Nine New Season Trends You’ll Actually Want to Try

BACKSTAGE AT BALMAIN SS16

The joy of all this innovation? It makes it super easy for us to try the trends on for size. In celebration of Westfield’s new Today: I am campaign (fronted by Lara Worthington) and their Festival Of Beauty – that’s happening from today and throughout the weekend in Westfields across the country– I’ve slated the nine trends that are most achievable and totally worth trying out this season. The best bit? They’re perfect for the Australian summer.

1. Spotlit Skin

BACKSTAGE AT J.W.ANDERSON SS16 WITH NARS

Great skin is always in, but this season the makeup for many of the shows was even more minimal than usual. Balmain, Opening Ceremony, Rodarte and Tommy Hilfiger all sent models down with a luminous but not shiny complexion. You want your skin to glow as if lit by a spotlight. Choose your foundation based on your skin type then use luminising powders to create the spotlit glow. Hourglass Cosmetics Ambient Lighting Palette is a good one – it’s got just the right amount of glow without any of the glitter. It’s available from Mecca.

HOURGLASS COSMETICS AMBIENT LIGHTING PALETTE

2. Brushed Up Brows

BACKSTAGE AT CHRISTOPHER KANE SS16 WITH NARS

Our obsession with ample arches continues, and this season it’s all about growing them out to their maximum bushiness and then brushing them up – as we saw at Dior, Christopher Kane, Roland Mouret and Oscar De La Renta. If you’re follicularly challenged, promise me you’ll put down the tweezers for at least a month. Do not wax. If you’re really desperate, you can also try painting on Regaine (a men’s hairloss solution available chemists) to encourage growth. To groom them, Napoleon Browtox Eyebrow Gelis tinted to give brows some depth and comes with the double ended brush – an angled side for applying and a spooly brow brush to tame them into submission.

NAPOLEON PERDIS BROWTOX EYEBROW GEL

3. Don’t Care Hair

BACKSTAGE AT GIAMBATTISSTA VALLI SS16

Hair at Bottega Veneta, Giambattista Valli, Isabel Marant, Stella McCarntney and Vivienne Westwood was either tousled, in a loose looped pony or just left looking virtually untouched.  It’s ultimate cool-girl hair and it has to be the easiest trend there is. The trick is understanding your texture and working with that. If you have frizzy haywire hair, you’ll need to calm it – some curly-girls find applying a smoothing serum like Toni & Guy Classic Smoothing Lotion. Or if you’re like me and need to encourage texture, I like John Frieda Ocean Waves Sea-Salt Spray.

JOHN FRIEDA OCEAN WAVES SEA-SALT SPRAY

4. Oceanic Eyes

BACKSTAGE AT PHILLIP LIM SS16 WITH NARS

Blue was the eyeshadow show du jour at Marc Jacobs, Missoni and Phillip Lim whose models wore just a tiny line of blue liner on the inner corner of the eyes. This is a great way to dip your toe in the trend without committing to the full aquamarine eyeshade-shebang. Choose a really deep blue eyeliner pencil that’s super soft and just use it on the upper line as close to the lashes as possible, or if you’re a little more experimental just do it on the lower lashline. Napoleon Perdis new Two-Faced Eyeliner in High Society is perfect as it has two different shaped tips – so you can play with the shape of your liner.

NAPOLEON PERDIS TWO-FACED EYELINER IN HIGH SOCIETY

5. Wet Look Hair

BACKSTAGE AT JULIEN MACDONALD SS16 WITH ST TROPEZ

This season sleek, wet-look hair was high on the fashion radar again – appearing at Christopher Kane, DSquared and Julien Macdonald. It’s the best sweaty-weather trend there is and a look that can take you from beach to bar with not much more than a dab of gel. Simply part hair either in the centre or a deep side part then add a dab of gel – V05does an awesome one, available from Priceline – and apply it to keep it looking damp and in place. It looks gorgeous with really bronzed skin and a neon lip.

V05 WET LOOK STYLING GEL

6. Statement Lips

GOLD LIPS WERE THE TALKING POINT AT PRADA SS16

Which brings me to lips. A bold pout is still a wonderful way to amp up your look in not-much-time-at-all. And the colour you choose is really completely up to you – what you’re wearing and what kind of mood you’re in. Whether you go all-out blinging with a gold glitter like the girls at Prada (what – too much!?) or you choose something more subdued like the bright watermelon at Marchesa or cherry at Oscar De La Renta, it’s a failsafe way to take your look for whatever to wow in one slick. In terms of texture –either keep it matte and creamy or go for all out glitter or metallic. Priceline even has lip foils if you’re feeling daring.

LIP ROCK METALLIC LIP FOILS

7. Power Ponys

BACKSTAGE AT PUBLIC SCHOOL WITH AVEDA

Sleek, high, nineties style ponytails also marched down the runway this season. At Balmain they were slicked up, high and tight and almost bondage-like – fierce and strong. At Proenza Schouler and Public School it was a similar shape at the front – sleek and strong, but the pony’s themselves were plaited or twisted tightly. Another easy-to-achieve-at-home look. Use your wet look gel again, scrape hair back high and tight then plait or twist two sections around each other before securing with a second elastic. If your pony is on the scrawny side, Scunci do this elastic and plastic thing that sits inside your ponytail and bulks it up.

SCUNCI PERFECT PONY

8. Graphic Lashes

BACKSTAGE AT MANSUR GAVRIEL SS16 WITH NARS

Whether stuck on in strips, clusters or drawn on with liner, the lashes at Marni, Jeremy Scott and Mansur Gavriel were seriously bold. This is a trickier trend to master but well worth it for a party or special event. You can either buy really graphic lashes from Priceline and attempt to do it yourself or front up to Napoleon or a MAC or Shu Uemura counter in Myer or DJs and leave it to the experts. They’ll usually just charge you for the price of the lashes and then apply them for you for free. To risk wandering into drag queen territory keep the rest of your look understated – glowing skin, a champagne gold eye and nude or peach lips will complete the look beautifully.

BACKSTAGE AT ISSA WITH ST TROPEZ

Last but certainly not least – or hardest –  is the nineties classic, grungy liner. Several makeup artists this season at Chloe, Emilio Pucci and Issa were inspired by the Kate Moss’s look circa Calvin Klein era. And luckily for us, it’s relatively easy to do. You just need a super soft kohl pencil eyeliner, then rim the waterline – which is the inside rim when you hold back your lashes. It’s a bit weird when you first do it but you get used it. I actually filmed my seriously easy way to do it in this video (see it here) just close your eye around the tip of the pencil and rub it back and forth. It takes about 20 seconds and looks super sexy and smudged in perfectly. Try the Smashbox Always Sharp Kohl Waterproof Eyelineravailable from Mecca Maxima.

Story by Sigourney. Sponsored by Westfield.

For more inspiration, head along to Westfield’s Festival of Beauty, which is happening this Thursday October 15 –  to Sunday October 18, in 15 Westfield centres across Australia. Top beauty brands including, L’Occitane, Crabtree & Evelyn, Ella Rouge Beauty, Napoléon Perdis, Laser Skin Clinics, Oscar Oscar, Hairhouse Warehouse, Lush, GNC, Dior, Mecca Maxima, Jurlique, the Body Shop, Priceline are hosting hair, makeup, grooming and wellness masterclasses, demonstrations from beauty experts, in-store styling sessions and beauty workshops. For more information head to http://www.westfield.com.au/bondijunction/events/the-beauty-festival-today-i-am-beautiful/20527