Everything you need to know about Rihanna's Fenty Beauty

Please pause focusing on L'Oreal (especially after they chose to fire their first transgender model for speaking up about racism) or hurriedly trying to buy Kylie Lip Kits.

Finally, Rihanna's makeup range, Fenty Beauty, is nearly here. That's the only beauty brand anyone should be talking about right now.

If you didn't know, it was announced back in April that Rihanna would be creating her own beauty line, in collaboration with the Kendo division of LVMH Moët Hennesy Louis Vuitton, after they secured a deal with her for an insane $10 million.

It's been a long wait, but we've finally had our first proper glimpse of Fenty Beauty in the form of a glorious campaign video.

Here's everything you need to know.

When is Fenty Beauty launching?

Fenty Beauty will officially launch online at midnight PT on 8 September, 2017. For us UK-ers, that'll mean 8am on 8 September.

It'll launch in stores on the same day, Friday 8 September.

Mark your calendars now, people.

Where can I buy it?

It'll also be sold through Sephora and Harvey Nichols.

The campaign is glorious

Yesterday Rihanna released the first look at Fenty Beauty in the form of a campaign video that showcases just one product: A creamy lipgloss.

There are also rumours that the video is also promoting a highlighter, as all the models seem to have glimmering cheeks, but that product is not shown on camera.

The campaign itself is great. It shouldn't be a rarity that a beauty campaign features a diverse range of models in terms of size and skintone, but, sadly, it is. The video feels refreshing because we're so used to the same restrictive pool of white models, used over and over again.

The models in the videos are plus-size model Paloma Elsesser, Slick Woods, Duckie Thot, Halima Aden, Selena Forrest, Indyamarie Jean, Leomie Anderson, Camila Costa, and, of course, Rihanna herself.

Rihanna's also launched standalone videos focusing on individual models talking through the different shades.

The shade names are brilliant

A sample: Yacht Life, Chili Mango, Chic Freak, Trippin', Hustler Baby, Wrong, Trophy, Wife, No Charge, Confetti, Hustler, Freestyle, Cinnamon, Starstruck and Fire Crystal.

These names are a window into Rihanna's being and we want them on our face, ASAP

What to expect from the range:

Well, we still don't really know what products Fenty Beauty will be made up of, other than the lipgloss.

Judging from the campaign videos, though, it looks like we'll be seeing lots of 90s-inspired nudes with touches of sparkle and shimmer. We're predicting highlighters, creamy eyeshadows, and a whole load of lip products to knock Kylie Jenner off her throne of lip kits.

How to keep up to date:

While the line is still fairly shrouded in mystery, there are ways you can keep an eye out for updates.

5 Under-the-Radar Swedish Beauty Labels to Know

Today marks the beginning of the Spring 2018 shows in Stockholm, and with it, a parade of editors, stylists, and models on the runways in elaborate ensembles. But before turning a blind eye to anything but the clothes, which, if anything like last season, will be minimal with a bit more funk and a bit more street, take a moment to consider that the Scandinavian city is already very well-established on the proverbial beauty map.

Following in the footsteps of industry titans like Byredo's glossy black-capped scents and Sachajuan's minimalist shampoos, conditioners, and styling products, there is a school of lesser-known labels who are also helping to establish Sweden as a bona fide purveyor of all things beauty. Just look to Verso, whose retinol-based Super Facial Serum is already beloved by in-the-know Americans, or Estelle & Thild, an organic skin-care line now sold on Net-a-Porter. From a stimulating seaweed bath treatment to a salt scrub containing flowers plucked from a garden in northern Sweden, here is a look at five Swedish beauty lines to buy now.

L:A Bruket
Born in the rugged seaside town of Varberg, where the wind whips and the waves lash, L:A Bruket's line of all-natural spa and body products are formulated to counteract even the harshest of elements. Take the jumbo-sized lip balm made of beeswax, almond, and coconut oils, or the wild rose hand cream that's as moisturizing as it is intoxicating. Also not to be missed is the dried seaweed. Fished by hand off the western coast of Sweden, the bath treatment stimulates blood circulation, relieves overworked muscles, and alleviates sunburnt skin.

