Into the blue: oceanic eyes make a comeback for spring/summer 2016

This season's must-have make-up trend has quite literally come out of the blue. Sarah Young investigates the beauty industry's renewed love for a nostalgic favourite

Backstage at Mary Katrantzou Spring Summer 2016

Colour is making a comeback and if the spring runways are anything to go by a stand-out blue wash is the only colour to wear on your eyes this season. While the vast majority of us haven’t dabbled with the shade since the bygone days of dance recitals it seems to be making a mighty return to our make-up rotation. The vogue for blue eye make-up brings with it a sense of nostalgia but a coming of age contends that more contemporary hues of cobalt, sapphire and aquamarine are worthy of your devotion and it doesn’t stop there.


 Backstage at Jonathan Saunders Spring Summer 2016

There’s much more to oceanic eyes than a painterly swathe of shadow this time round, granting Missoni opted for a wash of colour on the lids but a far more novel approach to this beauty riposte meant a densely pigmented shade of cobalt blue spoke for itself. Likewise, Diane Von Furstenberg and Roksanda chose to apprise classic shadow by creating a retro smoky eye in shimmering hues of mermaid-esque teal.

According to the spring/summer 2016 shows though, there are far more innovative ways to experiment with the shade; it’s time to toss your preconceived notions of eyeliner and mascara aside and make way for a seriously graphic gaze. At Jonathan Saunders and Boss black eyeliner was replaced with a slick of azure very close to the lash line and while Boss opted for a super-neat cat eye, Saunders ringed the entire eye with slightly smudged liner. Eccentricity is nothing new to Mary Katrantzou so it’s hardly surprising that her offering posed an entirely unique take on blue beauty; ocean-blue, spidery lashes adorned the centre portion of the model’s eye for a vivid but entirely wearable version of the Twiggy lash.


 Backstage at Missoni Spring Summer 2016

The lover of no-make-up make-up need not fear though as this is a trend that works best with fresh skin and a barely-there base; simply opt for a metallic cream shadow and adopt a less is more approach to liner and mascara for a more subtle look. But for those of you who are keen to experiment it’s quite literally blue sky thinking.