When we talked about colors in spring fashion last week, did you think it ended with clothes and accessories? It wouldn’t be a season of color if it didn’t extend to your skin and hair as well.
The spring 2012 runways were full of color, but once you broke down the hundreds of looks created for designers from New York to Paris, two trends emerged. One was a variation of the look that never goes away, the smoldering look characterized by the return of the smoky eye against pale skin and pale lips. Women don’t seem to be able to get enough of the sexy dark-rimmed eye perfectly suited to our vampire obsession, which continues unabated as we prepare to welcome the latest vampire, Johnny Depp in “Dark Shadows,” come May.
At Macy’s Impulse Beauty, a section featuring 21 contemporary cosmetic brands, Urban Decay offers a lighter approach to the smoky eye, offering up taupe, gray and bronze hues from its Naked2 Palette ($50) comprising 12 eye shadows and Naked lip gloss. Urban Decay’s Gilded Bronzer ($26) finishes the look with a wash of sheer iridescent bronze and gold to illuminate the skin.
To keep skin dewy and fresh-looking, Sephora senior artist Linee Aragon suggests “using a tinted moisturizer such as Nars Tinted Moisturizer around the perimeter of the face, then touching spots that may need more coverage with a buildable foundation such as Benefits Hello Flawless Foundation,” instead of going overboard with cover products.
Once your face is prepped, the fun starts with the addition of pops of brilliant color on eyes and lips. Think peacock, neon sign, splashy cocktails and tropical fruit bowls combined with peachy orange cheeks.
For those easing into color, try simply trading your usual black or brown eye liner for turquoise or teal. Color-blocking is also big this season, so try pairing that blue or green liner on top of your eye, with fuchsia or yellow liner on the bottom.
Color-blocking works on lips as well, whether you opt for a bright orange on your lower lip paired with pink on the top lip, or choose to go for an ombre effect, with the outer corners of your mouth done up in red, graduating to a hot pink or purple center.
Sephora PRO Jill Powell said in an email interview from California that her favorite way to wear the color trend “is with a bold lip. Bright orange lips bring vitality to your look and give off a sense of confidence. When going for a bold lip, keep the rest of your look fresh and clean so that your look is balanced and not overdone.”
As for that orange, look no further than the Color of the Year Crème Lipstick, part of the Sephora + Pantone Universe inaugural collaboration collection built around the color of the year, Tangerine Tango. The collection includes eye shadows, cheek color, lip glosses and nail color, the latter offering another easy way to wear bold color.
“It’s amazing how color can affect your mood, attitude and sense of style,” Powell said. “I am constantly seeing women searching for bright-colored lipsticks, nail polishes and eye liners to incorporate the current neon trend into their everyday look as these colors serve as an instant update for the new season.”
Wearing neon doesn’t mean you have to look like a neon sign.
“Your makeup should feature complementary colors,” Powell said. “Instead of using the same shade on your entire beauty look all at once, use harmonious colors to add dimension to your face.”
Toward that end she said she loves pairing Tangerine Tango with hints of turquoise, “which also coincides with the color-blocking trend that is ubiquitous this season.”
Over at M.A.C, pink and blue are used in tandem in the Chenman Love and Water collection created in collaboration with Beijing-born fashion photographer, Chen Man. The colors were inspired by the yin and yang of love and water, pink and blue.
Marketing to Asia no doubt plays a role in the sudden explosion of color. Pastels and pops of bright color have long been popular in Japan, and one need only look at the Korean hanbok for the best ways to mix and match complementary and secondary colors.
