White Lies

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September 1, 6:32 PM

by Arika Casebolt, Baltimore Beauty Examiner

 

 

Kevyn Aucoin The White Liquid Shimmer

Right?

Yes. For fall and winter, white clothes in seasonal fabrics and cuts look cozy and crisp at once, and are absolutely acceptable. The white winter coat is coming, and if I were less inclined to spilling everything I drink. I would get one. The Rule is one of those ancient dictums that still nags, though, very softly in the back of my mind. A diminutive, very proper fashion snob of days gone by perches gracefully at the very edge of my cerebral cortex, impeccably dressed in Chanel and smoking with a long cigarette holder, quietly seething at my gauche disregard for proper seasonal attire.

I ignore her, of course. I'm planning to wear my white jeans all autumn. I will wear them, and I will still feel, just a teensy bit, like I am doing something wrong.  Isn't it strange how tenacious those adages can be? I think the beauty and fashion rules you learn early in life really stick with you, no matter how irrelevant they become.

When it comes to makeup, however, there is no question that white is always in season. With the right formula and placement, white highlighters illuminate the planes of the face like nothing else, no matter what your skin tone.

 The key in choosing the right white highlighting product is the undertone. There's a glut of them on the market, so experiment and take your time finding one that works. I recommend bringing a white sheet of paper along to the cosmetics counter.  Smear a dab of a few different cream, powder, pencil or liquid white highlighters on the paper next to one another. It's easy to see which ones have a faint blue, green, golden, or violet cast. You'll know instantly which white to choose, because when you apply it to the tops of your cheekbones and inner corners of your eyes, you will suddenly appear awake and fresh and more chiseled, not like you have chalky white stuff on your face, which is how the wrong shades will look. True, pure whites are the most difficult to find, but generally work on the darkest to palest of skins. These will almost disappear on your testing paper, but may have a vague greyish sheen.

In powder form, CargoEyeLighter in White comes in a double-ended applicator, with a matte white powder on one end and a shimmery one on the other. I love that you can play around with texture to make your own perfect combo. Incidentally, just because it's labeled an eye product, it is perfectly ok to use these all over.

Another cool property of the matte side is that if you have one or two little fine lines around the eyes (I wouldn't know anything about this, of course, but I've heard...) the matte formula absorbs rather than reflects light, opening up the eye without emphasizing wrinkles the way shimmer can.

Kevyn Aucoin The White Liquid Shimmer is my personal favorite. Leave it to the late, brilliant makeup artist Aucoin to have created the best.  In a liquid-eyelineresque presentation, this delicate, elegant fluid brings a sophisticated light to the bone structure. A little goes a long way here, as you'll find with most high-quality formulas. I use the perfectly small, silky brush to make little outlines of the areas I want to emphasize (cheekbones, inner eye corners, cupid's bow, collarbones), and then blend with my fingers. It stays malleable for a little bit, so you can move and blend it around to your satisfaction, then takes on a smooth, powdery finish. Play with placement, try accentuating different features, make it entirely your own.

Aucoin, himself  a vocal proponent of embracing individuality and variety in beauty ideals, once said: "The fact is, there is really no such thing as 'normal'-everybody's different, and that is the essence of their beauty".

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