LFW Part 1- The end of the bronzer

Behind the scenes at LFW

Blue blush is so cool!

Like many - I've been trying to keep up with all the wonderful and fabulous sights emitting from the London Fashion week. It's reminded me of a school mufti day though- everyone trying to impress each other with their latest collection (mind you I don't think Viv Westwood paired Adidas matching orange tracksuit with a red Kappa jacket complete with greased back hair and un-waxed eyebrows as I did in year 7!) I really don't want to bore you and I am aware I can talk for Great Britain so I've just picked out the innovative trends that have really caught my eye.

This first feature centres around a make up trend rather than clothes, the reason being that Huishan Zhang and the make up artists behind the design really do deserve a medal. Zhang is a well respected designer from Quingdao, China. He describes his ideal client as "Confident, cultured, feminine and elegant!" - my kind of guy! And these elements were certainly evident in his catwalk collection combining bold, pastel pieces with dainty, small floral patterns.

What REALLY caught my eye was the colour palette used to highlight the models' cheek bones- as you can see from the photos this is a far cry from the familiar bronzed tangerine look that I normally go for. I have to admit when I first came across the blue blush look I was taken a back as at first glance it looked a little extraterrestrial but it grew on me so much! It's feminine, sexy and so refreshing! We're so used to seeing harsh browns and all too familiar pink blushes that when compared to the Zhang creations do look a little dull.

Barry M Dazzle Dust

The tangerine look you actually want!

I've been scouting around for blue blusher on the internet and even went into my local MAC store but could not find any. I think a little DIY is in order! I have the typical dark hair and dark eye color
combination highlighting my cool skin complexion. I have an almost yellow tinge to mine but cool complexions can range from very very pale to sallow shades therefore my complexion is suited to blushes with blue and pink undertones. I'm not ready to try the blue blush solely on its own so I've used MAC cream blush in Pink Cult (retailing at £17.50) for a neutral pink base. Then I blended a very light layer Barry M Dazzle dust in Block Blue (shade dd93 at a very reasonable £4.59) to create a cute blue blush look which isn't too E.T.

What if you have a warmer complexion? Not to worry! You're probably used to using mauve and golden tones to compliment your complexion but this does certainly not mean you have to completely stay away form the bold Zhang creation. Use the same products but different colors, if I was lucky enough to have lovely warm complexion then I'd go for MAC cream blush in Modern Mandarin which will give you a red-orange base then blend Barry M Dazzle dust in Buff (shade dd101) to give you a fantastic alternative to the normal bronzed look.

If I was to do a little bit of fashion forecasting my prediction would be that we have not seen the last of these blush creations- in the meantime get creative ladies!!! It's so fun and there's so many different combinations you can choose from! Is this the end of bronzer?


Hannah
XO