‘It’s about rich skin’: Why Succession beauty is the real winner

“You need the skin to do the heavy lifting.”

While designer Yousef Akbar took the red spot special approach with crimson 3D-effect make-up at Australian Fashion Week, he was outnumbered by fresher faces at Maggie Marilyn, Anna Quan, Bondi Born and Blanca.

“Make-up is definitely moving towards looks that are more pared back,” says Mecca’s head of artistry Jennifer Horsley. “Everything is a bit fresher and the focus is on skincare.”

“It’s all about skin preparation rather than being different and modern. This includes everyone. At the Blanca show we gave the male models the same preparation as the women.”

At Maggie Marilyn’s runway show, models faced the front row with only skincare products on their faces. New Zealand-born designer Maggie Hewitt enlisted Auckland-based beauty entrepreneur Emma Lewisham to prepare the skin and enhance colour with her Illuminating Face and Body Oil.

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“We wanted to present a skin-focused look that could be created at home,” Lewisham says. “Often, runway beauty looks are hard to achieve at home, so we felt like this was a fresh concept. We made sure the artists spent a lot of time properly prepping the model’s skin and really massaging the products in to stimulate blood flow, restore hydration, and impart a luminous sun-kissed, fresh from an ocean-swim glow.”

Actor Kristen Stewart took a similar approach at this year’s Met Gala. A prosthetic make-up artist took four hours to apply cat-like features to singer Doja Cat, but it was a glowing Kristen Stewart, with a swipe of Chanel lip balm, that made the mood board of make-up artists.

“The new luxury is elegant skin,” Horsley says. “It’s not about raw skin. It’s about rich skin.”

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