MAKEUP Pink prevails as the perfect color for spring

The biggest color story of the season is all about pink.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ST. LOUIS -- If you haven't noticed, pink prevails this season -- on apparel, footwear and most prettiest on the face.
It's not the only color story of the season, but it's certainly the biggest.
Drugstore brands and higher-end prestige lines show light washes of pink on the eyes, cheeks and lips. But deeper shades, like coral and plum also paint the landscape.
"Pink ... pink and more pink," says Debbi Hartley-Triesch, national beauty and fragrance director for Nordstrom. "It's an easy update to spring and summer and adds a youthful appearance to the skin."
Clinique's Beauty Now Spring Collection brims with pink, from seashell pinks to tropical fuchsias. M.A.C's Konstantine Mironychev points to pink and peachy pinks as the season's newest colors.
While color is central to spring's cosmetics story, it's texture that helps to make the transition from more bundled up, austere looks of winter to brighter, more feminine looks of spring. Gone are the days when matte was where it's at. Dewy, sun-kissed looks turn heads now.
The season's look, notes M.A.C's Mironychev, is "more of a shiny skin, almost a sweaty grungy look. It's a very dewy, bronzy sweaty skin."
Makes eyes twinkle
Sheer washes of color that reveal taut, clear skin are what many manufacturers are pushing. And just a hint of shimmer adds a twinkle to the eyes, cheeks and shoulders.
"Some women see shimmer as a throwback to frosty shadows but it's done differently," notes Nordstrom's Hartley-Triesch. "It's a lot more sheer and can be worn all over."
She points to how today's shimmer can be put in the center of the mouth for a fuller-lipped look, under the brow for an instant "brow lift," and worn high on cheeks as a highlight.
Shiseido introduced two new Sheer Enhancer Bases this spring. The darker base, color creator Tom Pecheux says, offers a faux tanned look or helps to enhance bronziness.
The brand's iridescent white base, he says, works great to highlight cheekbones and brow bones for "a subtle play of light."
Pecheux calls the line's flirty new Bordeaux (eggplant shade of mascara), "the new black mascara."
As for mascaras in general, among the trendiest items are the products that contain a conditioning primer that adheres to, thickens and lengthens lashes.
Two-in-one also products continue to make a splash. In particular, glitter gels that can be used sparingly on the lips, cheeks and body.
Laura Mercier calls her spring Fairy Tale Collection "an escape to dreamland and a place where everything is romantic, fresh and light." And indeed, her spring colors range from soft pinks, greens and lavenders for the eyes to pinky browns, corals and tangerine shades for lips.
Added protection
Au naturale Aveda offers beefy colors, such as Thyme Bud (a light berry mix) and Lingonberry (which casts a dark berry glow) with its minty new Lip Shines, which claim to provide moisturizing antioxidant protection with beet root, beta-carotene and jojoba oil.
Sonia Kashuk's line, carried exclusively at Target, introduces new cheek sheer colors that beg for the beach. Shades such as Supersheer Summer Girl, a light tangerine wash of color, is just right for a little beach-bumming. And Supersheer Beach Bum, a bubble gum pink hue, offers a blushing glow.
The color-conscious Tony & amp; Tina brand, carried at Nordstrom, introduces new, pastel palettes for the eyes and lips. In its Colors of Love lip palette, gradations of pink can be mixed and matched for that perfect shade for night and day.
And the British-bred Pop Cosmetics line introduces its multistriped eye cakes that take the hassle out of deciding what colors best match a particular eye color. You buy the canisters, which are already labeled either for brown eyes or blue eyes.
M.A.C, which seems to come out with a new line every few months, imbues its spring collection, Hipnotic, with lots of sheer washes of deep colors.
But why do makeup lines change looks and colors from season to season anyway?
"I think that a lot of what happens in makeup reflects what happens in fashion in general," notes Gisela Ballard, Shiseido's marketing director. "It's a fun item, something that needs freshness and newness. And with makeup there's always new technology, colors and finishes."
Time for a change
"I think the most important thing is as we're going to spring and summer, the undertones of the skin change," says M.A.C's Mironychev, somewhat side-stepping the issue.
"The texture of the skin changes as well. For fall/winter, we saw brighter lips and smokier eyes. But in summer, you want bolder, brighter colors. It's the logical explanation. Think about it. You put on a long black coat, and your skin gets more pale. You want to enhance it. And in the summer, you're showing more skin and want to show brighter colors. It just feels right," he said.
Others of course, simply say that it's purely economics. Cosmetics companies come out with new collections simply to reel us in season after season.