RAFW beauty report: dramatic detail

The sun beamed brilliantly throughout shows for Kirrily Johnston, Nicola Finetti and Lee Matthews, but just as Bh was slipping backstage to check out the beauty before Wayne Cooper’s show, the clouds descended and splintered into icy rain. Then the deluge stopped.

It was prophetic. Stormy eyes, weathered coifs and the perfect mauve nail detail pulled together Cooper’s collection for all seasons…

Against a backdrop of swirling clouds, models paraded down the runway in a spring/summer collection that mixed bright, floaty frocks, sleek satin and classic black.

Make-up director Jody Oliver called the matching make-up look “all weathers in one face”. Drenching eyelids in oil-effect indigo and striking violet, she played dramatically stormy against delicate-as-a-spring-blossom cheeks and fresh pink lips. “It’s light and it’s dark,” she said. “It’s like the different types of girl you can be.”

Hairdresser Remington Schulz said he was going for an “undone 1920s up-do”, something classic yet tousled and not too severe. The result: a volumised coif you could transform into high, textured pony and wear in real life.

The whole beauty look was pinned together with medium-length, sculpted nails that were polished greyish blue purple. “We used CND Tart-a-licious, which is a fab glam rock purple with a hint of metallic shimmer,” said Jan Arnold, co-founder of CND and nail fashionista. “The woman that Wayne dresses is elegant

but edgy,” she explained. “She can be a bad ass and a cool chick, but she’s got her fashion act together, so this nail is chic and striking at the same time.

“The woman who wears this look puts thought into every detail.”

Toes were washed with CND Negligee, a sheer cream lacquer with subtle blue iridescent undertones. “It complements the purple on the hands but isn’t too predictable,” Arnold said.

On the runway, the effect was delicately ethereal yet dramatic at the same time. It was captivating. It was so stunning that if there’d been a spare second, I’d have begged a backstage CND nail tech for a Tart-a-licious mani on the spot. Never underestimate the power of detail…