This season it’s all about easy, natural beauty looks with just a dash of “cool.”  While the models at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) have a team of expert makeup artists, hairstylists, and manicurists to make sure every pimple is covered and every hair is in place, these understated styles can easily be done at home.  All the experts we spoke to agreed that this season it’s about enhancing natural complexions, following the texture of your natural hair, and playing with nude manicures (with just a touch of something extra).

Fashion Reverie has rounded up our top tips from the New York runways so you can recreate them yourself—no beauty team needed!

Image courtesy of Janine Silver

Metallic French tips

Nude nails with a metallic tip was a staple at top collections, including Cucculelli Shaheen and LoveShackFancy! 

“It is about Radiance. The radiance of darkness turning into light… and finding a light in the dark, Explained” Pattie Yankee, lead nail artist and owner of the Pattie Yankee line of polishes.  “We wanted a shiny, metallic tip to be the light at the end of like the darkness … a continuation of their skin [that extends] into light.”

Rather than painting on the tip, Yankee and her team applied Dashing Diva Magic Press press-on nails to each fingertip.  They then matched each model’s skin tone with a Pattie Yankee lacquer and applied that, leaving the chrome tip uncovered for an updated French manicure. “We just painted over it to the match the skin and so it had a little bling at the end,” Yankee explained.  Also sharing that the same nude shade was also applied on their toes for a very clean, basic pedicure.

Image courtesy of KISS

Similarly, LoveShackFancy also featured a golden tip.  Lead artist and KISS Brand Ambassador, Gina Edwards used KISS Voguish Fantasy French Design press-on nails, which complemented the brands, girly-with-an-edge collection.

Bibhu Mohapatra fall 2023 backstage image courtesy of Janine Silver

However, shades of gold were found in other subtle manicures, too. At Bibhu Mohapatra, Pattie Yankee created metallic scribbles to represent the writings of Nancy Cunard, political activist, heiress and writer, who’s poem “Wheels” really inspired the designer on a deep, personal level.  Yankee and her team used Have a Little Faith, a shimmery shade from her own line topped with golden abstract scribbles.  “We wanted to create a nude that wasn’t a boring nude,” Yankee states while explaining that we will be seeing a lot more variations on a sparkly, long, nude nail.

Low ponytails

This minimalist style appeared on dozens of runways, proving that sometimes less is more.  Dennis Basso celebrated his 40^th year in fashion with a collection featuring fur coats and lots of gold from shimmery mini dresses to the finale number, a gold gown with a long cape worn by supermodel Beverly Johnson … and very simple low ponytails with side parts. Similarly, Malan Breton also showcased a collection featuring a lot of metallic elements and simple low ponytails, again with side parts.

Son Jung Wan fall 2023 backstage image courtesy of Janine Silver

However, at Song Jung Wan, lead stylist Jorge Luis, created center parted, low ponytails with knots on the side, to add a little fun to the look. Wanting to keep the focus on the clothes, Luis explains, “I always try do something off the face, so people would not miss any detail of the clothes, because at the end of the day it’s all about the clothes.”  However, not wanting just a plain ponytail, Luis wrapped strands of the models’ real hair around the ponytail and tied it into a series of small knots, reminiscent of the friendship bracelets that were popular at summer camps. These ponytails might be simple but are anything but basic.

Smoky eyes are back

Growing up in the late 90’s early 2000’s, no one was talking about cut creases or contouring—the staple look was the smoky eye.  With the return of so many 90’s trends, it’s no surprise to see many designers asking for the look to complement their collections.

At Veronica Beard, lead artist Romy Soleimani with Bobbi Brown created a very alluring look by smoking out chocolate shades from Bobbi Brown’s Golden Nudes Eye Shadow Palette and the Long-Wear Cream Shadow Sticks in Cinnamon, Bark and Golden Bronze.  “It’s a lot of rich browns. It’s very sultry.  It’s a little bit wet on the lid and there’s a nude lip. It just feels very seductive … very sexy,” explains Soleimani.  To balance the eye look, brows were kept soft, and pouts had a swipe of Bobbi Brown Luxe Lipstick in Beige Dew.

Dennis Basso also featured a smoky eye created by Marylisa Diaz-Aronsen Artistic Director of Makeup at Julien Farel Salon.  “The look is very soft, earth tone eyes, smoky, sexy, but not strong lines,” she explains.  The look is complemented with dewy skin, half lashes, and pinkish neutral lips with a touch of gloss.

Glowing pale pinks

Reds might be rocking the runways in terms of clothing, but pinks aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.  Nowhere did we see lots of pink—both in the makeup and in the collection itself—than at LoveShackFancy. 

Cassandra Garcia, lead makeup artist with Bobbi Brown is all about the pink.  “The two shows I’m leading actually have a nice pink lip. I think everyone’s looking for something fresh and pretty and bright. Which is fun,” Garcia shares.

At LoveShackFancy, “it’s a really pretty pink blush to the cheeks, a lit from within glow, and we paired it with a matte lip color to kind of balance the glow in the matte … “Garcia then added a beautiful black winged liner to complement both the rest of the look and the clothes as well.

Bobbi Brown Boss Pink Luxe Matte Lip color was then applied, “we just pressed it on with our finger. So, it looks like almost like a powdery finish, which is nice, because it’s that luxe matte finish. It gives you that powdered look,” Garcia explains.

The rosy hue was continued onto the cheeks with a highlighting powder to match each model’s complexion and then of course. Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Pale Pink which is a glowing cream blush. “So, whether it’s a pink glow, or an apricot glow, or a bronze glow, we matched it to the girls’ skin color and then pressed the Pot Rouge on top to keep that glow,” Garcia explains.

Done/Undone hair

Aveda Guest artist, Jon Reyman of Spoke & Weal Salons, created not one, but two perfectly done/undone looks backstage at Veronica Beard and LoveShackFancy.

For LoveShackFancy, Reyman was going for this “kind of Kate Moss 1990/2001 just lived in, kind of dirty, grungy, cool look … It’s done, but not done, heroin chic (minus the heroin).  It’s healthy, party at night and wake up and have cool girl hair.”  To get the look, he prepped the hair with Aveda Pure Abundance Style Prep to give the hair that late 90’s texture.  The hair was then dried with the Dyson blow dryer and waves were added with the Dyson Corrale. “Then we added some texture cream and a little of the Aveda Control Force to give some definition and to help support that lived-in look,” Reyman shares.

Veronica Beard fall 2023 images courtesy of Andrew Werner

At Veronica Beard it’s about simplicity.  The first look, “it’s pulled back, like they did it themselves.  Each girl is unique … we wanted it to be as if each girl knew what they were doing, but didn’t want to look like they knew what they were doing,” Reyman explains while describing the ponytail bun hybrid which he secured with Aveda control force firm, holding hairspray to make sure it stayed put, without looking too stiff.  The pony/bun hybrid has gone from a doing-the-dishes quick-up-do to a red carpet staple, seen on many celebrities, the most photographed being Kim Kardashian who wore the look to Milan Fashion Week last season.  However, Reyman was able to make each girl look fashionable and composed and as he put it, “done, but undone, but done …”

Not every model had their hair up, though.  “For the natural girls, we really are pushing for the natural curl and texture, because we love it so much … we just love to see hair being it’s natural, beautiful self,” Reyman says, while discussing the second look at Veronica Beard.

When it comes to picking a new beauty style, if this season teaches us anything, it’s to keep it light, keep it fun, and keep it natural!

—Janine Silver