The look at Aje was more about playing up what the models had (youthfulness, flawless complexions…) rather than creating features they don’t possess. Lead makeup artist for the show, Victoria Curtis, says contouring is making way for a much more subtle look.
If you thought that, from what you have seen already at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, that contouring might have had its day, you could be on the money. Victoria Curtis, owner of Curtis Collection, created the makeup look for the Aje show; and she said that, while last year was all about structure and contouring, this year things are a lot more out of focus.
“This look is about polished skin and polished brows,” says Curtis. “A glow but not too much shimmer; it’s more radiance than anything else.”
To achieve this, Curtis and her team started with skincare – the Curtis Collection Retexture Creme Hydrating Primer, followed by the Curtis Collection Pore Minimizer Primer and the brand’s CC Cream to create “that coming-from-within glow”.
Brows were equally subtle but also highlighted. “We’re using brow tint on the brows to, if anything, lighten them, and plump them,” says Curtis. “We don’t want to darken them in any way, just highlight them.”
Cheeks where given a flush using Curtis Collection Lipstick in Pure Pleasure.
“Contouring was so big last year so now we are moving away from that and gone for a pretty flush of colour,” says Curtis. But instead of placing the colour right on the apple of the cheek, product was applied just under the cheek bone “so rather than looking placed on the apple, it is just naturally flushed.”
Then to add the subtlest of definition, makeup artists used the brand’s Baked Illuminating Bronzer in Sun Goddess to contour through the eye and cheekbone. “We contoured the socket of the eye to create a nice cutting through the face. It’s sort of contouring but with much more of a glow and a dewy finished.”
The nails were as individual as the fashion walking the runway.
“The nails for this show is about complementing the clothes,” says Cleopatra Tucker who created the five individualised nail looks using Faby for the show. “We have five nail looks which interchange depending on what the girls are wearing.”
Block colours ruled with versions in “sheer shimmer, navy, plain black, and khaki” all matted down with Faby’s Matte Top Coat. One of the looks forfeited colour all together and just went matte – an uber cool look that seemed to strike a cord with the models backstage.