5 Genius Beauty Hacks We Learnt At New York Fashion Week

It’s not all pretty frocks and celebrity front rows at fashion week you know, we learnt a beauty trick-or-two as well.

New York, AW16; it was a blast. From the Space Cowboys at Jeremy Scott, to Lady Gaga walking in the Marc Jacobsshow – AW16 delivered and then some. But, in between ogling the best AW16 lip colour (NARS Train Bleu at Rodarte) and rediscovering forgotten teenage hair styles (Hair Stylist Anthony Turner’s twisty low ponytail at Prabal Gurung) we paid attention to the pros and learnt a few easy beauty hacks. You should get in on the action too. 

Chalking: it’s a nail thing We’re always on the look out for a new nail trend whether we’re talking Rihanna style press-on’s or negative space nail art. This season we discovered chalk nails. You remember the huge pastel chalks from your childhood? The kind you’d draw all over the pavements with? At Alexander Wang manicurist Michelle Saunders recreated our favourite girl-hood pink chalk with a layer of Essie Fiji under a coat of Essie Tuck It In My Tux and topped-off with a layer of a matte topcoat called Essie Matte About You. Super easy but so lovely. You don’t have to go pink either; reinterpret the look with any pastel colour worn under a matte topcoat.

Mix your perfectly matched nude It can be really tricky to find the right colour nude lipstick, especially so if you’re really pale (the wrong nude on pale skin can look a little The Walking Dead). This is where make-up artist Diane Kendal’s lip trick comes in handy. At both Prabal Gurung and Carolina Herrera, Kendal mixed the lipstick in with a little foundation. This works on all lipstick colours if you’re just looking to mute it down a little, but if you’re after the perfect nude for your skin then a pinky nude mixed with your foundation –as Kendal did at Prabal Gurung) is a trick worth knowing. 

Get beachy hair without salt spray This has us very excited; we love the look of tousled beachy hair but we hate the gritty, sticky feel of some salt sprays. Redken’s Global Creative Director Guido Palau showed us the solution at Alexander Wang. He created matte – but touchable – texture with Redken Beach Envy Volume Shampoo and Conditioner. It volumises and leaves a slightly matte finish but, and here’s where we fell in love, it feels nice. It’s not out until the summer but we’ll be first in line to stock up when it launches. 

Swap your regular brow gel for mascara The look at Rodarte had us seeing hearts just like our favourite emoji. James Kaliardos went for a toughened ethereal look with dark vampy lips and megawatt highlight. Instead of more traditional brow pencils and powders he used NARS Audacious mascara through the short hairs – careful not to get any formula on the skin. ‘It almost looks like we’ve dyed the hair,’ he told me. We just love it.

The no-tong Waves If you’re all fingers and thumbs when it comes to a curling wand you’re going to Guido Palau’s trick at Hugo Boss. After prepping damp hair with Redken Pillow Proof Express Primer Cream and blow-drying, he gathered the hair up into a loose bun at the base of the head and secured loosely with clips. The girl’s hair was left like this while they had their make-up done and when it was let down it had the softest, most flattering bend.