The Ultimate Spring Beauty Trend Guide
Spring starts in one week! We can’t promise that the sun will shine brightly or you’ll finally figure out how to wear a crop top (though here’s help with that)—but we can guarantee that experimenting with colorful eye makeup, deep side parts, and orange lipstick will be worth your while. Not everything on the runway’s meant for real life, but it is the best place to look for inspiration when it comes to trying something new. Without further ado, we present the ultimate guide to spring’s top beauty trends.
The low-slung ponytail is the easiest trend in the world to cop in real life, thanks to the ease with which it transitions from sleek and formal to loose and downtown.
At Jason Wu, hair stylist Odile Gilbert fastened a bold barrette over each model’s ponytail.
In Paris, Haider Ackermann’s models showed off a more intricate pony.
Eugene Souleiman gave the girls sleek tails and deep side parts (more on that later) at Stella McCartney’s show.
Spring loves a bold lip—this season it’s orange, very, very bright, and runs the texture gamut.
The rag & bone girl usually gets a swish of liner and Kate Moss-inspired hair, but she finally got a lip for spring! Gucci Westman used a mix of orange pigments from Revlon to build the bright shade.
A classic red lip might feel French, but even Galliano embraced the orange lip for spring.
Nars’ new Satin Lip Pencil ($25) in Timanfaya made a splash at Creatures of the Wind.
You’ve mastered the cat eye, now it’s time to step it up a notch by lining the entire eye. For spring, liner comes smoky, graphic, or elegant—but always black.
Aaron de Mey took the cat eye to the next level at Saint Laurent, wrapping the entire eye in black liner and extending it out, for a too-cool-for-school look.
If you haven’t read our guide to lining your waterline, let Versace inspire you.
Before heading to Paris, de Mey whipped up a smokier version of the kohl-rimmed eye for Jill Stuart’s models.
Nothing makes a fancy outfit look quite as cool as laidback hair. A string of designers proved so with slightly surfer waves that look air-dried. Flyaways are embraced, too.
A girl just back from vacation inspired the no-fuss hair Didier Malige built at Isabel Marant.
Guido Palau was thinking of Claudio Schiffer in the early ‘90s when he mattified the mussed-up waves at Alexander Wang.
The secret to Balmain’s slight texture and natural movement? Plain old water!
If you’re going to play with one metallic come spring, make it gold. The warm hue works just as well on your face and in your hair as it does on nails.
Peter Philips and Sam McKnight doubled up on gold at Dries Van Noten, where thread was woven into the models’ lashes and each part was painted with gold leaf.
At Dior, Pat McGrath raised the bar, painting even brows glittering gold.
The gold at Max Mara was subtle, haphazardly brushed over the entire lid and up onto the brow for a fairy dust-like effect.
Don’t underestimate the power of changing up your part. If you already part on the side, go deeper, and if you’ve been clinging to a Kate Moss-inspired center part, you’ll be surprised to see how different your face looks when you pick a side.
Paul Hanlon imaged a “shipwrecked girl without a comb” at 3.1 Philip Lim, where the almost-wet hair was parted at the ear.
Hair was fresh and wispy at Jil Sander, where ‘natural’ was the key word.
The coolest way to wear the deep side part is the supermodel swoosh (formerly known as the ‘90s swoosh).
From pastels to vibrant neon, makeup artists had a field day with color around the eye. In place of last spring’s pigmented mascaras, they used a rainbow of shadow and liner.
McGrath used a spray gun to score “graffiti eyelids” at Prada, where the girls were painted with blue, green, purple, orange, and yellow, all of which stood out against bleached brows.
Chanel’s spring show was set in a faux art gallery, so Peter Philips painted tiny works of art onto each eyelid.
Can’t choose between Prada’s pastels and Chanel’s bright colors? Makeup artist Monica Marmo combined both at Delpozo’s brilliant show.
Instead of braids or flower crowns, try something sporty. Marni showed actual visors, while a handful of designers accessorized their feminine dresses with more wearable headbands.
Studded leather headbands looked crown-like at Valentino.
A handful of models wore leather headbands knotted in big bows at the back of the head on Alexander Wang’s second Balenciaga runway.
The always-ladylike Victoria Beckham went sporty for spring, topping off each model with a black elastic headband straight from the drugstore.