It was only a few days past Canada Day and Independence Day in the United States when the next batch of magazines began landing in my mailbox. Most of them bore some headline like this: “First Look at Fall.”

It’s pretty hard to concentrate on sweaters, tweeds and suede pumps when you’re wearing sandals, floaty skirts and light t-shirts, but the fashion industry is always months ahead of the curve. The shows for ready-to-wear fashion for the coming fall and winter started in February 2008 and continued through April.

These are a few of the looks that some of the world’s top makeup artists used at the shows in Paris, Milan, London and New York earlier this year.

Dick Page (a contributing editor at Allure and artistic director of Japanese makeup house Shiseido”> showed a smudged eye done in mixed shades of brown and black. Page tends to favor a natural, almost glowing, look for skin, with little powder and just a hint of rose blush on the cheeks.

Polly Osmond (formerly with Shu Ueumura and recently with MAC”> was doing heavier, filled-in brows for fall. She paired them with lightly shadowed eyes and a lot of mascara and cotton-candy pinks (applied with a light hand”> on lips and cheeks.

Pat McGrath (the brains behind Giorgio Armani’s makeup line and creative director at Procter & Gamble where she works on Max Factor and Cover Girl cosmetics”> also highlighted fresh, clean skin and browns for the eye. However, she chose intense matte reds for the lips at the shows she did. This can be a difficult look to pull off. Remember to exfoliate your lips before starting and fill in with pencil after lining to help the lipstick adhere. A stain like Benetint will really last if you aren’t a lipstick fan.

Besides natural and classic looks, makeup also has a fun side that was expressed by Italian makeup artist Fulvia Farolfi at the Betsey Johnson show. To work with the bright colors of Johnson’s collection, Farolfi broke the rules showing darkly smoky eyes (using sparkling black shadows and liners”> with brilliantly scarlet lips and pink cheeks. This is definitely not a look for the faint of heart!

Eyeliner is one product that seems to go on more often in the colder months and this year, Blinc, the makers of Kiss Me Mascara (the one that forms little tubes around your lashes”> have created Liquid Eyeliner (in four colors”> that supposedly “forms a water-resistant layer of color that binds to the lash line to provide a dramatic look and unparalleled hold”. But, just as with the mascara that comes off with a gentle tug, this eyeliner is supposed to peel off with warm water and gentle pressure. If you hate rubbing off eye makeup, this could be just what you’re looking for.

I change my nail color in the fall to something darker, and this year OPI has teamed up with makeup power retailer Sephora for an exclusive collection of 54 shades that includes a gorgeous deep metallic magenta called Meet For Drinks, a deep bronze named I’m With Brad (do you think Angelina will wear it?”> and a black with silver, gold and multi-colored sparkles called Never Enough Shoes (for all you Carrie Bradshaws out there”>. By the time you are reading this column, the collection will be available at Sephora online and in the stores within days.

While I hope all of us in the Northern Hemisphere aren’t pulling out our darker makeup colors until well into October, it never hurts to have a shopping list to get a jump on our fellow makeup junkies! Happy shopping!

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