The Power of Purple

The color purple is reprised pretty much every Fall. There’s something about its rich, jeweled tones that speak to the cooler temperatures and work well in complement to the tweeds, plaids, and—if the shows this season are any indication—the onslaught of fur that will hit stores come September. But smudging on a lid-ful of aubergine pigment is just one way to incorporate the regal shade into your makeup arsenal. Subtle hints of the color can have just as much impact, as evidenced by a few tricks we picked up from the face-painting establishment this week. Below, a purple primer, should you want to start practicing for autumn now.

Walk the Line

Backstage at Narciso Rodriguez, Dick Page incorporated the shade in eyeliner form, dipping into Shiseido’s forthcoming Shimmering Cream Eye Color in Purple Dawn with an angled brush, scrawling a thin line close to models’ lash lines, and blending it with a similarly creamy pigment in black. The pro tip? Shiseido’s Benefiance Full Correction Lip Treatment, which Page smudged over both lines to intermingle the colors and leave a “greasy” finish.

Top Gear

At Malandrino, makeup artist Gato added hints of shimmering lilac and mauve to his “seventies Parisian girl” smoky eye for a bit of “freshness mixed with sophistication.” Using Maybelline Eye Studio Silk Eyeshadow Quads in Pink Persuasion and Purple Drama, Gato diffused the darker colors of the palettes across lids for a sultry effect, “just touching” a mix of the two purple pans from each compact on the top as a finishing touch to relay the idea of effortless, Saint-Germain-des-Prés cool.

Inside Information

The lasting impression of the makeup at Altuzarra was definitely the super-graphic, silvery brown eye. But the reason models’ eyes popped so much had less to do with the metallic triangle Tom Pecheux drew on the inner corners and more to do with a little thing called MAC Pro Chromagraphic Pencil in Rich Purple. “It looks amazing with green, blue, and hazel eyes,” Pecheux said of the raisin color he dragged along the inner rims of models’ eyes, eschewing the black or white pencils you typically see in similar situations.