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Beauty Notes: Building an Eyeshadow Wardrobe (Browns and Nudes)
Beauty Notes: Building an Eyeshadow Wardrobe (Browns and Nudes)
Posted by Dain, Tuesday, May 17, 2005 12:17 AM (Eastern)
Nothing's more basic, right? These are shades that quite virtually mimic the natural tones of skin, lending variation and depth to the simplest of colors.
Actually, none of this is true. First off, brown is NOT a simple color. It's a complex mix of impure tones, and it requires a mixture of all the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) to come into being (if you had pure pigments in equal measure, the resulting mixture would be black, not brown, but this is hard to do... there's always some impurity). The variations are nearly endless: there are peachy browns, mauvey browns, grey browns, greenish browns, golden browns, rose browns, ruddy browns, plum browns, orange browns... god, you name it. And you can always make it pastel, so that you have beige in all its incarnations, add whatever veneers of shimmer and frost you like, or even make it metallic. (For a more complete consideration of the various colors within this family, I've written an article about color on Beautystreet.)
Secondly, if any experience with foundation has told you anything at all, there is no such thing as a true "skin" verisimilitude. Nothing looks like real skin like real skin. Brown and beige makeup is poetic license; it is nude, rather than bare. It is—how shall we say it?—heightened reality, an exaggeration of nature's colors.
And last: I can't wear browns for the life of me!
I don't particularly know why; my hypothesis is that I'm too pale, my eyes too Asian (it doesn't take well to eyeshadow in general, unless it is done sheer), but it doesn't really make sense, really. In any case, I can wear beiges just fine (I've a fond love for champagnes of all types), but browns... browns look dirty on me, no matter how well-balanced. Too warm, and it's ruddy. Too cool, and I look like I've rubbed my eyes in gravedirt. Too shimmery, and... well, that's always rather silly looking. Even neutral shades have got too much red, too much grey... some very inimicable to my coloring. Gad, who knows? It's a tough terrain to traverse, so mine are very, very carefully chosen, and must pass the rigorous test of not looking like sh*te on me (perhaps I mean that literally).
Anyway, it's a short list:
gilt champagne: NARS Cyprus
peachy nude matte: NARS Key Largo
sheer bronze gleam: NARS Key Largo
nutty brown shimmer: MAC Rich Ground Fluidline (not sure about this)
plum-stained dark brown: Trish McEvoy Aubergine
Labels: beauty notes, mac cosmetics, nars, trish mcevoy
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