Emerald, the colour of 2013?

Each year trends in both clothes and makeup are inevitably affected by the Pantone 'colour of the year'. After the Pantone View is published, fashion usually follows suit and the chosen colour is often reflected in areas ranging from interior design to floristry. I find this whole idea of a 'chosen' colour absolutely fascinating, I would love to own a Pantone brochure just so I could oggle at the beauty of colour all day. I think we definitely embraced last years Tango Orange, the colour was in all of the shops and seeing girls wearing a bold orange lip became more and more common, however I feel that this years choice of 'Emerald Green' will take a bit more adjusting.

In makeup, colour is often considered hard to embrace, and it absolutely is. I am a strong believer that it is deemed more socially acceptable to embrace colour through clothing than it is through makeup. Most of you probably wouldn't think twice seeing somebody use an emerald green clutch bag as a colour accent to an outfit, but in terms of wearing it on your face I imagine only a fair few would be comfortable doing. 

However, as this is a makeup blog it only makes sense that I document my embrace of the Pantone Colour of the Year 2013 in a makeup look, let me know what you think or how you would choose to wear the colour. My Emerald Green of choice is a powder eye shadow from Illamasqua called 'Fame'. Illamasqua are definitely my first go-to brand when searching for new pigments, they have it all. I paired it with a copper bronze eyeshadow in 'Bronx', lashings of mascara and a pair of falsies. If you're going to use a bold colour such as green on the eye, I do think lashes are a must, to make it a feature and complete the statement look.

Thanks for reading,

E.

Midweek Post: Essie 'Stylenomics'

Essie Nail Varnish in 'Stylenomics', £7.99 for 13.5ml.

Essie 'Stylenomics'- one coat. Sally Hansen Megashine topcoat- one coat.

Similarly to 'Head Mistress' which I reviewed here, 'Stylenomics' is part of the limited edition Autumn collection from Essie which is available in Boots stores in the UK. It's probably no secret by now how much I love Essie- the wide brush, quick drying formulas, amazing colour range and milky consistency. The only negative factor I can think of is that sometimes they chip too quickly. 'Stylenomics' is opaque in one coat, which cuts manicure time in half. This is the only Essie shade I own that is really dark, so I cannot comment for all of them, but the consistency of this felt thicker and more like a gel, which is probably the reason it only needed one coat instead of two or three.
I would describe the colour as a green infused black. In some lights, or to an untrained eye this varnish probably does look black, but it's certainly got a murky, moss green pigment that makes it so stunning and autumnal, and I hope that this comes across in the photos. I couldn't find any 'dupes' for it on any of the other makeup stands in Boots, so you'd probably have to go high end if you wanted a colour like this, which in turn completely takes the point out of a 'dupe' as they'll be no cheaper.

All in all, another Essie colour that I adore. I think this is my new favourite; it's mysterious, chic and powerful.

NOTD: Essie 'Mint Candy Apple'

Essie Nail Varnish in 'Mint Candy Apple', £7.99 for 13.5ml.

Perfect for my current pastel- crave, 'Mint Candy Apple' fills one of the voids in my nail varnish collection, and I don't have many gaps or voids considering I own about 65 polishes. Excessive? Regular green nails don't do it for me but the injection of white into this colour to create pastel just does, slightly on the toothpaste-y side to look at but I like it, I like it a lot! Pictured above with two coats using Sally Hansen MegaShine topcoat.