Toronto Fashion Week, united with RE\SET and THE COLLECTIONS, came to a close on Wednesday, officially kicking off Fashion Month. The three-day event transformed the city’s premier luxury retail destination, Yorkville Village, into an epic catwalk, and boasted more than 20 shows and events that proudly displayed the creative talents of up-and-coming and seasoned Canadian designers.
The runways sure gave us plenty to marvel at, especially when it came to beauty. One common theme across the three days? Break out the sparkle and throw out your beauty inhibitions. Next season’s makeup trends are all about prismatic colour worn with fierce confidence.
We journeyed backstage to the beautyBOUTIQUE by Shopper’s Drug Mart on day 3 and turned to lead makeup artist Simone Otis and nail wizard Melissa Forrest to chat inspiration, designer collaboration process, and key products used behind some of our favourite looks.
From cosmic-cool nails to under-eye glitter, here are the ones that earned a gold star in our book.
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“Triarchy is a bit rock ‘n’ roll, a bit minimalist, a bit fashion. We wanted to do something different than a dark smokey eye. I mixed two glitters together, a golden taupe and an opalescent, which gave the look a bit of a skin quality to it as well, no matter which skin tone you put it on.” – Simone Otis
“The lip was an homage to the designer’s PR person who always wears this very bright orangey-red colour. I thought that was just so charming and wonderful; two young male designers paying homage to this older woman who’s cool and fashionable.” – Simone Otis
“Nikki [Wirthensohn Yassemi] kept saying, ‘like a disco ball!’ So we used the Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid Eye Shadow in Diamond Dust and warmed it up with a copper shadow just to make it feel a bit more now.” – Simone Otis
“Prismatic. Holographic. We went to town with the makeup and gave it this Guy Bourdin, ’80s-chic feel, but it doesn’t feel costumey. When you look closer, there’s a myriad of colours with an unexpected inner-corner green highlight instead of a typical white. It’s modern and new.” – Simone Otis
“We did matte red nails and lettering. It’s both classy and edgy.” – Melissa Forrest
“We did a highlight in the inner corner with a yellow gold and a wash of warm brown on the lid. The look was really fresh with touches of bronzer.” – Simone Otis
“A feminine, holographic nail that’s not too in-your-face.” – Melissa Forrest
“Jassal’s collection was stunning. She had some mirroring and beadwork in her clothes and I didn’t want the nails to distract from that. I stuck with two colours, black and gold, and added Swarovski crystals to mimic the reflective quality in the collection.” – Melissa Forrest
“It’s always a journey with these guys! I’d tried different dots: larger, smaller, random dots, different colours. In the end, what worked best were these super bright grids and we did actual candy lips. They just love to be playful, so I went with what they were saying through their clothes which was be spontaneous and try something new. You don’t need to call on anyone else.” – Simone Otis
“They said, ‘Melissa, the most ghetto fabulous length you can find and then neon!’ They love their neons.” – Melissa Forrest
“Hayley’s key words were alien, cosmic, and outer space. Each look has a bit of an ultraviolet, prismatic feel to it. There’s green contour along the cheeks, feminine round shapes and drawn-on petal lashes. Each one was really about the highlights everywhere to create this alien-like skin.” – Simone Otis
“Haley’s obsessed with galaxies, but she didn’t want the typical galaxy nail that’s been trending for the past year and a half. We agreed that negative space would be a cool way to do it, and created this floating stars kind of idea.” – Melissa Forrest
“It’s this idea of chunky, dark liner but instead of doing it with a flick, we did it with this chevron shape. It’s equal, so you’re giving the eye a lot of drama and dimension.” – Simone Otis
“It’s menswear, but they wanted to play with makeup this season. We did glitter, but not in a precious way. I took a foil-finish shadow and kind of scraped it across models’ faces. It’s like they were roughed up a bit—but with glitter.” – Simone Otis
The Best Beauty Looks From Toronto Fashion Week F/W 2018