Makeup Guru

Forget about blotting your lips and taming stray eyebrows - the subtle "no-makeup" look is now, officially, passe. According to the new issue of influential style magazine 10, bad taste is back in all its clogged-up-lashes and lipstick-on-the-teeth glory.

"I was sick to death of all those gloomy, woozy girls on magazine covers," says Sophia Neophitou, the magazine's editor-in-chief. "I wanted something upbeat." And so, in cahoots with Chanel's global creative director of makeup, Peter Philips, the cover features a model with clumpy mascara, lipstick on her gums and stripy blusher.

Photograph: Public Domain

Neophitou isn't the only one pushing the caked-on aesthetic. Tying in with the return of the bold shoulder and the overall 80s aesthetic, the autumn/winter catwalks were awash with bad taste. Alexander McQueen showed cartoonish red lips with bleached brows - OK for Jessica Rabbit, less so for the office. At Dior, John Galliano showed garish eyeshadow in golds and purples with spidery lashes. Even Marc Jacobs, that barometer of style, showed a makeup look heavily influenced by the 80s, with strong black eyes and huge red lips. Forget the old recommendation to accentuate only one feature at a time - this was all about releasing the experimental teen within.

The fashion world is having fun, but make sure it's not at your expense. If you fancy the look, take inspiration from Melanie Griffith in Working Girl, Cyndi Lauper in her heyday, or Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan. But just as you wouldn't copy a catwalk creation head to toe, tread carefully. By all means try a stronger brow, colourful eyeshadow, garish lipstick and a matt complexion - but perhaps not all at once, eh?