The look: Bare face paired with merlot-colored lips
How to get it: Step 1: Perfect your skin with foundation and concealer. Skip the powder so that your skin remains a bit dewy, says Zamora who created the look.
Step 2: If you have light lashes, apply just a touch of mascara to the base of them to define your eyes very subtly.
Step 3: Zamora mixed a black eyeliner pencil with red lipstick to create this lip color. To replicate it, scribble a significant amount of black eyeliner onto the back of your hand and add a red lipstick to it (try Maybelline New York Color Sensational Lipstick in Ruby Star, $7.50). Apply the mixture to your lips using a lip brush.
Photo 8/15
Fashion show: Jonathan Simkhai
The look: Modern twisted updo
How to get it: Step 1: Prep wet hair with a volumizing mousse (try Shu Uemura Art of Hair Ample Angora Volumizing Light Foam, $33), says stylist Conrad Dornan who created the look. Step 2: Blow dry hair using your fingers to rake in as much volume as possible
Step 3: Part hair in the middle and separate it into four sections -- two in the front, two in the back.
Step 4: Curl each section with a 1-inch barrel curling iron and secure each curl to the head with bobby pins for roughly three minutes. Note: I skipped this step because my hair has natural texture, but if yours is stick straight and fine, definitely curl it.
Step 5: Take the pins out, softly brush out the curls, and twist both front pieces towards the back of your crown, securing with bobby pins.
Step 6: Take the remaining hair in the back and fold and roll it into itself behind the two front twists. Pin like crazy until the twist feels secure.
Step 7: Secure the look with a few spritzes of your favorite hair spray.
Photo 9/15
Fashion show: Jenni Kayne
The look: Bright fuchsia matte lips and silk textured nude nails
How to get it: Makeup:
Step 1: Perfect your skin with foundation, concealer and powder.
Step 2: Fill in your brows with a pencil that matches them perfectly. Only define areas that are thin or missing completely for a natural finish. Brush through brows to blend the color, says Lyne Deshoyers for MAC who created this look.
Step 3: Apply a coat of brown mascara to top lashes.
Step 4: Use a combination of two lip pencils to create this vibrant hue. They'll stay on longer than a lipstick or gloss will. Deshoyers used MAC Lip Pencil in Magenta, $13 and MAC Pro Chromagraphic Pencil in Process Magenta, $14.50 (available only at MAC Pro Stores). She also dabbed pigment powder on top, but we recommend skipping that step for everyday wear. Note: If your lip color has a tendency to bleed, prep lips by applying a lip primer before gliding on the color, says Deshoyers.
Nails:
Step 1: Apply one thin coat of the follow three CND Colours, $9: Desert Suede, Copper Shimmer and Rose Water. The key to getting a thin coat is to wipe off the majority of the polish before putting it onto your nail, and to apply it not with the end of the brush but with the midpoint of it -- lay the brush down onto your nail, says Wingle who created the color combo.
Step 2: Finish by applying a matte top coat to give it that silk-like finish.
Photo 10/15
Fashion show: Alice + Olivia
The look: Elegant, yet lived-in twisted updo
How to get it: Step 1: Apply a generous amount of volumizing spray gel (try Sebastian Professional Volupt Spray, $19.95) through damp hair. Blow dry your hair using just your fingers in order to add volume and maintain your natural texture, says stylist Thomas Dunkin who created the look.
Step 2: Once your hair is completely dry, allow it to part naturally. Next, spritz your whole head with flexible, shine enhancing hairspray (try Sebastian Professional Shine Define, $15.95).
Step 3: Twist a small section of hair on each side of your head (secure with a bobby pin) and pull hair back into a ponytail.
Step 4: Loosely twist the tail into a large chignon allowing shorter layers to pop out and remain loose. Secure into a pretty shape with bobby pins.
The look: Retro liquid lined eyes and coral lips paired with a bouncy ponytail
How to get it: Makeup:
Step 1: Even out your skin tone and camouflage flaws with foundation, concealer and powder.
Step 2: Line top lashes with black liquid liner. Make the outer half of the line a bit thicker than the inner. Check out this liquid eyeliner video tutorial if you need help mastering this technique.
Step 3: Subtly line your bottom lashlines with the same liquid liner. Connect the top and bottom lines at the inner corners.
Step 4: Dust a touch of peach-colored blush on the apples of your cheeks.
Step 2: Add a bit of Rene Furterer Myrrhea Anti-Frizz No Rinse Silkening Fluid, $30 to just the ends of your hair. Next, add a generous amount of mousse -- a handful of it -- by first rubbing it into your hands and then applying it to your hair.
Step 3: Rough dry your hair using just your hands for added volume.
Step 4: Create loose waves by using a medium-sized curling iron. Start your curls at ear level so the top of your hair remains straight, says Monzon.
Step 5: Once all of your hair is curled, secure it into a low side ponytail. Finish the look by wrapping a small section of hair around the elastic -- secure it with a small bobby pin -- and spritzing with hairspray for hold.
When you think about runway hair and makeup looks, what words come to mind?
Over-the-top? Avant guard? Wacky? Inspirational? Impossible-to-pull-off? Scary?
It's OK, you can admit that you don't find them wearable, pretty or feminine -- we won't tell the fashionistas.
But before you go and totally write off the runway as a source of inspiration for looks that are ones you can create without looking like a drag queen, we'd like to share these hair and makeup photos with you. All of these beauty looks were seen on the Fall 2011 Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week catwalks. Yup, it's true.
So many of the looks we saw were not only gorgeous, but also ones we knew we'd be able to recreate without having to seriously water them down. What's even better? We wouldn't need a backpack full of products to create them, either.
From sexy smoky eyes, to pretty twisted updos, we gathered up all of the prettiest and most wearable looks from the runways to bring them to you. Some of the looks are perfect for evening while others are suitable for every day. Check them out and then learn step-by-step how to copy them -- exactly. Your friends will be so impressed (maybe even a little intimidated) when they compliment you on your fabulous hair or makeup -- especially when you tell them the look was seen on the runway.
