Kristen Arnett:

Yet again, I find myself happily surrounded by the runway show madness! This season I will have slathered makeup on models across New York, Milan and Paris. The energy is so intense and inspiring during the shows but the viewers from the front will only see the perfectly constructed parade of models stomping down the catwalk to perfectly orchestrated music, lights, and sets. They have no idea that the backstage is filled with people squeezing past each other, running and yelling as clothes are shimmied onto long-limbed models. Add to this craziness makeup and hair stylists clamoring to add final touches.

As soon as the 5 minutes of glory are over, the flurry of breaking down begins. Makeup is wiped off, hair is pulled out of its form, models re-dress and fly out the door to do it all again at the next show. You may not have your own team of screaming Italians to help you get dressed and out the door in the morning, but that scenario might sound somewhat familiar even if you are just living your own busy life!

To keep things simple, let me break down the two most dominate trends I saw for Autumn/Winter 2010 in makeup:

1. Bronze, gold and copper shimmer eye shadows swept on and under the eyes

2. Deep purple lips

The gold eye is pretty easy to achieve. Shimmery shadows can be very forgiving and gold, depending on the tone, tends to look good on everyone. Try out some different shades on your eyes using a fluffy shadow brush and play! If you want more intensity, try wetting the brush just a little. Then pick up powder eye shadow with it and go straight to your eyelids. Or start with a cream base like RMS Cream Eyeshadow in Solar, then powder over with a complementary gold shadow. Finish it all by dabbing a bit more creamy gold to the center of the lid and inner corners of the eye. You’ll see that doing this really turns it up a notch!

The deep purple lips are much more high-maintenance. So you really have to make sure your lips are smooth and your skin looks great, with all the redness concealed, before diving in. It’s not an easy look to carry through the day or over a meal. Chances are it will bleed and get ruined within a short period of time, and you’ll have to do touch ups constantly. This is something to try for more of a glamorous night out. Clubs where the lights are a bit lower are definitely more forgiving and a dark lip can be very inviting.

Lastly, these two looks were not meant to be worn together. So pick one and have fun!