MUA Thembi ♥ 'Sig-nature' & 'Nu-ance'

 

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready for the spring/summer months. 

The snow’s melted, the thermals are once again pushed to the back of our wardrobes and it’s once again time to update our makeup bags for the next six months. (More likely an on/off four months of rain, but a girl can dream hey!?)

Don’t get me wrong, I love the deep lips and sparkly, smokey eyes of winter as much as the next gal, but I LOVE the makeup looks of spring and summer, for their simplicity and beauty. I think it's beautiful how just one pop of colour here or a flash of metallic there can completely transform your look. 

MAC Cosmetics are the leading brand backstage at fashion weeks around the globe, and their amazing artists create both beautiful and inspiring makeup looks for us to work with and translate to our own style. You can see lots of videos and pick up some great tips here!

The 4 main emergent trends for this coming season are ‘Sig-nature’, ‘Nu-ance’, ‘Puri-tan’ and ‘Sci-chedelic’. 

This month I’m going to talk you through the ‘Sig-nature’ and ‘Nu-ance’ trends, and show you some great images to inspire you. I have also shot my own interpretation of the trends on my lovely model Lauren.  

Photography: Emily Goodfellow

♥ 

‘Sig-nature’

This trend is much like I explained in my first feature; fresh faced beauty. It’s all about clever highlighting and skin true shades to create that perfect canvas that all of our makeup is based on.

 According to Terry Barber, MAC’s Director of Makeup Artistry for the UK and Ireland, it’s “almost as if you are seeing makeup through skin care”. I hope you all managed to pop to your local store and sort your skincare as we’re going to be using a lot of it this season!

We’re popping the powders to one side as it’s all about using creamy textures that melt into the fingers and look just like skin! No hard edges, just soft, diffused and beautiful!

Here are a few examples from the runways….

 1. Margaret Howell - London | 2. Salvatore Ferragamo - Milan | 3. Ruffian - New York  

 ...and here is my interpretation of the trend on Lauren 

 I Used:

• UNE Natural Skincare Radiance Restore Nourishing Cream to moisturise the skin - use quite a lot of this as you want the skin to feel and look really supple. 

• I gave the eyes a little boost with MAC Fast Response Eye Cream to hydrate and reduce puffiness.

• Next I used MAC Strobe Liquid to add some highlighting on all the high points of the face, i.e. cheek bones, nose bridge, temples, cupid’s bow of the lip.

• For my base, I used MAC BB Cream, one of my new favourite products. It’s great because not only will it even out skin tone for a lovely natural base, it can also be used as a primer for those times when you do want a fuller coverage. It illuminates, hydrates, protects, control’s oil and retextures the skin, its great! I buffed this on using a MAC #130 Duo Fibre Brush. 

• I used MAC Mineralize Concealer where needed and Bourjois Touche Healthy Mix Illuminating Concealer under the eyes for added brightness. 

• Once I’d done this, I used MAC Crème Colour Base in 'Shell', in the same areas I put the Strobe Liquid to add a bit of colour to the highlight and patted some Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in 'Cherub' onto the cheeks just to add a slight hint of colour. 

•  For a contour, I used a mix of shades from my Derma Colour Concealer Palette. I chose colours with a cool undertone that were a couple of shades darker than Lauren’s skin tone. MAC have some great Pro Sculpting Creams for this, I just haven’t managed to get my hands on them yet!!! 

Brill colours are Pure Sculpture, Coffee Walnut, Copper Beech and Richly Honed. 

• On the eyes, I used MAC Veluxe Brow Liner in 'Redhead' to naturally define the brow. I highlighted the inner corner of the eye with MAC Crushed Metal Pigment in 'Shifting Sands' and lined the eye with MAC Eye Kohl in 'Tarnish'. I smudged a little MAC Eye Shadow in 'Club' over the liner - using a MAC #228 Mini Shader to diffuse the line. 

• A nice even coating of Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Mascara and some Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour cream on the lips and the look was complete! 

♥

‘Nu-ance’

Building on the base from the ‘Sig-nature’ trend comes ‘Nu-ance’; taking more of a futuristic feel with flashes of metallic and gentle pastel washes. It’s taking the colours from the vivid digital prints of the SS13 runways and paring them down to create a look that looks clean, pure and romantic.

We see lots of inspiration coming from the colours of nature with turquoise, lilac, lemon, mint, aqua, apple and peach featuring heavily in this trends colour palate with inspiration from the 60’s in their placement.

Here are a few examples from the runways…

 1. Clements Ribeiro - London (I did makeup on this show! So much fun and a great experience) | 2. Chloe - Paris | 3. Peter Som - New York | 4. Meadham Kirchhoff - Milan

...and here’s how I’ve translated it on Lauren 

• I prepped the skin and created the base in the same way as I did for the ‘Sig-nature’ look, but replaced MAC Crème Colour Base in 'Shell' with 'Hush' and buffed MAC Crème Colour Base in 'Pink Shock' onto the cheeks using a MAC #168 Large Angled Contour Brush. 

  I didn’t use any contouring in this look as wanted the highlighting to stand alone and have more colour on the cheeks for more of an English rose look. 

• I patted 'Pink Shock' onto the lips as a stain.

• On the eyes, I mixed Illamasqua cream pigment in ‘Outcast’ with the Bourjois Touche Healthy Mix Illuminating Concealer to take it from a bright yellow to a soft lemon. I used my fingers to blend this right up to the brow. I then applied a sheer wash of MAC Crushed Metal Pigment in 'Lantern Light' using a MAC #224 Tapered Blending Brush, and highlighted the inner corners of the eye with the same colour. 

• Mascara, and done!!

Thembi’s tip of the month:

Try swapping your powder blusher and eye shadow for a crème. 

And pick up a bright pigment as we’re going to be using them a lot for the summer! 

Until next month...

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