Peachy keen: Enhance your natural beauty with spring/summer's tea-stained stare

Something’s brewing this season, with makeup moguls everywhere opting for a hint of pinkish stain. While Britain’s love affair with tea takes to the runway, Sarah Young highlights some of the best ways to achieve peach perfection

Get ready for a season of colour as the next chapter in the 'no-makeup' makeup look takes on a new mood. When fashion assumes novel ground, beauty often resonates, so when a horde of designers confessed their adulation for a fiery orange number, it came as no surprise to see makeup artists follow suit. We’re more than ready to refresh our makeup bags, and with the spring/summer 2016 catwalks awash with punchy peaches and earthy yellows, the trend for tea-stained eyes is set.

Backstage at Erdem Spring/Summer 2016

As Brits, it seems only apt that this would be right up our street. As if drinking 165 million cups of tea a day wasn’t enough, beauty junkies can now revel in Earl Grey maquillage. Taking the lead, maverick of makeup Val Garland complimented Erdem’s withered elegance with a sunken-eye look, and skin with a velvet finish. Rimmed with a hint of soft orange shadow, no mascara and blushing cheeks, the look gave rise to ghostly tea-stained peepers and a spooky hollow effect to boot. Altuzarra and Derek Lam jumped on the bandwagon, too, but while the former opted for earthy tones grounded in Spanish ceramics, Derek Lam offered a more distorted take. The focus here was directly under the eye, with peach and yellow shades layered, a hint of brown liner and black mascara to the lower lash only.

Parfum, Christian Dior (Parfum Christian Dior)

This canvas of deep golden nudes saw complexions range from bold orange to blossoming pink, as some makeup artists strayed from musky tea tones for something a little more radiant. One of the most beautiful phenomena in the world, sunsets were replicated everywhere, and in every which way imaginable. For Dior, the stained eye was heightened with a delicately romantic pink palette; a shade usually reserved for the lips, makeup artist and long-term collaborator Peter Philips carried it through to the eyes, creating a fresh and hyper-feminine finish. Jill Stuart followed suit with an intense wash of cerise, in keeping with the girlish theme of the collection and offering a much-needed shot of modernity.

This trend is a great way to update your look for spring/summer and looks equally as sensual on every skin tone. If you have fair or medium skin, go with soft peach or coral shades, while bold bright oranges and tangerines are best suited to darker skin tones. The tools you use are vital here, too, so make sure to invest in some quality brushes. For a bolder take, pack shadow on to the lid with a flat-head brush and haze out the edges. Otherwise, work a small amount into the crease of the eye with a blender brush to slowly blur the shadow out. Keep the skin fresh, the lips soft and glowy, and while the ghostly look works wonders on the catwalk, for daily life we suggest adding a little mascara for wide-awake eyes.