The AW25 beauty trends we actually want to wear
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While you're probably (soooooooo) ready to dive into spring's biggest makeup trends, it's also never to early to start mood boarding your AW25 beauty looks.
New York, London, Paris and Milan have finally wrapped on serving up the hottest trends for the season ahead and there were some stunning makeup, hair and nail looks that could legitimately make the move from the runway to our own beauty routine. Think fresh updates on super-wearable hair and makeup codes, but also some edgy, theatrical looks for the girls who are brave enough to experiment.
Ahead, the AW25 beauty looks that we'd actually want to wear ourselves…
Renaissance romance
Fashion and beauty always find new ways to pay homage to the past, and renaissance romance was a theme that repeated itself across the cities. At Annie's Ibiza in London the pre-raphaelite waves and flushed lips and cheeks felt as ethereal as they did covetable. The show's lead hair stylist, Sam McKnight explained the hair look was “a modern take on youthful romance," revealing the hairstyles were “a nod to Renaissance beauty with long lengths,[that looked as though they] been braided and let loose and adorned with more braids that look like little horns.” He created three different looks tailored to suit each model with braided updos, dropped plaits and textured waves, calling on his MVP product, the Cool Girl Texture Mist "for instant volume and texture.”
As for makeup, lead MAC makeup artist, Dominic Skinner was inspired by Renaissance Art from a religious point of view, looking at figures such as Joan of Ark. “There is an element of fashion going on with the flushed cheek and then the power is coming through with the real strong blood red lip. We're giving that blessed look with the eyes, giving it a subtle line of gold, [that] you can't really see […] it kind of blends into the skin tone, but it just creates this extra glint in the eye that looks like you've been shone down on,” he revealed. Product-wise he relied on the M.A.Cximal Silky Matte Lipstick in D for Danger.
In Paris, the Chloe girls also wore relaxed, romantic almost bohemian waves, while at Michael Kors in New York the voluminous waves felt natural and organic.
Boy blush
It wouldn't be an autumn-winter season if we didn't spot blush that looked windswept and interesting. This was the case at Max Mara in Milan, Burberry in London and Gucci in Milan. Skin looked extra fresh and luminous with dewy finishes versus traditional mattes. As for placement, boy blush looks to be the way forward with a spread-out flush rather than anything too perfect or contained.
Vampire huns
Given the autumn sees things getting a littler moodier (it is Halloween season, after all), we loved to see vampire-core nods that looked low-key wearable. We never thought a red-ringed eye could look quite so phenomenal but at Dreaming Eli, crimson eyeshadow and lipstick was smudged out to look like the morning after the night before. Meanwhile at Di Petsa, the pointed oxblood mani haloed with black lace was a whole vibe. Wearable? Debatable. Fabulous? 100%.
Sculpted braids
The Labrum show in London was a masterclass in incredible sculptural braids with gold beaded box braids, jumbo bantu knots and slick pigtails among other beautiful styles. Lead hair stylist, Nick Irwin, explained “a lot of it is preparation, so a lot of the looks, like the braiding, was pre-done and worked into shapes. We've used a lot of the [Schwarzkopf Session Label] jelly to lock off the hair and create a very seamless, clean effect to the texture, and a shinier nuance to the hair so it feels modern and cool.”
Crimped waves
The noughties called, they're honoured to have inspired the hair on Chet Lo's London runway which featured throwback crimping but with a modern spin. Instead of hair crimped everywhere, lead hairstylist, Anna Cofone, crimped in chunks and strips leaving some sections straight.
Knitted headband
Autumn is chuny knit season, but we'd never thought to apply that logic to our hair accessories. Now, having seen the Prabal Gurung show in New York, knitted alice bands have become the adorable hair moment we didn't know we needed.
Grey eyeshadow
One look that we saw on repeat across the shows was grey eyeshadow, but instead of reading grungey or '90s, it felt dainty, sophisticated and ethereal with sheer washes of the cool shade washed over lids at Tory Burch in New York, Roberto Cavalli in Milan and Richard Quinn and Toga in London.
Tucked hair
The hair tuck (where longer strands are folded away into a funnel neck jumper or high neck jacket) is nothing new, but it's a classic for a reason. Coach gave the style a retro '80s feel in New York, pairing it with warm brown leather and suede jackets and oversized acetate glasses.
Colour streak
If you thought pastels and colour pops were just for spring, think again. At Blumarine in Milan, the models' grungy liner was updated with a pop of icy blue. Meanwhile in New York, Sandy Liang brought pastel pinks, apricot, sky blue and kiwi green to the models' makeup, Melke went in on pastel blue eyeshadow, Collina Strada featured gilded inner eye details and Bibhu Mohapatra experimented with red eyeshadow and liner.
Plum pouts
A bold red lip has become synonymous with the AW runway. But for AW25, there’s a new lip shade-of-the-season and it’s far more demure. Spotted on the models’ mouths at Carolina Herrera, makeup artist Samantha Lau paired matte, latte-coloured eyes with plum-stained pouts that made a pretty statement.
The same autumnal hue was seen at Ulla Johnson, where makeup artist Romy Soleimani mixed three shades (31, 42 and 12) of Sisley’s Phyto-Rouge Velvet Lipstick to create a sculpted lip look. Her trick? Focusing the pigment on the centre of the lip for a softly diffused finish that's free from harsh lines.
Dialling it up a notch, at Alice + Olivia, the models proved that more is more with bold berry-toned lips, shimmering eyeshadow and plenty of rosy blusher.
‘90s it-girl
It’s no surprise to see that the ‘90s has, once again, heavily influenced the hair and makeup looks on the runway. From skinny brows to concealer lips (yes, you read that right), ‘90s beauty nostalgia is here to stay with its raw and rebellious aesthetic.
At Sandy Liang, ‘mannequin latex lips and doll eyes’ were the order of the day. Makeup artist Jason Case used a neutral lip colour to almost erase the models’ mouths (a little like concealer) – but instead of the matte finish from yesteryear, Case opted for a balmy topcoat.
If you favoured the grunge look from the early ‘90s – take your cue from Kim Shui where grungy, elongated liner was paired with cool-toned lips and a frosted cut-crease eyeshadow.
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Bedhead hair
Capturing the moment between a night out and the morning after, the models’ strands at Prabal Gurung were worn loose and messy with a natural bedhead texture. Easy to recreate, simply use your best dry shampoo or a texturiser to add movement to second- (or third-) day hair.
At Vetttese, the hair had a similar care-free attitude – as if it had been blow-dried a few days earlier.
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