Fashion Quarterly | Runway to real way: Berry lips

If you’re thinking of switching up your beauty look for winter, or just keen to add another fail-safe look to your repertoire, it’s time you tried a berry lip.

Seen on countless runways at New York Fashion Week in the depths of a frosty winter, it was a pop of colour that translated seamlessly across every skin tone and was often worked back with clean glowy skin and minimal-to-no eye makeup.

What better person to give us the low down on taking this look from runway to real way than Tony Baumann, head of artistry for Mecca Cosmetica, who worked backstage at NYFW on such beautifully berry-lipped shows as Rodarte and Creatures of the Wind.

“It’s quite a harsh look if you’re not used to wearing lip colour, but it suits everyone,” says Tony. “There’s not really anyone who can’t wear it – and it makes your teeth look really white! The most important thing is to make sure you line it properly.”

A model prepares backstage at Creatures of the Wind during Fall 2016 New York Fashion Week

When it comes to lining, Tony’s number one tip is to flag your lip liner for a brown eyeliner, especially when working with dark hues such as plum and berry. His favourite products from the runway? Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Train Bleu and Nars Eye Liner in Mambo.

On using eyeliner, Tony says: “If you use a lip pencil with any colour in it, it looks red around the edges and you get jam sandwich lips! So the best way to do this is to fill in your lips first with the lipstick then just go around the edges and sharpen with a brown eyeliner.” Use the eyeliner to clean up and sharpen the edges of your lips at the end, rather than lining the lips first as this creates a more effortless, modern look, he adds.

Models poses backstage at Creatures of the Wind during Fall 2016 New York Fashion Week

Models pose backstage at Creatures of the Wind during Fall 2016 New York Fashion Week

With the rest of your makeup, go minimal. “With this lip colour, it’s not good to have any warmth on the rest of the face – keep it quite cold,” says Tony. “Maybe a little bit of contour [on the cheeks], quite neutral, and then a little bit of product through the brows to keep them in place and to add definition – but not too filled in. And then mascara, that’s it!

“It’s that really sheer, translucent skin – quite matte, but highlighted in certain areas – a beautiful bold look and then everything else is pared right down. It’s really wearable.”