Get a Radiant Nude Eyeshadow Look with Pixi’s Shade Quartette and Eye Bright Pencil
I admit: understated is not an adjective often used to describe me (or my style). That being said, when I’m wearing a particularly bodacious, risqué, succulent lip color, I tend to tone down my eye shadow and liner choices— and nothing quite does the trick like a demure natural eye look. You may think you have to spend a bundle on a nude palette but, truth be told, there are plenty of affordable options on the market — among them, the Pixi Shade Quartette in Shades of Nude ($22 at Target stores, Target.com, and PixiBeauty.com).
As the name implies, the Pixi Shade Quartette in Shades of Nude incorporates four eye shadows in a single earthy color family: a velvety creme brulée hue with a matte finish; a cool grayish mocha with a shimmering finish; a burnt caramel shade with a satin finish and scattered gold pearl particles; and a deeper hot cocoa hue with a satin finish. Packaged inside a wheel-shaped compact, with each color shaped like a wedge of the makeup pie, these shades can be layered together, mixed and matched, blended, diffused and combined to create a look that’s simple but sultry. All of the paraben-, preservative-, fragrance-, and sulfate-free eye shadows feature mica particles to provide a natural light-reflecting effect and vitamin E to condition eyelids and protect the delicate skin along the lids from free radical damage.
The Pixi Shade Quartette in Shades of Nude is particularly appealing since it includes several neutral hues in a range of depths and both cool and warm undertones, but two additional colorways will appeal to more specific tastes, with Shades of Peach incorporating flushed coral pinks and coppery browns and Shades of Taupe featuring cooler tones of brown, cream, and gray.
To make eyes look wider and emphasize the whites of the eye, making you appear more awake, try applying the Pixi Eye Bright Liner ($17 at Target stores, Target.com, and PixiBeauty.com) along the inner rims of eyes. The pinkish nude color provides an instant pick-me-up — whether worn alone or paired with nude eye shadows. You can use it to line the inner rimes of the eyes, apply it to the inner corners (right by the tearducts), glide it on near the lashline as an eyeliner, or even apply to the cupid’s bow when you want to further define your lips and make them appear plumper.
If you’ve been reading our New York Fashion Week Spring 2013 makeup recaps, then you already know that understated makeup, natural skin, and wide eyes will be a huge trend next season and that, one of the key ways in which makeup artists achieved these looks was by using white or nude-colored eye pencils along the inner rims of models’ eyes, so the Pixi Eye Bright Liner will come in rather handy come spring time. And, since it’s hypoallergenic and free of paraben and mineral oils, even those with sensitive and allergy-prone eyes can wear the liner without concern.
Below, check out what the four eye shadow hues in the Pixi Shade Quartette in Shades of Nude look like:
Next, you’ll find a swatch of the Pixi Eye Bright Liner, which has a warm nude tint that’s reminiscent of the insides of roasted almonds:
Last, check out a photo of me with a look I created with the Shades Quartette in Shades of Nude so as to balance the brightness of my lip color (MAC’s Mattene Lipstick in Fashion Nomad). To create the look, I started by applying the lightest shade (the cream hue) all over lids, extending the shade to the brows, and following by applying the shimmery, grayish taupe hue over the lower lids. Next, I applied the deeper hot cocoa shade to the outer edges of the eyes, extending the color upwards and working it into the crease. I then blended all the shades together using a wide crease brush, buffing the hues together as I worked the brush toward the inner corners of eyes and back to the outer corners. To add a bit of depth, I layered a tad of the shimmering taupe shade over the whole eye, again buffing and blending with the crease brush. To finish the look, I lined my eyes with the MAC Teddy Kohl Eye Pencil and added two coats of Maybelline’s Illegal Length Mascara. Easy breezy!
