Blue Eyeshadow

This is an open letter to Paula Begoun (The Cosmetics Cop), well actually it is a response to her response to a fan. I am referring to the following letter written by a fan and responded to by Paula herself (supposedly) on her website www.paulaschoice.com and distributed via her monthly e-mail newsletter. I once participated in an online survey for her and wrote something similar in the comments section as Sue's posting below but Paula was too chicken to respond to the professional product shopper/trendhunting/people watching/fashion hound of the honey comb hideout so...
Here we go!

"Dear Paula,
I make very good use of your books, however, I'm sorry that you refuse to discuss or recommend any blue eyeshadow colors. There are many beautiful gray-blue tones and other non-awful shades.
Sue, via e-mail

Dear Sue,
As long as an eyeshadow is matte, go ahead and experiment with it. At any rate, I have yet to see a shade of blue (both muted or grayed) that I would recommend for anyone. Why do you think you never see fashion models in any of the magazines wearing any shade of blue? I am not the only makeup artist to feel this way. In fact, I have yet to meet a makeup artist who disagrees with me."
Paula

Dear Paula:
Once and for all you and I need to have a little talk and you need to do most of the listening and since you control your own forum and I control mine then this is where I make a public posting to you.
My opinion of your simple and patronizing response to Sue makes me wonder what in the HECK has gotten into you? You sound defensive and reactionary in your response. I wonder how many thousands of letters you receive each month basically asking you the same question (now we know you have received at least two)?

First of all it isn't like you to refer to fashion magazines as a reason for doing ANYTHING and just because you haven't met a makeup artist who will disagree with you (to your face, that is), I have!

The thing that is most annoying about your response is that you are implying that all women are the same and all women only look good in matte shades if they are going to experiment. I have also read many times in your various recommendations to women that neutral shades are better and then you have the audacity to have a makeup company that proves my point that what is a natural/neutral and complimentary color for your skin and the people you make makeup for is not necessarily complimentary on my skin or any of my friends. In fact I haven't found ONE eyeshadow in your line that doesn't make me look drab, tired, sick or beady eyed.
Your response should be something more along the lines of pointing out what is currently "in fashion" (as opposed to personal style which I will get to later) as in "CURRENTLY the trends show a lot of models with medium honey skin tones with natural or fake "tans" and this "look" can not be created with frosted blue eyeshadow." Or better yet, a response you could give is that some women should never even go after this "natural" trend to begin with because tans (fake or real) don't necessarily look good or natural on everyone.
Many make up lines "natural" eye shadow color palettes, foundation palettes or blush palettes are either too pink, too orange or too brown. The only authentic neutral natural looking eye shadow shade that I have found that looks good on my skin and many other fair skinned women is a color called "Kitten" by Stila cosmetics (maybe you have heard of it?).
This is most likely because the founder of Stila (a makeup artist who disagrees with you Paula regarding matte finishes and colors) is from Sweden and knows thereof what I speak when I talk about women who can have skin so fair that any eyeshadow leaning towards one tone or another (pink, peach or taupe) will make these women look tired, drab or worse yet sick (pink eyeshadows immediately make me look tired - people even comment on it!). These are the same skin tones that look terrible with a fake tan because they don't actually ever tan so it will never look "natural."

Maybe I should start this whole blog over -

Dear Paula why do I care so much about your response? Why do I want to convince you otherwise? Why bother? Because I LOVE your skin care line. I think you are a genius in this industry when it comes to integrity and informing women of the lies that the cosmetics and skin care industries try to feed women in order to make money. And I will continue to be a devoted fan of your skincare line!

But when it comes to makeup - I beg you to take a different approach with women - an approach that teaches women to decide FOR THEMSELVES what looks beautiful on each woman individually. And to not be afraid to update change and be playful with that look throughout their lives all based on knowing their own strengths and weaknesses and their actual skin tone.
I haven't even gotten to women of color who are so dark that "colors" (blue, green, violet, etc.) look fantastic on them. The French Line Black Up is a perfect example of a company that understands this. Make UP Forever, M.A.C., Stila and Shu Umora to name but a few of the higher priced lines created specifically for and by makeup artists all have basically some version of primary color palettes in their line in order to compensate premixed colors for women with extreme skin tones (whether very white or very black).
Now back to your dismissive response. Asking your 39 year old reader who maybe smokes or has a few drinks every now and then, a woman who already looks terrible in her fake tan and bronzing powder and all of the other crap that looks good on a 17 year old model in a fashion magazine that has been airbrushed; asking this woman to refer to a magazine for makeup advice is really incredible! A lot of these women will never look like a glowing airbrushed 17 year old with perfect skin (they didn't even when they were 17!).
So why not go for something more dramatic and playful? A huge aspect of this that you have left out (in order to protect your own makeup brand I am sure) is that many higher priced cosmetics companies have better neutrals. And not every woman can afford or is even exposed to some of the higher priced lines to which I am referring. Not being a chemist in the makeup industry I am not sure which is the expensive pigment, but there must be one because only higher priced lines seem to get it right even when they have the same number of colorways as a cheaper line...this is true of foundations, powders, blushes and eyeshadows. A frosted blue eyeshadow from Stila will be a lot different than a frosted blue eyeshadow from some cheap, unknown drugstore brand. Almost all of the cheaper brands rely heavily on orange, fake grey taupes and reddish tan shades and pinks that are too red as their neautral/naturals. I have very fair skin when I go jogging my cheeks natural "glow" is not copper or burnished mauve it is true blue pink. A lot of women in my age group have decided to wear as little makeup as possible in order to avoid looking like this aging woman who is trying to look natural by using a lot of beiges and browns...Cancelling out natural flushed skin tones is the worst thing you can do and the fastest way to age a woman. Have you been to Finland? Sweden? - I know you have been to Holland because I live here and buy your products here...so I know you know what I am talking about we have both seen women who decide to play it safe and tasteful (like Estee lauder) and stay matte and muted and made up looking because the colors they selected don't compliment or match their skin tone exactly. And those that still accept the fact that they are aging but are still more natural and more playful and can wear shimmering colors, or...they might still dye their hair a wacky color and wear nothing but mascara ...they aren't afraid to look made up in a more dramatic way but they know themselves what looks good and therefore they wind up looking better (in a youth obsessed culture read: younger).

