Recap of the backstage beauty looks from the runway show

The lights dimmed across the runway as the first model stepped out, and within seconds the phones in the front row lit up with screenshots and quick-fire texts. Backstage, however, the real story was unfolding at the makeup stations, where a small army of artists transformed faces with brushes, sponges and a serious amount of setting spray. From the moment doors opened at 8 a.m., the energy was part festival, part laboratory, with stylists trialling textures and tones while models floated between hair, makeup and final fittings.

This season's beauty recap captures every shimmering detail, from the dewy complexions to the graphic liner moments, and breaks down how the team achieved each finish. Australian readers tuning in from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane will notice the looks have been designed to translate effortlessly into the southern hemisphere's calendar, whether you are heading to a gallery opening in Surry Hills, a beach wedding in Byron Bay or a Saturday brunch in Fremantle. Consider this your front-row pass to the brushes, palettes and unexpected product choices that shaped the season.

The mood and the muse

Lead artist Cassie Howell described the brief as "modern heirloom", a phrase that quickly became shorthand for everything from skin finish to hairstyle. The reference deck was scattered with vintage denim campaigns, late-nineties supermodel polaroids and sun-bleached photographs taken on the coast near Margaret River. The palette of inspiration leaned warm and golden, with notes of bronze, terracotta and the kind of tawny shimmer you catch at golden hour on Bondi Beach.

What set this season apart was the quiet confidence in the choices. Rather than chasing a viral moment, the team built each look around the personality of the model and the texture of the garment she was wearing. A cropped leather jacket called for sharper cheekbones, while a bias-cut slip demanded a softer, more diffused lip. For anyone wanting to understand the design DNA behind these choices, a guide to the brand walks through the heritage details that informed every creative decision.

Skin prep and the luminous base

The first rule of backstage beauty, according to lead skin therapist Marcus Lin, is that you build the canvas before you touch the colour. Models arrived with a cleanse-and-tone ritual already complete, then were layered with a peptide serum, a hyaluronic acid mist and a rich moisturiser suited to their skin type. In the hot, fluorescent backstage environment, the team used cooling jade rollers and ice globes to depuff before priming, a trick borrowed from facialists working Australian red carpets during Mardi Gras week.

Foundation was applied with a damp sponge in light, building layers rather than seeking full coverage. The finish leaned satin with strategic highlighter placement across the cheekbones, the bridge of the nose and the cupid's bow. Concealer was reserved for the under-eye area and the occasional blemish, then blended outward to keep the result believable on camera. Setting powder was used sparingly, only where shine threatened to break through during the long walk back and forth under the stage lights.

For Australian weather, where humidity in Brisbane and Melbourne can shift dramatically between morning and evening, the team favoured a setting spray with glycerin to keep the finish flexible. The effect, once models hit the runway, was skin that looked like it had just been kissed by the sun, a kind of effortlessness that felt particularly fitting for a brand built around denim and the laid-back confidence of the West Coast.

Eye looks that took centre stage

Eyes carried the strongest narrative of the season, with three distinct directions rolled out across the collection. The first was a soft bronze wash, layered with terracotta at the outer corner and finished with a single coat of brown mascara. It read polished without feeling overdone, the kind of look that translates seamlessly from a Monday meeting in the Sydney CBD to an after-work drink on George Street.

The second direction played with smoke, using a charcoal kohl smudged along the upper and lower lash lines before being buffed out with a small fluffy brush. The team resisted the urge to add shimmer, instead leaving the finish matte and slightly lived-in, as if the model had been caught mid-thought. For evening shows in Melbourne's theatre district, this look held up beautifully under warm stage lighting, reading as intention rather than accident.

The third and most editorial choice was the graphic liner, drawn with a precise felt-tip in deep espresso. A thin wing extended just past the outer corner, then flicked upward into a soft cat shape, with a negative-space gap left along the lower lash line. It was brave, sharp and unmistakably modern, the kind of statement that photographs well from the second row of the runway and the back of the press riser.

Lip stories and statement shades

Lip choices swung from barely-there to boldly assertive, with the team dressing each model according to the personality of the look she was wearing. The skin-forward faces were paired with tinted balms in shades of peach, rose and warm caramel, the kind of colours that mimic the natural flush you get after a long walk along the Cottesloe shoreline.

