New York Fashion Week is over and we’re left to make sense of it all. What’s here to stay and what’s a has-been? Are we doing matte lips again? Is the winged cat eye so over? Well Beauty Expert Trae Bodge, co founder of Three Custom Color Specialists, returns to ThisThatBeauty to offer our bi-annual New York Fashion Week Beauty Trend Report. Why painstakingly cull through show after show when we can break it down for you plain and simple. Take it away, Trae!

**********

Spring/Summer 2012 Trends from the Runway

Hello again – I’m SO thrilled to be back with another beauty trend report for ThisThatBeauty!  I’m sitting here on a crisp, Fall day trying to fast forward in my mind to the light and flirty days of Spring and Summer 2012.  All it takes is another tour of the runways (thank you, www.style.com!) and I’m in a Springy, Summery state of mind.

What struck me first about this season were the colorful lips. I always feel a bit sad when there is a strong return to nude or neutral lips, so I was excited to see a real commitment to bold, defined lips this go ‘round.

The two lip trends that were the most memorable for me were the Peach Lip and the Red Lip.

Peach Lip

Several of the peach lips were paired with soft, demure eyes, like at Nicholas K, Candela and Porter Grey.  This is a very fresh, wearable “every day” look.  Most of us can make this look work because peach is extremely wearable.  Because it is the perfect balance between warm (red) and cool (pink), peach suits most skin tones.

The peach lip look that I really like was at Jill Stuart (pictured).  The peach lip was pronounced and matte and the eyes were rimmed with dramatic black.  It was the perfect play against her powerful, color blocked styles.  Because of the dramatic eye, this is a tougher look for the every day woman to pull off, but hey – isn’t runway supposed to be larger than life any way?

Red Lip

Red lips often make an appearance on the runway, but this season’s reds were notably bright and commanding.  These lips were most often paired with peach cheeks, soft eyes and a defined brow.  My favorite examples of this were at Jason Wu, Jen Kao and Joy Cioci (pictured).

Now, in terms of being wearable, a red lip is not for the faint of heart.  Of course, Felicia of TTB ROCKS a fabulous red lip, but she’s got the personality to match!  If you’re feeling bold, go for it, but if you’re more on the shy side, try a red gloss (or red lipstick mixed with lip balm), for a softer look.

The WOW Factor

Now, I don’t know if the super dramatic black-rimmed eyes I saw at Marc Jacobs, Monique L’Hullier and L.A.M.B. (pictured) will end up being a trend, but I thought the look was so fabulous that I felt compelled to write about it.  I question the trendiness of this look, simply because it would take so much work to make it happen!  Eyes were literally scrawled with black, and often winged out in a dramatic, almost Japanese-inspired style.  Lashes were heavy and fake and brows were very defined as well, particularly at L.A.M.B.   Fabulous!

The quickest route to a kick ass outfit is ridiculously outstanding accessories. The right statement necklace can instantly and magically transform ye olde LBD into an eye popping show stopper. While clothes, hair and makeup are the first aspects of fashion that come to mind when I think about Fashion Week, accessories are a key component of every designer’s presentation.

Check out ThisThatBeauty’s rundown of the sickest accessories to hit the runway for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week AW/2010.

BCBG

Carolina Herrera

Halston

Jason Wu

Jill Stuart

John Bartlett

Ports 1961

Zac Posen

#NYFW