Verso
Swedes like Elin Kling flock to Verso, a Stockholm-based label known for its high usage of rejuvenating Retinol 8. While the healing and strengthening Super Facial Serum is a fan favorite, come September, a new Lip Serum, which softens and simultaneously plumps, will surely be filling the bags of the fashion set the world around.

Björk & Berries
What began as a small project deep in the forests of northern Sweden has become one of the country's most beloved beauty lines. With a commitment to sustainability, Björk & Berries uses handpicked, natural ingredients for its skin care, body, bath, hair, hand, and perfume ranges. Local picks include the Botanical Firming Cream (also known as "botanical botox") and the From the Garden Bath Salt, which, true to its name, contains detoxifying birch leaves and soothing lavender and chamomile flowers plucked straight from the label's plot.

Estelle & Thild
When Pernilla Rönnberg discovered the shockingly high number of chemicals in her face products, she sought to create a skin-care range free from pesticides and toxic residue, and thus, Estelle & Thild (named after her two young daughters) was born. This past May, the 10-year-old, Ecocert-approved organic label expanded its range to include makeup, such as a sheer foundation packed with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E, and a weightless Sun Powder that will deliver a healthy, believable glow well into winter.

Maria Akerberg
With more than 400 products (and 1400 variations)—all made from organic vegetable oils—Maria Akerberg's line is like the Holy Grail of skin care for Swedes. While a line that extensive (there's everything from strengthening eyebrow oil and deodorant salt to a softening scalp spray) makes it hard to pick favorites, there is something for everyone.

Why smart is in style this autumn

The fashionable position to take on fashion, these days, is that trends are dead and that individual style and self-expression are what matters. The old certainties – skirts are hereby decreed knee length for six months, only camel coats are to be worn for the foreseeable – belong to a different era. To a bygone world in which political insiders gave ballpark-accurate election predictions and the Oscar statuette didn't get handed to the wrong film in front of a global TV audience. Now the world is sick of experts, and that goes for fashion too.

Except in September. Because right now, the world needs fashion. The September issues of magazines, heavy as hymn books and immortalised by a glossy documentary, are testament to the power fashion has at this moment. Women who rely on their own style to steer their wardrobes the rest of the year are, at this point in the calendar as at no other, keen to be told which coat to buy and when to start wearing black tights. The system in which one consistent look could preside over a whole autumn and winter has been blown apart by an insatiable appetite for newness that demands we hit wardrobe-refresh every three weeks. September's back-to-school moment, when you pack away the sundresses and straw baskets and revamp your look, is the one fixed red-letter-day that remains.

Of course this is all about emotion, really, not clothes. Summer is fading, holidays are over, and after the second-gear lull of August in the office, the whip is being cracked. The best medicine for end-of-summer melancholy is to ring the changes with a new look that breaks us out of the doldrums. The shine of a new pair of boots, the springy plush of a bright new sweater, the swagger of a crisply tailored jacket. All of this is about putting an upbeat spin on the autumnal business of getting stuck into the gruelling next few months.

And in our age of optics, September's new look matters more than ever. Clothes are the channel on which much of modern life is broadcast. From the politics of the tie (Trump's long red one versus the no-tie axis that runs from Barack Obama to Sadiq Khan) to the visual semantics of pop (Taylor Swift's comeback video is punctuated with outfits that are just as deliberately controversial as the lyrics), we are all tuned in to the business of decoding what we wear.

Fashion isn't just about a look, it's about a message. Right now, that message is about clothes that are more high-energy, more outward-facing, than last year's cosy, Netflix-and-chill fashion. In 2016, it was de rigueur to wear a tracksuit on the fashion front row, and pyjamas to a cocktail party. If you want a quick snapshot of the season's new mood and how it has updated fashion, take a look at the Versace catwalk. All the recognisable hallmarks of Insta-friendly fashion are there, but the aesthetic is more serious-minded than playful, more ambitious than laid back. Gigi Hadid's abs are on display, but under a cropped double-breasted jacket rather than a sporty bra-top. Kendall Jenner has crazy yellow sunglasses on, but this time with a pencil skirt and a clutch bag.

