Makeup Wars: The War of the Greens

So, remember how Pantone declared Emerald Green the "It" color of 2013? And suddenly, the color was everywhere. You can now get green everything. In the correct Pantone shade. And naturally, this includes makeup.

Obviously you shouldn't simply apply green makeup everywhere. You'll end up looking like Elphaba, and while the Wizard of Oz is "in" right now, in that variation the Wicked Witch of the West is Theodora (Mila Kunis), and she's not green.

So, for this week's Makeup Wars we've decided to share how each of us are adding a little green in to our beauty closets to stay on trend. You might see nail polishes, shadows, or even a lippie. I've decided to share my favorite way to make green more wearable, by wearing it on my eye with a little brown/metallic mixed in to tone it down.

I decided to use eye shadow cream pencils to create this look. They're quick and easy, and it really does seem that each new version that comes out is even better than the last! They're becoming better pigmented, they last longer and they are usually faster to apply than typical powder shadows. If you do want to use a powder eye shadow, my favorite green is MAC Eye Shadow in Guacamole, and not just because I love guac. It's a little bit different than the deep green that most people reach for, and with some medium brown it really is very pretty!

For this look I grabbed a few different colors, as you can see above. In the pics, the Milani Brown and Mally Beauty end up looking similar, but I can tell you that in person they are very different. I wish I'd had time to take swatch pics of them, but the Mally is a little lighter, more coppery and has a lot of metallic shimmer. It is more highly pigmented, and when blended looks amazing. The Milani is more matte and when blended works really well as a crease shadow, but doesn't have enough depth to be all over the lid and balance out the green.

I started by prepping my lid with NYX primer. It's a near perfect match for my skin tone, so I love to use it all over to take away all of my visible blood vessels. The 10 seconds I spend doing that make it all look so much better later!

Next, I used the NYX Milk over the inner half of my lid. This is a very pigmented white, and by applying it under the green it will just pop. A little blending with a finger tip and that's it.

Here's that amazing Mally Beauty Saddle Shimmer I was talking about. You can see that it isn't flat at all and has a lot of dimension. I've found that the brown and green need to be kind of sandwiched together where they will be blended. I don't know why, but it looks better that way on me. So I do it. I also add a little in the crease.

Time for greeeeeen!!! Green, green, green. You can see that with the white under it the green looks very vibrant and just pops! I pat a little to make the colors blend, but not much yet.

Now I add a little of the Saddle Shimmer back over the green. That's the sandwiching I discussed. It works better this way for me, it might not for you.

Finally, the brown Milani goes in the crease to be smudged out. I didn't do it on this day, but I will sometimes run one of the colors under my eye as well (this was a quiet day at home), the Saddle Shimmer is really pretty there, but I'll use the green (without Milk under it) if I'm feeling sassy.

Next I complete the look! I used brown liner CoverGirl (Perfect Point Plus), though I switch to black if I've put shadow under my eye or I want a more intense look. As usual, I want major lashes, so I went for Cargo's Texas Lash. The volume and length are good, though I have to admit that the Texas in the name somewhat implies insane amounts of volume. It's not quite that, but it is good!

For my face I used L'Oreal Visible Lift cream foundation in 123 and 125 (I need mostly 123 but a little 125 in the middle of my face), Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer and CoverGirl TruBlend Pressed Powder. I have Cargo's Beach Blush in Cable, and finally L'Oreal's Colour Caresse Wet Shine Stain in Eternally Nude (2 layers to intensify the color, I was afraid it wouldn't show up in the camera).

I end up with a green and brown look that has a bit of a gradient of color (most intense towards the lashes and the inner corner of my eye) and while you get the impression of green it doesn't scream "look at me! I have really green shadow on!" Which isn't a look that I am comfortable enough with to really rock.

Are you wearing green? How did you add it in to your look?