Timed to 2025's festive fall/winter season, comes the first in our So Beau series that showcases the makeup trends to try now and keep in your pocket forever, with looks curated and created by Beau Nelson, and photographed by Beau Nelson. Los Angeles-based and originally from a small town in Southern Alberta, Canada, Beau is a Story + Rain go-to makeup pro who's designed looks for our signature cover stories and more. He began working professionally at the age of fourteen, and today he's a resource for such luxury brands as Chanel, Miu Miu, and Giorgio Armani. He can be seen on the screen, all over Instagram, and working with the world's top photographers. Known for his keen eye for color, Beau’s clientele has included Kristen Stewart, Riley Keough, Emma Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Richie, Alessandra Ambrosio, Christina Hendricks, Ellen Pompeo, Story + Rain cover star Nathalie Emmanuel, and many more. Here, in a range of looks from the most modern take on natural, to ways to play up features that are bold and bright, Landman's Michelle Randolph sports three looks for eyes, one for blush, one for lips, with two ways to wear nail color. Always inspired by what reigned the runways, discover and shop five hot looks for holiday (and beyond) with all the steps and tips by Beau, and go BTS with Michelle as she lays out what it's like to take on Texas style for Landman and what's in her own makeup bag of essentials.

This trend was huge on the runways, and I’m seeing a lot of girls wearing it in real life and all over TikTok. It's one of those universally flattering trends, so it's no wonder. To achieve this beautiful, flushed, healthy-looking cheek that we saw on runways like Max Mara, I suggest using a cream blush in a warm rosy tone if your skin is light, a rosewood tone for skin in medium to deep tones. For deep skin tones, a vivid, purple-y burgundy or dark orange-red work beautifully. The key is to apply it with a larger softer brush than what most people think of for cream blush. I used Sephora Collection's Powder Brush 50, which has a very loose upside down triangle shape, on the cheek, dragging the blush down a little from the apple of the cheek towards the jawline softly. Pro tip: If you feel like you have applied too much, just tap your beauty blender or your foundation brush over the blush to soften  it. 

This look was inspired by the makeup at Chloe's fall 2025 runway show, where Augustinus Bader skincare was used to prep the face, keeping the skin very natural with a bit of contour to the cheekbones. A tiny hint of a neutral shadow was used on the eyelid, and concentrated mascara was seem on lashes, deposited in multiple coats. A tweezer is used to pinch lashes together for a spidery look. For the more wearable version, I suggest layering mascara and letting it dry between coats to create volume. I used a pale peachy-nude matte lipstick on lips to give it a slightly 60's feel. 

The key to this look is concentrating a longwear liner on the inner corner of the eye. This is something you can do to intensify a smoky eye if you don't want to rim the entire eye, which can sometimes make the eyes appear smaller. This look draws attention to the eye, but isn't as dramatic. For Michelle, I kept the makeup neutral to really display the liner. To get this look use a waterproof gel liner or a cream liner pot to make sure it really stays. I used a flat brush to apply for precision. 

Variations on blue eye shadow was something we saw a lot of on the runways of spring 2025. From denim and frost blues at Anna Sui to vivid cobalt at Luar; the soft washes of powdery blue on some of the models at Schiaperelli...blue was a key color of the season. For Michelle, I opted for more of a slate-blue, and brought it onto the inner corner of the eye to give the look a bit of a twist. A blue pencil was used as a cream eye shadow by sketching the shape I wanted, and then blending the edges and setting it with a matching shadow. I paired this eye with natural, glossy lips and manicurist Amber Studer gave her blue nails for a monochrome look. To get this look, use a dark blue pencil or cream shadow and apply with a dense domed brush. Use a clean domed blending brush to buff the edges and layer as needed, for depth. Use a dense flat brush to apply a matching shadow over top to give the color even more depth. Pro Tip: if cream shadow or pencil sets before you have time to blend it, use a tiny bit of concealer on the brush to reactivate the shadow and blend the edges. 

At Tom Ford's showing, makeup artist Lucy Bridge created the most stunning dark burgundy lip with mirror-like, supershiny gloss. Paired with bleached eyebrows and minimal, sculpted skin, it was perfect for designer Haider Ackermann's image of the Tom Ford woman. To achieve this look on Michelle, I sculpted eyelids and cheekbones with a contour cream, setting the contour cream on the eyes lightly with a matching powder shadow to ensure it wouldn't crease. Then, I carefully lined lips and filled them in before applying a longwear dark burgundy lipstick, letting that set before putting on a TON of thick clear lip gloss. Pro Tip: Pointed cotton buds and a dual phase makeup remover are your best friend when doing a super precise lip. Clean up edges with the qtip and then retouch the skin using a soft flat brush with a skin matching concealer to help sculpt the lip even further.