Lucian Matis brings ’60s banana eyeliner back (with French outline nails to match!) for Fall 2013

Lucian Matis Fall 2013 backstage beauty
Photography by Jen Schenkel for Revlon
Lucian Matis Fall 2013 backstage beauty
Photography by Jen Schenkel for Revlon

See the makeup and nail art from Lucian Matis Fall 2013 »

It may have occurred at the very end of Toronto Fashion Week, but the makeup and nails at Lucian Matis set the bar for Fall 2013 beauty trends. Of course, having some talented heavyweights on board certainly helped: Revlon global artistic director Gucci Westman and Revlon nail expert Leeanne Colley were behind the retro look.

Despite a scheduling conflict that prevented Westman from actually being backstage, she didn’t want to pass up the chance to work with Lucian Matis. Skype sessions allowed for proper collaboration with the designer and once the look was finalized, her right-hand gal, Mimi Imanishi, led the team in Toronto.

“The inspiration for this look was Lucian’s gorgeous, monochromatic colour palette while incorporating safari khaki tones to the eye. This look is also very much inspired by the ’60s, specifically, the German model, Veruschka,” Westman said, via press release.

Thick, black banana liner was what really brought the ’60s influence to life—that’s the industry term for eyeliner applied to the crease. Mimi layered Revlon PhotoReady Kajal Intense Liner and Brightener in “Carbon Cleopatra” and ColorStay Crème Gel Liner in “Black,” blending and adjusting as she went. The rest of the colours—shimmering, multi-dimensional shades of green and khaki-gold—came courtesy of the Revlon PhotoReady Primer and Shadow in “Pop Art.”

Even better, the banana liner look was artfully mimicked in the nails, with Leeanne Colley creating a contoured, outline French mani design. The stripe-heavy style was done with a custom blend: “We created a wintery white using Revlon’s “Spirit, which is a white Top Speed [Nail Enamel], with one coat and then layered [Revlon Colorstay Longwear Nail Enamel in] “Porcelain” over top of it. It actually looks a bit like French vanilla ice cream,” Colley explained. The black outline was done using Revlon Nail Enamel in “Iconic,” which is a deep charcoal-grey shade with a green undertone—making it a perfect match for the makeup.

An additional nail art look, featuring a deep V of leather-looking polish, was created after Colley previewed the Fall 2013 Lucian Matis collection and decided more texture was needed: “The second look is a little bit more dramatic—a little bit fiercer—we used the exact same [polish] colours but we created texture. We really wanted to create a leather look because there’s a lot of leather throughout the collection so we did that by using a sponging technique.”

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