Spring Make Up Preview

Spring is a season to look forward to in the beauty world. It’s the season of change and transformation. A time to throw off the old and embrace the new, and a refreshing new look is one way to put a little extra “spring” in your step. A classic evening look is now turning heads and winning praise as a look for all day, and all seasons. Enter stage left, the new sexier, super glam, sultry smoky-eye. Bad girl celebs and good girl icons, like Lindsay Lohan and Sandra Bullock, have been photographed sporting this daytime come-hither look.

Women are forgoing extreme blacks and gray for a warmer, earthy look using browns and golds to contour and highlight, which they blend seamlessly with heavy liner—a nude gloss to finish — and all attention focuses on the eyes. So how do you go from the old look to mesmerizing? I asked Allison Christian, make up artist to the Hollywood starlets, on the perfect way to achieve this sultry new round-the-clock look.

Christian likes to play with colors that are fun and youthful — a break from the graphite dominated palette we usually think of when trying to achieve the classic smokey look.

“Colors are really in right now,” says make up artist Christian,and her personal favorite for making the eyes really pop is gold — a warmer approach that makes eyes smolder. What you want to ultimately achieve is a dewy and youthful look. Think fairy princess, and not pale Goth vamp.

“There should be no lines in the blend and it should not look contrived,” says Christian. She uses moisture-rich colors that blend easily to produce a soft subtle glow. One of her favorite colors right now is emerald green for its versatility since it’s a great day-to-evening color. “I use Clinique and Dior eye shadows for their youthful colors and soft glow,” says Christian.