New fashion will put a Spring in your step

The sunshine that peeks through on these wintry days is torturous when it only serves to remind us that spring is still more than a month away.
Dealing with that cold hard fact is about to get harder, though, with spring collections rolling out of the designers' warehouses and on to store shelves over the coming weeks.
Still, it doesn't hurt to have brighter days to look forward to and, at least this way, we get a timely reminder that these chilly days are numbered - and perhaps we need to start thinking about how we're going to look good in these clothes when the time comes.
So let's look ahead at what some Kiwi favourites have prepared for our spring wardrobes:
Standard Issue
The collection, called A Mind of its Own, is day-dreamy with a colour palette of soft neutrals, blush pinks and a deep muted blue. Delicate barely-there stitches conjure up a romantic portrait of warmer days ahead. Light, breezy fabrics will lend themselves to days of lazing in the early spring sun and balmy summer evenings.

Visage

The latest collection from Visage was inspired by dawn and dusk - the moments that designer Janine Nuku says are the most magical of the day. The collection starts with cool shadow neutrals of white, eggshell, iron and black and is given a splash of tangelo, aphid (a grassy green) and cherry. With naturally grown fibres such as linen, cotton and silk, it's a collection that makes you want to wrap a piece of yarn around summer and pull it closer.

Ruby
The decade of the 1960s has beckoned Ruby back in time to an era where they found inspiration in giraffe and polka-dot prints, cartoons and two-tone block colours. Flintstones -inspired animal prints pop up on tunic dresses and A-line skirts in this collection called Bedrock.
Madame Hawke
Let your inner yokel out with a collection drawn from the imaginings of a prairie town. Quaint floaty fabrics, mottled floral oversized collars make up the collection of party wear pieces.

Makeup
Three spring products to get excited about: start practising your party eyes with Maybelline's new Silk Glam Quads. The four shades blend together easily and are incredibly soft on the eyelid. The colour is rich and will showcase your eyes on summer-time dance floors. The quads are $22.99 each. Fans of Elizabeth Arden's Pure Finish Mineral Make-up will soon be able to get glowing with the new bronzing powder. It comes in the same convenient casing as the Mineral Make-up and contains the same skin-treating ingredients. It will be $62 from August 2. It took 18 months and the help of a "nose expert" to create Maybelline's new Shine Sensational Juicy Gloss collection. There are 10 shades in the collection, each with their own flavour and scent. They each retail for $14.49.