Meet your new lingerie-wearing, nude lippie-rocking superhero!
Powers-that-be, make Taylor Swift an official Victoria’s Secret Angel, stat. The honourary VS model – Victoria’s Swift? – was rocking the runway like a bona fide be-winged babe … setting aside the hilariously goofy “sexy” faces she was pulling, of which the less said the better!
LIPS
Speaking of faces, hers was particularly on point, if unusually un-Taylor in colourway. Let’s take her look apart, shall we? For me, the thing that jumps out the most is the startling absence of her signature red lippie. In its place was a perfectly pink pout, pretty and plumped up with a glossy topcoat.
Pulling off T-Swizzle’s sexy smackers is a cinch: All you need is to “overdraw” – beauty parlance for tracing over and above your natural lip line. Use the creamiest pencil for maximum manoeuvrability – I’m mad for Chanel’s new Crayon Levres in 91 Rose Délicat, which is as rosy and delicate as its name suggests – and outline the pillowy contours of your puckers.
Next, swipe on a rosy rouge straight from the bullet – I like doing the matchy-matchy thing and running with Chanel’s Rouge Allure in Badine – and inspect yourself in the mirror. Switch to a cotton swab to clean up any stray marks, then add a super shiny sheen courtesy of say, Fresh’s fantastic Sugar Shine Lip Treatment in Rose.
Use the doe-foot applicator to dab a little right in the centre of your lower lip for a dewy petal effect, allow the formula’s hydrating hyaluronic spheres to get to work, expect heads to turn.
(Bonus reading: Load up on all the tips and tricks you’ll ever need to make your lipgloss stay locked in place.)
EYES
Yes, Karlie Kloss, that's how your BFF looks like sans red lippie. #MindBlown
Moving on now. We’ve all heard of the lips-or-eyes maxim that is the makeup equivalent of the legs-or-bust rule. Taylor’s VS look is an excellent example of that particular tenet: Her relative restraint on the lip side of things is more than offset by her winged out cat-eye and OTT falsies (those can’t possibly be her real eyelashes.)
If you’re not ready to go the full-on faux route, you can fake a flirty flutter by wiggling your wand over your top and bottom lashes with several coats of mascara – and make that the darkest black you can find, please.
Gun for Givenchy’s gasp-inducing Noir Couture mascara, a fabulous fashion-forward contraption with bristles precision engineered to envelop every single strand with a follicle-fortifying formula.
Pair with its sidekick, the Liner Couture, which boasts a beautifully soft felt-tip applicator that glides like a dream to dispense a line as thick or thin as you desire. Make like Taylor and really go for it; flare out your line into a fierce flick that tapers off just below the outer edge of the brow.
That’s about as far as you should go, eyes-wise at least. Some judicious editing is in order now: See how Taylor’s tacked on (unnecessary) drama by way of a smoky lilac lid? Much too much, in my opinion: You’re better off leaving your lids clean – just one sweep of a taupe shadow over the crease will suffice.
CHEEKS
Finish off with a delicious dusting of a brick-bronze blusher on your cheekbones; for this you deserve nothing less than Chanel, this time courtesy of the very covetable camellia-embossed Jardin de Chanel.
And you’re done! All the “Blank Spaces” filled in, save for Taylor’s satin nightgown and a VS-worthy bod. Have fun channelling your inner Angel!
Chanel Rouge Allure 154 Badine Limited Edition, $48, Le Crayon Levres in 91 Rose Délicat, $32, and Jardin de Chanel Limited Edition, $75, are available from all Chanel counters from January 2015. For more information, visit www.chanel.com/en_SG and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Fresh Sugar Shine Lip Treatment in Rose, $31, is available at all Sephora stores. For more information, visit www.fresh.com and follow Fresh Singapore on Facebook.
Givenchy Noir Couture Volume Mascara, $51, and Noir Liner Couture, $48, are available at all Sephora stores. For more information, visit www.givenchybeauty.com and follow Givenchy Beauty on Facebook.