Stronger eye looks were balanced with bare satin lips, a deliberate move designed to keep the focal point where the team wanted it. A custom blend of cocoa butter and a hint of pigment was applied with a fingertip for a blurred, just-bitten effect. For the most dramatic face of the show, the lip team reached for a deep merlot cream formula, blotted twice and softened at the edges to avoid any harsh lines. The result photographed like velvet and stayed put through hours of touch-ups, a small miracle given the demanding backstage schedule.

The colour story was anchored in warmth, with cooler tones reserved for the closing black-tie section of the show. There was a clear through-line: lips were treated as the punctuation of the face, never competing with the eye, always completing the sentence. It was a thoughtful approach that gave each model room to feel like herself, rather than a beauty template.

The lookbook at a glance

Below is a quick reference for the four signature directions from the show, broken down by finish, focal point and the kind of Australian occasion each look suits best.

Look Name	Skin Finish	Eye Focus	Lip Shade	Ideal Occasion
Bondi Bronze	Dewy, sun-kissed	Soft bronze wash	Tinted peach balm	Saturday brunch, beachside
Studio Smoke	Satin, soft-matte	Smudged charcoal	Bare satin	Cocktails, gallery openings
West Coast Graphic	Velvet, polished	Espresso wing	Merlot cream	Night out, fashion week party
Margaret River Wave	Natural, breathable	Lifted lash line	Caramel rose	Wedding guest, race day

Each of these looks can be dialled up or down depending on the time of day and the dress code. The Bondi Bronze reads beautifully in morning light, while the West Coast Graphic holds its own in flash photography after dark. The Margaret River Wave is the most forgiving for first-timers, while Studio Smoke rewards a steady hand and a good smudge brush.

Hair direction and texture play

Hair lead Yara Okafor approached each look with the same collaborative spirit, treating hair as the third pillar of the beauty story rather than an afterthought. Three core directions emerged: a slicked-back, centre-parted finish paired with sharp makeup; a loose, mid-length wave with a bend at the ends; and a wet-look ponytail that nodded to early-2000s styling without feeling nostalgic.

The slicked-back direction was achieved with a gel-cream hybrid, combed through with a fine-tooth comb and sealed with a light hairspray. It paired beautifully with the graphic liner, elongating the face and giving the cheekbones room to breathe. For the loose waves, Yara's team used a one-inch curling iron, leaving the ends straight for an undone feel that worked particularly well with the satin slip dresses shown mid-runway. Models with finer hair received a micro-fibre spray at the roots for volume, a common request from Australian talent who spend time in the salt air and find their strands flatten quickly.

The wet-look ponytail has been the breakout favourite across the country this season. For a glimpse of how the style translates off the runway and onto real guests, the styling team recreated it on attendees throughout the JLo x GUESS launch in Sydney, where the high-shine finish held up beautifully under stage lights and into the after-party.

From the runway to real life

The most useful part of any backstage recap is the translation, the moment where a runway concept becomes a Monday morning reality. The team offered a few simple rules for adapting these looks at home. First, prioritise skin prep, even if you only have five minutes, a hydrating serum and a light moisturiser will lift the rest of your makeup. Second, choose one feature to emphasise. If you go bold on the eyes, keep the lips neutral, and if you prefer a statement lip, soften everything else.

For Australian readers, weatherproofing matters. A long-wearing foundation, a creamy concealer that does not cake in humidity, and a setting spray will carry you from a workday in Parramatta to a rooftop evening in Fortitude Valley without needing a full refresh. The graphic liner can be softened with a cotton bud for a daytime version, while the bronze wash can be deepened with a touch of copper at the outer corner for night. The wet-look ponytail works brilliantly post-swim, simply rake a small amount of gel-cream through damp hair and let it air-dry on the drive home.

Above all, the takeaway from backstage is that great beauty is rarely about doing more. It is about choosing with intention, working with your features and letting a single element lead. Whether you are dressing for a wedding, a weekend escape to the Mornington Peninsula or a low-key dinner in Adelaide, the same logic applies. Readers wanting a closer look at how the artists worked can find detailed behind the scenes photography in the recent event gallery.

The full gallery of backstage portraits, model close-ups and product lists is now live across the GUESS Journal. Subscribe to the newsletter for early access to future recaps, exclusive invitations to in-store styling events and the first look at upcoming drops. Tap the heart on your favourite look, share it with the friend who always asks for your makeup recommendations, and keep an eye on the journal as the season unfolds.