16 Hot New Makeup Colours for Spring

We round up the freshest beauty offerings for your lips, eyes and skin this season

Spring is always an exciting time to add a few new shades to your makeup palette. Launches are happening almost daily and makeup brands are just as excited as makeup aficionados for the latest trends, newest technologies and most brilliant packaging.

Here are 16 colour products to experiment with this sunny season…

 

Top 4 Lip Products

1. SPELA, Paint and Play Liquid Lip Matte Lipstick

This Canadian brand ticks all the trend boxes: bold, liquid and matte. The formula’s lightweight yet highly pigmented and actually lasts (unless you eat something greasy, as with all lip colours). Best applied in a thin layer, then let it set for five seconds and you’re good to go. On that note, if you need more precision, use a lip brush, as there’s not a lot of “play” time and the brighter colours are unforgiving to smudges. They also blend seamlessly; mixing a bright pink and a brick red colour results in a gorgeous fuchsia. Or try your hand with the lip ombre effect. Best of all, these are actually vegan and free of chemicals like parabens, talc and sulphites.
$24, available at Kiss and Makeup

2. Burberry, Liquid Lip Velvet

The whipped, creamy texture of this liquid lip product is unique in that, while it’s matte, it doesn’t “set” and gives the lips a truly velvety look. It’s highly pigmented, so work in very thin layers, as too much product will end up moving a lot and smearing. While Burberry is famous for its sludgy, muted colourways, the colour options for this lip product are gloriously bright and cheerful—perfect for spring. This is a great option for anyone wanting to embrace the matte lip trend but a bit fearful of Sahara lips. True to its name, this product actually leaves lips nicely hydrated, and if you discretely press your lips together periodically, the wear is very even and you’ll have a nice stain as opposed to the dreaded ring of colour.
$38, available at select Hudson’s Bay, Nordstrom and Sephora

3. Hourglass, Girl Lip Stylo

This is a hybrid of lipstick, lipiner and lip balm, all in one beautiful stylo pen. The colour selection (20) is thoroughly modern with equally current and empowering names, like Visionary (brick red), Achiever (deep mauve) and Inventor (soft rose). The colours are so easily wearable and a cinch to apply. The creamy texture glides easily, leaving a good level of pigmentation. The pointed tip makes precision application possible and re-application easy. Because of the silky texture (thanks to shea butter and oils from jojoba, mimosa and sunflower seed), the stylos don’t last more than a couple of hours, but they fade evenly and you can reapply without a mirror once you get the feel for them.
$40, available at Sephora and select Nordstrom locations

4. Elizabeth Arden, Sheer Kiss Lip Oil

The packaging alone for this lip product is worth a serious look: feels ergonomically comfortable in the hand, slim enough for pockets and it’s got a soft, plump centre that begs to be squished. This one is best described as a thick, creamy balm that keeps lips hydrated with five different oils. The pigmentation is medium-low, so more colour payoff than a sheer balm, but less than a typical lipstick. This is definitely a treatment and makeup combo that will keep your lips looking healthy and youthful.
$25, available at Hudson’s Bay, London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and other drug stores

 

 

Top 4 Palettes

1. NARS, NARSissist Loaded Eyeshadow Palette

This limited edition palette is packaged in a hefty, gold-mirrored exterior. Inside you’ll find 12 warm-neutral shades of buttery, pigmented colours ranging from white gold to black—and every goldy, coppery shade in between. This is a stunning palette for anyone who loves opulent, bronze-y looks. It contains a versatile mix of mattes, shimmers and metallics.
$74, available at Hudson’s Bay, Nordstrom and Sephora

2. Stila, Matte ‘N Metal Eyeshadow Palette

This very versatile palette offers 12 shades that are mostly neutral with a few shades a bit cooler and a few a bit warmer. As the name implies, half are entirely matte, the other half highly metallic—heaven-sent for anyone who’s ever cursed an otherwise perfect palette for not having enough mattes. You need the two textures to create a balanced look: keep the shimmer on the lid, and use a matte to contour above in the socket.
$64, available at Shoppers Drug Mart and Sephora

3. Clarins, Face Contouring Palette

This all-in-one limited edition palette contains a highlighter, contour and blush in a strikingly sleek package. Known more for sophisticated, natural looks, don’t expect any shimmer let alone sparkle from these products; all three colours are matte. But you will get a nice, subtle glow from the highlighter, a natural warmth from the contour and a rosy flush from the blush. Technically, the contour is meant to mimic shadow (hence, contour), but it leans warm so if you’re warm-toned or have olive undertones, this will work beautifully. If you’re neutral or cool-toned or very fair, use it judiciously, more as a bronzer. The enclosed brush, though it looks promising, should be passed over for your favourite powder/contouring brush.
$49, available at Hudson’s Bay and Shoppers Drug Mart

