EMMA HILL

Christopher Kane with Chantecaille SS2012

The make-up at Christopher Kane’s show on Monday was refreshingly well, fresh.  It featured flushed cheeks and lips, nice even skin and, said Sylvie Chantecaille, ‘neutral light eyes.’   This light handed eye make-up  illustrates a slow move away from the ubiquitous smoked eye in fashion.  The kind of eye perfected by Princess Beatrice behind her notorious wedding hat, and which has now become a rather hackneyed default option for the camera ready celebrity.

This gentler eye make up involves using a highlight colour – think fleshy cream or powder eye shadow with a very slight sheen – smoothed over the lid,  mascara and a little brow powder to define the eye brows.  The effect is chic and youthful. It works well with a new long lasting cream eye shadow by Clinique – Lid Smoothie in Bit ‘O Honey – a smidgen, over eye lids and into the crease.  Then black mascara – Mac Pro Long Lash makes lashes feathery and pretty.   A caveat: for those with a deep socket (like me), pale shadow can look a little stark.  By blending a touch of grey-brown or taupe shadow over the lid and a little way into the crease the overall look is lovelier.

All this heralds the new lighter, fresher touch to make-up, championed by the new, sheerer make up textures.  Take the new so called hybrid foundations, or BB Creams (an off shoot from the popular, Korean BB Cream, a cult cosmetic in Asia), which are part tinted moisturiser, part super-light foundation, part SPF moisturiser and designed to look imperceptible on the skin.   Garnier‘s BB Cream has already arrived, so too one by Mac and a handful more are on the horizon.  Bourjois Font de Teint Gel has just arrived on my desk  - I highly recommend it for its sheer, natural, expensive finish at a very reasonable price (£10.99).  It hits the shelves in October.   If you do want to splash out, I also recommend Chantecaille’s new foundation, Future Skin (£55 and also used on models at Christopher Kane).  Chantecaille makes some of the best foundations in the world, and this with its light, blendable, flawless finish is exceptional.

Also note the increasing number of sheer lipsticks appearing on the shelves (Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Bourjois and Poppy King for Boots No7 are all terrific).  Expect to see sheer, gel blushers seeping onto the market too, to give you that natural flush without shimmer.   Sadly Ruby & Millie’s version (an old favourite) has disappeared from the shelves, but Benefit BeneTint is alive and kicking.