How to Wear the Biggest Makeup Trends of Spring & Summer 2018

It’s 2018 and in my opinion, makeup trends are a thing of the past. I’ve had the unique perspective of covering them both before the birth of Instagram (let's call it BIE...Before the Instagram Era) and after (IE... Instagram Era) and I can confidently say that the social media platform has, in addition to bringing terms like FOMO and hashtags into our daily lexicon, caused the demise of makeup trends as we know it. The days of magazines telling you that "Fall is about playing with texture" and “this season's statement-making lip color is a vibrant blend of pink and purple” — both lines I've written at some point over my nine years here at Allure — are over. A trend that debuted at spring fashion shows in September can't possibly stay in our collective consciousness until April or May. On Instagram, makeup trends have a shelf life of a month or two — sometimes half a year if it’s really popular (see: mermaid beauty and rose gold everything). Add that to the fact that makeup artists on IG are constantly creating new looks and trying out new products (because new lines and collections launch every single damn day), there's no way you can get everyone on the same page about wearing one shade of eyeliner for a full three months of the year. (And honestly, who would want that anyway?) That's not to say that I think the makeup we see backstage at Fashion Week isn't important. It provides us with inspiration and introduces us to new ideas, whether you’re a young makeup artist working on an editorial shoot, a makeup brand designing a new palette, or just a normal person trying to figure out what to wear on your face for your next formal event. The makeup looks we see backstage are more of a suggestion than a credo. Which is exactly what we've done with the "trends" we saw backstage at the spring/summer 2018 runway shows. We selected the biggest shadow, liner, blush, and lipstick moments of the season and asked makeup artist Grace Ahn and photographer Christine Hahn to reinterpret them for us in their own fresh, easy, and utterly cool way. No one's telling you that you have to wear yellow eye shadow or holographic blush this summer. But after scrolling through these beautiful images, we have a feeling you might be convinced to give them a go.