10 Beauty Lessons From New York Fashion Week

A obvious nod to developing clothing and accessory trends may live in its name, but New York Fashion Week is also an overflowing fount of beauty news and pro techniques. The world's greatest makeup and hair influencers gather backstage, creating the cosmetics counterparts, if you will, to designers' Fall 2014 collections. What was this year all about? Bold, natural beauty. From textured, carefree 'dos to nude manis to dramatic lips, artists embraced and enhanced models' features with minimal and easy-to-learn techniques.

However, no NYFW would truly be fulfilled without a few beauty shockers— and the intricate braids and metallic sequins took care of that!

But to give you a short cut on all things backstage hair and makeup, we pulled together the 10 important beauty lessons learned from this year's designer showdown.

What Did Bella Thorne Wear to Diane von Furstenberg's 40th Anniversary Show?

1. Ladies with pin straight hair can create a "textured" look with only a bobby pin.The Ouidad team working behind Tracy Reese's hair look intertwined straights of hair into the pin and then flat ironed over it. The heat set the zig-zag design, allowing the stylists to then separate and tease the sections of hair. They enhanced the looks with products like the Wave Create Sea Spray and PlayCurl Volumizing Styling Spray. 

2. Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm does a world of wonder—for more than just your pucker. Backstage at Jill Stuart, Aaron de Mey for Maybelline New York gave models an "achievable-looking" feel with smudged eyeliner and dabs of the lip balm on top of their lids for a dewy DIY day glow.

3. Wait 1-2 minutes before painting on that second coat of polish. Nail pro Deborah Lippman, who created the barely-there nude manicures backstage at EDUN with her taupe hue, 'Fashion,' says that's how long it takes for the solvents to evaporate. If you don't do that, Deborah says the polish will never properly "set up," causing your look to deteriorate faster.

4. Get yourself some cuticle cream, stat! As per usual, Deborah Lippmann was the source of need-to-know nail news. The guru has developed a new luxe cream, The Cure, to restore health to your cuticles. She used her formula during EDUN's show to restore the nails from the excess of acetone that’s been used during the week.

Brad Goreski on Taking Selfies at Fashion Week 

5. Low ponytails are back, but not like before! Fall 2014's pony is all about deconstructed messiness. Backstage at EDUN and Yigal Azrouel, James Pecis for Beauty.com created textured ponytails secured at the nape. At Yigal Azrouel specifically, James used ALTERNA CAVIAR Anti-Aging Working Hair Spray to push the front section of hair onto the face. After the pony was secured, he pulled up strands to create volume and purposeful displacement.

6. Ombre isn't over—at least not for nails. Backstage at Rebecca Taylor, MAC Cosmetics created a two-toned ombre mani using a silver-grey color 'Midnight Sky' and a wine hue. So how do you get that ombre look? With a sponge! After painting two coats of 'Midnight Sky,' nail artists cut a makeup sponge and dabbed on a mixture of the two colors and then painted on a clear gel top coat. This spongy look was also featured at Diego Binetti's show using Morgan Taylor polish.

7. Not all runway models have the same look! In fact, backstage at Tracy Reese, Mally Roncal used her famous eye, lip, and cheek palettes to create six different looks based on emotions. Our personal fave? Sultry!

8. At TIBI, Aveda stylists used a simple braid down the center part to the crown of the head to create a "country girl meets urbanite" look. They also created three separate braids with the remaining hair, flat ironed each braid to set the waves, and then unraveled them. Looks like you have a new way to create a beachy wave.