Runway Alert: Renaissance Inspired Luxe

At the Fall 2010 Nanette Lepore show, MAC makeup artists went for a striking two-tone magenta and burgundy lip with a heavily-lined smoky eye.  This look certainly isn't for everyday, but it's a fun and trendy night look.  Here's how to recreate the look:  apply a nude eyeshadow base, like MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly.  Then take MAC's Eye Kohl in Smolder (or any other great easily blendable soft black eyeliner) and line the inner rims of the eye together with the top lashline.  Then, smudge the liner bit, particularly around the outer corners.  For a softer look, you could use a charcoal wet/dry eyeshadow with a wet angled liner brush to achieve the same effect.  I recommend Bare Escentuals loose eyeshadow in Wearable Stone Dark for a great blendable charcoal shadow.

Keep the cheeks soft and understated with a hint of bronzer or a soft rosy-nude blush like Smaskbox's Bare (shimmery) or Estee Lauder's Desert (matte).  Then line the top lip with MAC's Magenta lipliner (you could also use a nude lipliner like NARS Morocco, as I prefer to do with bright lipcolors), and fill it in with a magenta or fuchsia lipstick like MAC's Utter Fun or Love Forever (the latter shade was used during the Lepore show but won't release until September 2010).  Next, fill in the entire lower lip with MAC's Burgundy lipliner.  The MAC makeup artists then mixed two lipstick shades: Odyssey and Charred Red, and then layered that over the Burgundy lipliner.  This created a bright creamy ruby look on the lower lip.  I think you can get the same effect with a single lipstick, like Illamasqua's Box, a matte deep ruby red.  Or you can just use Odyssey alone over the Burgundy for a slightly more daring purple-based lower lip.  In either case, I think that the slight contrast between the lower and upper lip provides some visual interest.  It's a fabulous runway and photo shoot look, but you can also pull it off for a night on the town.