Greetings friends and fellow beauty fanatics. Welcome to Binky’s adventures in Beautyland!

As I reported last week, we are currently bang in the middle of the catwalk collections – that twice-a-year style merry-go-round when the entire fashion crew (from designers and stylists to models, make-up artist and magazine madams) packs it’s extensive collection of Louis Vuitton luggage and heads off around the world to view the new season’s catwalk collections.

The whole shebang starts in New York, where the latest looks from Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Diane Von Furstenberg, among others, are presented to the waiting world. Next up, it’s London, where our brilliant (read “bonkers”) band of Brit designers share their quirky, offbeat creative vision. From Vivienne Westwood, to Alexander McQueen (now designed by Sarah Burton) and Henry Holland, Brit fashion labels are renowned for their innovative ideas and never fail to thrill.  Last week the fashion brigade decamped to Milan to check out the spring/summer 2013 collections from the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Giorgio Armani. And next week – the final stop in this stylish global trek – it’s off to Paris, for fashion’s big-hitters sun as Chanel, Dior, Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent.

For a beauty-crazy girl like me, the twice-yearly collections (the autumn/winter shows are in February and the spring/summer shows are in September) are a brilliant chance to find out what the big hair and make-up trends are going to be.

The world’s leading hair and make-up artists are drafted in by the big fashion houses to conjure up exquisite new hairstyles and make-up looks for the shows.  Catwalk make-up is big, bold and, yes, often pretty bonkers. But just as the wild and wacky catwalk fashion looks are adapted by the high-street stores to work in everyday life, so the extreme hair and make-up seen on the runways can be reworked in a subtler way, to suit everyday situations.

That’s why I love checking out the catwalk collections – they throw up so many new ideas to experiment with. It’s easy to get stuck in your ways, make-up-wise. The catwalk shows remind you to stop being lazy and sporting that same old easy look; they say: “Hey, there’s a whole amazing world of hair and make-up out there. Stop playing it safe and live a little!”

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this week. After checking out the amazing beauty trends that previewed at the New York and London shows, I’ve binned the safe browns and bronzes that make up my usual beauty bag. This week I’ve gone colour crazy!

How could you fail to be inspired by the rainbow of dazzling make-up colours on display on the catwalks? Eyes drenched in every hue from sunny yellow to vibrant aquamarine, lips painted every luscious shade imaginable. Literally anything goes. The only rule make-up artists have stuck to is this: focus on just one feature at a time – eyes or lips. At Giles it was all about shocking pink lips, at Richard Nicoll the pouts were painted a strong blood-orange hue and at Burberry they were a lush scarlet.  Elsewhere it was all about the eyes: bright blue at Clements Ribeiro, paintbox red and blue at Anna Sui, flashes of electric green and blue at Michael Kors and, most surprising of all, ringed in rich magenta and finished with neon-pink lashes at Donna Karan. Amazing!

This week I got together again with my expert beauty buddy, make-up artist Cassie Lomas, for some serious girl time messing about with make-up. To begin with I wasn’t brave enough to go out wearing electric blue or neon pink eye-shadow, so Cassie showed me how to adapt the colourful make-up trend with a more wearable spin. She came up with the gorgeous green-eyed look you can see in this week’s photo, using the Stila Eyeshadow Trio in Going Green, Clarins Wonder Perfect Mascara, Clarins Concealer Stick, Daniel Sandler Watercolour Crème Bronzer in Riviera and Too Faced Lip Liner in Perfect Nude. If you fancy a step-by-step guide on how to create this look, and info on all the products we used, check out this week’s vlog at MSN.

Now that Cassie has got me wearing colour, there’s no stopping me. I’ve unleashed my inner artist and spent the last few days painting my face in a whole rainbow of brilliant shades. Along the way I’ve found some amazing colour-packed eyeshadow palettes. I particularly love Stila’s In The Moment palette (which includes some great pinks and purples), and the Two Faced Smoky Eye Palette (check out the deep blue and green eye colours).

It’s the brave new Binky – I’m leaping out of my make-up comfort zone. Next up, electric-bright eyes. There ain’t no stopping me now!

Finally, big thanks to Cassie Lomas @cassielomas and you can check out her professional make-up school at cassielomasmakeupacademy.co.uk/