OTT graphic colour and other top beauty trends from Toronto Fashion Week

Now packed into a frenetic but manageable three day schedule, Toronto Fashion Week, which this season welcomed RE/SET and their roster of designers combining the two major events, was jam packed with some of the best and brightest in Canada—click here to see the top fashion trends of the week.

Behind-the-scenes, or in the hair and makeup chair, so to speak, things went from stylishly subdued to fashion week b-a-n-a-n-a-s, in the best way possible.

Here are the top beauty trends from Toronto Fashion Week.

Bare necessities

"In the past the no-makeup look was quite raw, very skincare-based. There was a time where luminescence was the no makeup look," lead makeup artist Simone Otis, for beautyBOUTIQUE by Shoppers Drug Mart, told us. "Now I feel like a no-makeup look is a soft contour, a wash of colour, perfect your skin as best you can, and [add] bold brows. And a little mascara. If you want to go out and feel your best, those are the things people like to do." At shows like Eleventy, House of Nonie, and SP Badu, Otis used a foundation slightly darker than skin tone on the models to create a soft contour on the cheeks and other areas of the face, to" to carve out those shadows to make it less aggressive." The glue that bonds this look together nicely and making it more groomed and polished, is the ubiquitous bold brow, which Otis notes will be seen as the look of this era.

You down with OTT?

Venturing outside most people's comfort zone, but adding a dimension of whimsy and fun to the season, were designer's who took their brand's DNA and placed it firmly on the faces of the models strutting the runway. At Pedram Karimi, Otis created a red heart over the face, highlighting Karimi's "belief in making the world a better place." At Hayley Elsaesser, it was all about playing and experimenting. The collection is based on extraterrestrials and space, so Otis pulled prismatic shades out of her hat to create truly otherworldly looks, adding hits of purple, red, yellow and more to the cheeks, foreheads or eyes of the models. And, lastly, at WRKDPT, Otis and her team created neon grids on the faces of each model, adding in candy-coloured lips. "We used a template [to create each dot], but we had to do it custom to each face." Creating an effortless rocker chick vibe at Triarchy, meant adding a very fine glitter under the eye, almost looking like she swiped the shimmer under her eye on purpose before she left for a party. "We wanted to play with glitter, so we used something with an opalescent, as well as golden taupe. It suits all skin tones, and it's sophisticated and glam."

Purely prismatic

For maximum, modern impact, Otis went with even more iridescence on the runway at Tara Rivas, Narces, Andrew Coimbra, Hilary MacMillan and Wil Studios. While there was a light touch of shimmering yellow in the inner corners of the eyes at MacMillan, she went all out for the eyes at Rivas' show. "I used five or six shadows in there," Otis says of the artfully blended smokey eye. "I love that she wanted to continue with the red mouth. It feels a little Guy Bourdin. [The model] feels really put together, very chic." At Narces, she used diamond dust, and a bluey-purple cream shadow, which created a gunmetal look on the lids, complimenting a fleshy-tone lip that also had a touch of shine.

Say it out loud

For nails this season, lead nail artist Melissa Forrest, for beautyBOUTIQUE by Shoppers Drug Mart, worked with the designers to create pretty major impressions.

At Hayley Elsaesser, the designer wanted to create a new take on the galaxy mani trend, so Forrest sourced individual metallic stars from Japan to place strategically on 180 clear talons, as well as working with pastels for the second nail look at the show (both sexes sported either look while taking the catwalk).

For Hilary MacMillan it was stand out, pearlescent nails and at Rivas they went for an updated red mani by keeping talons matte. And at Mani Jassal, Forrest and her team worked with clean lines, adding an air of bridal OTT with one massive Swarovski crystal glued near that cuticle.

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