double trouble

For fall '12, we saw the return of the matchy-matchy outfit; from Miu Miu to DKNY, the print you wore on top was also the print you wore on the bottom. For spring '13, we're still seeing designers go matchy-matchy--only, it's their lips and cheeks that they're pairing. "Old trick of grandmother, [using] the same color on their cheeks," is how MAC's Lyne Desnoyers described the look backstage at ERIN by Erin Fetherston. See, she used the very same tangerine lip color she mixed up on site ("It flirts a little bit with the pastels, but it's a bit richer, and we're really applying it as a stain," was how she described it), dabbing a bit below their eyes to make their "skin as fresh as possible."

At Costello Tagliapietra, the double-duty lip products got a bit more intense; a berry-coral shade, blended from MAC's Spring 2013 Forecast Lips (we got a sneak peek of it backstage!), was not only patted onto lips, but around eyes and across cheeks as well. "It's naturally beautiful, innocent, just…breathtaking," explained MAC's Maki Ryoke.

How to make it work for you? Find a light, sheer-coverage shade that works with your skin tone (Ryoke suggests a pink or coral if you have light skin, and a berry if you have dark), then after applying it to your lips, just pat a bit on to the upper edge of your cheekbones. While you wait for the MAC palette to come out, try dual-products from Sephora, Stila, or the original in double-duty, Benefit's Benetint. If it works for grandma--or Erin Fetherston, or the Costello Tagliapietra guys--it works for us.

Check out those fresh faces at ERIN by Erin Fetherston.

Yes, their lips match their cheeks (more ERIN by Erin Fetherston).

Backstage at ERIN by Erin Fetherston spring '13

The MAC trio that made the custom tangerine lip at ERIN by Erin Fetherston

Backstage at ERIN by Erin Fetherston

Backstage at ERIN by Erin Fetherston

Backstage at Costello Tagliapietra

Yes, that's the same color on her lips, cheeks, and eyes at Costello.