The big wall of autumn beauty trends

DO YOU care about cataloging looks by fashion week or fashion house? No? Neither do I. That's why our inaugural Wall is covered, irrespective of city or brand, in a simple melange of makeup and hair looks... Among things that come to mind when reviewing beauty trends for fall (if we're playing a word association game) are Derelique and Send In The Clowns.

Go to the big wall of beauty trends.

Pondering the accent nail

It's been called Blackberry Bling if worn on the thumbnail or simply an accent nail if on any of the other remaining digits. What is it? The act of painting one of your nails a different colour from the other four on each hand (or foot). Seen on the red carpet and at fashion week this season, it looks like the mainstream has started to accept (or at least absorb) some of the kookier nail trends being dished up over the last year. Now I'm not sure the childhood obsession with painting all your nails a different colour will resurface, but this subdued nail schizophrenia could be the way forward. And why not? You can do it with incredibly different shades/patterns or simply different weights of the same hue for a more minimalist COS-style look.

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A look ahead to spring 2010 beauty trends

We'll hold off until December to weigh in on how this year's trends turned out. For now, here's our round up of what you'll be buying and doing in beauty in 2010. We cover new collections, colour trends, professional trending reports and our two cents on what's going to happen in 2010. FYI: it's not an exhaustive list; it's an edit of what we think is the best of the bunch.

COLOUR TRENDS

PASTEL (including dusty rose, lilac, sherberts and corals) - This is the top colour trend for S/S10. Lids are monochrome washes of lilac at Givenchy and MAC. Essie's Spring colour collection includes every single one of the colours above. Bobbi Brown's spring collection is called Cabana Coral, Benefit's new look eyeshadows come in a range of sage, lilac and sherbert. Of the pastels on the table, lilac is numero uno. Everyone has a lilac product launching this spring - get Revlon nail varnish if you're on a budget or NARs D.Gorgeous eyeshadow if you have change to spare. 

LILAC - Did we say lilac was a colour you would be seeing a lot of this spring? Yes, we did. And it is. So much so we thought it merited a solo mention. It's on eyes (all the Dior Boudoir shadows are some shade of lilac), lips, in iridescent powders, on nails, on packaging, in body washes... it's everywhere, which makes sense since florals and girly girls in Liberty prints are in this spring.

THE COLOUR PURPLE - Lilac is in, but so is a bold royal purple. We saw a brilliant purple polish at Givenchy, Sephora (with chunky glitter), MAC's Give Me Liberty has a reddish purple shadow, there's Eyeko Line & Shine amazingly pliable, chunky liner (I'm already using the electric purple/plum Superstar Eyes on a regular basis. It makes green eyes pop.), Stila's eyeshadow trio features a shock of royal purple... 

CORAL - Michael Kors Very Hollywood for Estee Lauder, Givenchy, Guerlain, Benefit, MAC, Clinqiue et al are re-embracing the coral trend. This time, a fiery red-coral has been swapped for subdued pastel corals and peaches. 

COPPER - Metallic shades aren't huge this spring (although there'll be a resurgence of metallic finishes on nails) but copper is the one exception to that rule. It'll be on nails (like Essie The Cove Copper), pressed onto lips and worn as a colour wash on the lids. Seen at Prada A/W10 as interpreted by Pat McGrath (with a touch of burgundy), this one will leak into the collective consciousness a few months early with the likes of MAC Warm & Cozy et al.

NUDE-PUTTY - But not that matte, wan variety. It'll have texture and layers. It'll play with light to make you look radiant not just bare faced, as seen with CHANEL Les Impressions. There's grit, texture, some shine and muted putties, pinks, roses, sand and mauve. It's a lovely nude that you can wear by day and dress up by night with a bright, streamlined eyeliner. OPI, MAC, Essie, etc. all have Nude colours on the block this spring. 

COLOUR WASHES - Forget layering your colours. Spring 2010 is all about single blocks of colour wash, which is great for those of us without the touch of a professional makeup artist. On eyes, use your index finger to smear a bit of lilac from lash line to brow bone and smudge in a bit. Press a touch of liner at the base of the lashes to give it some depth and you're good to go.

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