Pink Eyes

Pink eye shadow is taking over the cosmetic world by storm. One of my friends was particularly taken with this look. She ran out and bought some new pink shadow to wear for a night out on the town. The results were not pretty. Instead of creating a soft and pure look, my friend created an Academy Award worthy looking eye disease. The pink shadow made her eyes look puffy and sickly. So, the question is, how do you pull off pink eye shadow without looking like your two steps away from death?

The problem that my friend had was that she used only one shade of shadow. By using only one color, she was unable to blend and create contours. Using multiple shades of pink is good, using pink with other colors is even better. The first time I was introduced to pink shadow was about three years ago when I tried Clinique's Strawberry Fudge. The duo included a shade of pink and a shade of brown. Now, I must admit, when the Clinique girl suggested the duo I thought she was nuts, but I quickly fell in love with the look. I used the pink shade to color my entire eyelid up to just above the crease. I never wear pink all the way up to the brow. If you are one of those girls who likes to wear shadow up to the brow at all times to highlight the area, for this look I suggest Bare Escentuals Nude Beach. It offers a neutral looking color with just the right amount of shimmer to catch and reflect the light. I then took the brown shade and used it almost as a liner, creating a thick line about my lashes that I then blended into the rest of my eye. The good thing is that many cosmetic companies realize the fantasticness of this pink and brown duo and have created palettes pairing the two together. And let's face it, it's so much easier to simply buy a palette that is made up of compatible colors.

My other suggestion with pink shadows is to not, I repeat NOT, use it under your eye. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't like using shadow under eyes to begin with, however, I believe that there are certain shades (silvers and whites) that really make your eyes pop when you do. Pink is not one of those shades. The reason being that by spreading the pink shadow out, both up to your brow and below your eye, you are creating the sickly look!

Oh, and another thing, when wearing pink eye shadow, particularly when you are using only various shades of pink, be aware of the shade of blush you are wearing. You do not want your shadow and your blush to be the same color because then your look will just blend right into each other, thus risking the sickly look again. My suggestion is to go with either a darker shade of pink, a shade of plum or a shade of peach on your cheeks. I recommend Benefit Georgia or Tarte Cheek Stain Blushing Bride.