There's got to be a conference—held in some undisclosed, underground location, roughly a month or two before Fashion Week starts—during which all the major makeup artists and brands sit around a Grand Assembly-type of table and come up with their own riffs on general themes. Us plebes who are not invited to this little shindig call them “trends.” (As a general rule, we in the beauty press are not allowed to cry trend 'til we see three of the same genre, so the double pony tails at both Adam Selman and Cushnie et Ochs will probably stay under the radar for now.)

So if this theoretical meeting of the minds did happen, one could imagine this season perhaps the MAC representatives cried out “We'll do a golden eye look.” followed quickly by someone from Maybelline adding, “No, call it bronzed.” right before someone from Nars says “Hell, just use bronzer and call it a day.” This is the only logical explanation for how we saw so many bronzed eye looks this past season. But hey—who's complaining?

The only frustrating thing when it comes to translating runway beauty immediately (a season early when you think about it) is this: Not all the products are released yet. Another dirty little secret is that sometimes the looks are, shall we say, helped along by products not listed for the backstage journalists among us. That's OK because approximating is half the fun. And it's what we're about to do.

First up was Adam Selman with a version that hinted at the golden tone, while being a little bit warmer and tending toward orange. A light dusting of MAC's Coppering(looks super red all milled together but a thin sweep turns up a ruddy, metallic version of a tan that'd look at home somewhere in New Mexico) covered with a balm.

Derek Lam also didn't get at the trend in an obvious way, but that's also because his spookiness must be reserved for the runway. For something similar (and wearable), there's Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye Color in Yuba with some iridescence and a yellow undertone.

Michael Kors' eye was a true bronze, making it a very good excuse to indulge in Tom Ford's new Skin Illuminating Powder Duo (looks like Shade & Illuminate but it's not cream-based)—it's an $80 you might have an easier time justifying if you can use it to strobe, bronze, and do your eyeshadow all in one. Start with the darker shade and layer on the white shimmer for extra glint.

Rag & Bone was all about Blue Lagoon so ditch the glimmer on this one and opt for something earthier. Not a bronzer (but close enough) is Dolce & Gabbana's The Blush in Apricot. Not pink, not brown, just perfect.

Then there's a blended-out orange from Rodarte—basically the ideal self-tanner color if you could use self-tanner on your eyelids. Use the Nars Eye Shadow Single in Persia (another that's deceiving in the pan and then goes on rusty gold). Refreshingly matte, it looks good on the lid, into the crease, and blended up until it fades. Sort of angelic, but really cool at the same time.

Photographed by Tom Newton.