Our regular columnist tries her hand at A/W 2013’s key trends with mixed results...

For someone who has only just discovered tinted lip balm (my column photo derives from three days of planning, priming and painting by professionals, who then vanished into the night), trying out these looks required me to plumb depths of personal courage I never knew existed. I’m not even sure they’re all real trends. I’ve seen Cara Delevingne so I know brows are a thing, but slicked-back hair? Yesterday’s make-up? It sounds like the beauty equivalent of an Alan Partridge TV pitch. But Stylist’s beauty and features writer Anita, who’s doing my make-up, told me if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t get paid. So here goes.

The feral brow

Lucy Mangan does Trend on Trial