How often do you switch up your look? Seasonal/ Trend-driven makeup choices.

Following on from my previous post regarding brand trends and packaging or promotional related influences, I now would like to turn to the timeless question: Why do we feel compelled to switch up our look to suit the seasons? As British weather confidently (finally) turns to Spring, I feel it is now inapropriate - impudent, even - to reach for my mulberry lipstick and dark eyeshadow. I wonder when this habit began, to associate Sping/ Summer with vibrant luminous colours, and Winter with warm dark tones. It seems peculiar to have to echo the elements within our makeup routine, but I am certain we must all do it, at least to some extent....

I suppose there is something almost pagan about the way we see the changing of the seasons as an invitation to change our look.

Key summer trend: Coral lips

The beauty press seems unanimously to agree that coral lips are the best way to capture the sunshine spirit du jour. Coral is synonymous with old fashioned, yet in truth it can prove a very fuss-free way of updating your standard makeup and making it summery. But choosing the wrong coral shade can be extremely hazardous, as the orange can easily bring out yellowness in teeth or sallowness in yellow toned pale skins. Dark skins invariably benefit from coral though. Pale skins are best off with pinker corals, wheras darker skins can pull off the more red/orange coral spectrum.

Pick your coral: from pink based coral to vivid pure coral, from dense colours to glazes, coral is the quickest route to summer makeup. Choose your colour wisely: like JLo, picking coral can knock years off you!

- To get just a hint of coral, like Angelina Jolie, I highly recommend my new discovery: E.L.F Plumping lip glaze in Fire Coral

, it's fab - especially if you are a fan of Benefit Buxom lips (i.e if you love that menthol zing). For £1.50 ($1 in U.S) it's a brilliant discovery.

But what of those classic lips, nude and red? For some reason these choices are unrestricted by season, trend or age. Finding the perfect red is notoriously difficult, but once found, it makes skin bloom and teeth brighten. Nude lips and natural makeup can easily be updated for summer with gold glints or extra highlighter.

Red lips, although limited to formal occasions or evening wear, are at least timeless:

N.B: Warm red lipstick tend to be more youthful than cool blue-based red, and do not make lips look smaller in the way a classic red lip risks doing.

Bright pink lips are a modern spin on the red lipstick: retaining the punch of colour, but in a more youthful way. Pinks are in many ways easier to wear, and suit a multitude of skintones:

Burgundy lips though, I feel, are in many ways not restricted to seasonal whims. I believe burgundy is a sophisticated red than can be pinked up or kept deep. It has the ability to make skin look extra clear, and teeth look extra white. It has an originality that is lacking in a red lip or nude lip, and it looks great on various skintones. It can adapt to an everyday look with surprising ease. My favourite has to be Guerlain Kiss Kiss Maxi Laque in Purple Star, described perfectly as "seductive purple red". It stays on lips for ever, and dries down to a stain as the hours wear on.

Keep your deep burgundy bright, or it can look gothic, like Christina Ricci's, recalling her Addams family roots. And as with any deep lip shade, resist the urge to go all-out like Paris Hilton. Check the pic to see why.

... What do you do to update your look for Spring/Summer and why? What colours do you think are undervalued?? And what colours do you feel are trend-only and not for normal wear?