makeupandwine

The Spring Equinox is almost upon us and it’s time to bring out the Pink!  With the warmer weather just around the corner, it is time to lighten and brighten.  Bring on the pinks.

I have always worn pink eyeshadow, actually wore it the day I got married, many, many years ago.  The big concern is the shade.  The correct shade of pink eyeshadow can enhance your eyes, make your face light up and give a fresh Spring-like look to you.  The wrong shade can make you look tired, drawn and – yes – hungover.  (gads).

For daytime, an easy rule of thumb is to figure lighter is brighter, red looks dead.  Not to say you can’t use the darker shades, I use those for the lash line or in the outer corner, but it is a good idea to keep the darker pinks and reds away from the inner corners unless you want a sick day at work.

Yes!  This is a universally good way to wear pink on your eyes.  Lighter on the inside corner, darker on the outside.  This will really boost the color of blue and green eyes and will frame brown eyes beautifully.   You can wear this for day or night.  For nighttime date night or a party you can use a deep red or cranberry for the liner and that same color can be washed into the crease.

No!  This can be a very unfortunate look for your typical daytime look.   This is when people will stay away from you in case you’re contagious.  If you’re headed out for a night on the town, you may want to try this but I do not recommend this for a day look.  If you have darker skin, this will look better, less of a rabbit down the hole look.

One thing to keep in mind is the natural color of your eyelids.  If your eyelids lean towards purple, be sure to use an eyelid primer that keeps your eyelids a shade that is close to your natural skin tone.  I recommend Trish McEvoy Eye Base Essentials which is a lovely smoothing eye primer or Bare Minerals 5 in1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow.  The Trish McEvoy comes in one shade which is a light-natural shade, about a NC 20.  The Bare Minerals comes in 5 shades at Sephora and while it is called a Cream Eyeshadow – it can be used as a primer and it has BB Cream properties and SPF.  I feel the Trish McEvoy product is smoother, but it does not have any SPF.  MAC Paint Pots work well as a primer and come in more than 20 shades, about 7 can be used as a skin tone primer. These products will help to keep the eyelids a natural color.  Without a primer, a darker eyelid will cause a pink eyeshadow to turn into lavender.

If you’re wearing your pink eyeshadow in the evening and you want to deepen the color, try using a black cream shadow as a base.  MAC’s Paint Pot in Blackground or Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick Tuxedo Black work well for this.  MAC’s Cranberry  eye shadow over the top of the black works extremely well for this.  The description for MAC’s Cranberry eyeshadow is “red plum with pink shimmer”, this is very accurate.  Layer this over a black base for an exceptional evening look.   Use something similar to MAC Sushi (a light pink) on the inner corner of the eye and blend, blend, blend in the middle.  Pat on a bit of bright silver shimmer in the middle for extra glamor.   This will work for Spring right through Summer into Autumn.

A few of my favorite pink eye shadows, ranging from pale to deep are:

Lancome Pink Pearls  (Shimmer Finish)

Makeup Forever Antique Pink 806 (Matte Finish)

MAC Pink Venus (Lustre Finish)

Chanel Palpitation

There are many others; Urban Decay has SWF, Stila has Shell, Bobbi Brown has two new shades; Sweet Pink and Sunrise Pink (both look gorgeous – I have not seen these in person yet), and I am sure there are many others.  Pink is the new taupe, a new neutral.  There is a reason so many cosmetic companies are moving forward with this shade – it works.  It works for all eye colors and all skin tones.  You just need to know if you prefer light or dark, bright or deep.  I say go for it – try it and see if you like it – no better time than now with so many different options, shades, finishes, cream or powder, sparkle or matte.  It’s your choice – and there are so many choices!

If you want to keep the look simple, you swipe the same blush you’re wearing on your cheeks across your eyelids.  You can always use just a blush on your eyelids.  Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Brick works well for this.  Keep in mind if the color on your lids is predominant, you might want to tone it down on the cheeks and lips.  And, if there is a lot of shimmer and sparkle on the lids, limit the shimmer and sparkle on the face and lips.  You don’t want to remind people of the glitter ball at the disco scene.

I’m going to check out those new Bobbi Brown pink shadows – what are you going to check out?