Fall & Winter Makeup Trends

When it comes to makeup lasting all day, the fall and winter offer the best months since you don’t have to worry about mascara and eyeliner melting off of your face or coming off in the pool. Fall/winter is also the time when you’ll be able to experiment more with gorgeous autumnal colors and the classic smokey eye look. As for lips, you’ll want to find the right shade of red so you can complete your seasonal look.
Moving past the general advice, the fall and winter makeup trends for 2011 are shaping up to be bold, sweet, soft and sexy. But before you can complete this year’s trends, you’ll need the basic tools of the trade like foundation, concealer, blush, eye shadows in natural shades, lipstick, lip gloss, brow pencil or powder, and of course mascara. Assuming you have all of this, keep reading the makeup trends for fall and winter 2011, and decide what will be your go-to look.


Soft Makeup Trend
One of the trends for fall/winter 2011 is something everyone should be familiar with because it’s been popping up more and more amongst women and teenage girls. The look is nude, and it is a hot look for fall and winter, as well as timeless and traditional for those low maintenance days. To achieve a nude look, you’ll need clean and healthy skin that is nearly flawless. Fortunately,
it’s easy to pull off a nude look if you have the correct concealer and foundation for your skin’s complexion.
If you plan on going to any holiday parties, try using iridescent pink, define your eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil or powder, and highlight your cheekbones. But don’t overpower the look with heavy mascara; instead, try using brown mascara rather than black. In regards to lips, you can use a nude lip color, or opt for a light red color.


Bold Makeup Trend
If you were born with big beautiful eyebrows, then this is your year to shine. Strong, thick, and perfectly defined eyebrows are going to be a major trend for fall and winter 2011, and the major designers are making sure big brows get noticed. Of course, big eyebrows don’t mean messy ungroomed brows, so you still need to shape them, and keep the stray hairs at bay by tweezing regularly. You will, however, need to fill them in with an eyebrow pencil or brow powder to frame your face. An easy way to achieve a strong eyebrow is to keep your makeup natural by matching your foundation perfectly, and not wearing mascara. Use a brow comb to work brow gel over your eyebrows, and to keep the hair in place all day.


Nature-Inspired Trend
Some trends never go out of style, like golden eye shadows used in combination with the autumnal colors; so you can definitely expect to see these colors this season. Eye shadow colors for these upcoming fall and winter months will be inspired by nature like orange, brown, red, yellow and coral. Use strong pigments to create these stunning looks, and then use golden shades to accent the other colors. Keep your makeup simple by not wearing too much black eyeliner with this look so that you’ll glow more, without the harsh color on your waterline.


Dark Makeup Trend
Take your look in the opposite direction with this mysterious, dark, sexy makeup trend that will be popping up in the fall and winter. For this look, you’ll want to use eyeliner a lot more than the aforementioned trends, while using your eye shadow less. However, you don’t need to eliminate your eye shadow because you’ll still want to create the smoky eye this season; so put shadow in the outer corner of your eyes, as well as above your crease.
Choose an earth-toned shadow that is iridescent to cover the eyelid. Don’t forget to cover the black shadow with the iridescent shade as well, moving from the outer corners of your eyes in to toward your nose. On your lips, apply a nude color of lipstick or gloss; for your eyelashes, use mascara in combination with a lash brush for a spider effect.


Trends for your Lips
Even though the fall and winter makeup trends draw most of the attention to your eyes, your lips will still make an impact on any look. Interestingly enough, it seems as though the designers are having a lover’s quarrel when it comes to lip makeup this year. Marc Jacobs is sticking with natural and simple makeup trends, while designers like Dolce&Gabbana go for a red lip. Whatever style you choose to try, be sure to match your eyes with your lips, and vice versa.


Wearable Makeup Trend
The models on the catwalks seem to have only one style of makeup, and it’s red lips with smoky eyes (how to: smoky eyes tutorial). This look is great for holiday parties, dates, or other important occasions; however, it isn’t good for everyday wear. During the day, you should opt for a bold lip color, and use less eye shadow on your eyelids. Use a plumping lip balm to make your lips look fuller, and if you use a colored lipstick, use a translucent powder to set the lip color for long-lasting wear. You can also use a lip liner to fill in your lips, and then apply a matching lipstick on your lips. Finally, be sure to fill in your brows for nice bold eyebrows, and then complete the look with mascara and a light blush.
Now that you know what all of the latest trends are for fall and winter 2011, you can try each look to find the one that works the best for you. And remember that the main key to having a good fall and winter makeup season is to have bold lips or eyes, but never at the same time.