I’m away this week, so today we have a guest blog from lovely Amy Dicketts. I was about to ditch a couple of the purple make up samples (this next season’s hottest shade, it’s as if the 70s never went away…) we’d been sent thinking, there’s no way I’m wearing that colour, when Amy bravely volunteered to try them on her mum and her friends, since she reckoned they could be flattering on more mature skin. Here’s what happened….
“Every year the beauty powers that be decide to pull another questionable trend out of their bag of tricks. You might have mastered thicker brows and bright lips, but are you brave enough to try the latest look: purple make up?
As a twenty two year old I’ll give just about any look a go, but I thought I needed some tougher critics to test the look for The Women’s Room. Luckily, my mum, Barbara, and her friends, Karen and Vanessa, were surprisingly willing to help out.
Lipstick Queen’s new Silver Screen lipstick in Stella got approval all round for its sumptuously weighty silver casing. When the magnetic lid came off to reveal the metallic purple lipstick inside, coos turned to cor blimeys.
Karen didn’t hold back: “Because you’re young, you can get away with it, but on an older person it would just look like you’re trying too hard. If I saw that in all honesty on someone over the age of 27, I’d think, what are you doing, it’s not Halloween.”
But when Vanessa tried it on, Karen was soon eating her words. A light application of Stella gave a fuchsia-toned warmth to her lips, which was both flattering and fashion-forward. “It’s not as bad as I thought. I actually quite like it!”
Barbara agreed, “I think it’s because you’ve got darker colouring, it suits you. It would make me look like my lips had turned blue in the cold.”
“Yes I’m quite taken with lipstick … now everyone says it suits me!” Vanessa mused, clearly all too easily swayed by positive peer pressure. “I wouldn’t have ever tried it on if I saw it in the shop, but now I’m sold! I think when you look at it you think no but when you try it on you think yeah maybe this could work.”
YSL’s Couture Palette got equally surprising feedback. Even I’d been a bit taken aback when I first glimpsed the five purple shades, but I enjoyed experimenting with it to create a modern smoky eye. My mum’s friends soon created a similar look although my suggestion to use the highlighting shade on the brow bone was quickly shot down. “Oh no, highlighter up there would look a bit eighties. I’d put it on the lid,” Karen said, firmly putting me in my place.
Although the applicators in the YSL palette left a lot to be desired, Karen soon managed to work some wonders with the eye shadow: “I actually would use this, definitely.” Even the £42 price tag didn’t sway her: “I’d probably spend that, because I really like the colours.
Barbara, never one to mince her words, was less taken with the eye shadow. “I look like I’ve bruised my eye.” Clearly purple tones aren’t for everyone, but with a bit of careful application it turns out they are much more wearable than you might expect
“I think it’s all harking back to the seventies for my age group.” Vanessa mused. “It’s all sort of flower power, smocks and boho. I love it because I think “yeah that’s me”, but that’s because I’m stuck in a time warp!” On that note, they started planning their own flower power party and I thought it best to bow out.
If you happen to see a hint of lilac or lavender at the beauty counter why not give it a go? It looks like you might be surprised with the results.”
YSL’s Couture Palette shade No5, Surrealiste from Boots here and Lipstick Queen’s Stella, from the Silver Screen collection out soon here. Wear if you dare.