It’s October, and I’m finally fashionable again!
Let me explain – my favourite colour is orange. Not the bright orange of a fresh tangerine: I prefer the deep, rich vermillion that you find at the edges of the sunset. But my clothing choices cover every shade and hue from palest coral to pumpkin to the blazing red-orange of a maple leaf in fall. What else would you expect from a woman who painted her bedroom in “Immoral Coral”? And given the fact that I pair it most often with black, I tend to look “Halloween-y” year ’round. Fortunately, this is considered to be festive attire this time of year.
Orange suits me, with my dark red hair, dark brown eyes and buttermilk skin tone; but you don’t have to have warm skin tones to wear this colour – the contrast with cool shades can lead to particularly striking combinations. After all, orange is opposite blue on the colour wheel.
Deeper shades of orange, including copper and rust, are ideal to wear with the heavier clothes that we in the north dig out of our closets at this time of year. A bold dash of metallic copper on the lips warms your look, just as a soft new sweater warms the rest of you.
Blue-eyed beauties should consider orange eye shadow in all hues from the most vibrant to palest peach. The daring could try the new NARS eye shadow duo Bohemian Gold (metallic taupe and iridescent copper”>, Hard Candy’s Lollipop shadow or MAC’s Mangomix Shadestick. Wear it alone, with several coats of mascara or false eyelashes, or pair with a dark brown liner winged at the edges.
The timid among us will have no trouble finding eye shadows in peach, apricot or light rust tones – Clinique’s Apricot Spice, Bobbi Brown’s Toast, Stila Convertible Eye Color in Clove, Revlon Eyeglide in Toffee, or Make Up For Ever’s Pearly Waterproof Eyeshadow Pencil in Pearly Golden Pink 9P.
While I most often wear my peach/orange eye makeup with shades of brown, I find that dark purples and blues contrast beautifully, too.
When it comes to orange lip shades, Make Up For Ever rivals MAC in terms of variety. From Fluorescent Orange 201 to Orange Rust 217 through Pinkish Orange 403, Copper Orange 440 and Super Lip Gloss in Iridescent Orange Beige 21, they offer a range of sheers, metallics, glosses and creams designed to suit every preference and skin tone. MAC offers CB96, Meltdown and Morange in brights that look spectacular against darker skin tones; Jest, Delish and See Sheer in lighter lipsticks, and Enchantress and Fancy That in glosses.
NARS has some lovely orange lip shades – notably Barbarella and Casablanca and Sunset Strip lip gloss. Clinique’s Color Surge Impossibly Glossy lip gloss in Firefly is particularly vibrant and LORAC Lip Polish in Celebrate will add a touch of melon to your pout. For the budget-minded, Maybelline Shiny-licious Lip Gloss in Melon-Ball is a fun choice.
Orange and peach blushes can be warming to even the palest and most sallow of complexions. Try MAC’s Peachykeen, NARS Taj Mahal, Bobbi Brown Clementine or Cargo Beach Blush in Coral Beach. Benefit’s Georgia is a peach-scented, peachy powder that can be used as a blush or lightly dusted all over your face to warm up winter-pale skin.
Don’t forget your fingers and toes when selecting orange shades to wear. I’ve collected about a half-dozen OPI products in this colour family, including Naples Syrup and Home on the O-range, which are now discontinued. But Melon of Troy is still available and Magnífíco Mexico is new this year, as is the 25th Anniversary colour “Did Someone Say Party?” Sally Hansen has Coral Kisses in the Diamond Strength formula and Peach Daiquiri in “Hard as Nails. Revlon offers Kiss Me Coral and Sunstruck in the Color Beam Sheer formula.
Celebrate the season with a touch of orange makeup – you may discover a new beauty staple!
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Once again, I would like to remind my readers that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Please remember to practice regular self-examination. I know that it can be difficult because you are afraid of what you might find. But it’s what you don’t find that can kill you. Every woman over the age of puberty should learn to examine herself. Instructions can be downloaded in a PDF form from The Breast Cancer Society of Canada website.
In the United States, more information is available from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation or Breast Cancer.org.
For our overseas readers:
www.aicr.org.ukwww.cancer.iewww.nbcf.org.au
