The Gold Standard

It’s a perennially unused shade in your make-up palette, but for SS14, the hottest hue backstage was gold with designers such as Jason Wu, Gucci and Dior sending high shine and molten metallics down the runway.
Charlotte Rocher explores beauty’s modern make-up moment.

A list make-up artist, Charlotte Tilbury, responsible for Kate Moss’s seminal 70’s glitter moment at her 34th birthday party, advises “wear gold shadow as a focal point for your face.

Perhaps it’s a return to opulence after a Fall’s paired down aesthetic, or simply a nod to fashion’s richer fabrics, but this summer calls for sophisticated shimmers and chic accents of gold, the perfect complement for sun-kissed skin.

A list make-up artist, Charlotte Tilbury, responsible for Kate Moss’s seminal 70’s glitter moment at her 34th birthday party, advises “wear gold shadow in the same way you would a piece of jewelry, as a focal point for your face, it’s amazing for making eyes look more mesmeric”.

For the shine-shy? Start by a wash of gold across the lid using Charlotte Tilbury’s 24K Bar of Gold and if you’re feeling adventurous blend onto your cheekbones focusing on the C shape that hugs the eye area, right up to the temples, it gives your skin the prettiest of skin finishes. Whilst Dior’s glimmering encrusted eyebrows stole the show, they are a real-world no no. Instead, take inspiration from Dries Van Noten where Make-Up Artist Peter Philips gilded lashes with gold thread, re-create by gently coating lashes with the finely milled Lancome Color Design Infinite 24h in Eternal Gold using a shadow brush for the perfect desk to dinner make-up update or take your daytime eye look and simply pop a fingerprint in the inner corner of your eye for a glitter look on the right side of grown-up.

The marriage of warm bronzes and yellow gold ooze glamour and with any big reveal and the lessening of layers, nothing gives you more confidence than flawlessly golden skin. Faux your glow with the organic Chocolate Sun Cocoa Glow which uses organic botanicals, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil and Aloe to develop a covetable golden tan in just 6 hours without so much as stepping on a beach. Buff in Ilia Polka Dots and Moonbeams Illuminator which contains nourishing organic rose hip oil, along tops of arms, décolleté and down the length of your legs to elongate and give skin an ethereal luminosity.

Or for a more modern twist, update a classic french manicure with strategic sparkle, try Kure Bazaar in Or Pur on the tip of the nail.

Whilst nude nails reigned supreme for another season, the addition of metallic accents (as seen at Marios Schwab) gave nails a three-dimensional finish. For a modern twist, update a classic french manicure with strategic sparkle, try Kure Bazaar in Or Pur on the tip of the nail – parfait!