In a new venue–Arsenal, a cavernous gallery in the hot up-and-coming ‘hood of Griffintown–the 23rd edition of
Montreal Fashion Week was, as expected, a hotbed of chic looks, both on and off the runway (you can always expect Montrealers to ratchet up the style quotient, n’est-ce pas?).

When it came to the beauty looks created backstage, the teams, lead by Amelie Ducharme for makeup and Denis Binet for hair, concocted a magical range from avant garde to accessible. Here are our top fashion industry picks for spring 2013
beauty trends from MFW23.

Bold, bright eye makeup
While we likely won’t dig into kiddie costume makeup (it doesn’t have the same wearability as actual cosmetics) like they used for some of the runway shows for the saturated hues, expect to be dipping into brighter than bright eye makeup colours.

From the aqua liner seen on the Melissa Nepton runway, and the over-the-top greens and blues layered onto the eyelids at Denis Gagnon, the shades Ducharme used were beautifully bold against the skin.

Luminescent skin
Flawless skin is never out of style in the fashion industry, but what Ducharme featured in many of the runway shows (including Annie 50 and Rudsak) was glowing, almost iridescent skin–think doll-like in it’s perfection.

To achieve the look, she actually relied on an eye shadow: beige Cover Girl Smoky ShadowBlast, which she applied and blend onto the skin that’d she’d given an even tone using Clean Foundation.

For even more secret beauty tips from the fashion industry keep reading on the next page..

Eyeshadow blocks

The 1980s are making a bit of a comeback next spring. Don’t worry–we’re not going to be wearing scrunchies. But several makeup looks did have a bit of an 80s inspiration.

"There were a few looks with more of a block shape to the eye shadow," says Ducharme. At Duy, for example, the bronze eyeshadow look was applied heavily and shaped out to a point following the angle of the brow, while at Rudsak, the eye makeup had a sexy, frosty appeal, another look that was big in that decade.

"Natural" hair
While there were plenty of runway-only type of hair looks, several catwalks featured hair that was simple and completely wearable in real life–as though we’d caught up the models at the end of the day rather than after hours of having their hair styled backstage. And like the models, what this means for you is that for these same natural looks, you can’t just wash and go–au contraire.

Do that and your hair might look fine when you leave the house, but as the day progresses, you’ll be cursed with flyaways and possibly frizz.

To give the hair some texture and help keep it under control in the midst of environmental elements, take a cue from Binet: he used Sebastian Whipped Creme for the model-off-duty hair for the Hip & Bone show and the sleek, slicked back hair for Tavan & Mitto, and Pantene Mousse for Medium-Thick Hair for the swept-up chignons on the Rudsak runway.

Strong contouring
Add some uber dimenson to your face. Strong contouring (yet another nod to the 80s — see "Eyeshadow Blocks" above) was key on several runways, including Duy and Annie 50. To create the look, Ducharme favours Cover Girl Pressed Powder 260 for giving the face a modern, softer version of the severe 1980s contouring.

Red lips
Red alert–work on getting comfortable with wearing true red lipstick again. From Denis Gagnon to Duy, not to mention Annie 50 and Rudsak, bright red lips (some with more of an orange tone), ruled the MFW runway. Get the look using Cover Girl Outlast All-Day Lipcolor Ever Red-dy 507 and Lip Perfection Hot 305.

Read more:
6 rocking red lip shades
Beauty secret: Protect your hair with these must-have products
Beauty secrets: The 7 best blotting papers
Hot talk: Perfect fall lip colours