Pretty in pink

My traditional evening make-up look will, for the foreseeable future, remain the same- the classic smoky eye; admittedly sometimes it's with predominant tones of green or blue but inevitably it is the same neutral black/grey/brown look (expect a post on this at some point in the future!).

But for the daytime I like to mix it up a bit depending on the season- and guess what? as we are heading into Spring it's going to be mostly pastel pink/peach- but, for me, with a bit of a difference. I have embraced Spring make up which has either a sheer or shimmery finish with undertones of gold so its not too matte and not too boring. I like neutrals, but they are far more interesting when mixed in with some sparkle or counteracted with a dark slick of eyeliner. So, right now I am using a varied combo of the items below:

SO, details- The two items below are my eye looks: the palette on the left is Estee Lauder signature eyeshadow quad in 'rose gold', and on the right is Mac eyeshadow in 'engaging' in mineralize finish. With both sets I use the lighter colours (on the top half of each) all over my eyelid and then shade closer to the lash line and in a slight extended wing outwards with the darker more gold pigmented shades. I usually add definition with eyeliner- either Mac eye pencil in 'taupe' for a soft, blended look, or Bobbi Brown long wear gel eyeliner in 'black ink' for a harder line with a feline flick.

This is what I use for cheek and lips- the circular pot is Mac mineralize skinfinish powder in 'petticoat', and the rectangular compact is new (thanks mom!) Dior Illuminating lace effect powder for face in 'rose dentelle/pink lace'. Both of these give a pearlescent glow but are quite sheer (don't try and use over a tan!) so I add more colour with a candy pink blush like Chanel blush duo tweed effect in 'tweed pink' or Bobbi Brown shimmer blush in 'pink sugar'. The lipsticks are on the left Dior Addict lipcolour in 'beige dandy' and on the right Mac frost lipstick in 'creme de la femme'. The Mac lipstick is probably my favourite and most used colour, it has a strong enough pink shade to create impact but isn't so overpowering that you can't use it with a darker eye. The Dior lipstick is great if you want something that is a neutral beige but that doesn't look flat- it has just enough shimmer to catch the light.