The Perfect Khaki Eye

Fall eye shadows are typically nothing to get too excited about. 
Most years we see the same old beiges, browns and berries, and it leaves us a little uninspired.

Fall/Winter 2010 however, brings a little excitement to the makeup table, in the form of Khaki.

Khaki is huge this season! The 2010 Khakis are a little more complex than their predecessors, a little more interesting, but still require a few good tricks to make them look sensational.

1) Be really well concealed and color corrected under the eyes. Use pinky/peachy toned color correctors to cancel out the blue/gray tones. Applying an ivory or vanilla concealer will just make the under eye look ashy and gray. The murky depths of a khaki shadow can leave you looking tired if you’re not well cleaned up under the eyes.

2) Khaki shadow looks best when you’re wearing a full cover, luminous foundation. The olive undertones in khaki can make the skin look sallow, so fire up your most beautiful base, and breathe some life into your autumn cheeks with a fresh hued blush.

3) Look for khakis with deeper green hues. Don’t go too pale or too olive as these can give a very bruised look. Depth in color will make your eye look more robust.

4) Avoid flat shadows – go for something with a gold shimmer to it. My favorites this season are Chanel Vert Khaki and Bobbi Brown Forest, both of which have a delicious metallic golden sheen to them, reflecting gold and emerald without being frosted. This immediately wakens and enlivens the eye, while maintaining smoking smoldering intensity.

5) If you have flat olives or browns in your makeup drawer, bring them to life by mixing metallic coppers or bronzes with them, or laying a shimmering gold shadow over top. A good gold shadow creates all kinds of options to reinvent shadows that are looking old or dull.

6) The best way to wear a khaki shadow is as a smoky, moody eye, well blended and with a bold but buffed out liner and tons of mascara.
 

Nars Pure Matte Lipstick

“A matte lip is very modern, whether in nude or deeply pigmented”
So said celebrity favorite makeup designer Francois Nars at the launch of his first new lipstick line in 15 years, Nars Pure Matte Lipstick.

I’ve written about these before, but am so enjoying wearing and working with them at the moment that I figured they are well worth another mention.

The key to wearing a matte lipstick is to always choose a very hydrating formula so that the lip is well conditioned and doesn’t dry out and flake. Nars collection has ingredients such as acai oil, wild mango butter and Vitamin E to keep your kisser  moisturized and soft.

The collection features fall perfect shades of aubergine, rose, red, nude and plum, with glamour filled jet set names such as Vesuvio, Bangkok, Volga Terre de Feu and Tashkent.

The launch of Nars Pure Matte Lipstick Collection included this fabulous mini movie featuring model Heather Marks wearing the bold, red Vesuvio.

Perfect!

Hot Reds!

If you only buy one item of makeup this season, it needs to be red lipstick.

And not just any old red.

Stay away from the deeper, moodier reds, avoid burgundy reds, brown reds and dark reds. This season is all about a bright, vibrant, fiery red. An uplifting, exciting explosion of red.

The brighter the better!

Everyone is asking me for my favorite reds, so in no specific order, 

here is my list of the best reds for fall 2010

Nars Jungle Red.

Bright, bold and incredibly beautiful.

The name alone evokes a fun time!

Australian transplant Poppy King has her fabulous Lipstick Queen line

with two formulations, the sheer Saints and the all pigment, no shimmer Sinners

of which she says” its positively naughty to get lipstick this opaque, rich and creamy, with a matte, silky finish”

She had me at “positively naughty”!

Check out her Red Sinner

UK brand Illamasqua has two to absolutely die for

Maneater, which is a classic matte red, with a movie star quality to it.

and Tramp, which is a true red, but with a soft warmth to it. 

Very pigmented, but not thick or heavy.

At Dolce and Gabbana Pat McGrath designed two killer reds

Iconic is an opaque, bright, long wearing, very bold, very classic red.

Not for the faint of heart

 and Ruby Classic Cream (not to be confused with Ruby Lipstick)

which has a subtle blue base to it.


Lorac Leading Lady is a creamy, slightly orange red

with a bright sheen as opposed to a high gloss.

It is both moisturizing and wears very evenly.

Tom Ford’s Private Blend lipsticks are super expensive at $45 each,

but contain exotic ingredients such as soja seed extract, Brazilian murmuru butter

and chamomilla flower oil, which not only give an extremely creamy finish

to the lip, eliminating any dryness, but also help the lipstick to stay on,

cancelling out excessive reapplying.

And nothing gets his name on it without being truly amazing!


YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks are both high fashion,

and luminous. Check out Shade No 1 le Rouge

And what really great story doesn’t have a high heel connection?

At Jonathan Saunders makeup artist Lucia Pieroni matched the model’s lips to 

the soles of their Louboutins, giving MAC’s Ruby Woo the moniker

“Louboutin Red”

Love it.

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