Four fresh ways to update your look

The eyes have it this coming season, as beauty shifts its attention upwards from spotlighting statement lips and flawless skin. We've picked four of our favourite fresh ways to update your look as seen at the international designer shows. Practise these runway-tested looks now to be ahead of the winter trend.

UNDER-LINE

Liner has moved from above to below the eye and looks best blended out in a statement shade.

"The waterline is the easiest way to do a colour moment on the eye," explains M.A.C's senior artist for Australia, Nicole Thompson, drawing on examples from the last show season.

Icy blues look particularly new, but choose any lighter colour you can carry that either complements or contrasts with your iris. The trick is applying a sheer shade and building it up, rather than using anything too opaque. "There is a candy store of eyeliner pencils available," she says.

Once you've chosen your colour, apply with a kohl, crayon or gel pencil or by brush to the waterline, avoiding harder pencils, which may irritate this delicate area, and liquids or powders, which won't set.

Then take the colour a bit below the lashes and blend it down, rather than being tempted to wrap colour around the eye from the top.

Done well, this won't drag down the appearance of the eye and, in fact, with people who have a heavily lidded eye, it can give the impression of a more open area.

Avoid ringing your eye in black, which looks dated unless you have a particularly deft hand at smoking out the edges. But, in any case, the new way with smoky eyes is to use softer shades, such as slate greys.

If, after playing up the under-eye area, you still feel the need for a little contouring definition above the eye, stick with neutral shading and subtle, super-fine liner that doesn't flick out at the upper corners. That will keep the waterline in focus.

OVERLINE

Another eyecatching way to use liner away from its usual home along the upper lashes is in a graphic gesture above the eyelid. Sketch your socket in deconstructed strokes, calligraphy style, or in choppier, disconnected markings.

"It's an idea of makeup being about the freedom to just grab the pencil and put it on," explains M.A.C senior artist Carol Mackie. "It's like using a sharpie [felt tip]."

Where liner is applied to the upper lashline, it is done in unexpected ways, ending abruptly mid-stroke or with wings rounded off or with upper and lower wing lines blacked in.

With this sort of bold, punkish approach, the rest of the face is best left looking largely unmade-up. Forget the mascara and do little else other than condition lips, tame brows and conceal any skin flaws, strictly as needed.

PASTEL EYE

"It's not about dark colours this season, it's about pastellising," says Thompson.
But there's nothing wishy-washy about this trend, with colours often starting quite vibrant then being mixed back with white so they appear softly sun-bleached. Among them are sky blues, lavenders, minty greens and warmer orange tones.
Smudge in these or similar shades for a free-spirited festival feel that embraces bare lashes, skin and lips.

WIDE EYE

In case you are thinking it is time to throw away your mascara brush, think again. For all the unmascara-ed eyes out there, as many again are lashed up to the max. Think of it as a mini-revival of the 1960s' doe eye.

"I really like mascara as the main eye makeup," says Thompson. "It is one of the easiest things to do on yourself."

Her advice for the best effect is to take the time to apply it properly. Use a light coat first, just a couple of flicks top and bottom, but let it dry.

Divert to applying concealer or whatever else needs doing, then apply a second coat to thicken the initial layer.

Finish by using the brush vertically to push up and spread out lashes.

If you have a lash curler, Mackie recommends starting the whole process with this step. "It's an instant wake-up call."

For a more dramatic lash look apply a series of individual fake lashes to thicken and lengthen your own. Do this after curling, but before mascara.

Makeup artists sometimes take this wide-eyed look to the extreme by clumping lashes together. This is best done with a subtle squeeze of a tweezer to combine a small group of lashes before mascara has dried.