The beauty trends we spotted at Toronto Fashion Week and Re/Set

Fashion month only just began but we already have beauty recon from the latest host of Toronto fashion events. For makeup junkies, this time of year means more than just 'back to school'; it's a haven of makeup and hair ideas to cull their new daring looks from.

The Spring/Summer 2018 shows from Toronto Fashion Week, the new, swanky three-day event that took place in a long tent along Yorkville Ave, and Re/Set, a set of shows and presentations held at The Great Hall over two days that also featured a fashion and accessories marketplace, fell into two distinct beauty camps. Camp one: A face that didn't shy away from makeup, with flawless foundation and hits of earthy hues, such as browns, bronze, taupes and pale pinks. Camp two: Major pops of colour on the eyes or lips or as a graphic splash across the planes of the face.

"There seems to be a divide between spontaneous bursts of colour, and then the contrast is this new luxe," said Simone Otis, award winning makeup artist and spokesperson for beautyBOUTIQUE by Shoppers Drug Mart. "It's not a lot of colour, but grown up, expensive looking. It's makeup. No one is doing raw anymore. Raw feels too young," she added about the new natural look seen on the catwalks.

Another stand out from the week: Green on the nails. Unexpected and seasonless, grabbing this shade now will prove to be a smart beauty investment.

Here are three ways to update your look based on the latest fashion shows in Toronto.

Make it pop

If you love playing with colour, then this is your era. Whether it's a graphic swipe across one plane of the face or a completely monochromatic eye, there were quite a few worthy options to try direct from the runway.

At House of Suri, M.A.C senior artist Jane MacKay worked with a creamy, slightly androgynous complexion, adding contouring at the top of brow bone, along the temple and down below the cheekbone. She also placed contour on the inner corner of the eye to add some interest. The pièce de résistance? A painterly swipe of white was applied to each model's face, but all on different planes: think down the nose, along the brow bone, across the jawline, etc. "On most of the girls, the smaller one third was more straight, and the [larger] third arched along the contour of the face," McKay noted backstage. "All the girls had a different placement, only one side of the face. Asymmetrical makeup can be more interesting, [and the] white looked very modern."

Over at Alex S. Yu and Werkdept, Otis went playful with different variations on colour. For Yu, she worked with red, blue, yellow and pink, creating a monochromatic eye. Even the lashes were coated with a perfectly matched mascara. At Werkdept, she rotated through blue, pink and orange, with one model having a swipe of colour placed on only one eyelid, while just the top lip would be covered with lipstick.

The most OTT look went to Haley Elsaesser, naturally. MacKay worked with the designer on a statement look: an opalescent pink surrounding the outer corners of the eye in the shape of a C, which went beautifully with the burgundy eye shadow covering the lids. They added a creamy blue lip with an all over hit of sparkle, which perfectly complemented the wet, covered-in-glitter hair look.

Earth angel

When it comes to the natural-looking face, Otis believes things are a changin'. "This time, it was about foundation and visibly moisturized lips. Before felt too laissez faire. This new evolution involves more makeup."

Noting that people are definitely into makeup at the moment, she worked with well-placed highlighter and earth tones to create some spectacular looking skin at Sid Neigum, Pedram Karimi, Hilary Macmillan and more. Otis' trick? Work with a champagne or bronze powder highlighter (both are universally flattering) to start, and work up to opalescent powders with hints of colour.

For MacKay, who is off to Milan and Paris later this season, it's all about applying a highlighter cream to the skin before foundation, which will subtly show through when photographed. Her favourite is M.A.C's Strobe Cream in Goldlite.

What makes this highlighter look work and still feel modern? A subtle, sunkissed glow on the cheeks, as seen at UNTTLED, Bustle and Hilary Macmillan, as well as well-groomed eyebrows, spotted at pretty much every show. Just add a pinky/flesh-tone hue to lips and you're ready to go.

For an added hint of glam, work with taupes, browns and greys to create a muted but sultry smokey eye. Or, at Maram, a burnt orange took centre stage on both eyes and lips (think completely washing over the lids and overtaking the lip line slightly for a bigger looking pout) for the ultimate global goddess.

Green on green

When not staying in the flesh-tone colour family, the major stand out this season for nails was green. Whether it be a pretty pattern like the tropical nail seen at Hilary Macmillan or swipes of emerald across the entire nail bed at Werkdept, green nails were It.

"[We did] a white background so they really pop," Melissa Forrest, TIPS Nail Artist and Shoppers Drug Mart spokesperson, told me backstage. "Green is all season. When you add a flower, suddenly you're looking into summer. With this tropical collection, you can really wear it all year round."

At Werkdept, when the girls weren't wearing bright bursts of orange, their nails were adorned with a forest green sans topcoat, which left behind a naturally matte finish.