Best Winter Makeup Trends (So You Look Cool, Not Cold)

Winter reigns supreme in the beauty department; special attention must be paid to skin and hair care, and makeup formulas and colours are similarly specially considered. Here’s an equally carefully curated list of the top winter makeup trends.

Velvet Skin
When famed superstar makeup artist Pat McGrath declares a trend, you know it’s a keeper. Not to be confused with glow-zapping opaque matte, McGrath describes the new texture as “fresh matte,” which creates a creamy, hydrated, fresh-looking complexion without completely nixing radiance and leaving skin looking alive. For winter collections, Victoria Beckham, Chloe, Stella McCartney and Balmain all ditched dewy skin in favour of a fresher, elegant look.

No Blush
Complementing the velvet skin trend perfectly, the no blush look was also seen at Balmain and Victoria Beckham in addition to Alexander Wang, Dolce & Gabbana, and Jonathan Saunders. This left the skin to shine in the spotlight, in all its satiny-matte glory. Faces looked natural, and even with eye or lip makeup, never looked too “done up.”

Lip Stain
Forget lipsticks for now. Lip stains are having their moment, and they ideally work perfectly for winter months as moisturizing balm can be used over or under stains. Fuchsia and faded in the center, Dior’s lips looked like pretty petals, while at Marni bright crimson, matte, imperfect pouts boldly stamped models’ mouths. Sheerer, softer, natural looking tones with a slight sheen dressed the lips over at Derek Lam, while Vera Wang showed a classic, berry/wine-stained look. Perhaps the most talked about look of the season, Prada presented a cherry popsicle-like pout, sweetly stained and entirely covetable.

Black Eyeliner
Swiping a thin black dash of eyeliner has never been easier thanks to many new ergonomic-shaped eyeliners created to help you more easily recreate the trend. Subtly defining eyes, Proenza Schouler, Victoria Beckham, Alexander Wang and Christopher Kane understood a swoosh of barely-detectable black eyeliner is all you need for definition and sophistication.