Paula, I do not know your age but I am assuming based on your advice that you are old enough to be my slightly older sister. You show yourself to be "dated" in this way because you ignore the fact that your younger sisters were teenagers in the late 70's early 80's and were experimenting with ALL kinds of looks in makeup during the beginning of the punk and new wave era. My girlfriends and I were punk rockers and now we are in our 40's and people ask us why we look so young and we have to tell them that "punk rock saved our skin!"
Because having a "tan" represented everything we were supposed to be rebelling against! Lucky for us that we eschewed the trend of laying out and baking - those girls have skin that is really starting to show it. Maybe a lot of us were actually girls who couldn't tan anyway and felt under represented so the trend appealed to us. A lot of my friends who were at the forefront of those trends are now grown women who work in some aspect of the fashion industry. We HAD to make our own clothes, blend our own makeup, and cut and color our own hair and make our own accessories because we were the first to be bucking the disco, heavy metal, rock and roll chicks of the late 70's and early 80's. We couldn't find consumer products that represented us so we had to make our own. We learned a lot in those days - not just how to create our own "look." But even to learn how to defend it against the snickers and laughs of all of the girls still wearing Farrah hair and the ubiquitous frosted blue eyeshadow and deep Florida tans.
We were the ones scouring the second hand clothing stores for vintage pieces which we would alter to fit our new version of the beautiful. It was a very creative time in music, fashion, art and culture in general. A lot of us now that we are older and another generation has passed, are beginning to realize the impact that we had on the world then and can still see it now (hence the recent influx of books examining the impact that punk rock had on the general culture). Just ask Patricia Field or Viviene Westwood.
Can I tell you how many women in my age group there are who still play with fashion and still look great and also wear some crazy eyeshadow colors depending on their mood, what they are wearing and what they want to project? Who will still go for an interesting haircut and color?
But who are we? We are just a huge group of consumers now that is who we are! Ask Estee Laudeer - they must have realized something along these lines while gobbling up Stila, M.A.C. and Aveda just to name a few of the brands that have the new shimmery blue eyeshadows - those are "our" lines...we paved the way for these companies to even exist!
Estee Lauder knew that its brand image was aging fast and in fact that is why they created Clinique but you know all of this already!
Your makeup recommendations and stylings are sounding like rules and regulations that modern women have given up on AGES ago...
Unfortunately because you are so dismissive you sound like someone who doesn't look around and see that there is a whole "new" generation out there (and we are in our 40's weird, huh?) If you don't want to date yourself or your advice then you have to teach people how to teach themselves what looks beautiful on them by laying out real guidelines for them -not just some large paint brush rule.

Of course the point you should be making is that it is all relative! Where are you going? What are you doing? What are you wearing? What color is your hair? What color are your eyes? What looks natural and when is looking "natural" actually not looking "natural?" This is what real makeup artists ask themselves everyday - I have seen some pretty exotic makeup on models when the wild evening clothes they are modeling require it! If you flip through Vogue THIS month most of the girls are young honey blondes with naturally good looks accentuated with "Sun kisses" and smudged mouths and neutral eye colors... Very difficult to do past the age of 20 without a computer to brush away the imperfections....To add insult to injury this layout is because it is WINTER and the rich and fabulous are supposed to be wintering in a hot tropical location getting a fake tan to look awesome with their white bikins. Whilst the rest of us plug away at work during the winter getting sallow skin and wearing darker colors...

Let's put it this way if this over the hill, very white body is going to show up in the pages of Vogue in my black demi bra bikini I am not going to be wearing just a little shimmering "blusher" accenting eyes and cheeks and some natural looking brown mascara - I am going to need something a hell of a lot more dramatic to pull it off! "Aha! You say!" Maybe if I need more I shouldn't be gracing the pages of Vogue in my black bikini? Exactly. So don't ask me to refer to those pages for makeup advice.
Thank you for your time and consideration to this most urgent matter.
Your 4 ever faithful skincare consumer,
2lips in Holland xxoo

http://www.paulaschoice.com
http://www.stilacosmetics.com