The new look is not exactly power dressing. Let's call it empower dressing, instead. Elements of it – berets at Christian Dior, black leather at Calvin Klein, exaggerated shoulders at Balenciaga, bright red absolutely everywhere – signal a mood of direct action that is unusual in women's fashion. But while power dressing stands for individualistic, single-minded ambition; empower dressing is high-energy without the self-obsession blinkers. At Versace, tailored suits came emblazoned with sisterhood slogans: Unity, Loyalty, Power, Love.

This is not a season of po-faced get-ahead tailoring. Far from it. The most-viewed catwalk show on vogue.com for the season is Gucci. The label's aesthetic of technicolour, graffiti-scrawled, butterfly-decorated eclecticism is scarcely office appropriate. Prada, once the spiritual home of the A-line knee-length skirt and the useful bag, is all embroidered rainbow-hued knitwear and cheekily fluttering feathers. The latest Chanel tweed suits come accessorised with boots or headbands in escapist, space-age silver. These are not work clothes, but neither are they designed for staying home with a takeaway. Last year's athleisure fashion borrowed visuals from the yoga studio and the running track – fine jersey, sleek leggings – but 2017 has downed a protein shake and brought a high-intensity attitude to what we wear, instead.

For proof that this is a season of clothes for putting down the remote, getting out of your comfort zone and into the big wide world, consider the transparent raincoat. Both Raf Simons at Calvin Klein and Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu made this a key piece. Consider, also, what has happened to footwear. Those fur-lined loafers, which were essentially unfit for venturing outdoors, have ceded alpha-shoe status to Saint Laurent's bedazzled silver boots, which are most definitely fashion for going out. Not out to work, but out-out. Trends may well be dead. But every time September rolls around, fashion is alive and kicking, in brand new boots.

How to highlight and contour dark skin

Professional make up artists have been contouring for decades. But it wasn't until Kim Kardashian brought contouring to the attention of the Internet that the wider world caught on. Since then, contouring has become a beauty craze, with thousands of Youtube video tutorials advising on how to use various shades of concealer and powder to sculpt and add glow to the face. Very few of these videos offer much advice for us dark skinned girls, though, when so many contouring products create a grey, ashy effect. Here's how I do it.

Step 1

Cover your face with moisturiser and primer – this is a full-coverage look, so your skin needs prepping. Apply your foundation – use a stippling brush for precision – and blend with a beauty blender sponge to give a flawless finish. I like natural, dewy foundations such as Make Up For Ever Ultra HD in the shade Y505.

Step 2

Apply concealer to the areas of your face that you would like to emphasise. Depending on your face shape, this might be underneath your eyes in an upside-down triangle, above your lips, in between your eyebrows and the middle of your forehead, down the middle of your nose, on your chin or underneath your cheekbones connecting down to the corners of your mouth. My advice is to go a few shades lighter than your skin tone and to choose one with a warmer, yellow undertone. I like to use the Nars creamy concealer in the shade Amande.

Step 3

Blend the concealer and set it with translucent powder or banana powder: a yellow-tinged theatrical powder that really gives brightness; try Ben Nye.

Step 4

To add warmth back into your complexion, brush off the excess powder using a powder brush loaded with pressed powder in your skin shade. Then lightly apply a darker bronzer to contour. I use this under my cheekbones, on the sides of my nose, under my jawline and on the corners of my forehead. Finding the right shade can be tricky for those with a deeper complexion; you need to find a deep, rich brown.

Step 5

Add a touch of colour with blusher applied directly above the contour. For my skin, Fashion Fair Beauty Blush in Earth Red is perfect.

Step 6

Add a shimmery golden bronze to the highest points of your cheekbone, the middle of your nose and your cupids bow. Silvery-toned highlights can look a little dull and grey; I used the Makeup Revolution highlighter in the colour Golden Lights.

And that's it! But play around and see what works for you, because we can't all highlight and contour the same.