This season is a romantic one, with a dark twist.
Drawing inspiration from New York and London Fashion Week trends and combining it with the latest favourite Asian makeup application methods, we have the best of both Western and Asian beauty.
With all the 90’s prints, checked pants, and dark florals popping up, we’re pairing softer, diffused shadows and lips with darker, monochromatic warm hues. See our favourite Fall 2019 trends below.
1. Plums, Deep Yellows, and Classic Browns
We’ve seen some of Pantone’s Fall 2019 colours on the London and NYFW runways — and besides the classic burgundy and plum shades on Tibi and Oscar de la Renta, there were some unique mixtures of deep, creamy yellows, such as Butterscotch and Dark Cheddar.
And then there are the classic browns. Choose between darker, neutral browns like Rocky Road and Chicory Coffee, or soft, nutty browns like Sugar Almond and Hazel. Depending on your skin tone, we’d suggest sticking to neutral or warm tones that complement your natural complexion.
So how to go about wearing these colours? Try a monochromatic look.
“[The colour] is in all the right places to give the face dimension,” makeup artist Grace Lee said of the tonal terracotta makeup, which was sported on the runway for Cushnie and featured satin finish lipsticks that doubled as blush, eye shadow, and lip colour.
2. Natural Looking Hair
Ash tones and more “personalized” brown colours have been really popular in Korea.
According to hair artist Sunwoo Kim in his latest feature in Allure magazine: “The cool tones of ash hair colours help cancel out unwanted red hues. [Asian] complexions tend to have red and yellow undertones, and many believe ash dye jobs flatter both and brighten your face at the same time.”
Based on your complexion, you might also want to try a warmer or ash-toned shade of brown to complement your skin.
3. Softer brows
Instagram brows are phasing out and natural fluffy brows are bringing the focus back onto eyes and complexion. On the runway, eyebrows were filled in softly by powder, without crisp lines. Although they weren’t brushed up the way they had been in the previous season, soap brows or brushed up brows are still a wonderful trick to lift your face in a subtle way.
The best example would be Chanel and Roberto Cavalli, where brows were brushed and groomed, and then slightly darkened and softly defined.
4. Warm Smokey Eyes & Natural Lashes
While diffusing darker colours in eyeshadow may not flatter everyone, using softer browns and warmer golds will flatter Asian complexions. In addition, artists are swapping out falsies for fluffy, defined natural lashes.
In her recent Allure Magazine feature, makeup artist Jo Hyemin said, “We prefer when the lashes aren’t too thick. [The desired look] is really thin.”
5. K-Beauty Inspired Soft Matte Lips
Autumn winds make it hard for hair not to stick to your face, so maybe that’s the practical reason why we’re not seeing more glossy looks transitioning into the colder months. Runways were borrowing the popular K-Beauty ombre and softly blended lip application with matte wine hues.
At Oscar de la Renta and Jonathan Simkhai, simple makeup was paired with soft red lips.
“She’s slightly imperfect, and I like that,” said makeup artist Grace Lee. Choosing a neutral or cooler tone of red or burgundy will help brighten the complexion while looking effortless.
Yes, when life is demanding all the effort, you can still look effortless.