in full force it’s safe to say we’ve all resorted to our classic beauty routines to keep our faces looking golden and our lips pouting a perfect shade of pink. The warmer season has always called for neon nails and beachy waves, right? Right…until now. We’ve put together 5 awesome summer beauty updates that are sure to keep you looking fresh (and on trend) day and night. Don’t worry, we kept your favourite colours and ‘dos in mind, but we’ve just stepped them up a notch—or down in some cases.

See the top five summer beauty looks » Summer is hardly a time to play it safe when it comes to beauty, so we caught up with Nars international lead makeup artist Jane Richardson to find out what her top five beauty trends are for the season ahead of us. The inspiration was largely pulled […]

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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 […]

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See the Spring 2014 beauty looks »

As bare-bones beauty dominates the runways, a few holdouts are making sure fantasy lives on.

It was a casual remark, meant to highlight the exceptional craftsmanship behind the Old Hollywood-inspired, ultra-glamorous sets he devised for the Armani Privé Fall 2013 Couture show. But hairstylist Orlando Pita’s words backstage in Paris last summer offered an astute commentary on the state of runway beauty as a whole: “Now that John Galliano and Alexander McQueen are gone from the business, a new guard has created a kind of couture that relates to the street,” he said. “It was always about fantasy; that’s gone for now.”

The role of the backstage beauty team is to complete the full translation from the designer’s mind; it helps refine the woman, or the character, who would wear the clothes. Certain designers stuck to their fantasy-driven existence for spring, with all the over-the-top beauty fanfare that goes with it (Gareth Pugh’s alien-inspired eyebrow discs; Thom Browne’s frizzy-haired, smudged-makeup insane asylum patients; Vivienne Westwood’s similarly unnerved walking dead iteration). However, if you take a look at some of the most anticipated shows of the past few seasons, the resonance of Pita’s statement becomes much louder. From Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang and The Row to Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, Balmain and Isabel Marant, there has been an overwhelming reliance on minimal makeup and easy, undone hair that was most certainly not in the phrasebooks of Galliano or McQueen—or Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa, for that matter.

Nail art’s not quite dead, but the baroque period is definitely over, as these five fresh-from-the-runways trends show. We’re in a minimalist phase, embracing subtle detailing, a more subdued palette and considerably less sparkle.

Jump to: CANDY-COATED | WHITEOUT | FRENCH REDUX | MOON PHASE | SPARKLE & SHINE

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! »

See Rita’s top nail trends for Fall 2014 »

Now that fashion month has come to a close, one thing is clear: the nail polish. (See what we did there?) While bright colours and crazy patterns have dominated runways season after season, this year it seems that nail trends are starting to lean in a much more minimalist direction. Helping lead this neutral nail charge is Essie Canada’s lead nail artist, Rita Remark. She’s not only responsible for all the upcoming nail looks at World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto, but just returned from doing nails at NYFW for designers such as DKNY and Jill Stuart. So who better to advise on the colours, textures and top coats you’ll want to wear come fall, as well as what’s on trend right now? Read on for Rita’s backstage intel—and if you’re like us, you’ll most likely be reaching for a nail polish bottle before you get to the end!




See the top beauty trends for Spring 2014 »

Ready to refresh your makeup bag? The beauty trends for Spring 2014 are all about colour, texture and letting your skin shine. Gone are last season’s moody berry shades, deep lips and velvet skin finishes. For Spring 2014, the top beauty trends include popsicle-orange lips, eyeshadows in every pastel shade under the sun and a whole lotta love for gold pigments. For those less inclined to pile on the product, good news: the no makeup makeup look is also trending this season.

See more backstage photos from Chanel Couture Spring 2014 »

The return of glitter makeup is a beauty trend we’ve been eagerly anticipating. While it may never again be as ubiquitous as it was in the ’90s (thumbs up emoji for the scented glitter rollerball glory days of Claire’s Accessories) whenever glitter comes down a runway, it’s GAME ON for the tubs of iridescent goodies we’ve been secretly hoarding for years.

As such, cue the beauty look from this morning’s Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2014 show. It’s glitter makeup at its best: a perfect mix of translucent silver, opalescent and rainbow-tinted pieces. Paired with a heavy cat-eye liner (courtesy Ligne Graphique de Chanel in “Noir-Noir” and Le Crayon Khôl in “Clair”) this glitter look is very editorial and totally easy to emulate. Basically, it’s going to be on our faces in a matter of days and no one will think we’re going to a rave.

Given the bone-chilling temperatures of late, a reminder of what’s to come in spring is always welcome. At last night’s Greta Constantine Spring 2014 presentation the beauty look had warmer weather in mind—but with a slight après-ski twist. Models had glistening skin and wet hair, designed to look like they had just stepped out of a steamy hot tub.

The man behind the hair was, believe it or not, one half of the Greta design duo: Stephen Wong. After completely drenching models’ hair with water he applied a handful of Redken Guts 10 Volume Spray Foam ($17, at salons) to the roots and raked it through to ends. This step was repeated twice to give hair a very product-heavy, flattened appearance. To further emphasis the slick, wet look, Wong applied a quarter-size of Redken Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine Intense hair oil ($40, at salons) directly to the roots. He then brushed hair back and pinned the sides flat to the head. A heavy coat of Redken 23 Forceful Super Strength Finishing Spray ($17, at salons) kept everything in place. Before the show began, Wong removed the clips from the sides of the hair and gave it another spritz to complete the fresh-out-of-water look.

See all the backstage beauty photos from Sid Neigum Spring 2014 »

The beauty look for Sid Neigum Spring 2014 was all about simplicity. “We’re playing on creating a makeup [look] with just foundation,” explained Grace Lee, lead makeup artist for Maybelline New York. Lee matched each model’s skin tone using Maybelline Fit Me Shine-Free Foundation ($11, well.ca), which she accented by contouring beneath the cheekbones using the same product, but in the darkest shade, “Coconut.” Eyebrows were brushed upwards with Maybelline Great Lash Clear Mascara ($8, well.ca) and eyelids were left bare. The only part of the face that Lee wanted to look visibly made up were the lips, which Lee coated with Maybelline Color Elixer in “Nude Illusion” ($9, available November 2013 at drugstores). To prevent lips from appearing too glossy, Lee dabbed excess product from lips using her fingers, leaving only a subtle trace behind.

As for the hair at Sid Neigum, gone was the futuristic, structural look of last season. For Spring 2014, international Redken artist Jorge Joao created “day two, lived-in hair,” with a natural, slightly disheveled curl.

See all the backstage beauty photos from Beaufille Spring 2014 »

For the Beaufille Spring 2014 show, Toronto designers Chloé and Parris Gordon wanted the models to look like “rich grunge girls” with a slight throwback to the ’90s. “I love these girls because they really stick to their branding and their image,” said Grace Lee, lead makeup artist for Maybelline New York. The chocolate shaded smoky eyes were the focus of the look: Lee lined models’ eyes on the top and bottom using Maybelline Eye Studio Master Smoky Longwearing Shadow-Pencil in “Scorching Brown” ($9, well.ca) and then smudged the colour to create a rough, undone look. For a glossy sheen on eyelids and the top of cheekbones, Lee lightly applied Maybelline Baby Lips ($4, well.ca). Meanwhile, models’ actual lips were covered with the shiny but non-sticky Maybelline Color Elixer gloss in “Caramel Infused” ($9, at drugstores November 2013)—which Lee proclaimed “the product of the season.”