‘If you’re going to cry, do it with glitter’ seems to be this season’s most unlikely beauty maxim.
Glitter tears – a deliberately dishevelled smattering of sparkle under the eyes and around the lash line – first had a moment at Burberry’s A/W’16 menswear show earlier this year. In a subtle tribute to cultural icon David Bowie (who passed away the day before), make-up artist Wendy Rowe added a delicate burst of stardust to the corner of the models’ eyes.
It’s a look that’s since found its way onto the red carpet and the front row. 17-year-old actress Elle Fanning arrived at Saint Laurent’s A/W’16 menswear presentation with purposefully smudged circles of dark grey and silver glitter under her eyes; a bold beauty statement that complimented her Studio 54-esque sequinned V-neck dress. Instead of using separate teardrop shapes a la Burberry, Elle’s ‘tears’ are more of a theatrical wash of colour – imagine the panda-style make-up smudge you get after rubbing tearful eyes, but less tragic and more fabulous.
Elle Fanning and her sister Dakota at Saint Laurent's A/W'16 show [Getty]
Wendy Rowe offered another variation on the look for Suki Waterhouse at the premiere of her latest film, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The model-turned-actress wore a barely-there smattering of gold glitter in a subtle tear pattern, off-set with nude lips and flawless skin.
If you fancy recreating the look yourself, we’d recommend using a lighter sprinkling of glitter in a bronze or gold hue like Suki - it’ll be far more flattering on your pale winter complexion than darker colours. On her website, Wendy recommends lightening the brows with powder beforehand to open up the face, then tapping a mixture of gold glitter and glitter glue lightly over concealer. We’d recommend MAC’s Loose Pigment in Gold (£16) or Make-Up Forever’s Glitter (£9-£11), teamed with the brand’s Mist & Fix setting spray (£19).
For an eye-catching way to cover up dark circles, we can’t think of anything better…
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