Catwalk Beauty Trend: Caribbean Colour

There’s a catwalk makeup trend jumping up this season that is so joyful and fun, you can’t help smiling when you see it. Fashion designers in Paris, Milan, New York and London have taken inspiration from Caribbean Festivals in Jamaica, Trinidad and South America to add a pop of fun to their ready-to-wear presentations. Makeup artists are embracing glitter, shine, appliques and sequins this season with abandon.

This is a makeup trend focused on the eyes with dramatic false lashes, glitter shadows and rhinestones. From vivid neon colours to intricate designs, makeup artists are designing theatre-worthy looks that are meant to generate millions of social media impressions.

The designer brand championing this trend most is Manish Aurora who tapped the Senior Artists at MAC to design the looks that wouldn’t look out of place in a Vegas show.

If you’ve ever visited Toronto’s Caribbean Festival Parade each August, you’ll know that oversized applique lashes are a key beauty accent. MAC played up this feature to beautiful effect.


Usually the lead makeup artist or “Key Artist” as they are referred to in the industry will meet with the designer a good week in advance of the fashion show to discuss inspiration and to view the entire fashion collection. Most top makeup artists will come with sketches, samples and colour stories. The fashion designer will usually include a top stylist and the group discusses the beauty look.

During London Fashion Week, House of Holland unveiled a glitter and sparkle-filled catwalk that played up vibrant purples and lime. The makeup artists picked a key shade from the outfit and designed the eye makeup look to complement it.

What gives these eye makeup looks depth is the use of two different shades. You’ll notice the lime green shadow has a little yellow added for definition. The lips and complexion are kept quite bare to keep the focus on the eyes.

At the Giambattista Valli show, exotic orchids and flowers were used as beauty accents.

Flower petals were twisted and molded to accent the eyes and complexion in a beautiful way at Giambattista Valli.

During Paris Fashion Week, Valentino dazzled with opulent gold appliques.

Makeup artists treated the eye makeup design as jewellery winding gold appliques across the browbone and over the lid.

New York fashion designer Anna Sui can be credited for bringing back vibrant catwalk makeup. She’s embraced purple, red, pink and a kaleidoscope of hues on her catwalks.

What is great about this trend is it allows you to go as far as you are comfortable with. Go full-on for a night out or simply add a pop of colour on your nails. The theme is “fun” and your makeup should give you joy.

Even refined fashion brand Prabal Gurung embraced this trend by created lavish floral hats for models to wear.

Expect to see more of this vibrant beauty trend throughout all of 2020. It’s a major theme this year.
12 Comments
bn100
December 16, 2021 at 4:37 pmfun trend
Stephanie ONeil
February 4, 2020 at 2:01 pmThe gold the flowers ๐ how beautiful โค๏ธ I love the glitter an 80s teen so the more glitz the more fun!! Great article great makeup designs!! Thank you Dave Lackie! @Oneilpedraja!
Natalia Dimitropoulos
January 21, 2020 at 4:51 pmSome stunning looks
Julie prasad
January 21, 2020 at 7:05 amLove these colours omg
Craig Johnson
January 20, 2020 at 11:50 pmVery Interesting!
Rose Campbell Wells
January 20, 2020 at 4:48 pmFantastic way the start off the year! I love the Caribbean palette, itโs joyful and playful ๐
Brenda Cremer
January 21, 2020 at 5:28 pmI love colorful eye looks that compliment the clothing.
Adele Wright
January 20, 2020 at 4:30 pmSuch a beautifully graphic,editorial look,I like it a lot. I am still trying to apply small false lashes,I better master it soon so I can graduate to this, Great article Dave!
Siane K.
January 20, 2020 at 10:02 amI LOVE all the bright vibrant colors especially the purples and pinks. No matter how old I ge, I will always wear bright colors. @DianeLori
Anna Roszak Robinson
January 20, 2020 at 9:50 amLove this article. Beautiful! ๐
Trisha Pedros
January 20, 2020 at 9:50 amLove it! We were just in Jamaica and we saw so many vibrantly made up people at all the shows we attended! So much work goes into this beauty trend and definitely worth it! Gorgeous
daniela sborlini
January 20, 2020 at 9:29 amlove the Valentino look with the gold sparkles. not sure how i feel about the oversized eyelashes though. i think Madonna with her diamond tip lashes is as daring as i would go @daniela27