4.  Paul & Joe Beaute, Anniversary Makeup Collection

This limited edition kit is destined to be a collector’s item, if you have the willpower not to use it. Paul & Joe Beaute is celebrating their 15th anniversary this spring and true to form, everything in this kit is adorable beyond belief, including some of their most iconic cat-themed products. Yes, I said cat. There’s a feline-shaped pouch, a feline-shaped lipstick (peachy pink) and six feline-shaped lip, face and eye colour “bullets.”
$90, available at Shoppers Drug Mart

 

Top 4 Face Products

1. Stellar, Limitless Foundation

This new line comes from Canadian television personality Monika Deol, whose frustrations with being told repeatedly by makeup artists that they didn’t have foundation shades to match her medium skin tone led to this creation. Big beauty brands tend to cater to lighter tones and deeper tones. The massive swath of medium skin tones typical of Latinas, Hispanics and South Asians like Deol (not to mention two-thirds of the world’s population), remains largely ignored. Stellar does offer a full range of makeup suitable to all skin tones, but definitely focuses on women with medium tones. The Limitless Foundation is incredibly lightweight yet delivers real-skin medium coverage that’s buildable.
$45, available at Sephora

2. Stila, Heaven’s Hue Highlighter

Highlighters are as popular as ever and every brand has a new one out this season. Stila, known for the iconic Kitten shade, has three new highlighters out, including the aforementioned, a shimmering nude pink. Their Bronze, meanwhile, gives a warm, sun-kissed glow, while Transcendence, a beautiful pale lilac, illuminates with a bold wash of shimmery pink. The texture is bouncy, which means the product itself will never be powdery but instead adheres to the skin beautifully.
$42, available at Shoppers Drug Mart and Sephora

 

3. NARS, Charlotte Gainsbourg Multiple Tint

Anyone seeking that cool French-girl vibe knows who Charlotte Gainsbourg is, the ultimate in chic (for the rest of you: she’s a super-acclaimed French actress). Her collaboration with NARS truly reflects her “less is more” philosophy when it comes to makeup: sheer glowy skin, juicy tinted lips and moody smudgy eyes. For cheeks, Gainsbourg has reformulated the iconic Multiple into a more sheer, matte texture that leaves the perfect, barely-there flush on the apples. Technically, like all the Multiples, this is meant for lips as well but it really shines as a blush. Stick to the Lip Tints for lips.
$49, available at Hudson’s Bay, in stores at Nordstrom, Murale and Sephora

4. Make Up For Ever, Ultra HD Microfinishing Pressed Powder

This new finishing powder (not a setting powder) is so finely milled it almost feels cool to the touch and blurs imperfections on the face. The case feels substantial in hand, square with rounded corners, almost vintage with its metal, matte exterior. Infused with hyaluronic acid, it’s suitable even for dry skin and won’t emphasize flaky patches. Best applied by rolling a brush or velour puff over the powder, then repeating this rolling motion over the face, gently pressing the powder into the skin.
$44, available at Sephora 

 

Best 4 Eye Products

1. Clarins, Four-Colour All in-One Makeup Pen

Remember that clicky pen we all had in elementary school, with the fat barrel that contained four different colours? Well, Clarins has reinvented this iconic childhood staple and replaced the ink with eye pencils (and one for lips!). Their all-in-one pen contains one black eyeliner, one cobalt blue eyeliner, one brown brow pencil and one lipliner. Possibly because they’re not individually capped, the formulas are on the drier, harder side, so let them warm up in-pocket for a few minutes before applying.
$44, available at Hudson’s Bay and Shoppers Drug Mart

2. The Estée Edit, Fluid Metal Eyeshadow

Metallic finishes are hugely popular this season and these are a great, easy way of incorporating this trend into your look. All the shades in this range, aside from the royal blue, are actually quite neutral. Line just above the lashes over black eyeliner for a flash of metallic gleam, or pat onto the entire lid for a more dramatic look. Like with all liquid metallic eyeshadows, application is key. For best results, don’t use too much and don’t use a fluffy brush or sponge-tip applicator. Dab lightly with your fingertips or use the wand. Tapping with fingers will bring out the sparkle, while gliding the applicator across will give you a shimmery finish. Keep your eyes closed for about 10 seconds after application if possible to give the product time to set. This will dramatically reduce fallout, now and later on.
$28, available exclusively at Sephora

3. Elizabeth Arden, Statement Brow

This tinted brow gel will perfect your arches in a couple of easy strokes. The chubby, bristly head makes satisfying work of combing your lashes while evenly depositing subtle colour. Fortified with beeswax and carnauba for long-lasting hold, and kaolin (clay) to provide full texture. This is the perfect product for quickly filling in your brows and keeping them neatly in place.
$32, available at London Drugs

 

4. Hourglass, Voyeur Waterproof Liquid Liner

Everything Hourglass has released lately has been a home run, including this new felt-tip liquid eyeliner. The colour is a bold, dramatic black and the formula sets after a few seconds. Works best over a primer. If you’ve had problems using a liquid liner in the past, try holding the pen parallel to your eyes and slide the tip across the base of your lashes in short segments, instead of holding the pen vertically and pointed at your eye. This will give you a smoother line and prevent the brush from splaying.
$42, available at Sephora