Beauty

Your Beauty Reboot

There has never been a better time to change it up, for the latest makeup is confident, fearless and inclusive.

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There has never been a better time to change it up, for the latest makeup is confident, fearless and inclusive.

With looks that run the gamut from neutral to kaleidoscopic, there’s certainly no lack of visual variety on the Fall 2018 runways when it comes to makeup. Indeed, the creative minds at work behind the season’s hottest looks have gone above and beyond to make sure that makeup is back in a big way. “The wide range of looks is a sign that nobody wants to tell anyone what she or he should do when it comes to beauty anymore,” says Sarah Lucero, Stila’s global executive director of creative artistry. Declaring a single trend is limiting and it can get stale fast in our social-media- obsessed world. Instead, experts have embraced the power of makeup in general, using a myriad of colours and textures to completely transform or celebrate a person’s individuality. Beauty brands have introduced makeup with a wider array of hues than ever to suit all forms of creative expression, including foundation lines with 30- or 40-shade ranges – a long overdue leap from the eight- to 15-shade ranges of the past that ignored so many skin tones. Bottom line: think of this season’s looks not as a limiting beauty prescription but as the inspiration you need to charge into the tail end of the year refreshed and ready for anything. Here are the key areas you’ll be excited to explore now.

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Sophisticated Lip Colour

There are myriad hues to play with this season, with bright reds, deep espressos, and even cobalt blues and emerald greens walking down the runways. So you can truly pick a colour, any colour. The finish, however, is more focused: Look for a lipstick (rather than a gloss or a balm) in a matte or velvet. “These have more pigment and impact, which makes them perfect for Fall’s refined and structured styles,” says Kristy Noga, Givenchy’s national makeup artist. You’ll find the latest offerings to be surprisingly lightweight and more moisturising than a classic matte lipstick. “Liquid hydrators and blurring pigments added to the formulas create a fresh feeling and a smooth result,” Kristy says. You’ll find them in two types of formulas. The first, a liquid lipstick (like L’Oreal Paris Infallible Pro Matt Gloss, $19.90, Watsons), looks and glides on like lip gloss, but there is a method: You should not press your lips together after you swipe on the colour. You want to apply, then let it dry, so the tint and finish can set properly, Kristy says. Your second option is a lipstick bullet, which can go on straight from the tube and then be blotted with a tissue. “Sometimes, I also soften the edges of the lip with a clean finger,” says Kristy. “The blurred lines create a stained effect that looks romantic and modern.”
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Bespoke Blusher

With all the fun happening on your lips, cheek colour will likely become a supporting player to your looks this season (especially compared with the defined-contouring trend of the past couple of years). Its subtlety, however, shouldn’t be a reason to skip it. “Even a supersheer blusher colour enhances your complexion, giving it a fresh, youthful glow,” Sarah says. The key is to choose one that looks great on your skin colour. More makeup brands are extending the shade ranges of their blusher collections to help you do that, offering the palest of peaches for fair skin and the deepest of roses for dark skin. The formula you choose is a personal preference, but Sarah opts for a cream blush – “it melts into skin so easily,” she says. Apply it to the apples of your cheeks with your fingertips. To get a similarly dewy effect with a powder, tap it onto the apples with a damp sponge.
 
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“Match your base to the colour your skin is now, not what you think it might be in the future.” – Bobbi Brown makeup artist Tia Hebron

Flawless Foundation

This is the season for you to achieve your selfie skin goals. Your first step is finding a foundation that truly matches your skin colour. If you’ve failed at that in the past – and so many of us have – then you’ve probably felt that foundation made you look worse. It’s worth giving it another go, because major brands now offer shade ranges that number in the 30s and 40s, vastly improving your chance of meeting the one. “To choose correctly, shop for foundation during the day, so you can swipe the options on your jawline and then check them in the sunlight,” says Bobbi Brown Pro Artist Tia Hebron. The foundation should also conceal pimples, dark marks, pores and scars, so you can maintain a picture-ready complexion anytime. “For that, you want a matte finish,” Kristy says. “It camouflages textured skin, and radiates smoothness and clarity.” Covergirl Trublend Matt Made foundation ($22, https://shopping-district.net) and Cover Fx Power Play Foundation ($68, Sephora) are both matte formulas that come in 40 shades.

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Metallic Is The Sexier Neutral

Anyone can pull it off  – the only thing to decide is how bold to go. “Gold flatters all skin tones, and it doesn’t have to be over the top,” says Luis Casco, global beauty ambassador for Mary Kay. “Darker complexions look great in bright-yellow golds; if you’re lighter, you may want to lean towards true or rose golds.” Luis advises tapping the shade onto lids with a finger or a flat makeup brush for the most intensity; use a fluffy brush for a sheerer effect. Try Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Gold Coast ($13, www.marykay.com.sg).

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TEXT KATE SANDOVAL BOX MAIN PHOTO JONATHAN KAMBOURIS STYLING RACHEL STICKLEY/BERNSTEIN & ANDRIULLI 
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More: makeup looks creative beauty season sarah brands foundation shade colour finish lipstick gloss matte artist formulas blusher effect

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